List of United Kingdom criminals
Encyclopedia
This is a list of British
people who have been convicted of serious crime
s, or are notable for their criminal activities.
.
British Suicide bomber
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...
people who have been convicted of serious crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
s, or are notable for their criminal activities.
Murderers
Britons convicted of murderMurder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
.
- Roy Whiting, responsible for the murder of Sarah Payne.
- Ian Huntley, convicted of the Soham murdersSoham murdersThe Soham murders was an English murder case in 2002 of two 10-year-old girls in the village of Soham, Cambridgeshire.The victims were Holly Marie Wells and Jessica Aimee Chapman...
. - Kenneth NoyeKenneth NoyeKenneth James Noye is a British criminal who was convicted of the 1996 murder of Stephen Cameron.Noye was involved in laundering the proceeds of the Brink's-MAT robbery in 1983–4. While he was being investigated for his part in the robbery, he stabbed to death police officer John Fordham who was...
, the M25 road-rage killer. - Michael Barton, convicted of the race-hate killing of Anthony Walker.
- Paul Taylor, convicted of the race-hate killing of Anthony Walker.
Serial killers
- Beverley Allitt – aka "Angel of Death"; paediatric nurse who killed four babies in her care and injured at least nine others; sentenced to life imprisonment in 1991.
- Robert BlackRobert Black (serial killer)Robert Black is a Scottish paedophile serial killer convicted of the kidnap and murder of four girls between the ages of 5 and 11 between 1981 and 1986 in the United Kingdom. He was convicted of sexually assaulting one of the girls and of raping the other three...
– Scottish schoolgirl killer; convicted of three murders, suspected of many more. - Ian Brady and Myra Hindley – aka "Moors Murderers"; murdered five children, aged between 10 and 17 and buried them in Saddleworth MoorSaddleworth MoorSaddleworth Moor is an area of the South Pennines in northern England. It is a sparsely populated moorland and millstone grit divided between the metropolitan boroughs of Oldham and Kirklees, in Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire respectively....
. - Leslie Bailey – killed at least three young boys in and around LondonLondonLondon 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...
in the 1980s. - William Burke and William Hare – notorious body snatchers in EdinburghEdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
in the 19th century. - George ChapmanGeorge Chapman (murderer)George Chapman was a Polish serial killer known as the Borough Poisoner. Born Seweryn Antonowicz Kłosowski in Poland, he moved as an adult to England, where he committed his crimes...
– poisoned three women; suspected by some authors of being Jack the RipperJack the Ripper"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
. - John Childs – murdered six people between 1974 and 1978; sentenced to life imprisonment.
- John Reginald Halliday ChristieJohn Christie (murderer)John Reginald Halliday Christie , born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, was a notorious English serial killer active in the 1940s and '50s. He murdered at least eight females – including his wife Ethel – by strangling them in his flat at 10 Rillington Place, Notting Hill, London...
– killed at least six women (including his wife) between 1943 and 1953 and hid the bodies in his house. He has been implicated in the murders of one other woman and her infant child, of which Christie's fellow tenant, Timothy EvansTimothy EvansTimothy John Evans was a Welshman accused of murdering his wife and daughter at their residence in Notting Hill, London in November 1949. In January 1950 Evans was tried and convicted of the murder of his daughter, and he was sentenced to death by hanging...
, was convicted in 1950. - Mary Ann CottonMary Ann CottonMary Ann Cotton was an English woman convicted of murdering her children and believed to have murdered up to 21 people, mainly by arsenic poisoning.-Early life:...
– British VictorianVictorian eraThe Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
killer; said to have poisoned more than 20 victims. - Thomas Neill CreamThomas Neill CreamDr. Thomas Neill Cream , also known as the Lambeth Poisoner, was a Scottish-born serial killer, who claimed his first proven victims in the United States and the rest in England, and possibly others in Canada and Scotland...
– aka "Lambeth Poisoner"; began his killing spree in the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
then moved to London; hanged in 1892. - Amelia DyerAmelia DyerAmelia Elizabeth Dyer née Hobley was the most prolific baby farm murderer of Victorian England. She was tried and hanged for one murder, but there is little doubt she was responsible for many more similar deaths—possibly 400 or more—over a period of perhaps twenty years.-Background:Unlike many of...
– murdered infants in her care; executed in 1896. - Kenneth ErskineKenneth ErskineKenneth Erskine is an English serial killer who became known as the Stockwell Strangler.-Early life:Erskine was born in July 1963 to an English mother and Antiguan father...
