For the murders which took place in and near Bradford between 1975-1980, see Peter Sutcliffe.
Stephen Griffiths
Background information
Birth name Stephen Shaun Griffiths
Also known as The Crossbow Cannibal
Born 24 December 1969 (age 42)
Dewsbury, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Conviction Murder
Sentence Life imprisonment
Killings
Number of victims 3-14+[citation needed]
Country England
Date apprehended 24 May 2010
The Bradford murders were three serial killings of female sex workers from the northern English city of Bradford in 2009 and 2010.
43-year-old Susan Rushworth disappeared on 22 June 2009, followed by 31-year-old Shelley Armitage on 26 April 2010 and 36-year-old Suzanne Blamires on 21 May of the same year.[1]
Stephen Shaun Griffiths, 40, was arrested on 24 May and subsequently charged with killing the three women.[2]
Parts of Blamires's body were found in the River Aire in Shipley, near Bradford, on 25 May. Other human tissue found in the same river was later established to belong to Armitage.[3]
No remains of Rushworth have been found.[4]
[edit]
Conviction of Stephen Griffiths
Wikinews has related news:
- Suspected serial killer appears in British court
- UK police announce arrest of suspected serial killer
On 21 December 2010 Griffiths was convicted of all three murders after pleading guilty. He was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole.[10] While in prison, Griffiths has attempted suicide on several occasions.[11][12]
[edit]
Post trial statements
Griffiths' criminal history included a 3-year sentence, when aged 17, for an unprovoked knife attack on a supermarket manager.[13]Whilst in custody he stated that he saw himself becoming a murderer, and psychiatrists warned that he fantasised about becoming a serial killer.[13] In 1991 he was diagnosed as a "schizoid psychopath" and the following year received a 2-year prison sentence for holding a knife to the throat of a girl.[13]
In 2009, Griffiths was admitted to the University of Bradford to write a Ph.D. in homicide studies.[14]
Police had been watching Griffiths for two years before he killed his victims and had already seized hunting weapons.[15] They [the police] contacted the housing association which owns the flat in which Griffiths lived after Griffiths was observed reading books on dismemberment.[15] The housing association shared the police's concerns and fitted a better CCTV system in anticipation of an incident. At the time of the murders, police had no evidence for an Anti-Social Behaviour Order.[15]
Last edited:
