When Stephen Griffiths was requested to state his title in court docket, his chilling reply was: ‘the crossbow cannibal’. One among Britain’s most horrific killers, he didn’t present regret, as an alternative, Griffiths regarded proudly on as he was charged with the murders of three ladies.
The one factor the killer confirmed frustration over was that his spree had come to an finish.
It was a courageous younger lady referred to as Suzanne Blamires and an unnamed caretaker who lastly set the wheels in movement.
to place an finish to his darkish crimes, that needlessly value
The caretaker normally began his working week by reviewing CCTV footage taken over the weekend at aconverted Victorian textile manufacturing facility on Thornton Highway in Bradford, the place Griffiths lived in a top-floor flat.
On Might 24 2010, the routine job threw up footage of Griffiths, armed with a black crossbow, dragging 36-year-old Suzanne Blamires alongside the hall and thru his entrance door. She had tried to flee from his house by rapidly operating away, however tragically, the killer caught up together with her.
The caretaker rapidly handed the stunning footage to the police, however three days had already handed – was there an opportunity Suzanne may nonetheless be alive?
Damian Sharp, West Yorkshire Police’s firearms tactical advisor, was instructed to plan and execute the raid to arrest Griffiths. ‘So far as I used to be involved, I used to be coping with a hostage scenario as a result of I had no different info to say that she wasn’t alive at the moment,’ he tells Metro.
It was determined {that a} staff of six officers would barge by means of the killer’s door utilizing power to overwhelm him, so no additional hurt would come to his sufferer.
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Recalling the occasions of the day, Damian says: ‘He was in mattress, and instantly upon their coming into the room, he put his palms up. He was fairly humble at first, however after {the handcuffs} went on, he began getting nasty, bragging in regards to the issues he’d accomplished.’
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Regardless of their efforts, it had been too late to avoid wasting Suzanne, who had turn into his third identified sufferer alongside Susan Rushworth, 43 and Shelley Armitage, 31, who had additionally misplaced their lives between June 2009 and Might 2010.
The officers found that Griffiths had been luring the intercourse staff again to his house, the place he would kill and dismember the ladies earlier than consuming their physique elements. Remembering the ugly scene that met the officers at his flat,Damian says: ‘It smelled of burnt flesh and there was proof within the bathtub.
‘The officers had been in a number of not-very-nice homes, however they stated this one made their pores and skin crawl and left them feeling uneasy.
‘So far as the precise arrest was involved, it went pretty easily, but it surely’s all unhappy for the victims. My sister went to highschool with Shelley — she was pretty, however trusted the fallacious individual.’
Shelley’s mom, Gill, stated that her daughter was ‘very a lot cherished’ and could be ‘sadly missed’ by her family members, whereas Suzanne’s mum, Nicky, additionally bravely spoke out, saying that ‘fairly merely, no household deserves what now we have gone by means of. All of those women have been folks’s daughters and much-loved human beings.’
At her daughter’s funeral, she stated Suzanne, who undertook nursing coaching, was ‘a vivid and articulate lady who took the fallacious path’.
Christine Thompson, the mom of Susan, instructed The Solar that her daughter was receiving remedy for habit earlier than her dying. ‘I don’t understand how I’ll cope with out her. She was my greatest good friend and like a sister to me,’ she stated.
In December 2020, Griffiths was sentenced to life in jail with out parole for the “depraved and monstrous” murders of the three ladies.
The killer’s plan
Behavioural scientist Dr Nicola Davies, an knowledgeable in prison profiling, says the Crossbow Cannibal case is ‘probably the most horrific’ that has crossed her desk.
‘It’s horrible to say, and it makes you shiver, however Griffiths was very a lot searching intercourse staff like animals, and the Bradford crimson mild district was his searching floor,’ she tells Metro. ‘There undoubtedly would have been extra murders if he hadn’t been caught.’
Though the stays of Suzanne and Shelley have been discovered, Susan’s physique continues to be lacking and Griffiths refuses to disclose the place she is.