– aka "Stockwell Strangler"; sentenced to life imprisonment in 1988 for murdering seven pensioners. - Steven GrievesonSteven GrievesonSteven John Grieveson is an English serial killer who was convicted on 28 February 1996 of the murders of three teenage boys in the city of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear from 1993 to 1994....
– aka "The Sunderland Strangler"; murdered three teenage boys in SunderlandCity of SunderlandThe City of Sunderland is a local government district of Tyne and Wear, in North East England, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough...
, Tyne and WearTyne and WearTyne and Wear is a metropolitan county in north east England around the mouths of the Rivers Tyne and Wear. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972...
in 1993 and 1994. - John George HaighJohn George HaighJohn George Haigh , commonly known as the "Acid Bath Murderer" , was an English serial killer during the 1940s. He was convicted of the murders of six people, although he claimed to have killed nine...
– aka the "Acid Bath Murderer" and the "Vampire of London"; active in England during the 1940s; convicted of six murders, but claimed to have killed 9; executed in 1949. - Anthony HardyAnthony Hardy-Early life:Born in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, Anthony Hardy had an apparently uneventful childhood and excelled in school and college, particularly in engineering....
– aka the "Camden Ripper"; convicted of three murders; suspected of at least four. - Trevor HardyTrevor HardyTrevor Joseph Hardy , also known as the Beast of Manchester, is a convicted British serial killer who murdered three teenage girls in the Manchester area between December 1974 and March 1976...
– aka "The Beast in the Night"; killed three teenage girls in ManchesterManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
from 1974 to 1976. - Colin IrelandColin IrelandColin Ireland is a British serial killer known as the "Gay Slayer" because he specifically murdered gay men. His victims were five men....
– aka "Gay Slayer"; killed five gay men in the early 1990s. - Michael LupoMichael LupoMichael Lupo was a homosexual serial killer originally from Italy, operating in Britain. He was based at the YSL boutique in Brompton Road, London during the 1980s.- History :...
– aka "Wolf Man"; convicted of four murders and two attempted murders. - Bruce George Peter LeeBruce George Peter LeeBruce George Peter Lee became one of Britain’s most prolific killers when he was convicted of 26 charges of manslaughter in 1981. He confessed to a total of 11 acts of arson, and was convicted of 26 counts of manslaughter. 11 of these were overturned on appeal...
– serial arsonist and killer. - Patrick MackayPatrick MackayPatrick Mackay is a serial killer who confessed to murdering eleven people in England in the mid 1970s.-Early life:...
– charged with the murders of five individuals, convicted of three; confessed to killing 11 people. - Peter ManuelPeter ManuelPeter Thomas Anthony Manuel was a United States-born Scottish serial killer who is known to have murdered nine people across Lanarkshire and southern Scotland between 1956 and his arrest in January 1958, although he is suspected of having killed as many as eighteen...
– Scottish murderer of seven, suspected of killing 15; executed in 1958. - Robert MaudsleyRobert MaudsleyRobert John Maudsley is a British serial killer responsible for the murders of four people. He committed three of these murders in prison after receiving a life sentence for a single murder...
– killer of four; killed three in prison. - Peter MoorePeter Moore (serial killer)Peter Moore is a Welsh serial killer who owned and managed a number of cinemas in Bagillt, North Wales. He murdered four men in 1995. Due to his attire he was dubbed the "man in black".-Crimes:...
– businessman who killed four men at random in WalesWalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. - Donald NeilsonDonald NeilsonDonald Neilson is a British multiple murderer and armed robber...
– aka "Black Panther; killed four people, including heiress Lesley Whittle. - Dennis NilsenDennis NilsenDennis Andrew Nilsen also known as the Muswell Hill Murderer and the Kindly Killer is a British serial killer who lived in London....
– killer of 15 (possibly 16) men between 1978 and 1983. - Colin NorrisColin NorrisColin Campbell Norris was a Scottish nurse and convicted serial killer from the Milton area in Glasgow who was convicted of murdering four elderly patients in a hospital in Leeds, England, in 2002. He was sentenced in 2008 to serve a minimum of 30 years in prison...
– nurse convicted of killing four patients in LeedsLeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
hospitals. - William PalmerWilliam Palmer (murderer)William Palmer was an English doctor who was convicted of murder in one of the most notorious cases of the 19th century.-Early life:...
– aka "Palmer the Poisoner"; doctor suspected of numerous murders, convicted of one; hanged on June 14, 1856.
- Mark RowntreeMark RowntreeMark Rowntree is a British spree killer who was committed to a mental hospital after he admitted killing four people at random in the town of Bingley, West Yorkshire, during late 1975 and early 1976....
