Latest / Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast / The Devil's Disciple - Patrick Mackay

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The Devil's Disciple - Patrick Mackay · Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: For years, one of Britain's most elusive serial killers stalk
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the streets of London, targeting victims with a level of
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: violence that left even seasoned detectives stunned. The press would
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: eventually dub him the Devil's Disciple. It was a nickname
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: borne not only from his fascination with evil, but from
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: the ruthless brutality that followed in his wake. And by
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: the time investigators realized they were hunting far more than
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: a lone murderer, he had already carved a bloody path
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: across England, cementing his name in serial killer history. This
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: is the story of the Devil's Disciple. This is the
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: story of Patrick Mackay.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: My name's Ben, I'm Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: and Grim, a true crime podcast. Warning.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: The following material intend more maturial audience listener discretion. We
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: were talking earlier about what you would recommend for your
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: local area for a tourist, and now it's got me
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: thinking of like all the really delicious food spots around town,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: and I'm just hungry now.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: Oh, I feel like we're just I'm always hungry. I
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: even think our last episode weren't we talking about snacks
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: and how I wish I could sit here and eat snacks.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: That's true.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: I remember. Oh I think it was on yes Spotify comments.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: Someone was like, Ben, you better have got her damn
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: snacks and you didn't.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry. I got you today.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: You did.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so there you go.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: I could eat sushi every day, sushi and ice cream.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Mm mmmmm.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm a beer and whiskey kind of guy.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Although you need food though, I was just about to
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: go into food. Although I really like chicken fingers and fries, like,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: give me some like really nice chicken tenders, Like, oh,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: I'm so happy.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: But you have to comment every time you order that.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: It's almost like you're kind of embarrassed or something.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: No, I just think it's funny.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: He's always like, yeah, I'm not a child, but I'm
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: gonna get chicken fingers and fries.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: No. I'll be like, I'm gonna go for the most
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: adult meal on the middle, chicken fingers and fries please, And.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Then they'll be like, do you want gravy or garlic
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: a olie, and he'll be like, surprise me, yeah.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: For like the fries or whatever. Catch up gravy whatever,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: what kind of dip? And it surprised me.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Surprise me.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: I'm not a very picky guy, but I am particular
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: about what I like. But if I get something I dislike,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: I'm not too upset, you know what I mean.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: Well, when you say something like surprise me, you can't
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: be upset for what they bring whatever, right.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: So yeah, it's a surprise, which there aren't.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: Very many surprises in this world anymore. We've also talked
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: about that. So there you go. And to be fair,
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: are you going to get gravy or garlic, aoli or both?
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Exactly? To be fair. To be fair, if you're ever
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: like feeling adventurous and you're going out to eat and
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: someone asks you for like what do you want this
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: or this on like a side or a dip or
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: a drink, just surprise me. It's a fun little adventure. Sometimes.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: I we've gone out for dinner with my I don't
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: know if you were probably there with my brother in
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: law one time and he said that for his whole
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: freaking meal, surprise me.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Oh, I don't remember that. It's like damn wow, very adventurous.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but then he also like would have preferred something else,
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: But any He's like, well, I can't say that. I
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: you know, I said surprise me.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: But exactly so, he's in for the adventure.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: I think we should probably stop talking about food, though, I.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Know we're always probably making people have to door dash.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: After this, probably maybe we should just start a food podcast.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: I don't know, but I do have a very interesting
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: story for you today in the regards of a serial
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: killer with the nickname the Devil's Disciple. Patrick McKay. Are
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: you ready for this story?
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: Dang, I don't know. You don't sure, Let's do it.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Well, hold on to your butts because it's going to
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: be a bumpy ride.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, I'm holding on well.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Patrick. David McKay entered the world on September twenty second,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: nineteen fifty two, in Middlesex, England, two Harold and Marion McKay.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: His father, Harold had served during the Second World War
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: before returning to civilian life as an accountant. Friends and
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: relatives described him as intelligent who in his personality, had
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: been consumed unfortunately by alcoholism and violent outbursts. It seems
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: that the family home revolved around his temper. Marion was
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: frequently assaulted and well Several later accounts claimed Harold had
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: even kicked her in the stomach while she was pregnant
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: with Patrick, although that allegation has never been confirmed through
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: official records. Now, whether or not that particular incident actually occurred,
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: there is little dispute that Patrick spent his earlier years
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: in a household where intimidation and violence have become ordinary
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: parts of daily life. Marian tried to shield Patrick and
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: his two young sisters from all the chaos that was happening,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: but there was unfortunately not a whole lot she could do.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Harold's drinking steadily worsened, and arguments inside the house they
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: often turned physical. As Patrick grew older, those around him
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: began to notice that he was beginning to actually mirror
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: that violence that was in his home. At school, for example,
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: he quickly gained a reputation for behavior that frightened both
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: classmates and teachers alike. Former school friends remembered him attacking
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: children without warning, often running across the playground just to
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: go knock girls to the ground before laughing at their
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: realc On another occasion, he deliberately drank urine from a
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: flower simply to disgust another boy. He stole from local shops,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: snatched belongings from pub tables whenever an opportunity presented itself,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: and seemed to enjoy breaking rules just to see how
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: people would react to it. There didn't seem to be
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: any remorse when he was caught either. Instead, actually, he
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: often appeared to be amused by the attention that it drew. Now,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: his cruelty, unfortunately, was not just limited to other children.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: See Patrick developed an unsettling fascination with herding animals. He
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: collected dead birds and handled their bodies without any signs
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: of discomfort. On one occasion, he reportedly burned the family
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: pet tortoise alive and then threw its shell over the
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: neighbor's fence.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: WHOA, what is wrong with this?
