By Amy Lunde
Dennis Nilsen, Fred West, Peter Sutcliffe, Ian Brady, Harold Shipman...Household names when it comes to British Serial Killers. However one murderer remains seldom mentioned despite his brutal crimes, and the additional crimes he's suspected of committing in the 1970s. That is Patrick David Mackay aka 'The Axeman', 'The Devils Disciple' or simply 'The Psychopath.' Still alive to this day and now aged 70 with many failed attempts at parole, Mackay is one of Britains longest serving prisoners. A member of the Kent Police team who caught Mackay stated:
“Mackay should never be freed. He could turn and become extremely dangerous.”
Mackay’s childhood was not a happy one. Born to Harold Mackay, an accountant from Scotland and Marion Mackay, a woman of Creole/Guyanan descent. Harold suffered PTSD and survivors guilt as a result of being the only survivor in an ambush in North Africa when fighting in the Second World War. However, life improved for Harold Mackay for a time when he arrived back in the UK, by 1947 he was married with his first child on the way. Tragedy struck when both his wife and child died in childbirth. Alcohol was the solution to his problems, and the only solace was in a whiskey bottle. Despite this, Mackay managed to get a job in British Guyana. It was there he met Marion Eloise McWatt who he would go on to father 3 children with. With Harolds drinking came physical violence to the whole family, especially to Marion. Horrifically, he kicked her in the stomach when she was pregnant, despite this, their first child Patrick David Mackay was born on 25th December 1952 in Middlesex, Greater London. Two sisters followed, and the violence continued. Still directed at Marion mainly, but the children would have to witness it. Mackay would later say that his sisters were usually spared a beating, and he and his mother would take the brunt of the violence. Things continued like this for many years, no doubt causing trauma to the three siblings. Around this time, Mackay’s behavior was certainly not normal. He started to get a reputation for his bizarre behavior at school particularly, An old classmate recalled that Mackay would shove, pinch and push other students then run off laughing. The classmate also recalled that Mackay had moments of normality at the same time then would quickly switch. He claimed Mackay 'seemed to have a split personality.'
Surprisingly, in 1961, Harold Mackay finally sought help for his alcoholism and mental heath problems. He remained sober for a year before relapsing. On morning, he left for work as usual, pausing to tell his son 'remember to be good' before closing the front door. Shortly after this, he suffered a heart attack at the train station on his way to work. Harold Mackay was dead at the age of 42. This did not bring peace to the house. Patrick was 10 years old, his sisters just 8 and 5 years old. He did not view the body or attend the funeral. He couldn't seem to accept his father’s death and would ask his mother when he was coming home. Mackay would say throughout the years that he could still hear his father’s voice. With Harold dead, Mackay now considered himself to be 'the man of the house', which of course involved violent outbursts. His mother Marion was hospitalized within the year, having had a mental breakdown. She remained there for 4 months. When the family was reunited. Mackay’s behaviour deteriorated even further. Now, like many budding serial killers, he began to torture and kill animals. Neighbors recalled him killing birds, then throwing and catching their corpses. In one particularly disturbing incident, he killed the family’s pet tortoise by roasting it over an open fire then throwing the corpse into a neighbor’s garden. His obsession with death and violence continued and he consoled himself by thinking about his fathers tales of bloody violence in Africa, in addition he developed a fascination with Nazis, another wartime opponent his father had told him stories about.
Throughout his teenage years, Mackay continued to pick on young children and commit a series of petty crimes such as stealing from neighbors gardens, and a behavior long associated with potential serial killers, starting fires. He began by setting fires to beach huts, and finally a curtain in a catholic church. At just 11 years old, Mackay appeared in court for the fires, petty thefts and was remanded for 14 days then released back home, despite neighbors begging authorities to not let him return. As 1964 came to a close, Mackay was growing into a well built youth who terrified those around him. Police were frequently called to his home where he would be found smashing it up or locking himself inside. His attendance at school all but stopped. He attacked a female police officer who tried to stop him playing truant. She would later state:
'He was just like a caged animal...he was very mentally disturbed and at the time very mental, I felt that he should be put somewhere, shut away, so that nobody could be damaged as a result of his mental reaction to people. He was violent and would obviously hurt someone in the end.'
At around age 12, Mackay finally had some intervention from mental health professionals after yet another violent incident at home. A psychiatrist visited the house and later performed an EEG on Mackay to monitor his brainwaves. This test came back normal. Nonetheless, it was advised that Mackay was removed from the family home and he ended up in a home for disturbed children -Glebelands- some distance from where the rest of the family were living. He continued to miss school, being highly disruptive when he did attend. Marion Mackay however was dismayed by this situation and applied to overturn the decision. Her son was returned to the family home just before Christmas 1965. In January of 1966, predictably, he yet again attacked his family and was detained in hospital. Despite being released two weeks later, this time a consultant psychiatrist who had spoken to Patrick Mackay, deemed his father Harold to have been a psychopath and had passed this on to Patrick. This would not be the last time Mackay would be labelled a psychopath. In this time, it was a fairly loose diagnosis with no clear path for treatment. In 1952, the first edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) outlined 4 types of what it then called 'sociopathic personality disturbance.' They are: Antisocial, Dyssocial, sexual and addictive. The Antisocial subtype described Patrick Mackay perfectly: People who are frequently in trouble but never learn from their mistakes and continue to commit crimes despite punishment. They also display no loyalty to anyone. The antisocial type will also be callous with a lack of responsibility and no ability to rationalize bad behavior. The category 'psychopathic personality' was only added to new legislation in 1959 so was very much a 'catch all' diagnosis at this time. However the 'psychopath checklist' developed in the late 70s by researcher Bob Hare (known as the Hare Psychopathy Checklist) with signifiers including superficial charm, grandiose sense of self worth, lack of empathy, impulsiveness, irresponsibly, poor behavioral control and juvenile delinquency, as well as a fascination with death which are all fitting for Patrick Mackay. However in the period he was assessed there was no Bob Hare checklist and it was difficult to define his condition. Mackay was described as having 'uncontrollable rage' at just 13 years old, but every time he was admitted to psychiatric hospitals he was released again after a short time, only to be returned to his family and attack them again, and the cycle continued. In 1966 however, Mackay was sent to two different establishments, a juvenile wing of a hospital then finally an approved school after absconding many times from the hospital. Although Patrick took part in sports and tending the school's farm, his real passion was art, of course he didn’t take well to the rules of the school too. The boys at the approved school were frequently caned, especially for absconding. The school eventually hit the headlines after an anonymous letter describing the abuse the boys endured was published. An enquiry carried out specified that the boys would have suffered trauma as a result of the caning. This lead to an entire approved school system being closed down.
However it would be too late for Patrick Mackay. After being released home yet again and yet again attacking his mother and sisters, Mackay continued on this cycle, whilst taking- and getting frequently fired from low paid jobs. Days were spent drinking in pubs and half heartedly looking for work. Mackay committed a series of assaults in this time as well, including that of attacking two young boys and smashing their heads into the floor at a building site. This attack would see him charged with assault. Not long after this, Mackay’s attacks against his family and strangers became more frequent and violent. His most violent attack on his mother so far, occurred in March of 1968 where he tried to strangle her, before threatening to gas himself at the family home and stab himself with a bayonet. This time Mackay was detained under the Mental Health Act and admitted to a secure hospital and once again was assessed as being a danger to himself and his family and once again released mere days later. The next reported incident of Mackay’s escalating incidents of violence was in July of 1968 where he strangled a local youth and stole his watch, later throwing the watch away, a pattern he would follow in his later crimes. Admitted to a remand centre this time, Mackay finally had his past violent outbursts researched and his diagnosis reached. Psychiatrist Dr Leonard Carr wrote that the now 15 year old Patrick Mackay had an 'explosive temper' and without intervention could eventually could become a 'cold psychopathic killer.' This time he was sent to Moss Side secure hospital near Liverpool in October of 1968. On his own condition, Mackay would say:
'In Moss Side, I was classified as a psychopath but without mania, I have always believed that I have not just the problem of being psychopathic on it's own, but instead having psychopathic mania. This has always been my personal opinion on the matter, and believe no-one (can) judge one's mind better in most cases than oneself. Since the mind is such a complex machine.'
After three months in the hospital, Mackay was amongst a group of inmates who decided to attempt an escape, however the plan didn't work much to his growing frustration. Throughout all of this, his mother Marion continued to visit, believing he had reformed. She even began calling for his release and after appealing, it was granted despite the strong protests from deputy medical superintendent, Dr Robert Porter.
When Patrick was 18 and officially an adult, with several more attacks on his family and several more stays in various institutions behind him, he once again returned to Gravesend in greater London to stay with his aunt. Mackay had also managed to befriend a family he met when living with his aunt some years before. Charming at first, they had no idea of his diagnosis or his true nature. At this time, his sister Ruth was also being treated at a psychiatric hospital for her own mental health issues. In a rare moment of guilt, Patrick thought he may have caused her problems and checked himself into the same hospital. However, following his usual pattern, he absconded yet again. The Cowdrey family who consisted of the parents whom Patrick would sometimes call 'Mum and Dad' and their five children lived in Stockwell, London which gave him more opportunities to roam around different areas of London. During this time, despite his own mixed heritage, he also developed a fascination with Nazis and would embarrass the Cowdrey family by goose stepping outside their home and talking about genetics and euthanasia, and collecting Nazi memorabilia.
