Investigators and a rape survivor shed light on the histories of incest that led to Gloucester's infamous "House of Horrors".
A harrowing look at how Harold Shipman, a GP who was trusted by his patients, murdered without an obvious motive.
Jeffrey Dahmer was a homosexual sexual deviant who raped, murdered and ate parts of 17 victims. Like other killers such as John Wayne Gacy, he managed to elude capture while continuing to carry out his crimes. Like every other sociopath serial killer in history he believed himself to be completely justified in his actions. Why does a Jeffrey Dahmer happen? How does a man become a serial killer, necrophiliac, cannibal and psychopath? Many of the theories would have you believe that the answers can always be found in childhood abuse, bad parenting, head trauma, foetal alcoholism and drug addiction. Perhaps in some cases these are contributing factors, but not for Jeffrey Dahmer…
For many years, Myra Hindley was depicted by the tabloid press as "the most hated woman in Britain". The crimes committed by Hindley and her lover, Ian Brady, shocked the nation and became the benchmark by which other acts of evil came to be measured. Until she met Brady, Hindley had been, by all accounts, a perfectly normal girl, with strong religious feelings. She loved children and animals, and was much in demand as a babysitter. When they became lovers, Hindley was prepared to do anything Brady asked… Can people be persuaded to kill for love? Were they crimes of passion? Brady claimed that Hindley was a manipulative liar who was as committed to murder as he had been…
This edition explores the case of the Washington Snipers, who wreaked terror upon the city in 2002.
Australia's worst solo serial killer, Ivan Milat, is now serving life for the murders of seven hitchhiking backpackers between 1989 and 1992. Many questions remain unanswered and there is uncertainty about the full extent of Ivan Milat’s crimes. Did he murder for entertainment? Some say his motivation lay in his family background and upbringing. Ivan Milat grew up as one of 14 siblings, a close-knit family who didn’t mix with others. They were surrounded by guns amidst an ethos of lawlessness and unbreakable family loyalty. Did he kill alone? One of his siblings, Boris, broke the bonds of rigid family loyalty to speak out against the convicted killer. He said it was likely there were more of his victims that haven’t yet been found…
Ted Bundy orchestrated a campaign of terror that stretched across the United States. Between 1974 and 1978 he lured a series of pretty, dark haired women to gruesome deaths. Described as handsome and charming, Ted didn’t fit the bill of a conventional murderer. Until the end, Bundy remained arrogant and defiant, choosing to conduct his own defence in the trial. Bundy was sent to the electric chair in 1989, whilst hundreds of people cheered his death outside the prison…
He was known as the ‘Killer Clown’, and buried his young male victims under the crawl space of his suburban home. John Wayne Gacy was a monster in human form – a pillar of the community who viciously snuffed out the lives of more than thirty men. He’d prowl the streets at night, luring hitchhikers and runaways back to his home where he’d torture and kill them. Gacy was found guilty in 1980 and sentenced to death…
Made famous for Charlize Theron’s portrayal of her in the film Monster, Aileen Wuornos was executed in 2002 for the murder of seven men. A down-on-her luck lesbian prostitute, she lured her clients to remote wooded areas, and more often than not, shot them at point blank range. Tried and convicted in a Florida court, Aileen received 6 death sentences and spent a total of 12 years on death row…
Known as the Vampire of Sacramento, Richard Trenton Chase was a deranged monster who slaughtered men, women and children in a bloody rampage that shook the Californian State Capital…
In 1958, the real ‘Natural Born Killers’, Charles Starkweather and his teenage girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate, embarked on an 8-day killing spree that left 10 people dead and many more fearing for their lives. The duo was captured in January 1958 and Starkweather was executed on the electric chair little over a year later…
He was one of the infamous serial killers in modern American history. Better known as the Boston Strangler, De Salvo’s reign of terror claimed at least 13 victims. A violent sexual deviant, he confessed to all the murders – yet some doubt his authenticity.
