John Duffy and David Mulcahy - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

John Duffy and David Mulcahy (born 1959) are two British

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

rapists

Rape

Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

and 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...

s who together attacked numerous women at railway stations in the south of England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

through the 1980s. They are known as the Railway Rapists and the Railway Killers.

The first attacks

In 1982 a woman (KJ) was raped by two men near Hampstead Heath station

Hampstead Heath railway station

Hampstead Heath railway station is in London on the North London Line, between and stations. Since 11 November 2007 it and the service there have been run by London Overground.The typical service at the station in trains per hour is:...

and subsequently eighteen more were attacked over the next year. More occurred through 1984 and then three were raped on the same night in 1985 in Hendon

Hendon

Hendon is a London suburb situated northwest of Charing Cross.-History:Hendon was historically a civil parish in the county of Middlesex. The manor is described in Domesday , but the name, 'Hendun' meaning 'at the highest hill', is earlier...

. Police set up an urgent investigation to try to find the perpetrators, called Operation Hart.

The name of Duffy, a martial arts

Martial arts

Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....

instructor, was touted as a suspect

Suspect

In the parlance of criminal justice, a suspect is a known person suspected of committing a crime.Police and reporters often incorrectly use the word suspect when referring to the...

among thousands of other names as he was a known sex offender, having been previously convicted of the rape of his wife. Rope found in his parents' house linked him to the second murder victim. Mulcahy was also questioned due to his close friendship with Duffy, but victims were still traumatised and unable to pick him out of an identity parade. Mulcahy was released for lack of evidence.

The switch to murder

On 29 December 1985, Alison Day, 19, was dragged off a train at Hackney Wick

London Borough of Hackney

The London Borough of Hackney is a London borough of North/North East London, and forms part of inner London. The local authority is Hackney London Borough Council....

station by Duffy and Mulcahy and repeatedly raped. She was then strangled with a piece of string.

Police further stepped up their search for the attacker who had been coined by the press

Mass media

Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

as the Railway Rapist. The death of Alison Day changed this moniker to the Railway Killer, a tag reinforced by the rape and murder of 15-year-old Maartje Tamboezer in West Horsley

West Horsley

West Horsley is a small village between Guildford and Leatherhead in Surrey, England. Neighbouring villages include East Horsley, Ockham, West Clandon and East Clandon. It lies on the A246, and south of the M25 and the A3. The Sheepleas Woods are located in the extreme south of the village, and...

on 17 April 1986. As well as rape and strangulation, Maartje's body was set on fire. A month later on 18 May 1986, local TV presenter Anne Locke, 29, was abducted and murdered as she dismounted a train in Brookmans Park

Brookmans Park railway station

Brookmans Park railway station serves the village of Brookmans Park in Hertfordshire, England. The station is located north of London Kings Cross on the East Coast Main Line, on the stretch between and .-History:...

, Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

New methods

Police brought in a psychologist

Psychology

Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

from the University of Surrey

University of Surrey

The University of Surrey is a university located within the county town of Guildford, Surrey in the South East of England. It received its charter on 9 September 1966, and was previously situated near Battersea Park in south-west London. The institution was known as Battersea College of Technology...

, Dr. David Canter

David Canter

David V. Canter is a psychologist. He began his career as an architectural psychologist studying the interactions between people and buildings, publishing and providing consultancy on the designs of offices, schools, prisons, housing and other building forms as well as exploring how people made...

, to help their inquiries. There had been no previous use in Britain of "psychological offender profiling

Offender profiling

Offender profiling, also known as criminal profiling, is a behavioral and investigative tool that is intended to help investigators to profile unknown criminal subjects or offenders. Offender profiling is also known as criminal profiling, criminal personality profiling, criminological profiling,...

" as it was known, but something fresh was required as three women had been murdered and numerous others raped, with little progress being made. Canter examined the details of each crime and built up a profile of the attacker's personality, habits and traits. While this continued, another attack took place as a 14-year-old girl was raped in a park (David Canter was a psychologist working in the field of geographical psychology at the time). This enquiry led him to set up Investigative Psychology in which he has become an acknowledged expert in the field.