– 19 year old who killed four people at random. - Amelia Sach and Annie WaltersAmelia Sach and Annie WaltersAmelia Sach and Annie Walters were two British serial killers better known as the Finchley baby farmers.-Crimes:...
– murdered an unknown number of babies put up for adoption. - Harold ShipmanHarold ShipmanHarold Fredrick Shipman was an English doctor and one of the most prolific serial killers in recorded history with 218 murders being positively ascribed to him....
– doctor convicted of 15 murders; a later inquiry stated he had killed at least 215 and possibly up to 457 people over a 25-year period. - George Joseph SmithGeorge Joseph SmithGeorge Joseph Smith was an English serial killer and bigamist. In 1915 he was convicted and subsequently hanged for the slayings of three women, the case becoming known as the "Brides in the Bath Murders". As well as being widely reported in the media, the case was a significant case in the...
– aka "The Brides in the Bath"; killer of three women. - John StraffenJohn StraffenJohn Thomas Straffen was a British serial killer who was the longest-serving prisoner in British legal history. Straffen killed two young girls in the summer of 1951. He was found to be unfit to plead and committed to Broadmoor Hospital; during a brief escape in 1952 he killed again. This time he...
– child killer and Britain's longest serving prisoner until his death on November 19, 2007. - Fred WestFred WestFrederick Walter Stephen West , was a British serial killer. Between 1967 and 1987, he alone, and later, he and his wife Rosemary, tortured, raped and murdered at least 11 young women and girls, many at the couple's homes. The majority of the murders occurred between May 1973 and September 1979 at...
and Rosemary WestRosemary WestRosemary Pauline "Rose" West is a British serial killer, now an inmate at HMP Low Newton, Brasside, Durham, after being convicted of 10 murders in 1995...
– aka "House of Horrors"; she was convicted of 10 murders; both are believed to have tortured and murdered at least 12 young women between 1967 and 1987, many at the couple's home in GloucesterGloucesterGloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
; he committed suicide in 1995 while awaiting trial. - Steve WrightSteve Wright (serial killer)Steven Gerald James Wright is an English serial killer, also known as the Suffolk Strangler. He is currently serving life imprisonment for the murder of five women who worked as prostitutes in Ipswich, Suffolk...
– aka "The Suffolk Strangler" or "The Ipswich Ripper"; killed 5 womenIpswich 2006 serial murdersThe Ipswich serial murders took place between 30 October and 10 December 2006 when the bodies of five murdered women were discovered at different locations near Ipswich, Suffolk, England. All the victims were women who worked as prostitutes in the Ipswich area. Their bodies were discovered naked,...
in six weeks around Ipswich in late 2006. - Graham Young – aka "The Teacup Poisoner"; killed three people from 1962 to 1971.
Mobsters
- Billy HillBilly Hill (gangster)Billy Hill was a famous British gangster and criminal mastermind from the 1920s through to the 1960s.-Biography:...
- "Mad" Frankie FraserFrankie FraserFrancis Davidson Fraser is a former British criminal and gang member who spent 42 years in prison for numerous violent offences.-Early life:...
- Freddie ForemanFreddie ForemanFrederick Foreman is a convicted British criminal involved in the disposal of the body Jack “the Hat” McVitie and for which he served 16 years in prison....
- Jack SpotJack SpotJack "Spot" Comer was a notorious British gangster during the 1930s, 1940sand 1950s.-Early life:Born as Jacob Comacho, Jack Comer was the youngest of four children. His father was a poor Jewish tailor's machinist who had moved to London with his wife from Łódź, Poland in 1903...
- Ronald and Reginald KrayKray twinsReginald "Reggie" Kray and his twin brother Ronald "Ronnie" Kray were the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in London's East End during the 1950s and 1960s...
- The Richardson GangThe Richardson GangThe Richardson Gang was a 1960s group of criminals in South London, England. Less well remembered than their rivals the Krays, they nevertheless had a reputation at their peak as being some of London's most infamous and sadistic gangsters...
- Linus Driscoll
Rapists
- Antoni ImielaAntoni ImielaAntoni Imiela is a British rapist and paedophile of German and Polish origin, found guilty of the rape of nine women and girls, and the kidnap, indecent assault, and attempted rape of a 10-year old girl...
M25 rapist http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/3511813.stm - Peter SutcliffePeter SutcliffePeter William Sutcliffe is a British serial killer who was dubbed "The Yorkshire Ripper". In 1981 Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering 13 women and attacking seven others. He is currently serving 20 sentences of life imprisonment in Broadmoor Hospital...
