Colin Ireland
Encyclopedia
Colin Ireland is a British
serial killer
known as the "Gay Slayer" because he specifically murdered gay
men. His victims were five men.
Ireland, who had picked up convictions for burglary
and robbery
in his twenties, decided to become a serial killer as a New Year resolution at the beginning of 1993. That year, while living in Southend
, he started frequenting The Coleherne pub
, a gay pub
in west London
. It was known as a place where men cruised for sexual partners and wore colour coded handkerchiefs
that indicated their preferred role. Ireland sought men who liked the passive role and sadomasochism, so he could readily restrain them as they initially believed it was a sexual game.
Ireland claimed to be heterosexual — he had been married — and that he pretended to be gay only to befriend potential victims. It is unknown whether Ireland's murders were sexually motivated. Ireland was highly organised. He carried a full murder kit of rope and handcuffs and a full change of clothes to each murder. After killing the victim he cleaned the flat of any forensic evidence linking him to the scene and stayed in the flat until morning in order to avoid arousing suspicion from leaving in the middle of the night.
. There he was bound, and ultimately suffocated by a plastic bag over his head.
Ireland placed two teddy bears in a 69 position on the body. Ireland left Walker's dogs locked in another room. The day after the murder, having heard no news reports of the crime, he called Samaritans
and a journalist from The Sun
newspaper, advising them of the dogs, and that he had murdered their master.
. Dunn's death was initially believed to be an accident that occurred during an erotic game. In addition, because he lived in a different area from Walker, a different set of investigators worked on the case. For these reasons the death was not linked to Walker's.
and was the son of a prominent politician from Texas
.
The two men returned to Bradley's flat, where Ireland suggested that he tie Bradley up. Bradley expressed his displeasure at the idea of sado-masochism. In order to get Bradley to comply, Ireland told Bradley that he was unable to perform sexually without elements of bondage. Bradley hesitantly cooperated and was soon trussed up on his own bed, face down, with a noose around his neck.
After Ireland had secured Bradley, he demanded money from him and demanded his PIN under the threat of torture. Ireland assured Bradley that he was merely a thief and would leave after he secured Bradley's money. After Bradley gave Ireland his PIN, which Ireland later used to steal £200, along with £100 in cash stolen from Bradley's flat, Ireland told Bradley that he should go to sleep, as he wouldn't be leaving his flat for hours. Bradley eventually did fall asleep and Ireland momentarily thought of leaving Bradley unharmed. Ireland then realized that Bradley could identify him, and he pulled the noose that he had earlier attached around Bradley's neck and strangled him. Before leaving Bradley's flat, he placed a doll on top of the dead man's body.
Bradley was described in police reports as heterosexual. This was not true and perhaps done to protect his family. This contributed to the failure by investigators to link the different murders.
. After entering the flat there was a disturbance outside and both men went to the window to investigate. Ireland gripped a horizontal metal bar that ran across the window. He later forgot to wipe the bar for prints during his usual cleanup phase. The police found this fingerprint.
Once he had tied up his victim on the bed, Ireland again demanded his victim's bank details. This time his victim refused to comply. Ireland killed Collier's cat in Collier's presence whilst he was restrained on the bed. Ireland then strangled Collier with a noose. He put a condom on Collier's penis and placed the dead cats' mouth over it, and placed the cat's tail into Collier's mouth.
Ireland had become angered at discovering Collier was HIV positive while rummaging through his personal effects looking for bank details. A suspected reason for killing the cat was because after Ireland killed Walker and had left his dogs locked in a separate room, he called anonymously to advise of the dogs being locked up. As a result the media called the killer an animal lover. He strangled the cat to demonstrate that the "animal lover" assumption had been wrong.
Ireland left the next morning with £70, he also left a clue for the police by putting a condom in Collier's mouth, just as he had done to Walker, creating an obvious link between the two murders.
, and again Spiteri was persuaded to be cuffed and bound on his bed. Once more, Ireland demanded his bank number but did not obtain it. He again used a noose to kill his victim.
After carrying out his post-murder ritual of cleaning and clearing the scene, Ireland set fire to the flat and left. He rang the police later to tell them to look for a body at the scene of a fire and added that he would probably not kill again.
and the wider community that a serial killer who specifically targeted gay men was operating.
Investigations revealed that Spiteri had left the pub and travelled home with his killer by train, and a security video successfully captured the two of them on the railway platform at Charing Cross
station. Ireland recognised himself and decided to tell police he was the man with Spiteri but not the killer — he claimed to have left Spiteri in the flat with another man. However, police had also found the fingerprints in Collier's flat which matched those of Ireland.
against gay men, but picked on them because they were the easiest targets. He had robbed those he killed to finance his killings because he was unemployed at the time, and he needed funds to travel to and from London when hunting for victims.
When his case came to the Old Bailey
on 20 December 1993, Ireland admitted all charges and was given life sentences for each. The judge, Mr Justice Sachs, said he was "exceptionally frightening and dangerous", adding: "To take one human life is an outrage; to take five is carnage."