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Cats and rabbits were also said to have been tortured
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: by him as well, and the frequency these of these
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: events alone were something startling on their own, Like, Yeah,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: it's crazy and terrifying he's doing this to animals, but
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: just how often he's doing it too? That in itself
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: was rather startling. Now, his violence eventually spread to his
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: own family as well. Arguments at home frequently ended with
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: Patrick assaulting his mother or threatening his sisters. Relatives were attacked,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: neighbors complained about his behavior, and the local police while
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: they became such regular visitors that some officers recognized the
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: address before they even arrived.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: So the dad was assaulting the mom and so now
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: was the sun correct? Frig that's terrible.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Now. One incident saw Patrick's standing waist deep in a
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: pond holding a heavy concrete block while police tried to
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: persuade him to come out. Now it's unclear exactly what
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: he was intending to do, but as far as I
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: can tell, I think he may have been going along
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: the lines of self harm. But that's purely my own speculation.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: On another occasion, he even threatened neighbors with a pitchfork.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: There were also repeated acts of vandalism, theft, and arson,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: including an attempt to set fire to a Catholic church once,
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: which ultimately brought him before the juvenile courts. Now, the
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: family itself changed dramatically in nineteen sixty two, when Patrick's father, Harold,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: died from complications associated with alcoholism and heart disease. Patrick
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: was only ten years old at the time, and, according
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: to several people who knew the family, Harold's final words
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: to his son were quote remember to be good end quote,
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: which in all honesty are amazing final words for your child.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Well, they really are, but it kind of surprised me.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: I guess same now. Like many who lose a parent,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: Patrick seemed to be very deeply affected by his father's death,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: and he didn't handle it very well either. He reportedly
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: refused to accept the fact that his dad was gone.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: In fact, he carried a photograph of him around for
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: years afterwards and sometimes in insisted that his father was
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: in fact still alive. At home, he began sitting in
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Harold's chair as though he was assuming the place within
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: the family in his absence. Now if anyone hoped that
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: his father's death would call Patrick's behavior well, they were
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: quickly disappointed, because instead, the violence only escalated. By his
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: early teens, Patrick had grown into a physically imposing young
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: man who was already standing over six feet tall, and
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: during violent outbursts he became very difficult for adults to restrain.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: He began attacking his mother so severely, too, that she
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: even feared for her own life, and he even later
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: attempted to strangle both her and one of his aunts.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: In another account, he assaulted a younger boy so violently
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: that witnesses later believed the child might have actually have
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: been killed if Patrick had not been pulled away from him.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: Each episode that occurred seemed to reinforce the growing concern
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: that he represented a danger not only to himself, but
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: to anyone that was around him, and eventually authorities decided
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: that he could no longer remain at home. Beginning at
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: the age of thirteen, Patrick entered a cycle that would
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: define much of the next decade of his life. He
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: was placed in approved schools, psychiatric hospitals, remand centers, and
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: secure institutions, only to be released when his behavior appeared
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: to approve. According to several of the professionals involved in
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: his care, the apparent progress rarely lasted, though before long
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: another violent incident would result in his return to custody
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: or psychiatric treatment once again, and by the time he
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: reached adulthood, Patrick is believed to have passed through around
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: eighteen different placements. One of the institutions where he spent
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: a lot of time was Moss Side Hospital, which is
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: a secure psychiatric facility. Doctors there documented explosive mood swingsulative behaviors,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: and a profound lack of empathy. Now, among the psychiatrists
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: who assessed him was doctor Leonard Carr, who diagnosed Patrick
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: as suffering from psychopathy and warned that he was developing
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: into what he described as, quote a cold psychopathic killer
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: end quote.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: Oh that's scary.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's an extraordinary assessment to place on a fifteen
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: year old because that's how old he.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: Was at the time, Okay, and because he hadn't in
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: quotes like killed and he'd harmed people, but he hadn't
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: killed anyone yet, correct, Okay.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and this really shows like the concerns that are
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: already being voiced by like teachers and all this sort
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: of stuff already in police and a lot of people
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: who've worked with him at several years at this point already,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: like social workers, they're already seeing this stuff. But now
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: you have a psychiatrist who's actually putting it into words,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: and some pretty intense ones at that had a cold
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: psychopathic killer.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: So yeah, he knew what he was going to end
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: up being one hundred percent, But it's also like, what
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: are you supposed to do? Really?
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah? You know, well he hasn't committed a crime yet, right,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: that's the thing. Now, Patrick's behavior inside the hospital was
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: often as troubling as it had been outside. He destroyed furniture,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: assaulted staff, other patients, and attempted to escape, and frequently
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: flew into rages over seemingly minor frustrations. However, there were
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: also periods where he remained calm, cooperative, and even polite.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: Those quieter periods repeatedly persuaded officials that he could safely
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: return to a community, But of course that's when other
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: serious incidents would just follow. Now. During these years, Patrick
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: developed an obsession. He became a history buff, but more specifically,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: he became obsessed with the history and imagery of Nazi Germany.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: He even began decorating his room with swastikas and photographs
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: of Adolf Hitler himself. While assembling clothing modeled after the
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: SS uniforms, he started insisting that people addressed him as
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: quote Franklin Bolvault the first end quote. He was explaining
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: that that name, while it would one day be known
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: around the world, it would be remembered and feared in
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: the same way that it was with Hitler, which is
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: probably one of the most terrifying precursors I have ever
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: heard in my research of true crime.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: Ever, yeah, this is so uncomfortable because you're just waiting, Yeah,
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: and there's nothing that you can do.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: By the summer of nineteen seventy two, after years spent
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: moving through institutions that had failed to curb his behavior,
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Patrick was simply released yet again. He was twenty years
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: old and again free to make his way through London,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: and although his record already included violence, theft and arson,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: and even repeated admissions to secure institutions, he was still
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: viewed large largely as a troubled young offender, rather than
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: someone capable of committing multiple murders, for example, even though
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: psychiatrists saw the signs instead, all those warnings recorded through
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: his childhood remained buried inside medical files and probation reports
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: and officer police records and all those sort of situations
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: where they're just sitting in a filing cabinet. Outside all
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: of that, Patrick was simply just another person and he
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: attracted very little attention. He drifted between hostels, temporary accommodations,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: and the homes of people willing to take him in
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: for short periods of time. Among them was the Cowdrey
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: family in southwest London, who tried to offer him the
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: kind of stability and a stable environment that he had
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: rarely ever experienced growing up. I hope that structure and
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: kindness might help him settle into a normal life, but
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: instead Patrick continued living on the fringes of society. He
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: rarely held steady employment, he drank heavily whenever he had
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: the money, and increasingly he had relied on burglaries and
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: street robberies to support himself. And fetamines also became part
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: of his normal routines too, further fueling and unpredictable mood
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: swings that he already had, you know, things that had
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: followed him since adolescence. His obsession with Nazi Germany still
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: continued to grow too. The rooms he occupied were continued
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: to be decorated with Swastika's photographs and things of Adolf Hitler,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: all that sort of stuff, with military memorabilia, And instead
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: of calling himself, you know, by his actual name Patrick,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: he was still telling people to refer to him as
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: as Franklin bul Vault the First. He often spoke with
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: those close to him about his fantasy of grand power
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: and domination, and it was enough, to say the least,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: to put a sour taste in many's people's mouths. By
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: nineteen seventy three, Patrick had discovered a pattern of offending,
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: though that was proving to be both profitable and difficult
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: for police to stop see. Rather than targeting businesses or
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: wealthy homes, he decided to focus on elderly people. He
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: knew many of them lived alone. He knew that they
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: carried cash for daily shopping, and they were naturally inclined
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: to trust a polite young man who offered assistance. And
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: so with this in mind, Patrick learned that he could
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: approach older women on busy streets, carry their groceries for them, say,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: or hold open a door, even simply to strike up
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: a friendly conversation before quietly learning where they lived. Sometimes
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: he robbed them there in the street. Other times he
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: followed them home and forced his way inside. And as
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: the months passed, the attacks became more and more frequent,
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: increasingly more violent too. Across Southwest London, detectives were beginning
