10 serial killers in UK

10 chilling serial killers and how they were caught

In the latest in our series on crime, we look at some of the most dangerous serial killers ever to walk the earth - and see how the Mirror covered their gruesome crimes at the time.
As Crime & Investigation Network screens Secret Life of a Serial Killer tomorrow night, we look at 10 serial murderers' chilling crimes...

1 - Robert Black

Robert Black’s job as a van driver allowed him to roam the UK and become a serial killer of little girls.

It has been proved he killed four between 1981 and 1986, but detectives believe he killed several more.

2 - Dennis Nilsen

Dennis Nilsen Serial Killer pictured being driven from the Old Bailey after being sentenced to life imprisonment on November 4, 1983
Dennis Nilsen being driven from the Old Bailey after being sentenced to life imprisonment on November 4, 1983(Image: Mirrorpix)
Loner Dennis Nilsen strangled at least 15 young men and boys who he lured to flats he rented in London between 1978 and 1983.

3 - Kenneth Erskine

KENNETH ERSKINE, 24, WHO WAS JAILED FOR A RECOMMENDED 40 YEARS AT THE OLD BAILEY AFTER BEING CONVICTED OF MURDERING SEVEN ELDERLY PEOPLE AND ATTEMPTED MURDER OF AN EIGHTH
Kenneth Erskine was sentenced to 40 years imprisonment for multiple murder in 1998(Image: PA)
Erskine, became known as the ‘Stockwell Strangler’ after he killed seven elderly men and women in their homes in south London between April and July in 1986.

4 - Colin Ireland

Colin Ireland, from Southend, Essex, who has pleaded guilty to the murder of five homesexuals at the Old Bailey, in London
Colin Ireland, from Southend, Essex, pleaded guilty to the murder of five homesexuals at the Old Bailey, in London(Image: PA)
In 1993 Colin Ireland, a former soldier, decided to become a serial killer. He became known as the ‘Gay Slayer’.

5 - Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper

Peter Sutcliffe, became known as the ‘Yorkshire Ripper’ during a five-year rampage in which he murdered 13 women between October 1975 and November 1980.

6 - Dennis Rader

BTK murder suspect Dennis Rader stands for a mug shot released February 27, 2005 in Sedgwick County, Kansas
BTK murder suspect Dennis Rader stands for a mug shot released February 27, 2005 in Sedgwick County, Kansas(Image: Getty)
Dennis Rader, known as the BTK murderer, killed 10 times in Sedgewick County, close to Wichita, Texas, between 1974 and 1991.

7 - Albert DeSalvo

Albert DeSalvo was the Boston Strangler who terrorised the female population of the American city between 1962 and 1964.

8 - Ted Bundy

American serial killer Ted Bundy (1946 - 1989) at the Leon County sheriff's office in Florida, shortly after after his arrest on a charge of theft, 19th February 1978
American serial killer Ted Bundy (1946 - 1989) at the Leon County sheriff's office in Florida, shortly after after his arrest on a charge of theft, 19th February 1978

9 - Jeffrey Dahmer

Suspected serial killer Jeffrey L. Dahmer enters the courtroom of judge Jeffrey A. Wagner 06 August 1991
Suspected serial killer Jeffrey L. Dahmer enters the courtroom of judge Jeffrey A. Wagner 06 August 1991(Image: AFP)
Jeffrey Dahmer was unmasked as a serial killer when a semi-naked man wearing a handcuff on one wrist flagged down a patrol car in Milwaukee, USA, one evening in July 1991.

10 - Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo

Andrei Chikatilo
The Butcher of Rostov, Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo pictured in his metal cage in a Russian courtroom(Image: Rex)
Ukraniain Andrei Romanovich Chikaltilo was convicted of murdering 53 women and children from 1978 to 1990.