The Crime Web: Colin Ireland

Colin Ireland

Colin Ireland enjoyed taunting police when each murder was reported in the media. He yearned to be as famous as any of the American Serial Killers.

According to the FBI Handbook Whoever Fights Monsters by reknown Serial Killer profiler Robert Ressler, a serial killer had to kill at least five to become well known and classed as a serial killer.

Colin had read the book and used it as his killer's manual in his quest to become a serial killer. He meticulously planned each murder as he set out to become a famous serial killer. He even stated in a phone call to police "I have got the book, I know how many you have to do..."

He told police that he enjoyed the thrill of the notoriety the killings gave him once caught.

Like contemporaries Lake and Ng, Colin Ireland was also a fanatical survival enthusiast who enjoyed the thrill of the hunt as well as the kill.

Coleherne Pub in London's Earl's Court district was to be the hunting ground for the killer.

Ireland chose gay sado-masochistic men because they were willing to get tied up. Also, he believed that the public would feel less sympathy for them.

On March 9, 1993, Colin met his first victim, 45 year old Peter Walker. The theatre director invited Ireland back to his flat where they could get a little more well acquainted. Little did Walker know that Ireland had brought with him a cord, knife and a pair of gloves.

At the flat, Ireland told Walker to lie naked on the bed before tying him down and whipping him. The shackled man could do nothing as Ireland placed a plastic bag over the man's head and suffocated him.

Watching the papers for two days, without any mention of the murder, Ireland decided to show police the way to the dead man.

He rung the local newspaper and the Samaritans to ask if someone could let out the dogs trapped inside the man's flat.

With his first kill over complete, Ireland found it easier to kill the next time.

On May 29 the same year Ireland struck again. At the pub again he picked up 37 year old Chris Dunn. Back at Dunn's flat again Ireland tied his victim to the bed, this time he used handcuffs though. He then proceeded to beat the man with a belt and then tortured Dunn with a cigarette lighter against his genitals. When he was done torturing the victim, Ireland strangled him.

The next victim, Perry Bradley was also picked up by Ireland at the Coleherne Pub on June 4, 1993. The two men retired to Bradley's flat, where Bradley fell asleep, Ireland had doubts about killing the man, but then decided it "easier to kill him" and strangled him with the cord he brought with him on all his killings.

Ireland was starting to get a little cocky, knowing he was getting closer to the notoriety of a serial killer. Victim number four would be murdered only a few days later on June 8, 1993.

33 year old Andrew Collier was picked up by Ireland at the pub and the men returned to Collier's house. Wondering around the house talkingto Collier he discovered that Collier was in fact HIV positive, Ireland became enraged, how dare he not let Ireland know or even offer sexual protection. Ireland killed him in the same manner as the others. Collier was tied down on his bed, beaten with the belt then strangled. Ireland also left Collier's cat dead. He broke it's neck before leaving.

The investigations weren't going as well as Ireland had hoped, he had wanted to see the murders across the front page of all the papers but to no avail. So he began to taunt police with anonymous phone calls. But used vital clues pertinent to the murders to show they were linked. He said hat after reading that he was an animal lover by asking someone to let out and feed Walker's dogs. He told them that at his most recent one he killed the cat to show they were wrong. When police found Collier and his cat, they were in shock to learn they were indeed chasing a serial killer who was targeting gays.

Victim number five was killed within a week of Collier. This time on June 13, Emmanuel Spiteri was picked up by Ireland and taken back to the victim's flat. The 42 year old man was tied up on the bed and beaten and tortured. Ireland was impressed b the man's strong will but killed him in the same manner as the others.

This time however Ireland was not so lucky to get away with murder. A video surveillance camera had picked up the two men as they walked along Charing Cross station together. Fearing he would be charged with murder, Ireland approached the police and said that the two men had met up with another man before adjourning to the man's flat.

However the phone call's police had received from the killer matched the voice of Ireland and his fingerprints were all over the crime scene.

He was charged with the man's murder and soon after admitted to the other four murders as well.

Ireland was sentenced in December 1993 to five life sentences and told he would never be released from prison.

According to some sources Ireland killed again in prison but the case was not pursued. The murder was committed while Colin was in Wakefield Prison, Yorkshire. Two weeks after, he was moved to Whitemoor Prison, Cambridgeshire.

Bibliography

www.mayhem.net

Newspaper articles from the time

Encyclopedia of Serial Killers: Nigel Blundell, PRG

Case By Korey Sifuentes

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Original Written: June 14, 2000

Updated: February 17, 2002