During Mackay’s incarceration in the Moss Side hospital, he spent his time mixing with various criminals and murderers which he told doctors he had enjoyed. He was assessed during his time there as having an IQ of 92, slightly below average, However he was a psychopath with a 'grandiose sense of self' and his inflated ego meant he quickly quit jobs thinking they were beneath him. He took a number of jobs such as at an egg packing company, leaving after 3 days. A park ranger- leaving after a month. Most of his jobs including factory work and gardening would last between a few days and sometimes up to a month. By this time he was also using alcohol to self medicate, just as his father had. Amphetamines were also his drug of choice. Mackay spent a lot of time hanging around in pubs, but his personality and demeanor didn't make him many friends. He began committing robberies in shops and garages, usually food or alcohol, these involved no violence, but unable to contain his violent urges, he did return to visit his family at this time and attempted to strangle the family dog. Mackay continued to drift between London and Kent. Whilst roaming woodland in Kent, he met local chaplain Father Anthony Crean. Crean took Patrick to a pub in the village and the two drank whiskey, which Crean didn't seem to mind paying for. Despite this kindness, Mackay broke into Father Crean's cottage a few weeks later, stealing a cheque. The theft was reported but Crean asked for the charges to be dropped when Mackay was arrested. However this was unsuccessful and once again, Mackay was in front of a court, being fined and ordered to pay the money back then discharged. Mackay and Father Crean fell out after he didn't keep his word that he would comply with the court order. Returning to his usual pattern of going back and forth between Kent and London, at his mothers, his aunts and the Cowdrey family, at the same time he was drinking heavily and was arrested for being drunk in the street then again for trying to attack a homeless man with a metal stake. Arresting officers commented on his tirades against jews and 'manic' behavior. Doctors advised that the diagnosed psychopath should be released to a bail hostel and specialists suggested the Moss Side hospital was the best place for him. Incredibly he was released YET AGAIN into the community. Somehow during this time, Mackay had 'made friends' with another member of the clergy Reverend Ted Brack who agreed to have Mackay stay with him after repeated pleas from his solicitor. After at least another 4 drunken incidents, and Reverend Brack refusing to bail him out, Mackay was sent to Pentonville Prison, a prison known for being tough, and his first real experience of living among hardened criminals, much older and more experienced than his now 21 years. He spend 3 deeply unhappy weeks at Pentonville before being released by probation services. The punishment of a suspended sentence and £25 fine would prove a grave mistake.
Patrick Mackay was now working for a moving company but had other ideas for making extra money, muggings. The ideal target were older ladies who would often carry cash around and would rarely put up much resistance. Mackay would wander around the West End of London when he wasn't at work, an affluent area. A first known robbery victim was an 80 year old woman who was still working as an actress in the play 'The Mousetrap.', Jane Comfort. He followed her into the theatre and there he snatched her handbag from the dressing room, for a mediocre £4. He targeted Jane again at her home this time, claiming he needed directions to a museum, suspicious behavior at 9pm. When Comfort tried to close the door, he knocked her to the floor and snatched her bag again, this time getting £40. Satisfied with this way of making money and the potential for violence it also offered, he quit his job at the moving company. He later claimed that around January 1974 after quitting, he took the life of his first 'official' victim, by throwing a homeless man off a bridge. His new mugging venture maybe didn't take off quite as he'd liked, as he started another job as a groundsman as well. Due to appear in court again on account of his suspended sentence from the year before, and expecting to be jailed, he was handed two more months on the suspended sentence and carried on working as a groundsman. He also got into a drunken confrontation at the Cowdrey family home. Afterwards whilst wandering the streets and threatening to throw himself under a train, he was arrested. Kept in hospital under the Mental Health Act, as soon as Mackay was 'docile.' Mackay followed his usual pattern of absconding and within two weeks would commit his official first murder.
In early 1974, Patrick Mackay would claim his first victim in the form of a fiercely independent widow of a surgeon named Isabella Fairweather Griffiths. Although she was 87 years of age, she would still frequently walk alone in London. She lived in a large townhouse in West London- a very desirable and wealthy area. She was a recognizable figure in her community, she was a member of the Chelsea Gardens Guild and travelled to her country cottage every summer, alone by train of course. On one of her walks, she would have the misfortune of meeting Mackay who was once again brooding after quitting a job and looking for someone to mug. Isabella was walking home carrying heavy shopping bags when Mackay appeared and offered to help. Outwardly being friendly and helpful, the widow told him he was welcome back. Instead of robbing her right away, Mackay began calling at the house regularly, helping with shopping and being paid £5 for his help. On Valentine’s Day 1974,Elle attended a party with close friends. She was described as being very happy and wearing her expensive tweed and drinking sherry with the others. On her arrival home, she heard a familiar knock within minutes, feeling tired she told Mackay not today. He forced the door and within minutes, Isabella Fairweather Griffiths would be dead. Her body wouldn't be found until days later when a friend noticed she hadn't been around in a while and after speaking with neighbors, became concerned. Police Constable Peter Jeffrey who then visited the address found the front door locked. Gaining entrance to the back garden, he was able to see through the kitchen window and thought he saw a body. He gained entry by kicking the front door in, only to find the kitchen doors itself locked. This would become a regular habit for Mackay, locking doors and removing keys. Isabella's body was found carefully positioned, fully clothed with some material covering her. Strangely it was noted, her shoes were immersed in water in the kitchen sink. The security chain from the front door was lying on the floor and the lock was broken. The only item stolen from the scene was a cigarette box.
During this time, Mackay was still living in North London with the Reverend Brack. This didn't hinder Mackay’s activities, he once again gained entry to a house just streets away from Isabella Griffiths house and whilst her body till lay undiscovered in her kitchen. This time he asked the occupant for a glass of water, then to use the toilet before locking the woman and her elderly sister in the bathroom and fleeing with their handbags and just £11:75. A small price to pay for a visit from The Axeman. Reverend Brack was growing tired of Mackay who was becoming increasingly unstable and was clearly in need of psychiatric assistance. Mackay left quietly and rented a room in nearby Barnet, North London. Keeping mainly out of trouble for a while, he had a friendly phone call with Reverend Brack and decided to visit. Finding the Reverend out, he broke in through a window and hid under his old bed. It is unknown whether he planned this from the start or if it was a spontaneous decision, but he lay in wait then crept into the Reverend’s room as he slept, rifling through his pockets. Reverend Brack subsequently woke up and chased Mackay out. Once again a close escape, the next time Mackay found himself in the house of a Godly man, he wouldn't be so lucky. Mackay was arrested yet another time but his background wasn't looked into. As far as the police were concerned, he was a petty burglar and a drunk, plenty of which they dealt with every day. A six month jail term was passed down to the diagnosed psychopath who would be back on the streets in just 4 months which would see Mackay go on to leave several elderly people beaten and robbed, and at least two murdered.
By now there are so many arrests and releases/fines/various institutions Mackay had absconded from, it's not easy to keep track! His latest release in 1975 would prove the most fateful for numerous victims. Now approaching the first anniversary of the murder of Isabella Griffiths-a crime for which Mackay was sure he would be asked about at any time- nothing had changed in his pattern of offending. When Mackay was finally arrested, his charges were that of 3 manslaughters, and just 3 robberies. It is unknown the true number but we do know that a further 2 murders and 23 robberies were left on file. Knowing Mackay’s pattern, he almost certainly took part in more violent robberies. He was still stalking the streets of affluent areas in London for elderly victims, more likely to be carrying cash. These robberies provided Mackay with cash and his fix for his violent urges. The spate of attacks did catch the attention of the Metropolitan Police who had even set up a special unit to find the perpetrator but Mackay would also commit offenses in the less affluent parts of London too. After the failure of his attempted burglary at the house of the Reverend Brack's house, Mackay stuck to 'doorstep robberies' of elderly women. One of his next robberies was possibly his wealthiest victim, Lady Becher who he followed in the wealthy suburb of Belgravia, using his usual MO. He struck as she put her key in the lock, pulled a knife after grabbing her by the throat, this time he gained a considerable loot of £115 cash and a silver medallion worth £85. As well as brute force, Mackay would still employ the tactic of using a friendly approach to gain trust, like he had with Isabella Griffiths. Another favorite was to feign illness or ask for a glass of water. Mackay attacked another elderly widow, Margaret Diver, just one day after the one year anniversary the murder of Isabella Griffiths. He confused the 79 year old by asking to speak about her husband. When she said she didn't have one, he feigned walking away only to turn back and follow her as she opened her front door. He forced her to the floor, declaring it would be worse for her if she made a noise. After dragging her into the kitchen, Mackay suddenly changed attitude, helping her up and asking for a cup of tea, and insisting she had one too. Mackay informed her several times during awkward small talk that he was an outpatient at Tooting Bec Hospital. Suddenly, he put down his cup and left, after threatening Margaret not to move as he left. She was left with some injuries from being dragged along the floor, but the ordeal didn't last in serious physical harm, despite being perilously close to becoming the next victim of The Devils Disciple. Mackay took the usual items in the robbery, purse, bag, watch and a very small amount of cash. Margaret gave a description of Mackay which unfortunately wasn't entirely accurate, but she was able to tell the police that he had the habit of saying 'dear', just before leaving he said 'I'm sorry I had to hurt you dear.' Mackay disclosing his time in Tooting Bec hospital and unbeknownst to him, his thumbprint left on a teaspoon would provide evidence for later, unfortunately the thumbprint would only turn up as a match after Mackay murdered two more people.