On 22 December 2006, Ireland was one of 35 life sentence prisoners whose names appeared on the Home Office's
list of prisoners who had been issued with whole life tariff
s and were unlikely ever to be released.
song, Archives Of Pain.
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
known as the "Gay Slayer" because he specifically murdered gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
men. His victims were five men.
Ireland, who had picked up convictions for burglary
Burglary
Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...
and robbery
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
in his twenties, decided to become a serial killer as a New Year resolution at the beginning of 1993. That year, while living in Southend
Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea is a unitary authority area, town, and seaside resort in Essex, England. The district has Borough status, and comprises the towns of Chalkwell, Eastwood, Leigh-on-Sea, North Shoebury, Prittlewell, Shoeburyness, Southchurch, Thorpe Bay, and Westcliff-on-Sea. The district is situated...
, he started frequenting The Coleherne pub
Coleherne pub
The Coleherne public house was a gay pub in west London. Located at 261 Old Brompton Road, Earls Court, it was a popular landmark Leather bar during the 1970s and 1980s....
, a gay pub
Gay bar
A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender clientele; the term gay is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT and queer communities...
in west London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. It was known as a place where men cruised for sexual partners and wore colour coded handkerchiefs
Handkerchief code
Handkerchief code or hanky code is color-coded system, employed usually among the gay male casual-sex seekers or BDSM practitioners in the leather subculture in the United States, Canada and Europe, to indicate preferred fetishes, what kind of sex they are seeking, and whether they are a...
that indicated their preferred role. Ireland sought men who liked the passive role and sadomasochism, so he could readily restrain them as they initially believed it was a sexual game.
Ireland claimed to be heterosexual — he had been married — and that he pretended to be gay only to befriend potential victims. It is unknown whether Ireland's murders were sexually motivated. Ireland was highly organised. He carried a full murder kit of rope and handcuffs and a full change of clothes to each murder. After killing the victim he cleaned the flat of any forensic evidence linking him to the scene and stayed in the flat until morning in order to avoid arousing suspicion from leaving in the middle of the night.
Murders
The Victims- 8 March 1993 – Peter Walker, 45
- 28 May 1993 - Christopher Dunn, 37
- 4 June 1993 – Perry Bradley III, 35
- 7 June 1993 – Andrew Collier, 33
- 12 June 1993 – Emanuel Spiteri, 41
Peter Walker
Walker, a 45-year-old choreographer, took Ireland back to his flat in BatterseaBattersea
Battersea is an area of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is an inner-city district of South London, situated on the south side of the River Thames, 2.9 miles south-west of Charing Cross. Battersea spans from Fairfield in the west to Queenstown in the east...
. There he was bound, and ultimately suffocated by a plastic bag over his head.
Ireland placed two teddy bears in a 69 position on the body. Ireland left Walker's dogs locked in another room. The day after the murder, having heard no news reports of the crime, he called Samaritans
Samaritans (charity)
Samaritans is a registered charity aimed at providing emotional support to anyone in emotional distress or at risk of suicide throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland, often through their telephone helpline. The name comes from the Biblical parable of the Good Samaritan, though the organisation...
and a journalist from The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
newspaper, advising them of the dogs, and that he had murdered their master.
Christopher Dunn
Dunn was a 37-year-old librarian who lived in WealdstoneWealdstone
Wealdstone is a largely working-class and recent immigrant district in the London Borough of Harrow, north west London.-History and name:The eponymous Weald Stone is a sarsen stone, formerly marking the boundary between the parish of Harrow and Harrow Weald...
. Dunn's death was initially believed to be an accident that occurred during an erotic game. In addition, because he lived in a different area from Walker, a different set of investigators worked on the case. For these reasons the death was not linked to Walker's.
Perry Bradley III
Ireland met a 35-year-old businessman, named Perry Bradley III, at the Colherne pub. Bradley lived in KensingtonKensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
and was the son of a prominent politician from Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
.
The two men returned to Bradley's flat, where Ireland suggested that he tie Bradley up. Bradley expressed his displeasure at the idea of sado-masochism. In order to get Bradley to comply, Ireland told Bradley that he was unable to perform sexually without elements of bondage. Bradley hesitantly cooperated and was soon trussed up on his own bed, face down, with a noose around his neck.
After Ireland had secured Bradley, he demanded money from him and demanded his PIN under the threat of torture. Ireland assured Bradley that he was merely a thief and would leave after he secured Bradley's money. After Bradley gave Ireland his PIN, which Ireland later used to steal £200, along with £100 in cash stolen from Bradley's flat, Ireland told Bradley that he should go to sleep, as he wouldn't be leaving his flat for hours. Bradley eventually did fall asleep and Ireland momentarily thought of leaving Bradley unharmed. Ireland then realized that Bradley could identify him, and he pulled the noose that he had earlier attached around Bradley's neck and strangled him. Before leaving Bradley's flat, he placed a doll on top of the dead man's body.