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: to notice the rise in offenses involving elderly victims. Reports
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: arrived from Chelsea, Belgravia, Kensington and Knightsbridge describing handbag snatches,
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: assaults and burglaries. Committed against older women living alone.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: You got to be a right piece of shit to
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: target an elderly woman. No kidding, Well that is just well,
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: I mean we already know he is not a good person.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: We definitely do now. Individually, none of these crimes seemed
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: especially unusual for a city the size of London. I mean,
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: these things happen, but together they suggested a persistent offender
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: operating across the same neighborhoods. Inside Scotland Yard, the headquarters
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: of London's Metropolitan Police, investigators began marking the attacks on
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: a very large map with colored pins, and as more
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: reports arrived, the patterns started to show itself, so dozens
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: of officers were eventually assigned to examine the robberies, comparing
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: witness descriptions, methods of entry, and the times of which
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: the attacks would occur. Now, while these offenses were unfolding
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: in London, Patrick was also making regular trips to Kent,
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: a county southeast of the city. It was during this
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: period that he met Father Anthony Joseph Crean, the parish
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: priest at Corpus Christie Church in the village of Shorne,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: near Gravesend. The two men came from entirely different worlds.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: Father Crean had spent years serving as parish, earning a
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: reputation for helping anyone who asked, whether someone needed a meal,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: somewhere to stay, or simply just a conversation. He rarely
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: turned anyone away, and Patrick was one of the troubled
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: people that the priest believed deserved another chance. Father Crean
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: welcomed him into his cottage. He shared meals with him
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: and tried to encourage Patrick towards a more stable future,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: and Patrick seemed quite grateful for that kindness. He visited
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: regularly and seemed to appreciate having someone who treated him
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: with patience rather than suspicion. But the relationship changed, however,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: when Patrick stole one of Father Creane's blank checks. After
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: taking the check from the cottage, he forged the priest's
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: signature and successfully cashed it at a local bank, obtaining
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: between it was either thirty or between thirty and eighty pounds,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: depending on the account that you really read. There's some
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: varying sources out there, but fraud, though like this, well,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: it doesn't take long for it to be uncovered, and
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: as a result, Patrick was soon to be arrested. The
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: following case was relatively straightforward, as he appeared before the court,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: admitted what he had done and was ordered to repay
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: the money, but of course he didn't repay it. Although
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: the theft damaged the trust between the two men, Father
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Crean did not completely sever any contact, though his instinct
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: still remained and it was to help rather than to condemn. Meanwhile,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Patrick's offending, well, it just continued to escalate. By early
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: nineteen seventy four, the robberies around Southwest London had become
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: more brazen, but nothing prepared investigators for what they encountered.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: On February twenty sixth, nineteen seventy four, police were called
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: to the Chelsea home of Isabelle Griffiths, the eighty four
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: year old widow of a surgeon, and she had not
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: been seen for nearly two weeks. Concerned neighbors and acquaintances
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: had begun asking questions after her usual dependable routines abruptly stopped,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: and when officers entered the property on Cheyenne Walk for
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: a welfare check, they found a crime scene unlike anything
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: they had expected. When they entered, they found isabel dead.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: Evidence from the scene suggested that she'd been attacked around
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: the fourteenth of February, meaning her body had remained inside
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: the flat for approximately twelve days before being discovered. Investigators
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: believed that she allowed her killer inside voluntarily, either because
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: she recognized them or becase because he gained her confidence,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: and the attack itself had been exceptionally violent. Isabelle was
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: strangled before suffering repeated blows from a heavy object. Afterwards,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: her body was then dragged through the house and into
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: the kitchen, and the killer then drove a kitchen knife
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: into her chest, likely to ensure the job was finished,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: and he did so with such force that the blade
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: passed right through her body and embedded itself in the
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: floor beneath her, effectively pinning her.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: Down that is savage.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: After this, her body was then partially covered and her
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: eyes were closed. Now rather than immediately fleeing the scene,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: the killer appeared to have remained inside the home for
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: a considerable period of time. Dishes had been left soaking,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: the radio had been apparently playing, and there were indications
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: that he wandered calmly through the home after the killing.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: While looking at the scene and realizing this, even experienced
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: detectives found this behavior rather unsettling. Robberies that escalated into
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: murder were not unheard of, but offenders almost always flee
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: very quickly, as soon as possible. In fact, yet here
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: you have a killer who doesn't seem to be in
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: a hurry to leave it all. The prolonged stay suggested
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: someone felt unusually comfortable in the aftermath of extreme violence,
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: which showed they were dealing with a very disturbed individual. Now,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: despite an exhaustive examination of the home, investigators found no
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: obvious suspect. Witnesses could not identify anyone seen entering or
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: leaving the building at the relevant time, and although fingerprints
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: and other forensic evidence were collected, they couldn't immediately be
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: batched to any known offender. The investigation remained open, but
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: as the weeks turned into months, the trail gradually grew cold.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: Detectives continued reviewing witness statements, checking known burglars, and comparing
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: fingerprints collected against existing police records, but nothing identified the
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: person responsible. Yet officers had no reason to believe the
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: killer had left London. And then, on March tenth, nineteen
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: seventy five, another elderly woman was attacked. This time, the
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: victim was Adele Price, a widow living alone in an
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: elegant flat on Lowden's Square in Knightsbridge. Like Isabelle, Adele
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: was known well to those around her for living a quiet,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: independent life. She occupied one of the large flats overlooking
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: the square and followed a dependable daily routine. Exactly how
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Patrick gained entry to her home has never been established
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: with complete certainty, but detectives believed he almost certainly relied
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: on the same approach that had served him well throughout
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: his robbery spree, since by this stage he'd become remarkably
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: confident when dealing with elderly victims, often presenting himself as polite,
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: helpful and not.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: Threatening, so basically like offering help with the groceries or
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: something again exactly along those lines.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So, whether he's like you know, offering help or
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: assistance you'd asked for a drink of water, whatever it is,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: or simply striking up like a conversation, even he possessed
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: like an ability, honestly, an unsettling ability to convince these
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: vulnerable elderly strangers that he's he's trustworthy and at least
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: you know, he gets them to the point where they
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: unlock their door. Yeah, and that's when he well takes advantage.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean this is quite some time ago too,
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: but even like nowadays, I mean, we're a little bit
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: more not as trusting, I guess, but it's awesome when
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: someone offers help, right, you'd be like, hell, yeah, for sure,
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: especially if you're like a little bit older and you
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: are struggling with like carrying your freaking groceries for example.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: But people do still tell other people to fuck off nowadays.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: In that case, yeah.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: They could, Okay, I just thought of this too. They
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: could not want to be rude as well. That's true, right,
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: because if someone comes and they want to help you,
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: they may not know how to turn them down.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: But it's also it can very well be a cultural
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: thing too, right, Yeah, Like if you're in a small town,
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: you know, that might be a little bit more acceptable,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: but if you go to a big city, it's like,
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: how dare you acknowledge each other? Sort of thing, you
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: know what I mean.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: But especially this is in the seventies, so I feel
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: like a lot of people would probably just be like.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Sure, yeah, it's a little more trustworthy out there. Definitely
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: a time an age thing or not an age thing,
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: but you know what I mean in that age day, yeah,
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: that era, yeah the era, That's what I was looking for,
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: thank you. But now, like whatever the case, However, he
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: managed to get inside. Once he was inside, he attacked
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: Patrick strangled Adele before searching the apartment for anything valuable.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: Drawers were open where and opened cupboards were searched, and
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: personal belongings were disturbed as he moved methodically through the rooms,
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: collecting property he believed that could be sold or traded. Now,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: robbery clearly formed part of the crime, but investigators would
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: later conclude that theft alone could not explain everything they
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: found at the scene, because, once again, instead of leaving
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: immediately after the killing, Patrick remained inside her home. He
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: wandered through the flat as though he had nowhere else
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: to be. He turned on the radio, made himself comfortable
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: in the home, right in front of a woman that
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: he just murdered, and at some point he even sat
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: down in an armchair and reportedly even fell asleep. Patrick
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: again appeared to be almost completely unconcerned by the possibility
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: of being caught or anything, or even the fact that
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: he just murdered someone. There was a dead body in
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: there now. While he was sleeping in this armchair, He
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: was eventually woken up by the sound of the apartment's
