Crime student studying serial killers suspected of killing up to six women.

Daily Telegraph

A crime student who specialised in researching serial killers is
being linked
to the murders of up to six women on the streets once stalked by the
Yorkshire Ripper.



Stephen Griffiths, a mature student at Bradford University, is being
questioned by police over the killings of Susan Rushworth, 43, Shelley

Armitage, 31, and Suzanne Blamires, 36, pictured, three prostitutes
who
worked in Bradford’s red light district and went missing over the past
year.




Police found parts of a woman’s body in a river on Tuesday after calls
from
members of the public. It is understood that a severed head was
discovered
in a rucksack.

West Yorkshire police were last night checking missing persons files. It
was
reported that they were investigating three more unsolved murders
possibly
linked to the case. Mr Griffiths, 40, who is studying criminal
justice,
specialising in homicide, is a postgraduate student with a degree in
psychology.


The bachelor lives in Bradford’s red light district. One neighbour said
he
would walk around in a long black leather coat and boast he was doing a
“PhD
in Jack the Ripper”.


On a social networking website, there is an entry under his alleged
alter-ego
of “Ven Pariah” saying he is “the misanthrope who brought hate into
heaven”.


It is understood that Mr Griffiths was detained after detectives studied
CCTV
footage from the city centre over the weekend, when Miss Blamires went

missing.


Separate searches for all the missing women had been continuing
throughout
Bradford but until yesterday police refused to link them.


Miss Rushworth was the first to go missing, on June 22 last year. She
spent
the previous evening with her family in Thornton before returning to
her
bedsit in Manningham.


Miss Armitage was last seen on CCTV cameras at 10pm on Monday, April 26,
close
to the city centre and again in the red light district.

Miss Blamires went missing on Friday. She was friends with Miss Armitage
and
lived a few streets away from her in Bradford’s Allerton district.


Mr Griffiths was arrested on Monday and the scope of the inquiry was
expanded
to link the other women.


At the same time as he was detained, a person found parts of a body in
the
River Aire, in nearby Shipley. Officers are yet to identify the
victim.


The developments evoked memories of Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire
Ripper, who
was convicted in 1981 of 13 murders and seven attempted murders of
women,
mainly prostitutes.


He lived in Bradford and killed three of his victims in the city.


Assistant Chief Constable Jawaid Akhtar said police had been granted
extra
time to question Mr Griffiths.

“It is a very thorough and painstaking inquiry into three missing women,
all
of them sex workers, with all the necessary resources and expertise
devoted
to it,” he said.


Mr Griffiths was arrested by about 40 armed police at his flat.
Forensics
officers spent the day searching the third floor of the property, a
converted mill building.


Neighbours said he bred rats to feed to his pet lizards.


One said: “He claimed he was doing a PhD in murder and Jack the Ripper.”


To neighbours and regulars in the local pub he walked past every day, he
was
known as “Penfold” because he wore round glasses and a dark overcoat
like
the cartoon character in Danger Mouse.

Locals, who would not be named, said Mr Griffiths was a “loner” and a
“goth”.
Mr Griffiths, who lived alone, had been renting his flat since 2001.


Detectives will study links with the murder of three other women in the
area,
including Rebecca Hall, who died in Bradford in April 2001.


The body of the 19-year-old sex worker was found dumped in an alleyway
two
weeks after she went missing.


Other cases being looked at include the disappearance of Gemma Simpson,
23, in
2000, and Yvonne Fitt, who went missing in January 1992.


Police said they were not formally linking the cases to the current
inquiry at
present.

It's quite telling that there was so little in the news about the disappearance of these women. Not the right sort of victim I suppose...I wonder if this man could also be linked to the Claudia Lawrence case ? York is not far from Bradford. I know she wasn't a prostitute, but Peter Sutcliffe also killed 'innocent' women..as the judge put it at the time!!

fedrules wrote:It's quite telling that there was so little in the news about the disappearance of these women. Not the right sort of victim I suppose...I wonder if this man could also be linked to the Claudia Lawrence case ? York is not far from Bradford. I know she wasn't a prostitute, but Peter Sutcliffe also killed 'innocent' women..as the judge put it at the time!!

It's almost like...those women take their chances and it's their own fault and not worth much of a mention when they disappear.

Daily Telegraph
Stephen Griffiths, a PhD student researching Jack the Ripper, will appear in court on Friday charged with the murders of three prostitutes in
Bradford.

The 40-year-old is alleged to have killed Suzanne Blamires, Susan
Rushworth and Shelley Armitage within the city's red light district in the past 11 months.

Miss Blamires, 36, was executed with a crossbow and "severely dismembered" before some of her remains were dumped in a river.

Her mother said last night that her daughter had "taken the wrong path" in life but that she was a "much-loved" family member.


Nicky Blamires, 54, said: "Nobody deserves this. All these girls were human beings and people's daughters."


The Daily Telegraph can disclose that Mr Griffiths had previously been treated for psychiatric problems at the high-security Rampton
hospital.

The search continues for the bodies of Miss Rushworth, 43, and Miss Armitage, 31, who disappeared from Bradford's red light district – the same streets once stalked by Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper.