After letting slip that he had spent time in Tooting Bec hospital, detectives made enquires. They were told that Mackay had indeed absconded on the very day of Isabella Griffiths murder. This statement however was taken after Mackay’s final arrest. The streets of Belgravia were once again not safe when Mackay resumed his usual MO. Preying this time on 68 year old Ilma Lewis. Following her through the front door again grabbed her and put his hand over her mouth, demanding money. This time however, Mackay stated that he didn't want to hurt her, but he would kill her, even if he didn't want to. This time he even told her to call the police, after giving him a head start, he then took her handbag and ran out. Although he didn't get much of a haul, it was enough to keep him in alcohol for the rest of the day. Police now knew that Mackay told the victims he didn't want to hurt them. Four days later, he drank a whole bottle of whiskey and went to upmarket department store Harrods to scope out more victims to rob. Not finding anyone suitable, he continued wandering around until he saw 89 year old Adele Price entering her ground floor flat. He jangled his keys as if he was entering the building too. Adele Price's 25 year old granddaughter Jane Matheson who shared the flat with her arrived home later in the evening. She found one lock was open on the front door, but the latch was up so the door couldn't be opened from the inside. Hearing a male voice, she assumed it was the TV or radio, Jane then left the front door to try the buzzer on the outside of the building. In a new move, Mackay then stepped out of the flat and into the communal lobby. Putting on a northern accent to disguise himself. He claimed he had seen a man open and close the door, then told her to call the porter for the building and excused himself. Jane was able to give a description of Mackay, that he was clean shaven, fresh faced and around 5'10 tall. His hair was parted on the left side and no particular distinguishing features. Being helped by neighbors, Jane entered the property, noticing it was messy which was unusual for her Grandmother. The bedroom door was also locked, and it was there Adele Price was found. The ambulance service offered to take the body away, however a quick thinking Police Constable asked that the body be left, lest any evidence may be destroyed. This decision meant that it could be later confirmed that this was one of Patrick Mackay’s crimes, as a screwed up note found at the scene would bear one of his fingerprints. The flat was in a state of various disarray. The doors of a drinks cabinet were swinging wide open, a radio case but the radio was missing, and curiously, a nylon stocking hanging from a tin. The body of Adele Price was examined by a coroner who concluded she had died from manual strangulation. As she was still wearing her outdoor coat, this was believed to have happened minutes after she entered her front door.
The investigation was handed over to London's Criminal Investigation Department. The quick thinking Police Constable Alan MacGregor was awarded a commendation for his fast action in securing the crime scene. The police had to face facts, the West End mugger was no closer to being found, and had now committed two known murders. The stolen case and jewelry he had acquired over the last few months added up to around £2000. Some of these items he kept stashed under the floorboards when he was staying with the Cowdrey’s. They were found by Bert Cowdrey, after which Mackay claimed he was 'looking after them for a friend' ' and that was the end of the matter. Two days later, a man was found trespassing on the Northern Line Tube line, claiming he wanted to kill himself. Once again finding himself in a psychiatric hospital and once again in the hands of the law who were clueless they were detaining the double murderer and psychopath. Mackay did give his real name, before claiming he had changed it to 'McCann' a few weeks before, and saying he worked as a kitchen porter- which was actually true- he gave a fake address. Mackay vaguely mentioned a sister, and a priest who had tried to help him. Mackay chain smoked and talked about suicide, eventually being taken to the psychiatric wing of Stockwell. The police knew his real name, but he was booked in to the hospital using the name McCann. During this stint, Mackay attempted to strangle himself with a pyjama cord. His full medical and criminal records were never uncovered. He was released as he had been so many times before. Despite his comments to previous robbery victim Margaret Diver that he had been in Tooting Bec hospital, none of these connections were ever put together. After his release, he committed a few robberies, and crashed at the Cowdrey’s, having been drunk for the last few days. After slipping through the cracks yet again, Patrick Mackay was about to commit the murder which would earn him the nickname of The Axeman...
Father Anthony Crean was a small but fierce man. After traveling and working in Spain, Gibraltar and the US, Crean was now back in the UK and settled in the tight-knit community in the town of Shorne in Kent. He resided in a 17th century cottage named Malthouse which sat just behind the church, and next to a convent. He enjoyed repairing clocks and gardening in his free time, with the gardens to his cottage meticulously kept. Creane met Mackay in May of 1973, walking in some woods in Shorne. Mackay who had not long been released from Moss Side hospital. The two struck up a conversation and headed to the local pub. Noticing Mackay seemed forlorn and aimless, Creane thought he would be able to help him- unaware of Mackay’s turbulent, and murderous past. The pair would have a short lived friendship before Mackay stole a cheque from Father Creane and cashed it. Mackay was arrested for the crime and fined, with instruction to pay back the stolen £80 to Father Creane at the rate of £7 per week. Creane of course, would never see this money. About 8 months after this incident, Mackay and Creane were seen talking in the street before Creane stormed off to his car. Mackay and Father Crean would meet one more time in March 1975. By this time, unbeknownst to anyone, Mackay had murdered two women, robbed dozens more, and many opportunities to end his crime spree had been missed.
The day of the murder, Mackay boarded a train to Gravesend where his mother still lived. He was carrying two kitchen knives. He also carried with him a plucked chicken which she agreed to cook. He later said he was going for a walk and would be back later. The day had been a normal one for Father Creane who had said Mass that morning, mowed the lawn in the afternoon then had taken his dog Jacko for a walk. Crean also stopped for a chat with a neighbor. The next and last person to see Father Crean alive would be Patrick Mackay. Crean, who usually had his meals prepared by the convent, had not collected his supper tray that evening. Sister Therese who governed the convent also noted that his dog was out on the lawn alone, and by 8:15pm, the supper tray remained. The lights were on downstairs, and the curtains drawn so the sister made her way over. She found the doors locked which was unusual. Leaving the tray outside, she then left to get the keys for the cottage. Finding used lunch trays in the kitchen, the sister took them and noticed Crean's waistcoat was on his bed and the light was on. She locked the dog back up. At this time, Father Crean also had a lodger who was staying with him -Mick Derrington- at Lodgehouse whilst visiting St Josephs, the nearby children's home. The childcare worker had gone over to the convent to watch tv, but had a knock at the door as a neighbor delivered Jacko to him, who had been found outside. As the dog seemed 'snappy', he was placed back into the cottage ground by Nick. Finally returning later in the evening, Mick saw the dog now sitting in an armchair. Mick went upstairs to his room as the dog still seemed on edge. Around midnight he still hadn't heard anything from Father Crean in the cottage or otherwise. He decided to search the house for him. The cottage had two bathrooms, and being familiar with the upstairs bathroom, the guest had assumed the one downstairs was just a cupboard. Mick, still unaware of this, went to get the sisters. They were immediately unnerved. Crean usually went to bed around 11pm but his lights were still on past midnight, Crean was usually a tidy man and the waistcoat discarded on the bed was also out of character. Sister Therese opened the bathroom door, let out a scream and ran out of the house...
The bathroom was a bloodbath. Father Crean lay face up, fully clothed, and almost unrecognizable. He lay with a towel on his head, underneath this, his brain tissue was exposed. Horrifically, later examination found that he had brain tissue on his fingers where he must have reached into the open wound. The water was crimson red, and the priest had his rosary draped over his right hand. Detective Inspector Ken Tappenden attended the scene after being called away from a black tie event. He described later how he and some colleagues were still wearing their dinner jackets when they arrived at the horrific scene. Father Crean was still in his outdoor clothing including his boots and jacket, and even a woolly hat on. The murder weapon was still in the vicinity, a small wooden handled axe. Tappenden said:
'I know you get used to it, but every now and then you find a murder scene that is disturbing. When you see the ferocity in which he was attacked and killed, you can't help but keep thinking about it.'