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: inner calm system because outside, Adele's granddaughter had arrived for
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: a visit, and receiving no answer, she was repeatedly pressing
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: the buzzer, hoping her grandma would respond, and that persistent
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: ringing is what woke Patrick up. He then realized someone
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: was waiting outside, and he quietly collected himself, gathered the
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: property that he had stolen, and made his escape. And
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: as Adele's granddaughter entered the building and climbed the stairs,
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: that's when she passed a young man walking calmly in
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: the opposite direction of her. There was nothing about him
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: that immediately drew her attention. He was not running, he
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: wasn't sweating, he hadn't made an attempt to conceal his
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: face or anything. He just seemed to be another person
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: leaving the building. Then, only moments later she reached her
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: grandma's flat. Was at the door and she opened and
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: the silence inside was deafening. She began to search the apartment,
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: and that's when she noticed that one of the interior
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: doors leading to a room had been locked from the
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: outside of the room and that struck her as unusual.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: Calling out to her grandmother, she unlocked the door and
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: stepped inside, and that's when she found Adele Price, her grandmother,
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: laying on the floor dead Dead. Police were quickly called
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: and officers secured the flat while detectives and forensic specialists
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: began documenting every single detail of the scene. As with
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: Isabel and her murder, there were signs of a violent struggle,
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: followed by a thorough search of the victim's home. Officers
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: carefully photographed each room, examined fingerprints, collected trace evidence, and
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: documented the condition in which Adele's body had been found.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: And as the investigation developed, detectives began comparing their notes
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: with the still unsolved murder of Isabel Griffiths. It seemed
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: that the similarities extended well beyond the age of the victims.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: Both women had lived alone in affluent areas of southward
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: west London. In neither case did there appear to be
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: convincing evidence that the offender had simply forced his way
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: inside immediately, so investigators believed the killer had first gained
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: each woman's confidence before the violence began. Then robbery had
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: followed both attacks. Yet the level of force youth suggested
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: something far beyond an opportunistic burglary, and in each home
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: evidence indicated the killer had remained inside for a considerable
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: period instead of fleeing. As a result, the Scotland Yard
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: revisited the entire robbery series affecting Chelsea, Belgravia, Kensington and Knightsbridge.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: Detectives returned to witness statements that had previously seemed unrelated,
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: looking once again at elderly victims who had reportedly been
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: followed home or approached by a polite young man offering assistance.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: The large incident room map filled with colored pins became
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: increasingly important as officers plotted robberies, assaults and suspicious encounters
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: across Southwest London in an effort to try and determine
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: whether they were dealing with the same offender. Around fifty
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: Metropolitan Police officers were eventually involved in reviewing the growing
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: body of evidence. Every known burglary against elderly women was
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: re examined, Fingerprints were compared once again, and detectives began
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: searching for common names appearing across multiple investigations. Now, although
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: they now believe they were hunting a serial offender, they
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: still had no idea who he was, and while they
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: worked through hundreds of reports and statements, Patrick McKay continued
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: moving freely between London and Kent.
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: Okay, I just have a quick question. Had the granddaughter
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: got a good look at him or I guess to
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: her it wasn't even she maybe didn't even relate them.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: Never even really related them though. Okay, she kind of
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: remembered someone passing, like walking out, but that that was it.
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: Not someone she would have assumed just murdered her grandma.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: No, it was just some dude. Okay, walk past person
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: and then try and recount what they look like without.
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: After especially after you just had like this traumatic experience
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: of finding your.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: Grandma exactly Okay. Now, In the morning of Friday, March
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: twenty first, nineteen seventy five, Father Anthony Joseph Crean began
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: his day much as he had done countless other times.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: The sixty three year old Catholic priest celebrated morning Mass
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: at church in the small Kent village of Shorn. He
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: spoke with people in the parish and carried out the
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: quiet routines that had earned him enormous respect within the community.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: At this point, he had met Patrick roughly two years earlier,
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: inviting him into his cottage, encouraging him to try and
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: have a more stable future, and then, of course, Patrick
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: ultimately stole from him. It was an ordinary spring day
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: this day, and Father Crean followed his usual routine. He
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: spent time working around the church grounds, including mowing the lawn,
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: and later walked his Jack Russell terrier through the village.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: During the afternoon, he spoke with Sister Teresa, one of
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: the nuns from the nearby convent, before returning to his
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: modest cottage. Then, at some point that afternoon, Patrick traveled
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: from London to Shorn and he arrived at Father Crean's
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: place while he was away, But rather than waiting outside,
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: Patrick let himself in and he remained inside the house
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: until the priest returned home. Now exactly what he wanted
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: isn't really known, but some believed he wanted money, while
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: others thought maybe resentment from the earlier check. Prosecution still
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: lingered either way. When Father Crean entered the cottage, he
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: found Patrick there waiting. An argument quickly developed between the
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: two men, and the disagreement soon turned physical. Father Crean
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: managed to break away from Patrick and ran deeper into
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: the house before locking himself inside the bathroom, apparently hoping
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: to sturdy the door and provide enough protection for himself
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: to summon help or maybe even wait for Patrick to
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: calm down or leave, but instead it just trapped him.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Unable to force the door open, Patrick searched the cottage
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: for something to use on the door, and that's when
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: he found an axe. He returned to the bathroom and
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: repeatedly struck the wooden door over and over again, splintering
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: the panel until he created an opening large enough to
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: force his way inside, which is very Shining esque, but
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: I digress. The violence that followed was brutal. Despite the
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: axe in his hands, Patrick initially attacked the priest with
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: a knife, inflicting numerous stab wounds, before turning back to
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: the axe. The blows delivered to Father Creane's head were
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: so severe that investigators later described them as among the
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: most devastating injuries they had ever encountered in their careers.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: Blood was splattered all across the small bathroom, staining the walls, floor,
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: bath and surrounding fixtures. The damage to the door, together
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: with the bloodstained patterns preserved inside the confined space, allowed
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: investigators to reconstruct much of the struggle after they arrived
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: later that evening. Medical examiners later found father Crean had
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: suffered multiple chop wounds to the head from the axe,
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: in addition to numerous stab wounds across his body, including
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: injuries to his chest that punctured a lung.
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: Hey, that is really messed up. And because this is
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: some this is a guy that had offered him kindness, right, Yes,
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: it is like a place to stay in stuff.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: Correct.
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: Ah, that's just mind blowing that you could do something
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: like that to someone I know he doesn't have like
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: a heart. I guess I.
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: Don't think he does. Patrick McKay is the definition of
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: a monster. He is full on a psychopath in every
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: meaning of the word.
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I because I don't know. We've had other cases
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: where they use ax as a weapon, and that to
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: me just is it's too much.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: It's one of the most brutal weapons I think that
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: could be used. But I also think it's one of
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: the more personal weapons too, because you are so close,
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: you're close to the victim. Right. However, with the acts
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: inflicting as much damage as it does, as visceral as
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: it gets, not only is their blood. There's going to
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: be splatter, it's going to get stuck, it's going to spray,
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: it's going to split open, and to strike again and
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: again on a victim. In that manner, it means to
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: me pure rage, which is you're evil, which is on
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: a personal level. It's whether that rage is within you
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: or directed at the other person. So I think an
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: axe as a murder weapon is one of the most
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: personal assaults, physical assaults you can do.
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I don't know, I feel like it just yeah,
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: it's hard for me to understand that as a weapon
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: because it's so brutal.
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, the sheer number and severity of the wounds
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: showed that the attack had continued well beyond the point
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: necessary to cause death. And when the assault was over,
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: Patrick did something that detectives would later struggle to explain.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: He filled the bathtub in that bathroom up with water.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: Then he lifted father Krean's body into the water. He
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: was still fully dressed in his clothes that he had
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: been wearing when he returned home, including his Duffel coat,
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: Wellington boots and hat. Blood slowly spread through the water
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: as his body was floating in the bath and Patrick
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: stood there. During later interviews, Patrick described standing beside the
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: bathtub for around an hour or simply watching the scene
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: before him. His eyes slowly absorbed the blood soaking scene
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: in front of him, with his victim floating in the water,
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: and it slowly becoming darker and darker with his own blood.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: Then eventually he decided to leave.