Officers were searching waste ground yesterday and planned to trawl landfill sites.

Forensic searches at Mr Griffiths's one-bedroom flat in Holmfield Court are expected to continue for up to three weeks.


Police were alerted on Monday by a caretaker who was reviewing CCTV footage from the block of flats. The recording showed a man and a woman go into a flat in the early hours of Saturday before she ran out fully-clothed two minutes later.


The man followed and beat her to the floor, then produced a crossbow before shooting a bolt through her head and dragging the body out of view. He was later seen carrying bin liners and a rucksack at various times over the weekend.


On Tuesday, a day after police had arrested Mr Griffiths, parts of Miss Blamires body were found in the River Aire in nearby Shipley. It is
understood that a severed head was discovered in a rucksack.


Detectives may widen the inquiry in the next few months to study links with the murder of three other women in the area, but they are not formally linking the cases to the current inquiry at present.


Peter Mann, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said there was sufficient evidence to charge Mr Griffiths with all three murders. He will appear
at Bradford magistrates' court this morning.

Sky News

A former public schoolboy appearing in court charged with murdering three prostitutes has told magistrates his name is "Crossbow Cannibal".

Stephen Griffiths, 40, is accused of killing Suzanne Blamires, Shelley Armitage and Susan Rushworth, who all went missing in Yorkshire.

Griffiths, who was wearing a black shirt and navy blue jeans, appeared at Bradford Magistrates' Court.

Later he appeared at Bradford Crown Court where he was remanded in custody until June 7.

Sky News correspondent Tom Parmenter said that there were gasps in the magistrates court when Griffiths was asked to confirm his name and said: "The crossbow cannibal."

Asked for his address, Griffiths replied: "Erm ... here I guess."

The charges followed confirmation that body parts found in a river belonged to Ms Blamires.

The remains were found on Tuesday afternoon close to where the busy Otley Road crosses the River Aire in Shipley.

Ms Blamires was last seen a week ago, while Ms Armitage, 31, has been missing since Monday, April 26. Ms Rushworth, 43, disappeared on June 22, last year.

Police have not recovered any remains of Ms Armitage or Ms Rushworth.

Griffiths, who is reported to be a psychology graduate undertaking postgraduate research in criminology at Bradford University, was arrested on Monday at his home on the edge of the city's red-light district."

Stephen Griffiths had been studying serial killers, many of whom enjoyed the notoriety and there are some who have even wanted to be the greatest serial killer of all time. Stephen Griffiths, I think, wants to make sure he enters the history books as a unique killer in the annals of serial killers. He is establishing a name for himself immediately. He's not the new Yorkshire Ripper, he's the 'Crossbow Cannibal.' There was a story in one of the tabloids today about someone claiming to have seen Griffiths swallow a live baby rat whole. Now, that made me shudder a little and would probably affect many others the same way, but it appears that Stephen Griffiths is embracing the role and hoping to be remembered for it, as 'The Crossbow Cannibal.'

Anorak

"Stephen Griffiths Is The Crossbow Cannibal: Now For The Book."

Read the whole article on the Anorak web site.

It's being reported that more body parts have been recovered from the River Ayre(sp)...
This man seems to want an identity of his own so he calls hmself the "crossbow cannibal". It separates him from other infamous killers and gives him a "title" he can call his own. Such is the need for narcissistic importance.

geowoo wrote:It's being reported that more body parts have been recovered from the River Ayre(sp)...
This man seems to want an identity of his own so he calls hmself the "crossbow cannibal". It separates him from other infamous killers and gives him a "title" he can call his own. Such is the need for narcissistic importance.

This is quite common for serial killers. They want the fame and recognition and Stephen Griffith wants to go down in history as, 'The Crossbow Cannibal,' not as the new Yorkshire Ripper. Serial killers get some kind of perverted satisfaction in reading about their crimes in all their gory details and this sicko is showing himself to be just like that. He will wallow in the fame and the attention focused on him when this goes to court. He may find though, like certain other serial killers, he gets some rather less welcome attention from his fellow inmates.

Sky news have reported and updated their reports about the search for further victims in Bradford:

This is the most recent.

7:45, May 31 ,2010.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Bradford-Murder-Inquiry-Remains-Found-In-River-Aire-Not-Human-Say-Yorkshire-Police/Article/201005415640895?lpos=UK_News_Carousel_Region_2&lid=ARTICLE_15640895_Bradford_Murder_Inquiry%3A_Remains_Found_In_River_Aire_Not_Human%2C_Say_Yorkshire_Police

Moderators...the link is the best I can do.

geowoo wrote:Sky news have reported and updated their reports about the search for further victims in Bradford:

This is the most recent.

7:45, May 31 ,2010.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Bradford-Murder-Inquiry-Remains-Found-In-River-Aire-Not-Human-Say-Yorkshire-Police/Article/201005415640895?lpos=UK_News_Carousel_Region_2&lid=ARTICLE_15640895_Bradford_Murder_Inquiry%3A_Remains_Found_In_River_Aire_Not_Human%2C_Say_Yorkshire_Police

Moderators...the link is the best I can do.

The link's OK! It works! What more could anyone want?

Remains not human, but I hope the bodies of those women can be found.