The breakthrough

As well as working together with Mulcahy, Duffy had started to rape alone and he was arrested while following a woman in a secluded park, he was questioned also about the spate of rapes and murders, and the next day charged on all counts. Police knew he had not committed the offences alone, but Duffy was not forthcoming about his accomplice.

Guilty

Duffy went on trial in February 1988 and was convicted of two murders and four rapes, although he was acquitted

Acquittal

In the common law tradition, an acquittal formally certifies the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as the criminal law is concerned. This is so even where the prosecution is abandoned nolle prosequi...

of raping and killing Anne Locke. He was given a minimum tariff of 30 years by the judge, later extended to a 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...

by the Home Secretary

Home Secretary

The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...

. A European Court of Human Rights

European Court of Human Rights

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...

ruling later removed the right of politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

s to reset sentence tariffs, and so Duffy's stay in prison was reverted to the original 30 years. He will be in prison until at least 2018 and the age of 59.

Much was made of the psychological profile constructed by Canter after the trial, as Duffy fitted 13 of the 17 observations made about the attacker's lifestyle and habits. Such profiling became immediately commonplace in policing thereafter.

The accomplice is found

Following his conviction, Duffy revealed to a forensic psychologist

Forensic psychology

Forensic psychology is the intersection between psychology and the criminal justice system. It involves understanding criminal law in the relevant jurisdictions in order to be able to interact appropriately with judges, attorneys and other legal professionals...

what the police knew already - that he had not attacked the women alone. However, he chose to reveal no more until 1997 when he implicated Mulcahy, a lifelong friend with whom Duffy had been inseparable since their days together at school in Haverstock

Haverstock

Haverstock is an area and electoral ward in the London Borough of Camden. It is centred around Haverstock Hill and Chalk Farm, with Gospel Oak to the north; Kentish Town to the east; Camden Town to the south, and Swiss Cottage to the west....

, North London

North London

North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...

. Duffy also admitted his involvement in the attack on Anne Locke, although he could not be re-tried for this under the double jeopardy

Double jeopardy

Double jeopardy is a procedural defense that forbids a defendant from being tried again on the same, or similar charges following a legitimate acquittal or conviction...

rule.

However, Mulcahy - a married father of four - could still be implicated and following Duffy's claims, he was tracked for several months by police prior to his arrest and DNA

DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

-tests (which were not yet in use during the original investigation) also proved his involvement conclusively. In 2000, Duffy appeared at 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...

as a witness against Mulcahy and gave detailed evidence over 14 days. It was the first time a highest-category prisoner had ever given evidence against an accomplice.

Mulcahy emerged through the trial from prosecution evidence as the chief perpetrator and the first to decide that sexual stimulation wasn't enough of a thrill any more, so turning to murder.

Mulcahy was convicted of three murders and seven rapes and handed 3 life sentences, with a 30-year recommendation. He was not later given a whole life tariff, as the ruling barring politically-set tariffs had been made by the time his case was due for review.

Duffy was convicted of 17 more rapes and received a further 12 years. Neither man is expected to ever be released from prison alive. Police suspect them of countless other sex attacks, some dating back to the mid-1970s, while Mulcahy is also suspected of attacks which took place after Duffy was jailed.

There has been occasional publicity for the pairing since Mulcahy's imprisonment, including newspaper claims that Duffy was paid £20,000 in return for information about his accomplice; and that Mulcahy has become a feared loan shark

Loan shark

A loan shark is a person or body that offers unsecured loans at illegally high interest rates to individuals, often enforcing repayment by blackmail or threats of violence....

from his prison cell.

In 2001, a television movie Witness of Truth: The Railway Murders was released, starring Huw Higginson

Huw Higginson

Huw Higginson is an English actor. He is most famous for playing PC George Garfield in The Bill from 1989 to 1999. He has appeared in Heartbeat, EastEnders, Casualty and Jessica...

and Nicholas Marchie as Duffy and Mulcahy, respectively.

External links

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