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: That's messed up.
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: As he walked through shorn Patrick knocked at a nearby
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: house and asked the resident for a glass of water.
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: Then he continued walking towards the railway station, where he
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: encountered a local police officer. The brief conversation that he
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: had there attracted no attention, and Patrick carried on towards
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: the station without being stopped. When he later experienced difficulty
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: arranging transport back to London, he provided railway staff with
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: his name and current address, even temporary address, but still
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: an address. But back in the village. As evening approached,
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: concern began to spread around the church. Father Crean had
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: failed to appear for his usual evening meal, something that
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: was unlike him. Around the same time, his lodger Mick,
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: noticed the priest, Jack Russell, his dog, standing alone on
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: the lawn outside his cottage. Father Crean rarely left his
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: dog outdoors unattended, and after bringing it inside, Mick began
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: to search the house, unable to shake the feeling that
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: something was wrong. At first, there was no reason to
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: imagine anything more serious than illness or an unexpected visit
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: or whatever, but as time passed, concern really tightened into
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: that alarm. People were searching for Father Crean, checking around
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: the church, eventually making their way to his cottage, and
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: that's where Mick was. The lights were still on inside,
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: but there was no answer on the knock on the door.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: Now Finally, Sister Teresa was there helping him search, and
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: when they entered, she opened the small bathroom door. The
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: scene she encountered was unlike anything she had ever witnessed.
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: Father Crean's body still lay floating in a bath filled
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: with blood stained water. His brutal and extensive injuries made
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: it immediately obvious right away that he'd been murdered and
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: this was no accident. Sister Teresa screamed upon seeing this,
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: and it immediately brought others rushing into the cottage. As
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: police were quickly called to the scene.
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: I figured that this was an incident that for him
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: being hurt or murdered or whatever was not going to
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: go unnoticed for very long.
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: Father Cream. Yeah, yeah, he was a very very large
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: presence in a lot of people's lives, especially around the
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: parish and everything.
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: He would have a huge role in so many people's lives.
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: Exactly, So it didn't take long for them to discover
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: what had happened now. Detectives, including Detective Inspector ken Tappendon,
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: arrived later that evening after being summoned from a formal
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: dinner in Maidstone, and their examination of the cottage quickly
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: confirmed that the priest had fought desperately for his life.
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: The shattered bathroom door, the extensive blood staining throughout the room,
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: and the weapon that was recovered beneath the stairs, being
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: the axe, all pointed to an attack of extraordinary violence.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: Yet amid the devastation, investigators also noticed something else. Unlike
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: many homicide scenes, this one contained the beginnings of a trail.
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: In fact, the killing and shorn immediately produced several promising
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: leads because witnesses had seen the victim alive only hours earlier,
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: and several people while they had encountered an unfamiliar young
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: man walking through the village shortly after the estimated time
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: of the murder. More importantly, that same man had spoken
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: to local residents. He had asked one homeowner for a
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: glass of water. He provided his name and address to
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: staff at the railway station after experiencing difficulty catching a
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: train back to London. As officers gathered those statements, Detective
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: Inspector Ken t happened In found himself thinking about an
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: investigation he had handled eighteen months earlier, and the name
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: associated with it was Patrick McKay see. He had dealt
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: with Patrick after the theft of Father Kreane's check, and
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: he had encountered this individual and it left a lasting
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: impression on him. Although the earlier offense had been relatively minor,
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: Patrick's behavior during the investigation struck him as unusually intense
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: and very unpredictable. So, now standing inside the priest's bloodstained cottage,
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: Inspector Tappeneden began to suspect that maybe the man responsible
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: was the same one who forged that check, and that
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: possibility became the investigation's first priority. While officers continued documenting
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: evidence inside the cottage, Tappenden assigned Detective Sergeant Bob Brown
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: and Detective Constable Nick Whitlock to locate Patrick McKay before
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: he had the opportunity to disappear. Time was critical if
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: Patrick was responsible. Detectives believed there was every chance that
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: he would leave London altogether, or that he would commit
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: another violent offense before they even found him, so the
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: officers started their search by following the strongest lead they had,
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: King's Cross Station. Detectives learned that Patrick had recently provided
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: his name and address where he was staying to the
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: railway staff after encountering difficulties arranging onward transport from the station.
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: Following his return from Kent, they learned he was staying
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: on Selkirk Avenue in Williston Green. It was the first
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: concrete lead investigators had, and Brown and Whitlock wasted no
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: time heading there, but by the time they arrived, however,
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: Patrick was already gone. Investigators also knew he occasionally maintained
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: contact with members of the Catholic Church. Actives contacted priest
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: throughout London asking whether anyone knew his whereabouts, and one
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: priest eventually confirmed that Patrick had been in touch and
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: directed officers towards a hostel in Lewisham, where he was
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: believed to have been staying from time to time. When
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: Brandon Whitlock arrived, they found the hostile manager standing at
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: a public payphone, and he just so happened to be
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: speaking to Patrick. The timing could hardly have been more
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: fortunate for them, but although officers were unable to intercept
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: the call, they immediately learned that Patrick was in fact
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: in London somewhere. While arrangements were made to trace his movements,
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: detectives searched the room that he'd been using inside the hostel,
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: and the search revealed far more than they expected. The
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: walls inside were covered with swastikas, photographs of Adolph Hitler
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: and Nazi imagery that reflected the obsession Patrick had carried
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: since his teenage years. They even found pieces of clothing
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: resembling in SS uniform, and together with stolen jewelry, it
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: was concealed beneath a cushion. The discovery reinforced investigator's belief
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: that Patrick's criminal activity extended well beyond the murder in Kent.
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: Although Patrick had slipped away once again, detectives now knew
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: he remained somewhere in London. They continued following every lead
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: available while trying to locate him before he disappeared again. Now, unfortunately,
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: the search took just long enough for him to commit
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: one final offense. On the evening of March twenty second,
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: only a day after father Kreem's murder, Patrick followed a
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: retired nurse as she walked home alone. After watching her
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: enter her flat, he forced his way inside and demanded
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: money and valuables. Now, unlike several of his previous victims,
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: the woman did not resist or attempt to challenge his demands.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: Patrick stole what he could before leaving the property without
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: physically harming her. It remains unclear why she survived when
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: so many others hadn't, although investigators later believed her willingness
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: to comply may have prevented the encounter from escalating any further.
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: Later that same day, detectives focused their attention on the
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: Cowdrey family home in Stockwell, South London. This is where
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: Patrick was known to stay quite regularly. Officers found Patrick
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: inside this house and took him into custody without any
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: sort of struggle. The arrest was honestly almost anti climactic.
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: He appeared calm, compliant and apparently noticeably subdued. Detectives later
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: said that he was heavily hungover, in fact, having spent
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: much of the money that was stolen from the retired
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: nurse on alcohol the previous evening, So whatever thoughts he
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: may have had about resisting arrests seemed to have disappeared overnight.
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: Gosh, this guy is just I mean, everything that you're saying,
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: I'm like, he's just a real winner.
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, shit right, the biggest douche canoe I've run
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: across in a while.
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, big time.
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, no, for sure, a ay bud.
