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Stephen Griffiths Admits Murdering Three Bradford Women and Is Told He Will Never Be Released

The judge called the killings "wicked and monstrous" and said Griffiths showed no remorse. Susan Rushworth's body has never been found.

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Stephen Griffiths in a dark hooded top, crouching on a lawn in front of Bradford City Hall

Stephen Griffiths had been charged in May with murdering three Bradford women. On December 21, 2010, he pleaded guilty at Leeds Crown Court and was told he would never be released.

Griffiths, 40, a Bradford University doctoral student whose thesis concerned 19th-century murders in the city, admitted killing Suzanne Blamires, 36, Shelley Armitage, 31, and Susan Rushworth, 43, who worked as prostitutes near his home. "The circumstances of these murders are so wicked and monstrous they leave me in no doubt the defendant should be kept in prison for the rest of his life," Mr Justice Openshaw said, adding that the pleas had been entered "without any remorse at all." The court heard that Griffiths, who called himself the "Crossbow Cannibal," was arrested on May 24 after a caretaker reviewing his building's security footage saw him attacking Blamires.

Rushworth's body has never been found, and her mother, Christine Thompson, appealed to Griffiths to tell the family what he had done with her daughter. "I wake up and think about my bright, articulate and much-loved daughter every day and I am serving a life sentence as a result of what this man has done," said Nicky Blamires, Suzanne's mother. West Yorkshire Police said there was "no evidence at this stage" linking Griffiths to other crimes.

The Independent named the third victim as Suzanne Rushworth, while the BBC and the court reports named her Susan Rushworth.

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