– aka the "Yorkshire Ripper"; convicted in 1981 of murdering 13 women and attacking seven more from 1975 to 1980. - Delroy Grant British 'Night Stalker' rapist of many elderly victims who operated between 1992 and 2009
- John WorboysJohn WorboysJohn Worboys , is a convicted British serial rapist, known as the Black Cab Rapist. He was convicted in March 2009 for attacks on 12 women. Police believe that he may have had more than one hundred victims, possibly being Britain's most prolific sex attacker.-Personal history:Worboys lived alone in...
a convicted British serial rapist, known as the Black Cab Rapist. He was convicted in March 2009 for attacks on 12 women.
Terrorists
Britons convicted of terrorismTerrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
- Richard ReidRichard Reid (shoe bomber)Richard Colvin Reid , also known as the Shoe Bomber, is a self-admitted member of al-Qaeda who pled guilty in 2002 in U.S. federal court to eight criminal counts of terrorism stemming from his attempt to destroy a commercial aircraft in-flight by detonating explosives hidden in his shoes...
, the shoe bomber. - David CopelandDavid CopelandDavid John Copeland is a former member of the British National Party and the National Socialist Movement, who became known as the "London Nail Bomber" after a 13-day bombing campaign in April 1999 aimed at London's black, Bangladeshi and gay communities.Over three successive weekends between 17...
, London nailbomber.
British Suicide bomberSuicide attackA suicide attack is a type of attack in which the attacker expects or intends to die in the process.- Historical :...
s
- Hasib HussainHasib HussainHasib Mir Hussain was one of four homegrown terrorists who detonated bombs on three trains on the London Underground and one bus in central London during the 7 July 2005 London bombings....
, July 7th7 July 2005 London bombingsThe 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks in the United Kingdom, targeting civilians using London's public transport system during the morning rush hour....
Bomber. - Germaine LindsayGermaine LindsayGermaine Maurice Lindsay , also known as Abdullah Shaheed Jamal, was one of the four homegrown terrorists who detonated bombs on three trains on the London Underground and one bus in central London during the 7 July 2005 London bombings, killing 56 people , and injuring more than 700...
, July 7th7 July 2005 London bombingsThe 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks in the United Kingdom, targeting civilians using London's public transport system during the morning rush hour....
Bomber. - Mohammad Sidique KhanMohammad Sidique KhanMohammad Sidique Khan was the oldest of the four homegrown suicide bombers and believed to be the leader responsible for the 7 July 2005 London bombings, in which bombs were detonated on three London Underground trains and one bus in central London suicide attacks, killing 52 people excluding the...
, July 7th7 July 2005 London bombingsThe 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks in the United Kingdom, targeting civilians using London's public transport system during the morning rush hour....
Bomber. - Shehzad TanweerShehzad TanweerShehzad Tanweer was one of four men who detonated explosives in three trains on the London Underground and one bus in central London during the 7 July 2005 London bombing...
, July 7th7 July 2005 London bombingsThe 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks in the United Kingdom, targeting civilians using London's public transport system during the morning rush hour....
Bomber.
Other
- John Bodkin AdamsJohn Bodkin AdamsJohn Bodkin Adams was an Irish-born British general practitioner, convicted fraudster and suspected serial killer. Between the years 1946 and 1956, more than 160 of his patients died in suspicious circumstances. Of these, 132 left him money or items in their will. He was tried and acquitted for...
, convicted fraudster and suspected serial killer - John HumbleWearside JackWearside Jack is the nickname given to John Samuel Humble , a hoaxer who pretended to be the Yorkshire Ripper in the late 1970s. In 2006 he was convicted for perverting the course of justice.-Taunting letters:...
, aka Wearside Jack. - Ronnie BiggsRonnie BiggsRonald Arthur "Ronnie" Biggs is an English criminal, known for his role in the Great Train Robbery of 1963, for his escape from prison in 1965, for living as a fugitive for 36 years and for his various publicity stunts while in exile. In 2001, he voluntarily returned to the United Kingdom and...
, aka Great Train Robber. - Michael MichaelMichael MichaelMichael Michael was a British supergrass, or police informer, whose evidence led to 34 people being jailed for 170 years, and the dismantling of 26 different drug syndicates. He was born Constantine Michael Michael to Greek Cypriot parents in Birmingham on November 12, 1957...
, Britain's biggest supergrass
See also
- Major crimes in the United Kingdom
- List of serial killers by country
- List of United States criminals