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: Now, as officers escorted him from the house, Patrick began talking,
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: and almost immediately he admitted to killing father Crean. He
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: claimed that a quote white mist had come over him
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: during the confrontation inside the cottage, and he described the
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: attack as an uncontrollable explosion of anger. Detectives carefully noted
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: the statement, but avoided challenging him during the journey back
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: to Kent. Their priority was to preserve whatever information he
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: voluntarily gave. A white mist, A white mist of rage.
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: Yes, huh, okay, I've never heard anything described.
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: Like that before. It's definitely a unique one.
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: Now, Before they even reached the police station. Patrick offered
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: another significant piece of evidence too. He allegedly directed officers
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: to a garage near Clapham and explained that he had
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: thrown away the knife used during the attack on Father
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: Crean there in a garbage and then returned to London.
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: Detectives went there, They searched the location and recovered the
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: weapon where Patrick indicated it would be. This provided immediate
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: corroboration for his confessions now. Formal interviews began shortly afterwards too,
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: and Patrick spoke freely about the events inside the cottage,
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: described the argument, the struggle through the hallway, and Father
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: Crean running to the bathroom to lock himself inside. He
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: explained how he found the axe smashed through the door,
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: continued the attack after forcing himself inside, and as detectives
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: compared his account with a crime scene, they found his
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: description matched details that had not been released publicly at all.
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: In fact, it was almost perfect, and rather than appearing
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: distressed or remorseful during this, he became increasingly animated as
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: the conversation turned towards the violence itself. Discussing the bloodshed
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: seemed to trigger additional memories too, prompting him to volunteer
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: more details without even being asked. At one point, he
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: calmly described standing beside the bath for around an hour
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: after the murder, just staring and watching Father Crean's lifeless
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: body float in the blood stained water, before he finally
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: decided to leave.
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: So messed up.
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: The interviews had barely begun, and yet detectives were already
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: realizing they were dealing with something far darker than they
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: had originally thought. Now, detectives did not rush to accept
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: Patrick's confessions, though, especially at at least complete truth, because yeah,
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: he's willing to talk. Sure, that's great, But experienced investigators
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: understood that offenders they sometimes exaggerate their crimes, they claim
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: responsibility for offenses they had not even committed, or blended
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: facts with fiction, that sort of thing. So every statement
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: Patrick made had to be tested against the evidence that was,
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: and detectives needed to find more knowledge that only the
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: killer could have known. And if he began speaking about
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: other crimes, those claims would be subjected to the exact
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: same scrutiny.
• 49:13
  Speaker 2: Okay, I just have to say I am a bit
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: surprised that he's so willing to dish out all his
• 49:18
  Speaker 2: freaking terrible deeds here.
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, why.
• 49:22
  Speaker 2: I don't know, because in my mind, he's just like
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: shit at the bottom of my shoe, and I can't
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: imagine him doing anything right and trying to help these
• 49:31
  Speaker 2: people with like the investigators solve this shit, right, Like,
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: I'm surprised that he is being helpful. I guess.
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: Is he being helpful though, that's.
• 49:40
  Speaker 2: The thing, or is he like bragging then maybe or
• 49:42
  Speaker 2: I'm hosting I don't know.
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: I don't think it's either of those. See, if you
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: look at Patrick McKay, he grew up very in abusive environments, right, yes,
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: and then he himself became abusive, and he moved into
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: psychiatric care, hospital care, in and out of interviews, in
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: and out of analysis and different situations where they're asking
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: him questions and why did you do this? And how
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: did you do that? And then not only that, he's
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: a psychopath, he doesn't understand emotions, so if people are
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: asking him questions, well, yeah, I'll just tell you.
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: And he's used to kind of being I guess, I
• 50:23
  Speaker 2: don't know, for lack of better words, like interviewed almost yeah.
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: So it's not that he as far as I can tell,
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: it's not that he's bragging. It's not that he's wanting
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: to help. It's just, Oh, you want to know, I'll
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: let you know. Sure, you're asking, so I'll tell you.
• 50:37
  Speaker 2: But he has to realize or maybe he doesn't even
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: he realizes that what he's done is like terrible though.
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: Very likely, but maybe he just doesn't care. Psychopaths they
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: don't have that emotion, that level of understanding of human emotions.
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: And I mean, I'm not one myself, and I don't
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: have claim to have all the knowledge on psychopaths, but
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: I do know that they're lacking many certain emotions, like empathy.
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: So he doesn't care. And he's so used to being interviewed.
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: This is part of his life. You're doing things wrong.
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: Why are you doing those things wrong? Patrick? Oh, I
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: don't know. I just did this, okay, And that's all
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: he's doing. Someone's asking and he's simply telling. Gosh, that's
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: as far as my breakdown goes.
• 51:22
  Speaker 2: That almost makes it seem even more disturbing. He is
• 51:26
  Speaker 2: so cold, yeah, and yeah, he doesn't even probably remotely
• 51:31
  Speaker 2: understand the impact of what he's done to you know,
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: others or whatever.
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: Either he may he may not, it's hard to say.
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: Now these interviews quickly established that Patrick had an extraordinary
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: memory for details well, I mean of the whole crime scene,
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: the murder, the death of Father Crean, all of it.
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: He accurately described the layout of the cottage, the struggle
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: in the hallway, the priest locking himself in the bathroom,
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: the acts, all of it. He even recalled details that
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: had never been released publicly, including the position in which
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: Father Queen's body had been left in the bath, and
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: he even led them to a murder weapon. Each answer
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: strengthened investigator's evidence considerably. Then, once detectives were satisfied, they
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: gradually shifted conversations towards unsolved crimes in London, and Patrick
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: offered little resistance. Once again, when asked about Adele Price,
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: he admitted he entered her flat in Knightsbridge. He explained
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: that he had targeted her because she was elderly and
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: lived alone, things that he believed made her vulnerable. He
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: described strangling her before searching the apartment for valuables, and
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: spoke matter of factly about remaining inside afterwards too. He
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: recalled sitting in an armchair, turning on the radio and
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: eventually falling asleep until the sound of the intercom woke
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: them up. Detectives compared his statements with the evidence collected
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: from the scene, and the details matched once again almost perfectly.
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: His fingerprints even matched the ones that were recovered from
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: inside her flat. Two. Investigators then turned to the murder
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: of Isabelle Griffiths, and again Patrick admitted responsibility. He described
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: gaining access to the eighty four year old's flat before
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: attacking her. He spoke about staying inside the property after
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: he murdered her, rather than leaving immediately. His account once
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: again corresponded with evidence at the scene, including aspects of
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: the home, the condition in which the body had been left,
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: and again fingerprint evidence. By this stage, Patrick had admitted
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: responsibility for three murders. But the thing is the interviews
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: while they were just still beginning. Over the following days,
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: detectives found themselves reopening case after case as Patrick claimed
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: responsibility for additional killings, stretching back all the way to
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: nineteen seventy three. The names were already familiar to investigators
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: because the deaths remained unsolved. Others belonged to victims whose
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: murders had never previously been linked to one another at all.
• 54:09
  Speaker 2: Okay, holy shit, there's been more than just the three
• 54:13
  Speaker 2: killings correct, Oh okay. I don't know why, but I
• 54:18
  Speaker 2: wasn't expecting that.