A Home Office pathologist was called out in the early hours to examine the scene. It was noted that there was a lot of blood staining, all over the bath and walls. The fact Father Crean was wearing his outdoor clothing, even down to a scarf suggested that he had been attacked right after arriving home. It would have been son unexpected and sudden that he didn't have time to defend himself and would have taken some time to die in pain as he lay in the bath. There was no defence marls. The pathologist commented that the attack had been 'unusually savage.' 19 wounds were found on Father Crean's body. Among them were bruising to the torso, neck and arms, stab wounds to the head and neck, a fractured nose, and the most savage, a ragged cut in the centre of the forehead, which exposed the brain and skull. Internal injuries included skull fractures and cuts to the brain, broken, and loose and broken teeth. Some wounds were superficial and didn't contribute to death,, it was a frenzied attack. The official case of death was a fractured skull and contusions on the brain. Tappenden thought back to the stolen cheque incident two years earlier, concluding that the perpetrator had to be Mackay. Surely it was too much of a coincidence otherwise? Two of Tappenden's detectives were called to his office in the early hours and told about Mackay. One of them had in fact arrested Mackay once before and was intent on finding him. After the killing, Mackay was slapdash as usual in his next moves. He went to his mother’s house to eat the chicken from the night before, he ended up taking it with him to the cinema to see Death Wish starring Charles Bronson. All of the money he had left was spent on the ticket and popcorn for his cinema visit. Mackay was next spotted at Gravesend train station, where a ticket officer recalled him being 'in a bit of a flap' and 'hurrying.' He then boarded a train.
Police detectives arrived at Marion Mackay’s house at dawn the next day.She lied and said she hadn't seen her son in several months. She never went back on her lies and still when he was facing a murder charge she would say 'Patrick's character changed as he grew up and he had no father to control him, but he had an independent spirit.'
The house was searched with no sign of Mackay, apart from a grey coat flecked with blood. After some enquiries in London, it was revealed that Mackay had lived with a priest before- the Reverend Brack. The detectives, worried that Mackay might be planning to kill Brack as well, raced to his home, finding him out. He returned soon after and told them he hadn't seen Mackay in months, instead directing them to a hostel which he knew was Mackay's last known address. Typically, Mackay wasn't there and had made a trip to the Cowdrey family, spending the night on the sofa and going to the pub- his usual pattern. The Cowdrey’s reported that Mackay had been defensive about his whereabouts that day and had what appeared to be a small dark stain on his shirt. Mackay was drunk when they left the pub, and slept on their sofa. The next morning, Mackay called the manager of his hostel claiming to want 'a chat', what he didn't know was that the two Detectives hunting him had arrived not long before. They decided not to alert him of their presence, instead searching his room and finding expensive jewelry. With instructions to the manager to call back if Mackay did, the detectives continued their search, with a another occupant of the hostel informing them of the Cowdrey family who Mackay was known to visit. This information left the exhausted detectives with 30 possible addresses to check out. It was so late that they decided to resume the search the next day. All they could hope in the meantime is that the axeman wouldn't strike again. Patrick Mackay oblivious that he was being hunted as the main suspect in the murder of a priest, carried on committing crimes that day even though he must have been aware police would be looking for him. Still in London, he went into a hospital in Chelsea and stole a coat and hat, a watch and a purse from a patient. In one of his old haunts, a richer part of London, Mackay couldn't resist another doorstep robbery, cornering a woman, marching her into the kitchen and picking up a knife, which he then falsely claimed that he didn't use knives. Once again mentioning he had been in Tooting Bec hospital, he then fled with just £3, with the victim having no idea she'd just had such a close escape from the wanted murderer.
Once again Mackay went back to the Cowdrey family and the local pub. It didn't go unnoticed that he had a new hat and coat which he claimed he bought at a market. As usual, Mackay got drunk and seemed to be in a bad mood. The news of the murder of Father Creane had reached the newspapers, when Vi Cowdrey asked Mackay if he know anything about it-wondering if he'd read the newspaper- he replied 'What do you think I am, fucking mad?!' described as usual as 'very drunk', he took offence when Terry Cowdrey jokingly took the new trilby hat and described it as 'looking like it belonged to a vicar!' Terry recalled Mackay said 'Don't you mention vicars to me, I hate them, I could kill them.' earlier that week before the murder, Mackay had also mentioned to Terry that he wanted to 'kill a priest in Kent' and 'smash his face in.' Vi Cowdrey also recalled similar violent threats Mackay had made whilst angry about the Rev. Brack several weeks earlier when he heard about Brack's allegation of theft. The next day at the Cowdrey house, there was a knock at the door at 11am. It was the two detectives who had been hunting Mackay since the discovery of Father Crean's body. They informed him they needed to speak to him at the station regarding the murder to which Mackay simply replied 'Yes I will come with you.' As easy as that, Patrick Mackay was finally in custody. Surprisingly soft spoken, the 22 year old recounted his many crimes. Including some that hadn't been discovered yet.
Mackay was keen to open up about his crimes. He sat in silence on the short car journey to the police station. Although Mackay as a diagnosed psychopath wouldn't have felt remorse about the murders himself, he did seem to be frustrated by his psychological problems, which left him unable to form relationships, keep a job or contain his violent rages. He would beg to be sent to Broadmoor Hospital for the criminally insane- which housed Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe- as he thought maybe his problems could finally be treated and he could return to society.
Once at the police station, he was escorted to a room without any fanfare. The murders of Isabelle Griffths and Adele Price remained a mystery and were not on the radar for this particular arrest. Mackay was handcuffed to the desk with one hand, but allowed to smoke a cigarette and drink a cup of tea- a much more informal style than interviews conducted today. Interviews back then were not even recorded, merely typed up later from a Detectives handwritten notes. Criminals often complained that they had been made to sign untrue statements, as there was no evidence to back up statements either way. The police often referred to this practise as 'positive corruption', for securing a conviction for suspects they 'knew' were guilty. Of course this resulted in several miscarriages of justice.
Mackay was cautioned at the police station, and asked some questions about the day of the murder of Father Creane. Mackay was placid during these interviews. Mackay claimed Friday was the last time he had visited his mother in Gravesend, when he asked her to cook the chicken. He said he ate it and went to the cinema that night. However Mrs Mackay had already said that she hadn't seen Patrick since the New Year. One of the detectives told Mackay 'I want to put it that you went to Father Crean's and killed him' Although there was actually no evidence linking Mackay to the crime he simply replied 'Yes, I did. I thought you'd get me.' although there was no concrete evidence, there was his strange behaviour at the Cowdrey’s to take into account, blood on his clothes and the well known breakdown of his friendship with Father Creane. Still, the detectives were not expecting Mackay to confess so easily- of course they still had no idea about the other murders he had committed- He then further explained that he owed Crean money so went to see him, a small dog had run out of the house and Mackay had waited there to surprise Crean who then ran, Mackay described that his next movements were clouded by a 'white mist', and he couldn't remember what he hit him with, but he did have two knives, one of which he threw away, he gave the location of the knife and was unsure if he had used it in the murder or not. Mackay seemed to be confused of some of the details, the detectives were unsure if this was an act or not. They probed further, enquiring about the scratches on Mackay’s hands, he claimed these were from a fight at a fairground. The detectives also produced the gloves Mackay had been wearing, which he admitted to. Although the confessions were made with no solicitor present, Mackay was to be transferred to another police station, charged, and questioned by more senior officers. As he waited to be moved, Mackay asked 'Do you believe each person has individual destiny? This is certainly mine...this situation had to happen.' he then lit another cigarette.
Before his transfer back to Kent, Mackay showed the detectives where he had thrown one of the knifes used in the murder. By the afternoon they were all at the police station where Mackay was handed over to a more senior detective. He was still forthcoming with his confessions, and very callous. So far it was working to take a calm approach to questioning Mackay, so the officers continued that way. He explained he had wanted to see Father Creane to talk about paying back the money he owed him. He hadn't seen him since they had been spotted rowing in Shorne. Mackay said he thought Father Creane viewed him as 'a bit of a pest.'
He had lied to the Cowdrey’s by saying he had some work tree cutting. That way they would let him back to stay as they frequently did. The details he provided next ranged from crystal clear to being unsure. However the murder of Father Creane, he was chillingly honest about. Mackay said he had got to the cottage and was surprised to find Creane wasn't gardening as he often was, so he opened the front door and called out. Getting no answer, he went in and found the living room was also locked, he claimed he decided to just stand and wait there. He casually said to officers 'I should have stayed outside shouldn't I?' Mackay was told he was very bad at remembering times, which he agreed with, unless things are urgent he claimed. Mackay then described walking around the house, in the guest room, upstairs and in the kitchen where he checked in the fridge which he said he 'always looked in fridges.' This was his first hint that he had committed further crimes. The comment was noted, but the Detective Inspector didn't want to interrupt the coming confession. He had a feeling there would be further crimes to discuss. For now, Mackay continued his retelling of the events at the cottage. He told officers he hadn't stolen anything, a miniature sword and watch he had on him upon arrest were stolen the following day. Mackay heard the door opening, and saw Father Creane with his back turned, unlocking the living room door. After turning and seeing Mackay just an arms length away, Creane turned to run for the door saying the police had already been called. Mackay said he then grabbed him, not remembering if the dog was with him, the whereabouts of the dog would help explain the timeline of events. Mackay then said the dog ran out between his legs. He once again claimed everything had felt 'misty' once he grabbed Creane. He couldn't remember the weapon but did remember that there were all sorts of gardening tools by the stairs, and it could have been shears. He also recalled struggling on the floor with the priest with what could have been a saw. Mackay still didn't seem to have remembered it was an axe he had used for the murder. Detective Inspector Hart kept pressing in the hope of jogging his memory, although he wasn't entirely sure if this was an act, either way Mackay now said it was a hammer or an axe, Finally settling on a axe, he said he then remembered it was in his hands. Now it was established he had been at the house, and used an axe, it was important to get more details in order to ensure there were as many details as possible for trial. After all it was still possible for Patrick Mackay to plead not guilty. The reason Mackay gave when asked why he killed Father Creane was that he was 'annoyed.'