Hearse driving redneck Donald "Pee Wee" Gaskins may only have stood 5'4" tall, but he would earn himself the nickname of the meanest man in America and become South Carolina's biggest mass murderer when police discovered his boasts of having his own private graveyard were real. Cops would eventually discover the bodies of 13 men women and children, but in prison Gaskins would claim to have killed more than a hundred - raping, torturing and then sinking their bodies in the swamps. And Gaskins would add to his tally in prison, pulling off the extraordinary murder of a death row inmate - blowing him up by remote control. But what created this feared psychopath and sexual sadist? Was it nature or nurture? The men that knew and pursued him, leading experts, and the loving daughter he confessed to examine whether Pee Wee Gaskins was born to kill?
When body parts began washing up on the beaches of a peaceful Californian seaside town, police realised someone was hunting, abducting, murdering and dismembering female co-eds. What they didn't realise was; the killer was in their midst - drinking with them at their favourite local bar. Cops considered the 6'9" Edmund Kemper a gentle giant, little did they know that as a teenager he'd murdered his grandparents, he'd fooled psychiatrists into releasing him from secure hospital after just 5 years, and while he was socialising with police officers he was living out his bizarre sexual fantasies with the corpses of young co-eds. Edmund Kemper would kill and dismember 6 young college girls before turning on his mother and her best friend. Was his mind was twisted by his upbringing in a broken home and volatile relationship with a domineering mother? Or was the Co-ed Butcher born to kill?
In 1982, when the bodies of 3 women were discovered beneath the surface of Seattle's Green River, no-one realised that it was the beginning of an extraordinary killing spree that would baffle police for 19 years. The 'Green River Killer' would become the most prolific serial killer in US history, claiming the lives of more than four dozen victims, but it would take until 2001 before DNA testing solved the mystery of his identity. To his friends and family, Gary Ridgway was a mild mannered truck painter and a loving husband, but for 19 years he had prowled Seattle's red light areas, picking up young women, strangling them during intercourse, dumping their bodies in the woods, and sometimes returning to have sex with the corpses. Featuring video of his startling confessions - the cops that pursued him, the attorneys who prosecuted and defended him, leading experts, school-friends, and the wife who spent 16 loving years with her dream man, attempt to unravel what had created this monster. Had he been warped by his unusual relationship with mother? Or was the Green River Killer a product of nature - born to kill?
By the age of ten, heavy metal fan Richard Ramirez was sleeping in cemeteries. He would go on to spread terror throughout Los Angeles, preying on ordinary citizens as they slept in their homes. The Satan loving, drug fuelled burglar would rape, murder, and mutilate, taking pleasure in making his victims pray to Satan before him. Men, women, children and the elderly all fell victim as the police raced to catch the killer who defied all known theories about serial murder. So, was the Richard Ramirez born to kill? Warped by drugs? Or, was the Night Stalker schooled in murder during his poor childhood in the tough Texan border town of El Paso?
When the discovery of human flesh blocking the drains of an address in London led to the arrest of 37 year old civil servant Dennis Nilsen, police were staggered when he calmly told them he had killed at least 15 young men. At the time, Nilsen would go down in history as Britain's most prolific serial killer, and as police interviewed the matter-of-fact Scot, they uncovered the extraordinary story of a man obsessed with death since childhood. The lonely job centre executive would strangle his victims and keep their corpses for company, sitting them in chairs, talking to them and watching television together, before butchering burning or boiling the body-parts. Was Dennis Nilsen obsession with death fused during his childhood? Or, was his instinct to kill hard-wired from birth?
The Son of Sam would become the most notorious killer in New York's history. Shooting women or couples parked in lover's lanes, the mystery killer spread terror through the streets of the metropolis, leading young women to cut and dye their hair for fear of becoming the killer's next victim. Writing to the police and press, the Son of Sam would claim to relish his 'work' and that he was programmed to kill. A massive manhunt would lead police to David Berkowitz - a lonely young man, adopted at birth, who claimed he was commanded to do the devil's work by a neighbour's barking dog. So was the Son of Sam driven by demons? Wreaking a bitter revenge fuelled by mental illness? Or was he programmed from birth to be a serial murderer?