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: Among the first was Mary Hines, a woman who had
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: been beaten to death inside her Kentish Town flat during
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: the summer of nineteen seventy three. Patrick described entering her
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: home and attacking her with extreme violence. He also claimed
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: responsibility for the death of Frank Goodman, a tobacconist who
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: had been found murdered inside his shop. Patrick described striking
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: Frank during the robbery before leaving him fatally injured, and
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: as investigators revisited the evidence from this attack, they recovered
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: a pair of shoes connected to Patrick that carried traces
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: of blood consistent with Frank's murder. Patrick went on to
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: speak about the death of Heidi Minilk, a young German
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: woman who was working as a living childcare assistant whose
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: body had been found after falling from a moving train,
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: but he didn't stop there. He also spoke about Stephanie
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: Britton and her four year old grandson, Christopher Martin. He
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: mentioned Sarah Rodwell, Ivy Davies, and an unidentified homeless man
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: who he claimed to have pushed from Hungerford Bridge into
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: the River Thames. Each confession generated another review of police files,
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: witness statements, and forensic evidence, but not every claim survived
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: careful examination. Though some investigations contained too little surviving evidence
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: to either prove or disprove Patrick's involvement. In other cases,
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: important witnesses had died, memories had faded, or forensic opportunities
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: had long since been lost. So while Patrick demonstrated knowledge
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: that strengthened investigator's confidence in murders, other admissions could never
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: be conclusively verified. The review nevertheless revealed a number of
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: striking similarities across the crimes. Investigators believed that he committed.
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: Many of the victims were elderly and living alone. Several
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: had been robbed, but the level of violence consistently exceeded
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: what detectives would be normally expected during a burglary. But
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: one of the main hallmark features that appeared repeatedly was
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: Patrick's behavior after the killings. Crime Scene evidence and his
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: own admissions suggested he often remained with the bodies long
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: after the murders had taken place. He would wander through
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: the victims' homes, maybe listen to their radio, or simply
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: sit quietly before eventually leaving, which is pretty fucked up. Yeah,
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: detectives found that behavior particularly disturbing. That's literally what I
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: have written next.
• 57:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like how can you not uh like, how can
• 57:04
  Speaker 2: you just live your life or like probably having snacks
• 57:07
  Speaker 2: or whatever while these people are that.
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: You just murdered right right there, And it's like there's
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: no obvious practical purpose for this, and in fact, it
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: only increases your risk and likelihood of getting.
• 57:18
  Speaker 2: Caught, it does.
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, which again it kind of circles back to that
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: psychopath mentality. If he just doesn't care. It's not that
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: he's bragging or you know, any of these things. It's
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: just a matter of fact. It's just the way it is.
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: And you're curious, I'll tell you.
• 57:35
  Speaker 2: Well, honestly, I think it was adele. If the if
• 57:38
  Speaker 2: she hadn't lived in an apartment, then the grand like
• 57:41
  Speaker 2: and she was in a house or something, right, the
• 57:43
  Speaker 2: granddaughter had just come to the front door, come in,
• 57:47
  Speaker 2: and he would have been in there.
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Now I believe like in London there are many
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: people who live in like townhouses, flats all that sort
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: of stuff. But I mean it's much of a more
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: condensed country, so it's much more common. Yeah, but you're right, yeah.
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: Was it maybe a townhouse where it is a front
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: door and not a communal door. She could have just
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: entered and found him. But then that also begs a
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: question of would he have been caught or would he
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: have killed her?
• 58:12
  Speaker 2: Probably just killed her.
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: Depending on the scenario and how it played out. As
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: investigators worked through the growing number of confessions, they became
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: increasingly selective about which offenses could realistically be prosecuted. By
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: the time the interviews were complete, officers believed they understood
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: the scale of the investigation in front of them, and
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: when Patrick's case reached the Old Bailey in November nineteen
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: seventy five or the England's Central Criminal Court in London,
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: the investigation had grown far beyond the murder that first
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: brought detectives to Shorn Police interviews with Patrick had reopened
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: a string of unsolved murders stretching back nearly two years,
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: but prosecutors had to decide which offenses could realistically be
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: proof beyond reasonable doubt before a jury. In the end,
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: Patrick McKay was charged with a total of five murders. Now,
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: the trial itself was remarkably brief, considering the scale of
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: the investigation that had preceded it, rather than attempting to
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: prove that the killings had occurred. It's no surprise to
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: hear that much of the legal arguments centered on Patrick
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: McKay's mental condition and the extent to which it affected
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: his responsibility for his actions. Jurors heard about a childhood
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: filled with violence, years spent moving through psychiatric institutions, and
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: repeated assessments and warnings that he posed a serious danger
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: to those around him, and among the most significant witnesses
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: was psychiatrists doctor Leonard Carr, whose earlier assessment of Patrick
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: as a teenager was examined in court. Years before the murder,
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: Carr had diagnosed him to be a psychopath and warned
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: that he was developing into what he described as, quote
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: a cold, psychopathic killer end quote. At the time those
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: words had been written, they represented a prediction, but by
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: the autumn of nineteen seventy five they had become one
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: of the most widely quoted pieces of evidence presented during
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: these proceedings.
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 2: I wonder how that made him feel.
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know.
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 2: He just I mean, he knew he was going to
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 2: be in this possession, I think, right, Yeah.
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: It seems that way. He called it. He knew and
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: here he is. He tried to warn people, but nothing happened,
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: and so yeah, he was probably sitting here looking at
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: you know, authorities and being like, I fucking told you. Yeah,
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: but I mean, what can you do?
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 2: Well, exactly, yeah you can't.
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: You can't prosecute someone for a crime they haven't.
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 2: Committed, no, because you think they will correct.
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: However, a diagnosis does mean someone should get treatment and
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: live certain ways and have certain guidelines, guidelines and parameters,
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: those sort of things. But anyways, now, other psychiatrists also
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: gave evidence to broadly agreeing that Patrick displayed the correct
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: characteristics of severe psychopathy. Now, at the time, psychopathy well
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: presented the courts with a very difficult legal problem because,
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: unlike some mental illnesses, it was not considered a condition
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: for which there was any recognized treatment likely to reduce
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: the risk of future violence, which is probably part of
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: the reason why it was difficult to handle his situation
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: in certain ways. Now. That distinction became particularly important when
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: the court considered whether Patrick should be sent to Broadmoor Hospital,
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: Britain's highest security psychiatric institution, or remain within the prison
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: system and the medical evidence on hand ultimately persuaded the
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: court that Patrick's responsibility for the killings had been substantially impaired.
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: Soon un Patrick pleaded guilty to three counts of manslaughter
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: on the grounds of diminished responsibility relating to the deaths
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: of Isabelle Griffiths, Adele Price, and father Anthony Crean. But
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: although the verdict reflected the psychiatric evidence presented during the trial,
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: the practical outcome offered little comfort to the defense because
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: the judge ultimately imposed and sentenced Patrick to three concurrent
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: life sentences, ensuring that Patrick McKay would spend the foreseeable
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: future behind bars.
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 2: Okay, good. I was kind of worried there, Yeah, because
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 2: that I feel like could have been a sentence where
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 2: he maybe got up out. Yeah, but the judge, the
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 2: judge knew what his job was.
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the judge did good. Here, the judge brought the
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: hammer down. Yeah. Very glad that judge chose that sentencing. Now. Soon,
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: newspaper across Britain seized upon the extraordinary nature of the case.
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: Headlines describe Patrick McCrae sorry McKay as quote the man
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: who enjoyed killing quote bloodlust of the Beast in Black
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: and quote the Devil's Disciple. Much of the reporting focused
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: on the brutality of the murders themselves and his obsession
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: with Nazi Germany, while others decided to question how someone
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: who had spent years in psychiatric care attracted repeated police
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: attention and generated so many warnings could still have been
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: free to commit such devastating crimes in the public now.