Now Mackay was remembering further details, that he didn't arrive with the axe, but picked it up during the struggle. He repeated that he wanted Creane to 'be quiet' and that he wouldn't listen to him. When asked what he had been planning to do with the axe, he said he had the urge to use it to 'take his (Father Creans) head off' Mackay went on to explain that Father Crean had tried to escape into the bathroom, after which Mackay pushed the door and pushed him into the bath. There began the infamous Axe Man slaughter of the priest in the bath. With his gloved hands, Mackay started to punch the priest in the face until he was bloody. He stated 'the blood made me excited, made me worse.' Confessing he always carried two knives for 'protection', the irony wasn't lost on the inspector, as this was one of the most extreme cases he had ever dealt with in terms of violence. Mackay seemed oblivious of this and continued the story, he described stabbing the priest multiple times as he made a gurgling noise, stabbing Crean in the head until the knife buckled. Then he used the axe to hit him in the temple, claiming he saw part of his brain exposed, he turned the taps on because he 'didn't like the blood' Mackay was surprisingly squeamish about this. He then sat by the bath for an hour although he wasn't sure why. He still had no idea where the dog had gone, saying he wasn't sure if he had killed it. He described passing a police car upon leaving the scene of the crime but it didn't bother him. He then travelled back to his mother's house. He washed his hands to remove mud, but no blood remained as it had washed off in the bath. Mackay had put a cloth over Father Creane´s head because he didn't like the wounds and blood. Creane was found with a rosary draped over his hand. Mackay however said he hadn't seen one at the house despite sitting for an hour staring at the body. The interview was paused. After the break, Mackay went on to tell the officers if he hadn't killed Father Creane, he would have killed someone else. When pressed on this he said 'I've felt it in me for a long time, I'm not surprised I done it, It might have even been me I done it to.'
Patrick Mackay was finally charged with murder, despite trying to take back his confession, not that he'd killed Creane, but that he was not his first and only victim. Mackay continued to lie about almost everything over the next few months. The detectives were now convinced that he was behind more crimes, particularly the two murders and the many robberies in the West End. The jewelry found in his hostel, he had claimed had come from a burglary in a different part of London. He didn't know that it had been traced back to Belgravia and so had the owner. As the detectives started to examine his past, they started to believe he may even be the most dangerous man in Britain...
A map of the West End in the crime squad tasked with finding the mugger of old ladies, had long since stopped having new red dots to represent attacks on elderly victims. The murder of Isabella Griffiths and Adele Price were no closer to being solved. The descriptions from the elderly victims were haphazard to say the least. There was no certain time that Mackay would strike, so patrols of the area didn't help much. The murder of Father Creane had occurred just 12 days after Adele Price's murder in Kent, not far from London. The detective leading the squad had been unable to find any suspects. Although Mackay was sloppy with his disposal of weapons (usually throwing them in a river or a roof) forensics was still in its early stages in 1975, so even him being bad at covering his tracks didn’t mean he would immediately be found. However, in one of his robberies where he didn’t kill the victim, he had left a fingerprint on a teaspoon. During this particular robbery, he had gone from being amicable to threatening and back again, all whilst stirring his tea, which he bizarrely drank throughout the ordeal. The fingerprint was sent away but would still take several weeks to analyze, as forensics were still in the early stages in 1975. During this time, Mackay murdered Father Creane. During this time, a warning was issued to pensioners about the serial offender, although police were fairly sure they had their suspect. Less than a week later, the fingerprint had a match -Patrick David Mackay. As he was being held on remand in Brixton prison at the time, he was taken from his cell back to the police station closer to home for questioning. Soon he would be breaking the monotony of prison with cigarettes and tea with the police officers. Mackay had confessed to the murder of Father Creane already, the only murder the police knew for sure he had committed. They had to handle this carefully, as Mackay could deny the crime, or even just say he was insane, be treated at a psychiatric hospital like he had been so many times before and let out in a few years. Detectives were stunned when Mackay confessed almost immediately. After he was told they wanted to ask him about the murder of Adele Price, he simply replied ´Yes, I did that.´
Mackay was asked further questions to establish he wasn’t just confessing to anything they asked him. They had to be sure after months of trying to find the murderer. Mackay then revealed the details of the crime. He explained how he’d gained access to Adele Price’s home but claiming to have cramp ´or something´ after which he was invited in for a cup of tea, or water, he couldn’t remember. When asked how he killed her, he simply responded ´I put my hand around her neck. It was in the bedroom.´ Next was the murder of Isabelle Griffiths, referred to as the ´Cheyne Walk´ murder, asked how he knew the name of the case, Mackay once again bluntly said ´I did it.´. Mackay said he didn’t know the woman’s name but remembered he would run errands for her. He told the detectives that he’d strangled Adele Price, and then stabbed her. He thought she was still alive when he stabbed her. He then left her in the kitchen and hung around the house a while, just like he did with Father Creane. He said he filled the sink with various items he found, including her shoes although he wasn’t sure why he did this, he claimed. Mackay admitted that when he heard the police wanted to speak to him, the murder of Adele Price was probably why. He had seen the posters up appealing for information. Next on the agenda was the huge amount of robberies and burglaries in the Chelsea, Knightsbridge, and Belgravia area. Mackay said he had snatched some handbags in the area. He claimed to have felt some guilt about the crimes, making a suicide attempt at a tube station and being admitted to hospital for a few days. This was the occasion when admitted, he had lied about his name, thus no connections were ever made as his criminal and psychiatric records were never accessed. Mackay went on to describe a ´nice old lady` he’d had a cup of tea and a sandwich with whilst she tried to persuade him to go back to hospital. He didn’t hurt her, but showed her he had a knife. This woman was Margaret Diver, where the fingerprint had been obtained from the teaspoon. The detectives didn’t mention that they already knew the fingerprint was tied to the crime scene. Now was the time to get a written confession they decided, Mackay claimed often of ´the mist` in which he forgot details and struggled to recall events. Upon returning to the interview room, to the detectives shock, Patrick Mackay was ready to confess to a further murder. He told them he had thrown a vagrant from Hungerford Bridge at Waterloo. He described a ´curtain coming down` in which he couldn’t recall incidents that were `too horrific.´ P
Police now knew Mackay very likely had killed Father Creane, Isabella Griffiths, and Adele Price. To make written statements, Mackay was taken to another police station. Here he described the murder of Isabella in detail. Once again whilst drunkenly wandering around wealthy parts of London, he had spotted her struggling with two heavy shopping bags and he offered to carry them home for her. He was offered a glass of whiskey for his troubles and would go back occasionally to run errands for a small sum of money. He didn’t mention why he hadn’t killed her right away. What follows is based on Mackay’s chillingly detailed description. Upon passing the house, he observed Isabella sitting in one of the rooms. She answered the door with the chain on and let him know she didn’t want any shopping done today. He then struck the door, breaking the chain. Mackay continued ‘I realized that I had done something I shouldn’t have done and I went a bit frantic. The next thing I knew, she was on the floor and I had grabbed her around the neck. This was in the kitchen earlier. I must have pressed her neck hard with my left hand because she went unconscious.’ He thought she might still be alive so lay her down on the kitchen floor. He said she was still breathing. Mackay wanted to explore the upstairs of the house and he had never seen up there. There were several unused rooms covered in dust. Mackay continues ‘I then went back down the stairs and had a strong compulsion to kill her outright. For this purpose I picked up a knife for cutting meat, a standard kitchen knife about the length of a 12 inch ruler in the blade. I then rammed this through her solar plexus, the bone of her chest, dead centre or just a bit below. I felt it embed in the floor.’
Mackay then sat calmly, drank some whiskey from a bottle he had in his pocket and listened to the radio that Isabella had been listening to before she let him in. He claimed he had a feeling someone else was in the house and went down to the basement, only to find a room full of cats. He closed the door not wanting them to escape, he’d come across some clothes somewhere in the house but didn’t remember where, he took these with him back to the kitchen and retrieved the knife from Isabella’s body. He then put her arms into a ‘cross position’, closed her eyes and draped the clothes over her, tucking them in at the sides. He cleaned off the knife and put it in a small bag he found to take with him. He said he’d thought about committing suicide with it at this point, but ‘chickened out.’ He covered the body with a blanket and threw some items into a sink, some shoes, a handbag, a cloth and things that ‘came to hand.’ He stole a mahogany cigarette box. He then left, ate a meal at a restaurant then went to visit the Cowdrey’s for a drink. The cigarette box, he then smashed with a hammer and scattered it. No one ever saw it. He kept the cigarettes. He described how he’d left Isabella’s body on the floor, and said that he hadn’t taken any keys with him. He must have as the house was locked behind him.
