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Nilsen lured many of them to his place with the promise of a place to sleep for the night but once they were there he would strangle or drown them.
At least two men who were assaulted by Nilsen managed to escape and call the police. Ireland’s murders were not sexually motivated and he had been married and claimed to be heterosexual. Always labelled the ‘new boy’ and the odd one out, his thin, lanky frame and bow-legged stance brought him much verbal abuse and bullying.
John appealed to the gay community to be on the alert and to let friends know of their whereabouts if they went anywhere with a stranger. He was well organized, probably of large build and physically strong, which made him confident in his ability to overpower his victims. No gay man wanted to come forward with information, lest they be prosecuted themselves.
After a two-month break, Ireland felt the need to kill again and returned to the Coleherne pub on 28 May 1993 to search for his second victim.
He targeted groups that police had a history of ignoring and brushing off. Ireland accompanied Bradley to his Kensington apartment and soon suggested tying Bradley up as foreplay. He did however become a member of the Sea Cadets for two years, one of the few highlights in his youth.
In 1964, at age 10, Ireland and his parents were evicted from their Farnol Road home due to non-payment of rent.
They took Dahmer’s word for it, calling it a “boyfriend-boyfriend thing” and didn’t conduct a search—if they had, they would have found the body of another victim, who Dahmer has killed just three days earlier. After cleaning up the crime scene, he stayed until he felt it was safe to leave.
However, he had forgotten to wipe off one set of fingerprints he had left on the window.
The connection
At last the police connected all five killings, and word spread fast among the whole of London, not just within the gay community, that a serial killer who specifically targeted gay men was operating and could strike again at any time.
Investigations revealed that Spiteri had left the pub and travelled home with his killer by train, and a security video successfully captured the two of them on the platform at Charing Cross station.
Two weeks later, he was moved to Whitemoor Prison, Cambridgeshire.
Carey Latimore
QUEER CRIME: How Homophobia Helped 4 Gay Serial Killers Continue To Kill
These prolific serial killers could have been caught sooner if police weren’t so quick to brush off their victims…
By Courtney Hardwick
If you’re a true crime fan, you know there’s no shortage of books, documentaries, podcasts and original reporting dedicated to the victims of violent crimes and the people who commit those crimes.
The judge, Mr. Justice Sachs, said he was "exceptionally frightening and dangerous", adding: "To take one human life is an outrage; to take five is carnage."
Ireland's name was on the last published list of whole life tariff prisoners, meaning that he will have to stay in prison for the rest of his natural life. Once his victim was helpless, Ireland used a dog lead, a belt and his fists to administer a vicious beating and then at the height of his fury, pulled a plastic bag over Walker’s head and killed him by suffocation.
After burning the dead man’s pubic hair (he wanted to know what it smelled like), Ireland spent time cleaning the apartment and removing any items that may have connected him to the crime.
From serial killers like Ted Bundy, the Golden State Killer and Paul Bernardo to victims of the most talked-about unsolved cases like JonBenet Ramsey, the media is busy covering a certain (very small) selection of cases. Ireland hated his time there and early one summer’s morning, managed to escape and run away. Paul Nobbs, a victim that managed to escape murder testified at Nislen’s trial that he chose not to report his assault because he was afraid of being outed.
Des, an ITV drama depicts Nilsen’s arrest, interrogation and trial including how police biases and homophobia assisted Nilsen is getting away with murder when he could have been caught much earlier.
For more of Courtney Hardwick’s fascinating QUEER CRIME series click here.
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Ireland had locked Walker’s dogs in one of the rooms of the apartment before the murder and later that day, he called the Samaritans to tell them where the dogs were, in order for them to be released. They were not forthcoming, for two main reasons. In response to criticism of how they handled the case, the police chief said “we knew people were missing and that we didn’t have the right answers.
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Colin Ireland
Ireland had been married and claimed that he was heterosexual and that he pretended to be gay only to befriend potential victims.