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: Although three killings had now been dealt with before the courts,
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: many investigators remained convinced that Patrick's true number of victims
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: was considerably higher. The court had dealt with the killings
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: of Isabelle Griffiths, Adell Price, and father Anthony Crean, but
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: the wider investigation never truly disappeared. Detectives continued reviewing additional
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: murders Patrick had confessed to, comparing his statements with evidence
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: collected years earlier. In several cases, they remained convinced that
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: he was telling the truth, but without sufficient evidence to
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: satisfy the criminal standard required by the courts, there was
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: nothing that could be done. Now. He do need to
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: talk about how, under the sentencing system in place at
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: the time, a life sentence did not automatically mean imprisonment
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: until death. Patrick was eventually given a minimum tariff of
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: twenty years, making him first eligible to apply for parole
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety five, and that date arrived, but he
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: did not get released. Parole boards reviewed his case repeatedly
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: and they all reached the same conclusion he could not
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: safely be released into the community.
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 2: Well.
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: No psychologists, probation officers, and prison officials were asked to
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: assess the level of risk he continued to pose, and
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: time and time again they concluded that the danger remained
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: too great. As the years passed, Patrick McKay gradually progressed
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: through parts of the prison system, and in twenty seventeen
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: he transferred to open prison conditions, a move that surprised
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: many people who were familiar with the case, because open
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: prisons in the UK are designed for carefully assessed prisoners
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: who are approaching possible release, allowing them limited opportunities to
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: work outside the prison or undertake supervised activities intended to
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: prepare them for life beyond the community. During his years
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: in custody, Patrick also legally changed his name to David Groves,
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: something else that attracted a fair bit of criticism, particularly
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: after it became publicly known that he had been granted
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: supervised day releases from prison.
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 2: The changing of the name thing is not okay. I
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 2: agree that pisses me off.
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: I highly agree. In twenty twenty three, newspaper photographs showed
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: this then seventy two year old man walking through Bristol,
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: wearing a baseball cap and a goatee beard while chatting
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: casually with members of the public. A few of the
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: people passing him appeared to recognize that they were standing
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: beside a serial killer who once carried out one of
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: Britain's most violent murder sprees. The images reignited public debate
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 1: over whether someone responsible for crimes of such severity should
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: ever be considered for release, regardless of how many decades
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: have passed. But despite the conversations, parole hearings continued. By
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six, the year of this recording, Patrick McKay
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: has spent more than fifty years behind bars, and he'd
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: appeared before parole boards thirteen times. During his latest review,
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: the panel heard evidence from psychologists, probation officers, prison staff,
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 1: and even Patrick himself before reaching their conclusion, and his
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: release was again once again refused.
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I didn't breathe for that last minute.
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: The parole Board stated that it was quote not satisfied
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: that release at this point would be safe for the
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: protection of the public end quote.
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 2: I just have to say, what a waste of resources,
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 2: because it's very clear that he should never, ever, ever
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 2: be out. But they've had to do this thirteen times.
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 2: I know, I know, Okay, well whatever, I guess I'm
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 2: just preaching to the freaking choir here because that makes
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 2: no sense to me.
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for many, they believe that the risk has never
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: truly disappeared with this man. Nothing to date has ever
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: suggested Patrick would be capable of safely living within any community.
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: And here we are still even today asking the most
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: enduring questions surrounding this case. And it's not whether or
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: not he should actually be released, though, it's how many
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: people did he actually kill? Legally, the answer hasn't changed.
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: Patrick McKay has admitted responsibility for numerous killings, but he
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: ultimately pled guilty to manslaughter of Isabella Griffith's Adele Price
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: and father Anthony Crean on the grounds of diminished responsibility,
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: receiving three concurrent life sentences for those deaths. Legally, he
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: has killed three people, but estimates of his true number
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: of victims have always varied. Some investigators believed he could
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 1: be responsible for at least eleven murders. Others believe the
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: total may be even higher than that. What has never
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: been seriously disputed, though, is that those three killings dealt
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: in the court system almost certainly represented only part of
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: the violence uncovered during this investigation. That is not a
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: debate that that is the bare minimum of what he
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: had done. Patrick McKay has now spent more than half
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: a century behind bars, making him one of Britain's longest
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: serving prisoners. His name remains largely forgotten outside of true
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: crime circles, but the people whose lives he destroyed, those
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 1: names should not be forgotten. Isabel Griffiths was an elderly
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: widow who spent nearly two weeks undiscovered after welcoming the
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: wrong person into her home, Adele Price. She lost her
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: life in the place where she should have felt safest,
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: while her granddaughter unknowingly passed her killer on the staircase
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 1: moments before making the discovery no family member should ever
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: have to make. Father Anthony Crean devoted his life to
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: helping people who had nowhere else to turn. His willingness
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 1: to see hope in a troubled young man is what
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: ultimately lost him his own life. More than fifty years
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: after Patrick's arrest, investigators, historians, criminologists all alike continue to
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 1: debate the true extent of his crimes and whether the
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: final total of his victims is three eleven or maybe
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 1: somewhere in between. The same conclusion has been reached. Patrick
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: McKay is a dangerous and brutal man who does not
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: deserve to walk free, because if he does, he poses
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: a risk to every single person he encounters. And that's
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 1: the story of Patrick McKay, the Devil's disciple.
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 2: Frick.
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 1: Frick the hell that's frick? That's your response after that case?
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 1: Just frick?
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that one was very I don't know, I was
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 2: just like all over the place. I'm a kind of
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 2: surprised that he hasn't hurt anyone in prison.
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're right, really, I agree, it's.
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 2: A bit surprising to me. But I guess he like
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 2: he has everything he needs in there, right, like food
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 2: and at least a sleep and shit.
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: That's true.
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 2: But oh man, I feel like he also maybe is
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 2: getting these nicknames or this nickname because one of his
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 2: victims was a priest as well, Like that's probably helping
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 2: him get this this fancy ass nickname.
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: It's possible. I'm not too sure where the Devil's Disciple
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: exactly originated from. Like I know it came from like
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: headlines and sensationalism on newspapers and that sort of thing,
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: but I'm not sure who typed it up. Where they
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: drew that from. If it comes from you know, murdering
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: a father, you know, having that religious counterpart in your
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: your repertoire of your victims, or if it's just a
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: matter of he was really into some dark shit and
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 1: Nazi memorabilia and loved Hitler and so it's like, damn,
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: that's basically Satan right there, Okay, and then it's generated
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: from there.
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 2: He's a scary dude, he is.
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: Very much so. And he's still alive today and he's
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 1: still trying to get parole.
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 2: Huh. I don't know why, but I wasn't. I was
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 2: kind of like not expecting him to still be alive.
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 2: I know, like after everything that he's done and he
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 2: gets to freaking live and tell he is in you know,
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 2: his old age. How the shit Is that fair?
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: Not fair at all, not fair in the slightest. But
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 1: here we are. Well. If you have thoughts, let us know.
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 1: Reach out to us Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, all those sort
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: of things, email, whatever you want to do, give us
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: a reach out. Stuff is in the description of this podcast,
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: tough Stuff. I'm tired. Okay, it's things. Stuff and things
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: is down there. Check it out. Do your stuff and things.
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 2: Thanks for being here and until next time, stay a
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 2: b oh oh oh