Patrick Mackay was also questioned about the many robberies he had committed. One of Mackay’s most fruitful robberies was when he robbed Lady Becher at knifepoint in December 1974. He claimed not to remember it but said it sounded like his ‘method.’ Another robbery in Chelsea, where he posed as a security officer, he did remember. He said once again he had put his hand around the woman’s neck and squeezed until she blacked out. He was then disturbed and ran away, taking her handbag. The admission that he had robbed Margaret Diver would prove essential in later establishing where Mackay had been on the day another murder he would later be suspected of- that of Ivy Davis. For now they continued with the robberies. Mackay was starting to become deflated. He also described his actions ‘This was becoming a disease, it started off in December with one or two every couple of weeks, and then it built up until I was doing one every day, or every other day, and in some cases more than one a day’.
The murder of Adele Price was next up. Securing confessions of the murders was more important at the moment, although the information Mackay offered about the robberies also offered useful information about how he operated when tricking his way into the homes of the elderly women. One of these he described next when confessing to the murder of Adele. He started by saying he wandered around the rich parts of London, one day deciding to go into the world famous department store, Harrods. His idea was to find someone to follow. With no luck in Harrods, he continued on to Belgravia where unfortunately for her, he came across Adele Price. Before this, Mackay sat on a bench observing the area whilst drinking from a bottle of whiskey. He claimed several times that the alcohol ’stimulated’ him, rather than got him drunk. When describing how he saw Adele in the streets referred to her as ‘the lady involved in the murder.’ Mackay saw which building she was entering and feigned dropping his keys to follow her in. There he went upstairs with a ’tremor’ in his leg, and pretended to feel faint. He was offered a glass of water. When he entered the flat and she disappeared to get the water, Mackay quickly stepped into another room after slamming the front door. Confused, she thought he had gone. He claims at this point he was unsure if he should ask for money or ‘call it off’ as he said. He claimed he told her he was feeling on edge and that living in Belgravia, she must know what he was there for. She went to the bedroom and Mackay followed, he said things happened quicker than with Isabella Griffiths, and once again described it as having his hand ‘around her neck.’ She seemed to sink to the floor quicker, he claimed. Once again he hung around the scene of the crime. Turning on the tv and looking out of the window. He put the catch down on the front door, and pocketed two radios. After sitting on the sofa a while, he contemplated ‘I started to think what I had done with my life. I didn’t particularly think about murdering the old woman. It didn’t strike me particularly that I was in a serious situation. I don’t know what happened after that, I may have dropped off for a while. The next thing I remember, I heard a rattling sound and this seemed to wake me up.’ That rattling sound of course, was Adele Price’s granddaughter trying to get in. When she left to try the doorbell again, Mackay slipped out of the front door and passed her on the stairs, she even asked him for help, and he suggested she ask the porter. Making a quick exit, Mackay wandered into an off license and bought more whiskey. He told police he had only stolen some cash from Adele Price’s handbag, and the radios even though there was a lot more things he could have taken, he said he ‘wasn’t particularly interested.’ He was then shown a screwdriver which he claimed not to be his, besides which he wouldn’t carry it as a weapon as he already carried two knives! There was a nylon stocking found in a drinks cupboard at the scene, something Mackay had not mentioned in his description of the murder. ‘If it was there, I must have used it. I may have used it to tie around the old woman’s neck but I don’t think I did. I used my hands. That would be the only reason I would use a nylon stocking.’ Mackay had never mentioned a nylon stocking before in any of his confessed crimes, and he also hadn’t been accused of doing so. Could he be referring to a crime he hadn’t admitted to yet where a nylon stocking had in fact been used? He then told how he had drank the rest of the whiskey when wandering around and couldn’t remember much more of the evening. He had sold one of the radios, and disposed of the other in the tube tunnel where he had tried to kill himself. ’There was a little incident in there of me trying to strangle myself.’
Mackay had now admitted to 25 robberies, most weren’t prompted. He now moved on to when he claimed to have killed a homeless man. This happened he said before the murder of Isabella Griffiths when he was wandering around drunk again after the pubs had closed, at around 2:30am, he was crossing Hungerford bridge he saw a ‘vagrant’ coming towards him. The vagrant was apparently also drunk and shouted something at Mackay, possibly ‘fuck off’, and waving his arms. This angered Mackay who said he grabbed him by his trousers and collar and threw him over the bridge. He was splashing as if he couldn’t swim he said. Mackay stated he didn’t’ care if the man died, he then claimed he stayed at Charing Cross station overnight, before returning to the Reverend Bracks house where he was living at the time. The statement took four hours to write up, and Patrick Mackay was charged with the murders of Isabella Griffiths and Adele Price, and two cases of robbery. Mackay stated ‘I don’t wish to say anything.’ However, there would be more to tell…
In 1975 after his arrest and confessions, Patrick David Mackay was considered the most dangerous man in Britain, at the age of just 23. He was charged with three murders, Isabelle Griffiths, Adele Price and Father Anthony Creane. The alleged murder of the homeless man could not be verified with no witness, no name and no body. However, upon his arrest, police from other regions in London started to wonder if some of their unsolved murders could be the work of the most dangerous man in Britain. Particularly two unsolved murders they thought matched Patrick Mackay’s modus operandi.
The first was that of 73 year old Mary Hynes in July of 1973. The difference with her murder and that of Adele Price and Isabella Griffiths was the location. This was not a rich area of London. She lived in a ground floor flat in Kentish Town in North West London. She was found bludgeoned to death with a piece of wood, with a stocking stuffed into her mouth. She was a regular at the local pub and known as friendly, and an animal lover. She was a bit of a local character, recognizable by her slight limp. Mary had complained to a neighbor of a break in a few weeks before she was found dead. A neighbor became concerned when he noticed that Mary’s light hadn’t been on recently, and even more so when she hadn’t paid her rent which she always did on time. Mary was found covered with a blanket half covering her and the back door nailed shut. The front door was locked with no key to be found. There was blood on the walls and even the ceiling. The key from the bedroom door was also missing. There was a wound just below the throat and on the forehead. Mackay was interviewed about this murder due to the obvious similarities. The covering of the bodies, and the locking of the front door. Police questioned Mackay if he had ever been to Kentish Town. He said he had as he liked to ride buses and the tube all over London and would have been there as it’s close to the more famous Camden Town. He asked for photos of the house then went on to say he had been in Kentish Town and had asked for a glass of water at a house there. He said from an ‘old lady.’ Police took a break after Mackay asked how she was killed. When the interview resumed, they told him that she had been hit on the head, and a stocking stuffed into her mouth, as well as another around her neck. The detectives explained that the bodies being covered and the keys missing were somewhat of a calling card for Mackay now. He agreed with this but claimed he couldn’t remember. He said he ‘knew something about stockings’ but also couldn’t remember. Mackay was then questioned by another officer who was under the jurisdiction of the Mary Hynes murder, where Mackay then claimed he would like to ‘clear it all up.’ He wasn’t sure of the house, the inside of the house or indeed the crime scene pictures, although he admitted it was very similar ro his confirmed murders, he still said he couldn’t remember. He reiterated that he did know the area and even remembered the bus he took, but still knew nothing of the murder. Three weeks later, Mackay was interviewed again regarding the murder. This time he mentioned that the woman at this house he asked for a glass of water from ‘hobbled’ along- as mentioned, Mary Hynes had a slight limp. He went on further to say he had stuffed stockings into an old ladies mouth but maintained that he didn’t remember everything, and wasn’t even sure if Mary Hynes was the same woman he was thinking of. The detectives then decided to set the scene for Mackay to jog his memory, he replied thank you and they went on. He described the house and the woman getting him a glass of water. He said he then took her by the elbows from behind and pushed her down the hall. A detail that Margaret Diver and Ilma Lewis also gave to police. Mackay then said he had a picture of old lady with stockings stuffed in her throat in his head but wasn’t sure it was Mary Hynes. He described how the woman had a ‘big hole’ under her chin. Now he said it was the same woman. Upon being shown a photograph of the crime scene with the wound he described. Mackay was asked if he had locked the door and taken the keys as he usually did, he admitted this was something he did but couldn’t remember on this occasion. Upon being told by the Detective Inspector ‘From what you have told me, I am quite satisfied that you killed this woman’ Mackay replied: ‘It’s too much to suppose that anyone else killed her, so I must have, but I can’t remember the actual killing.’ Mackay then made a statement and was charged with a fourth murder. The only problem was, Patrick Mackay was locked up at a remand centre on the day of the killing. Police worked with the theory that he had absconded that day and committed the murder. Mackay then withdrew his confession through his solicitors. Although he had a history of absconding from institutions, for Mackay to have committed the murder, he would have had to have returned afterwards, and Mackay hated being locked up.
When Patrick Mackay was committing murder between 1973 and 1975 in London, he wouldn’t have been the only man committing violent crimes. For all of his crimes, police would be dealing with even more, hence the tendency to try and solve serious crimes as fast as possible with false evidence and questionable confessions. New crimes would be taking place when they were trying to investigate the current ones, and resources would quickly be come overstretched.
The murder of Frank Goodman was a difficult case. Frank was killed in his sweet shop in North London, in June 1974. This was around 4 months after Mackay’s ‘official’ first victim, Isabella Griffiths. Mackay was living a few tube stops away from Finsbury Park where Frank Goodman was murdered. Frank never showed up to a football match was supposed to watch on TV with a friend. Instead his body was found behind the counter in his sweet shop. He had been severely beaten with a length of gas pipe. Suffering repeated blows to the head with the pipe, an investigating officer told reporters ‘This is the most brutal murder I have ever seen.’ Police worked out a timeline in which they theorized that Frank had probably been murdered just before he closed his shop between the 13-15 June. Frank was killed by 14 blows to the head. Most likely he was unconscious after the first few and the assault continued as he was unconscious or even dead. The body was then moved behind the counter. Some notes were missing from the till, but bags of change remained. A bloody footprint was found in the shop, and the metal pipe discarded nearby. An appeal was made and several statements met a dead end. The only other clue was, the killer had locked the door behind them- the MO of one Patrick Mackay. The police in North London were also dealing with the murder of a prostitute two weeks earlier, and the same detective was put in charge of both cases. A month after Franks murder, both remained unsolved. Although there were parallels with Mackay’s previous murders and the murder of Frank Goodman, there were also quite a few differences. Frank was not Mackay’s usual victim type, and he wasn’t’ particularly wealthy, although the till would have had some cash. We know Mackay liked to hang around at the scene after a murder, and this would have been more difficult in a shop, there would be more chance of being disturbed. There was no evidence that the pair knew each other. Finsbury Park wasn’t strictly in Mackay’s usual areas he travelled to either, although the shop was right next to the tube, so easy enough to make an escape. If the confession of throwing a man off a bridge was true, it shows Mackay was an unpredictable killer. If Mackay had indeed only killed Isabella Griffiths and the homeless man at this time, he wouldn’t have a pattern of victim types yet, and no real patterns of his behavior. Mackay was also haphazard. Detectives didn’t have any evidence against Patrick Mackay, but the thing that struck them the most was, how similar the murder was to that of Father Creane, both were unusually violent and involved substantial head wounds. In the case of Father Creane, Mackay had placed a towel over his head, in the murder of Frank Goodman, he had been moved behind the counter and a coat placed over his legs. The locked door was also an MO of Mackay, who did this both at the scene of robberies, and murders. The murder weapon also being carelessly thrown away nearby was also something Mackay was known for. Little of value was taken, as in the other murder cases. Mackay was interviewed in relation to the murder of Frank Goodman, these interviews remain in archives, and the case is now left on file. Some transcripts from the tapes were read by Tim Clark and John Penycate who wrote a book on Patrick Mackay in 1975. These transcripts revealed that Mackay had confessed to committing a murder in a shop, and even disposing of his blood stained boots nearby, which he located when taken to Finchley Cemetery in 1975. The blood could not be identified. Statements from the Cowdrey’s said that Mackay turned up with cash and cigarettes that night, the landlords where Mackay was living at the time also noted a piece of missing pipe. Detectives thought they had enough to bring charges, but with Mackay pleading not guilty, and already having confessed to three murders, the case remained unsolved, along with that of Mary Hynes. In British law, a case can be left to ‘lie on file’ when the judge agrees there is enough evidence for a case to be made, but proceeding with a trial is not in public interest, if the defendant is already being charged with further crimes and will likely be locked up anyway. The defendant makes no admissions, and no verdict is recorded against them. At his trial, Mackay pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Adele Price, Isabella Griffiths and Father Anthony Creane on ground of diminished responsibility, on account of his defence team pleading insanity, however medical experts concluded that Mackay’s psychopathy was a personality disorder, and not a mental disorder. Patrick Mackay was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimal term of 20 years. Meaning that he would be eligible for parole by 1995.
After Patrick Mackay’s conviction, information started to come out about the failures of the system that had let him go, time and time again. The newspapers published articles on these missed opportunities. If Mackay had indeed killed Mary Hynes, this would mean investigations into how he had absconded from a remand centre, affecting not only the staff and governor there but even further up the chain, even as high as government ministers. This would case huge embarrassment and loss of faith in the police, medical professionals and the government itself. After all, the system had failed to deal with Mackay when he was arrested and locked up many times, even when he was a known psychopath, he was simply released time and time again. Mackay committing three killings under these circumstances was bad enough, but to discover and convict him for even more would mean he would be up there as well known as the worst of the worst of other British serial killers, Dennis Nilsen, Harold Shipman, Fred and Rose West? Accepting Mackay’s not guilty plea would save admitting that he could have not only been caught earlier, but further intervention could even have saved the lives of three people. However, it may not have just been the three murders we know for sure were committed by Patrick Mackay…
With Mackay now convicted and in prison for at least the next 20 years, murder squads across London were delving into their unsolved crimes to see if Mackay would fit the bill of the murderer. There were several. The murders of Heidi Mnilk, Stephanie Britton and Christopher Martin, Sarah Rodmell, and Ivy Davies remain unsolved to this day. These were murders that Mackay was questioned about. The interviews and witness statements in these cases have never been made public. With no new information, it’s likely they will never be reviewed. Two years before the murder of Father Creane, 18 year old German nanny- Heidi Mnilk- was viciously murdered on a train in London, with her body being found on the tracks, having been thrown from the train. At this time, Mackay had already killed several pets, attacked boys in the street and frequently assaulted his mother and sister. A year before the murder he had been released from his second stay at Moss Side Hospital, where he had first been diagnosed as a psychopath. The beginning of 1973, Mackay was unemployed, drinking heavily and traveling frequently between London and Kent on the train. This was also the time where his interest in Nazism really intensifed. He started to commit burglaries around this time, and stole from Father Crean, which ended their friendship. In July of 1973, Heidi Mnilk was stabbed in the neck and thrown from a train heading to Kent from London. Witnesses noticed a man getting out from the next carriage and leaving the train, but he disappeared in the commotion that followed. The teenage boys that witnessed the man leaving, and told railway workers that there was a body on the track were not believed at first, giving the suspect a chance to escape into the crowd. The boys gave a description which was somewhat accurate, but the age and height didn’t match Patrick Mackay. Two months later, a witness came forward. She was a Danish woman who had been travelling on the same line several months before the murder. She described how a man had pulled a knife out on her and asked if she was German. She replied no and he claimed to hate Germans, especially German women. Her description of the knife he used matched the knife that had been thrown onto the tracks after Heidi’s murder. A photofit was made which was similar to the one produced after the boys had described the suspect before. All three came to an identity parade but none identified Mackay as the murderer. This marked the end of the investigation. There were several other similar attacks on the railways a few years later. The victims survived, and the attacker was never caught. Mackay was already convicted and in prison at the time, so it’s entirely possible he didn’t’ commit these crimes. It was claimed however that he was bragging about killing Heidi when in prison. It could be argued that he committed her murder, and someone else attempted to murder the other two women. The knife was simply thrown away nearby which was what Mackay would do with his weapons, nothing was found at the other two attacks. It would also be strange for Mackay to say he hated Germans, as he was obsessed with Nazi’s. However Mackay was also mixed race and still idolised them so would certainly not be thinking rationally about these beliefs. The attacks on the other two women hadn’t resulted in their deaths either, perhaps Mackay was a more efficient killer?
