Killer PhD: Student 'ripper' held

Criminology specialist linked to three sex workers murder

The 40-year-old man, who media reported was a criminology student specialising in serial killers, was arrested on Monday on suspicion of killing three prostitutes in Bradford.
He was held shortly before the remains were recovered from the River Aire in Shipley, West Yorkshire, on Tuesday.

Missing women

Police said tests had confirmed the body parts were those of Suzanne Blamires, 36, who had been missing since last Friday.

The man is also being quizzed by detectives on suspicion of the murder of Shelley Armitage, 31, who has been missing since April 26 and the murder of Susan Rushworth, 43, who has been missing since June 22 last year.

Dangerous studies

The arrested man had told a neighbour he was studying at university and “doing a PhD in murder and Jack the Ripper”. He holds a degree in psychology and had written extensively on the internet about some of history’s most notorious mass murderers. On a website, the suspect called himself a “misanthrope who bought hate into heaven”.

“As he (the suspect) was taken away he had his usual, blank, cold expression on his face. There was no surprise, shock or emotion. The only thing he was bothered about was the police locking his door properly,” a neighbour said. The neighbour said the man had a number of locks on his door and described it as “Fort Knox”.

“This is a very thorough and painstaking inquiry into three missing people who are sex workers, with all the necessary resources and expertise devoted to it,” said Assistant Chief Constable Jawaid Akhtar.

Part demon

The Sun named the suspect as Stephen Griffiths. It said police were scouring chilling web pages set up by Griffiths — boasting he is part demon.

“I am a pseudo human at best. A demon at worst.”

A recent killing is believed to have been caught on CCTV cameras installed to help protect prostitutes.

The sex workers were worried that they were being stalked by an attacker they named Yorkshire Ripper II.

“Yorkshire Ripper” Peter Sutcliffe, named after the notorious Victorian murderer “Jack the Ripper,” was blamed for killing five women in east London in 1888 but was never found.

Bradford lorry driver Sutcliffe, 63, was jailed for life in 1981 for the murder of 13 women and the attempted murder of seven others during a five-year killing spree in the 1970s and 80s when he mainly targeted prostitutes around northern England.