Hollywood has always had a dark side, but Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono were perhaps its darkest. Serial killers usually work alone - Bianchi and Buono would defy all the rules. In the late 1970s, these 'killing cousins' would commit a series of brazen murders that leave the women of Los Angeles terrified to walk the streets. Their murders plumbed the depths of depravity, and their cold-heartedness and forensic awareness left detectives angry and frustrated. On his capture, Kenneth Bianchi would make an audacious attempt to convince the world he had multiple personalities and was not responsible for the murders. Bianchi and Buono would kidnap, rape, torture, and snuff out the lives of 12 innocent young girls, but what had led to this extraordinary collaboration in killing.
A profile of infamous serial killer Colin Ireland, who lured five gay men to their deaths and taunted the press and police as he heightened the intensity of each murder.
The psychology of Charles Manson, an American cult leader whose followers murdered seven people in their California homes over two nights in August 1969. Detectives, lawyers and psychiatrists analyse what prompted the crimes, and examine how Manson was able to persuade his acolytes to take the lives of innocent people.
The psychology of Herbert William Mullin who murdered 13 people in southern California in the early 1970s but claimed his victims were sacrificed to save the lives of others. The programme explores how investigators brought an end to his crimes and experts discuss what might have driven him to kill. There is also an interview with Mullin himself. Last in the series., Serial Killing Saviour: Born to Kill. To Kill? Series profiling infamous serial killers. Was the heinous serial killer Herbert William Mullin driven by nature or nurture? Featuring a unique interview with the murderer himself.
Wichita, Kansas is in the Midwest, right in the Bible belt of America. This normally peaceful place was rocked to the core in 1974 when the city discovered they had a killer in their midst. A family of four were brutally slain in their home, and this was to prove the start of a vicious killing spree that terrorised the community for 30 years. Dennis Rader was a church deacon, Scout leader and a local family man. He was also a monster who murdered 10 people in cold blood. Through his own extraordinary testimony we uncover in intimate and chilling detail how this pillar of the community led a double life as a heinous sexual sadist and serial killer. Rader's childhood seemed completely normal, so what was it that drove him to such depths of depravity? Was Dennis Rader born to kill?
A psychological profile of former nurse Beverly Allitt, who is currently serving 13 life sentences for murdering four children and injuring nine others at Grantham Hospital in Lincolnshire in 1991. Psychologists and criminology experts explore the possible motives for her crimes, examining her behaviour during childhood, when she was known to be an attention seeker. The apparently caring nurse Beverely Allitt had only just joined the staff of Children's Ward 4 of Grantham Hospital when a substantial rise in young patient deaths began occurring. At first, no one could explain why children, some as young as six months, were arriving on the ward with only minor health problems, but leaving only days later dead. A shocked and seemingly uncomprehending public would eventually be informed the culprit was actually the very person who was meant to be caring for the children. During her 59 day stint as a nurse, 23-year-old Beverly Allitt, nicknamed The Angel of Death, attacked thirteen children, killing four. From a very early age, Allitt was known to be an attention seeker. Was her desire to be the centre of attention really the reason why she attacked such innocent children or was something far more psychologically disturbing the cause for this evil?
In the mid-1970s, Donald Nielson aka the Black Panther committed a string of burglaries, armed robberies and murders in north-east England.
Once dubbed 'the most dangerous man in Britain', Patrick Mackay was responsible for a string of bizarre murders during the 1970s. Was Patrick Mackay born to kill?
In 1970, a California doctor and his young family were executed and dumped in the swimming pool of their hilltop home. The killer believed that he was on a mission from God.
Cary Stayner was arrested following the disappearance of a group of female hikers who went missing in Yosemite National Park in 1999.
In 1979, a violent crime spree rocked the town of Richmond, Virginia. The discovery of a triple murder led police to a local gang of brothers.
When eccentric Hadden Clark was arrested for the murder of a young girl in Maryland, he claimed he was also responsible for other murders. Was Hadden Clark Born to Kill?