‘He needs to stay the centre of the story, even in his silence,’ says Dr Davies. ‘I don’t assume he’ll ever have any indicators of regret, as a result of he simply hasn’t bought that in him.’
Following his arrest, Griffiths claimed that there have been extra victims, however once more, refused to provide any particular info. ‘I’ve killed hundreds,’ he proudly declared. Nonetheless, Dr Davies believes that he lied about any further murders as a result of he was dissatisfied to be caught.
Griffiths, who studied criminology and was researching a PhD entitled Murder In An Industrial Metropolis on the time of arrest, idolised serial killers, his biggest affect being Peter Sutcliffe, who murdered 13 ladies and tried to kill seven extra between 1975 and 1980.
Referred to as the Yorkshire Ripper, his crimes crammed the information when Griffiths was rising up within the space. ‘He would have witnessed the worry folks felt and the media obsession that surrounded Sutcliffe, which might have doubtless helped form his early concepts of energy. He wished to be like Peter and in addition outdo him,’ says Dr Davies.
‘His pedestalingof Sutcliffe would have been one of many motives for concentrating on intercourse staff, too. However there was another excuse: Griffiths wasn’t good at forming relationships, so he wanted to choose victims who could be simpler to lure again to his flat. He may supply them cash, a cup of tea, meals; they wanted him, and he got here throughout as a little bit of a saviour to them.’
Early indicators
Griffiths’ sister, Caroline, says her brother’s weird behaviour was current from a younger age. Within the Prime Video documentary, The Crossbow Cannibal, she recollects how Stephen, now 55, stole, pulled wings off birds, killed his pet rat with a hammer, and inflicted bodily and psychological torture.
He would give his siblings ‘factors’ once they aggravated him, and in the event that they reached an undisclosed most, he would turn into violent. ‘From a younger age, he was problematic, and it simply escalated over time. It bought worse and worse. Penalties didn’t matter to him,’ she remembers.
In 1991, aged 22, Griffiths was identified as a sadistic schizoid psychopath.
‘The sadistic half means he took pleasure in inflicting ache and humiliation, schizoid is as a result of he was emotionally chilly, most well-liked solitude and couldn’t kind shut relationships, and psychopathic means he confirmed a number of indicators of manipulation and grandiosity, together with a scarcity of regret,’ explains Dr Davies.
‘Serial killers normally have one in all these, however Griffiths had all three, which is a extremely harmful concoction. There’s some debate inside the psychiatric group as as to if some of these situations might be handled, however there was not a lot hope for him, for my part.’
Caroline admits that she was anticipating her brother to do one thing unforgivable sooner or later, and recollects the day reviews first broke. ‘I used to be having fun with my fish and chips, and the BBC Information was on. “A 40-year-old man in Bradford was arrested, and physique elements have been discovered within the river”. I made a humorous noise, sucked air by means of my tooth and stated, “My brother, I wager you that’s my brother”.’
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Crafting the narrative
As he carried out his killing spree, Griffiths created a persona, Ven Pariah, which he offered himself as on social networking web sites. In a single put up, he stated: ‘I’m a pseudo-human being at greatest. A demon at worst.’ Dr Davies believes this was a bid to ‘elevate’ himself.
‘He describes Stephen as simply the outer shell, and Ven as his true self. He wished to make himself larger and higher than anybody else, so he was virtually past human,’ she explains.
‘Griffiths used names, like crossbow, cannibal, vampire, and massacre artists, and stated in a police interview, “Generally you kill somebody to kill a part of your self”, to not simply shock, however to additionally safe his place in historical past, in order that future PhD college students would examine him identical to he was learning others. He didn’t need to distance himself from the crimes, however personal them and craft the story.’
Griffiths’ sister Caroline provides within the documentary; ‘He wished to be somebody. It’s not my concept of somebody you’d need to be, however clearly to him it was.
‘If it wasn’t for the truth that the courageous younger lady needed to run out of the flat, then possibly he’d by no means have been caught. She stopped it from taking place to much more folks.’
The Crossbow Cannibal is streaming on Prime Video now
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