Bradley was described in police reports as heterosexual. This was not true and perhaps done to protect his family. This contributed to the failure by investigators to link the different murders.
Andrew Collier
Ireland, angered that he had received no publicity even after three murders, killed again within three days. At the pub he met and courted 33-year-old Andrew Collier, a housing warden, and the pair went to Collier's home in DalstonDalston
Dalston is a district of north-east London, England, located in the London Borough of Hackney. It is situated northeast of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...
. After entering the flat there was a disturbance outside and both men went to the window to investigate. Ireland gripped a horizontal metal bar that ran across the window. He later forgot to wipe the bar for prints during his usual cleanup phase. The police found this fingerprint.
Once he had tied up his victim on the bed, Ireland again demanded his victim's bank details. This time his victim refused to comply. Ireland killed Collier's cat in Collier's presence whilst he was restrained on the bed. Ireland then strangled Collier with a noose. He put a condom on Collier's penis and placed the dead cats' mouth over it, and placed the cat's tail into Collier's mouth.
Ireland had become angered at discovering Collier was HIV positive while rummaging through his personal effects looking for bank details. A suspected reason for killing the cat was because after Ireland killed Walker and had left his dogs locked in a separate room, he called anonymously to advise of the dogs being locked up. As a result the media called the killer an animal lover. He strangled the cat to demonstrate that the "animal lover" assumption had been wrong.
Ireland left the next morning with £70, he also left a clue for the police by putting a condom in Collier's mouth, just as he had done to Walker, creating an obvious link between the two murders.
Emanuel Spiteri
The fifth victim of Ireland's series (he had read that serial killers needed at least five victims to qualify as such) was Emanuel Spiteri, aged 41, a chef whom Ireland had met in the same pub. They went to Spiteri's flat in Hither GreenHither Green
Hither Green is a district in south east London, England, located in the London Borough of Lewisham. It is situated 6.6 miles south east of Charing Cross, and on the Prime Meridian....
, and again Spiteri was persuaded to be cuffed and bound on his bed. Once more, Ireland demanded his bank number but did not obtain it. He again used a noose to kill his victim.
After carrying out his post-murder ritual of cleaning and clearing the scene, Ireland set fire to the flat and left. He rang the police later to tell them to look for a body at the scene of a fire and added that he would probably not kill again.
The connection
The police eventually connected all five killings. The crimes were widely publicised through the mainstream media and it was quickly known in the gay communityGay community
The gay community, or LGBT community, is a loosely defined grouping of LGBT and LGBT-supportive people, organizations and subcultures, united by a common culture and civil rights movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individuality, and sexuality...
and the wider community that a serial killer who specifically targeted gay men was operating.
Investigations revealed that Spiteri had left the pub and travelled home with his killer by train, and a security video successfully captured the two of them on the railway platform at Charing Cross
Charing Cross
Charing Cross denotes the junction of Strand, Whitehall and Cockspur Street, just south of Trafalgar Square in central London, England. It is named after the now demolished Eleanor cross that stood there, in what was once the hamlet of Charing. The site of the cross is now occupied by an equestrian...
station. Ireland recognised himself and decided to tell police he was the man with Spiteri but not the killer — he claimed to have left Spiteri in the flat with another man. However, police had also found the fingerprints in Collier's flat which matched those of Ireland.
Convictions and imprisonment
He was charged with the murders of Collier and Spiteri, and confessed to the other three while awaiting trial in prison. He told police that he had no vendettaFeud
A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight between parties—often groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one party perceives itself to have been attacked, insulted or wronged by another...
against gay men, but picked on them because they were the easiest targets. He had robbed those he killed to finance his killings because he was unemployed at the time, and he needed funds to travel to and from London when hunting for victims.
When his case came to the Old Bailey
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court in England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street in which it stands, is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court...
on 20 December 1993, Ireland admitted all charges and was given life sentences for each. The judge, Mr Justice Sachs, said he was "exceptionally frightening and dangerous", adding: "To take one human life is an outrage; to take five is carnage."
On 22 December 2006, Ireland was one of 35 life sentence prisoners whose names appeared on the Home Office's
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
list of prisoners who had been issued with whole life tariff
Whole life tariff
This is a list of prisoners who have received a whole life tariff through some mechanism in jurisdictions of the United Kingdom.Eight of these prisoners have since died in prison, while three of them have had their sentences reduced on appeal, meaning that there are currently at least 48 prisoners...
s and were unlikely ever to be released.
Popular culture
Ireland has since become the subject of many books on serial killers, and is mentioned in the Manic Street PreachersManic Street Preachers
Manic Street Preachers are a Welsh alternative rock band, formed in 1986. They are James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Richey Edwards and Sean Moore. The band are part of the Cardiff music scene, and were at their most prominent during the 1990s...
song, Archives Of Pain.