During 1976 and early 1977, female students at the University of California in Santa Barbara were terrorised by some lookalike murders, so-called because the victims closely resembled one another. Thor Christiansen struck while they were hitchhiking and desecrated their bodies after murdering them.
Between May 2005 and August 2006, Dale and Jeff Hausner who were later were assisted by Samuel Dieteman, turned drive-by shootings into sport as they kept score as they picked off their victims at random.
The show examines the crimes of sadistic couple Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka who carried out a series of despicable acts against different young women, including Karla's own sister.
The show profiles Wesley Shermantine and Loren Herzog. In 1984, the friends took part in a drug-fueled killing spree that terrorised their rural Californian community for around fifteen years.
Following the story of the serial killer, Peter Sutcliffe, who between 1975 and 1981 murdered 13 females and became known as The Yorkshire Ripper. But how did he get away with the crimes for so many years and was it nature or nurture that turned this chilled out hard-working man into a serial killer.
During the summer of 1980, Douglas Clark and Carol Bundy carried out a series of shocking murders in Los Angeles, leaving a trail of blood in their wake.
Despicable duo Gerald and Charlene Gallego joined forces to rape and murder several teenagers.
Tony Costa murdered four women in 1969, before penning a chilling, unpublished novel detailing his crimes.
Ruthless Richard Cottingham murdered at least six people and dismembered his victims' bodies.
This episode explores the case of ex-marine Cleophus Prince Jr, who raped and murdered six women in 1990.
British criminal Robert Napper, who was convicted of two murders, one manslaughter, two rapes and two attempted rapes. Napper is a paranoid schizophrenic who has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome and. also believed to be the 'Green Chain Rapist' who carried out at least 70 attacks across south-east London over a four-year period ending in 1994.
This episode reviews the case of Levi Bellfield who murdered three women, including Milly Dowler.
This episode examines the chilling case of Sean Gillis who stalked, raped and brutally murdered eight women.
This episode explores the chilling case of killer cousins David Gore and Fred Waterfield.
The horrific case of Timothy Wilson-Spencer, who strangled five people in the 1980s. The case was historic as it was the first case solved with DNA evidence.
After being convicted of attempted murder and kidnapping, David Carpenter went on to kill five women.
This episode examines the chilling case of Bobby Joe Long who raped 50 people and murdered nine.
This episode profiles rapists and serial killers John Duffy and David Mulcahy, who together attacked numerous women at railway stations in the south of England through the mid-1980s, killing three.
Psychologists and criminology experts analyse the crimes of cinema entrepreneur Peter Moore, who brutally murdered four men in Wales in 1995.
The crimes of serial killer Trevor Hardy - the so-called `Beast of Manchester' - who murdered three teenage girls in the mid-1970s. Despite being arrested after the second killing, Hardy was freed on the basis of an alibi he had arranged with his then-partner.
American serial killer Bill Suff, who is thought to have murdered between 12 and 22 people during an 18-year spree. Described as a mild-mannered loner, Suff raped, stabbed, strangled, and sometimes mutilated prostitutes in California, beginning in 1986. In January 1992, he was arrested after a routine traffic stop.
The case of Charles Albright, who is suspected to have killed three women in Dallas' red light district between 1990 and 1991, and surgically removed their eyeballs.
The crimes of Allan Legere, who in 1989 brutally ended the lives of four defenceless residents in his home community of the Miramichi, New Brunswick. Having been convicted of murder three years previously, Legere had escaped from prison during a hospital visit and remained on the run for six months. Intent on revenge, he returned to his home town, hiding out in the woods during daylight but stalking the community at night. Dubbed The Miramichi Monster, Legere's ultimate act of revenge was the murder of his local catholic priest.
In the 1970s, two young women were abducted from the tranquil streets of Bergen County and brutally killed. No one suspected charming local resident Robert Reldan, but as this documentary reveals, after several mistrials, he was found guilty and committed to life imprisonment in 1986.