The next unsolved murders police considered could be the work of Patrick Mackay were that of Stephanie Britton and her 4 year old grandson Christopher Martin. This particularly horrific crime, much like the reign of terror of Patrick Mackay is surprisingly little known in the UK. Taking place in a rich part of North London. This area , Barnet, is close to where London ends and is replaced by green fields. This leafy suburb was where Stephanie Britton was born. She was well regarded in the area. Her grandson Christopher had stayed overnight with her in January 1974, and when her daughter Joanna came to collect him, she was met with the ghastly discovery of her mother dead in the living room of the house and her son dead upstairs. Both had been stabbed. There was no sign of forced entry at the house, some drawers had been rifled through. A suspect was taken to a local police station for questioning for several days, however he was released and never arrested or charged. The suspected weapon was a double edged knife. Local ponds were dredged in an effort to find it, to no avail. A few people that had been seen in the area were called to make statements. A man described as tall with dark hair, around 30 and wearing a military style coat with a belt was seen the evening of the murders, and again around 5am, leaving the area. The weapon the police were looking for also changed, first to a smaller single edge blade, and later a long wooden handled carving knife. More than a month after the murders, police started working with the theory that Stephanie had invited someone into her home, and left the door unlocked, anticipating a visitor. She had left a note to ‘Alan’ saying she was on the phone and to come in. Interviewing several Alans yielded no results. There had also been two anonymous tip offs from a phone box in North London, but both had hung up when asked for their names. By the time Stephanie and her grandson were buried side by side, more than 1000 people had been interviewed, and one prime suspect interviewed and released. After the murder of Father Creane, Mackay was considered a viable suspect for these murders too. As with Heidi Mnilk, Mackay had allegedly bragged about the murder whilst on remand in prison. However when confronted he said ‘It is my belief that they will always wonder whether or not I knew something about this bizarre slaying or not. The answer is of course, that I did not.’ Mackay had also been living with Reverend Brack in North London at the time, just a few stops away from Barnet on the tube. Mackay had also had a short-lived job at a country park close to the house of Stephanie Britton. He was even taken there to jog his memory but still denied everything. Mackay’s previous fondness for use of knives fitted in with the murder, and the fact there was a window of around 9 hours between the initial and the last spotting of the tall dark haired man, Mackay was known for staying behind after committing murders. As per his usual MO, no attempt had been made to clean up the crime scene. The police files on this case are still sealed, so we don’ know if any of Patrick Mackay’s calling cards were present, the locked door, taps running, or the bodies covered. What is unusual is the murder of Christopher Martin, Mackay had never targeted children before. However he had attacked people of all ages when ‘the mist’ as he called it came down. Potentially, he had staked out the house and Christopher had been there unexpectedly and ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. According to a family member of Stephanie, the family hadn’t believed at the time that the man questioned had anything to do with the murder. The police had suggested a domestic motive, but again nothing came of this. The family member said ‘I know Patrick Mackay lived nearby and he was a serial killer. But it was only a few years after it happened that we were told he was a suspect. Police investigations were very different then and we were told very little’
The murder of Sarah Rodmell in 1974 was another murder that remained unsolved, and had some hallmarks of Patrick Mackay. The victim was an elderly woman, 92 years old. She was living in Hackney in East London. This was not a rich victim like the other pensioners Mackay had killed. Sarah spent most of her time sitting in a nearby pub. The pub was known to be rowdy and featured topless dancers. However Sarah was a staple of the pub and well liked. Often she would be there from opening time, until the pub closed. One night she took her usual journey home, but was bludgeoned to death on her front doorstep. Police described the head wounds she suffered as ‘extreme.’ They also commented that her underwear had been ‘disturbed.’ She had just £5 in her purse. The regulars at the pub were devastated and raised money for her funeral. Police arranged a reenactment of the night Sarah died, but to little response. However, two tip offs were received by the local paper. One claimed he had overheard a conversation in the pub about the murder, another left a name and address for a suspect. The quality of the tape the tip offs were recorded on was bad and the message could not clearly be heard. The other tip off was the name of a teenage boy who had allegedly committed the murder and was now going to be smuggled out of the country by his mother. A bank note with ’Lou 1974’ had said to have been taken from Sarah’s purse and this was a line of enquiry. Once again this lead led nowhere. Mackay was accused of once again bragging about this murder when in prison to another prisoner. However an alibi was established and he denied being responsible. Sarah being bludgeoned with a heavy object had similarities with the murder of Father Crean, and Frank Goodman. At the time of the murder, Mackay had not long been released from prison for the possession of an offensive weapon. Sarah’s murder was a few days before Christmas, on Boxing Day, Mackay had robbed Lady Becher. Although Hackney was not one of Mackay’s usual areas, Reverend Ted Brack was known to frequent a pub just 20 minutes away from Sarah’s home. Sarah was in line with Mackay’s usual choice of victim, however she wasn’t rich, the murder was outside as opposed to indoors, where Mackay preferred so he could hang around the crime scene after the murder, and commit the murder privately, usually including his MO of locking the doors. The sexual element also wasn’t something Mackay was known for, unless the ‘disturbed’ stockings meant there could have been an attempt to remove them to make a ligature. Mackay had alluded to stockings being used in his crimes, although he was never convicted of anything involving stockings. At the time of Sarah’s murder, Mackay was at a particularly low point, disowned by his family, not on good terms with Reverend Brack, unemployed and living in a bail hostel. As with most of Mackay’s crimes, the public transport link was there, the pub that Sarah frequented was just 5 minutes away from a train station.
The last murder, again, still remains a mystery. The murder of Ivy Davies was another one where the MO was being repeatedly battered around the head with a heavy object. This crime was committed in Essex. Easily reachable from London but not one of Mackay’s usual areas of operation. It was however close to a train station. A young man was spotted walking in the direction of the train station on the morning Ivy’s body was found. Ivy’s son said that detectives had told him that Mackay was ‘on holiday’ in this area the time of Ivy’s murder, however this doesn’t quite match up with his chaotic lifestyle. On the day Ivy was killed, Mackay had also confessed to carrying out one of his doorstep robberies. He stole an inscribed silver pen, but could also have got himself an alibi. It’ possible he could have taken a train to Essex that afternoon after stumbling out of the pub. There were no signs of forced entry at Ivy’s home, and no sign of a struggle, much like when he murdered Isabella Griffiths and Adele Price. Ivy had been battered around the head with a pry bar which police said was shaped like an axe. The weapon was discarded close by, as the axe that Mackay had killed Father Creane with had been, and the screwdriver in Adele Price’s flat. Very little of value was taken. There was a ligature around the neck, which was not Mackay’s usual MO. However, there were still the comments in his confession that he ‘may have’ used nylon stockings in one of his crimes, but that he strangled Adele Price with his ‘bare hands.’ There was also the matter of the stockings ‘disturbed’ on Sarah Rodmell, and those stuffed into Mary Hynes mouth. It is not known if Ivy’s door keys were removed after the murder, or if she was covered up. As the police records are unavailable, there is no way of knowing. However Mackay did deny this crime. After a TV appeal in 2004, some information was phoned in, but nothing significant until 2005. A witness had apparently come forward with information- that a local man had gone to Ivy’s house and made a pass at her, when she rebuffed his advances, he had attacked her with the pry bar. He then went home and confessed to his partner, and she then helped him stage a crime scene that looked like a burglary. Although this seemed far fetched, it was worth investigating. Everyone named by the witness had been questioned at the time. Officers visited one of Ivy’s neighbours who had discovered her body. Incredibly, the neighbour still had some blood stained carpet from the crime scene rolled up in her attic, as Ivy’s possessions were divided among her friends. Upon a forensic examination, a semen stain was found. A 68 year old man was arrested but the forensics yielded nothing and he was released. Years later, a detective in the case claimed Mackay wasn’t considered a focus in the case, just ‘some sort of vagrant who had been ruled out.’ The detective still had suspicions about two young men that were questioned in 1975, and the couple questioned in 2005, although it’s still possible Mackay was involved, the detective doesn’t think there will any answer to the case of Ivy Davies, bar a deathbed confession.
Despite his brutal and sadistic crime spree, including at least 3 murders, countless assaults on his family and other crimes and imprisonments over the years, and terrorising the elderly in Londons richest areas, Patrick Mackay has never reached the heights of fame as other British serial killers. The high profile trials of Peter Sutcliffe and Dennis Nilsen in later years- convicted in 1980 and 1983 respectively-were a media frenzy. Mackay however was only pictured in the newspapers a few days before his court appearance. It was implied a deal had already been made, a short trial was expected after discussions between defence and prosecution lawyers. There was no trial in the end. Mackay dressed in a black suit and surrounded by 6 security guards, sat meekly and waited for the charges to be read. He replied simply to all ‘Not guilty to murder, guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.’ The details of Patrick Mackay’s crimes and confessions were read out in court. An extract from his prison diaries concerning the murder of Isabella Griffiths was published in most of the papers:
’She was not a bad soul, and why I killed her I feel I may never know. I suppose that even though I had killed her, I wanted in death to make her comfortable as she lay on her kitchen floor. I closed her eyes as they were staring lifeless up, covered her as if in a sleeping bag and left her there. These murders were so solemn when I think of them, yet so quick, so fast to take place. You know a man who has killed cannot really say much more than the basics from his point of view as he remembers it. In my case for instance, I became very cocky about a few things that have happened. It has been said that I must have closed all the curtains in the homes of my victims as they say. This may well be possible. I have never disputed it. But I cannot say this with any certainty, for I just do not recall doing. There is a hell of a lot from the point of view of these killings that I myself cannot remember.’
Mackay pleading guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility was of course in the hope of getting him imprisoned in a psychiactric hospital rather than a regular prison. In this case Broadmoor which is where Peter Sutcliffe was imprisoned after 3 years of serving his sentence in a regular prison. Sutcliffe also pleaded not guilty on the grounds of diminished responsibilty at his trial, which was rejected. However he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia 4 years later and transferred to Broader. There is a theory that Sutcliffe was faking or at the very least exaggerating symptoms in order to get an easier and more comfortable time in a psychiatric hospital as opposed to a prison. Sutcliffe stayed in Broadmoor for over 30 years until being declared mentally fit to return to be returned to prison, in 2016. Mackay claimed he wanted to go to a secure hospital to get the help he believed he needed and stated ‘I must be helped. I cannot remain in the state I am for the rest of my life. It is my last hope to survive as a human being.’ However Mackay’s hopes were scuppered when a consultant psychiatrist from the Home Office assessed Mackay and noted that he had ‘well marked sadistic interests’, and that in an interview, Mackay had said ‘Any man doing a killing enjoys it al the time- it’s animal.’ In the opinion of the psychiatrist, Mackay would be too much of a risk to the other patients and staff to be treated at a secure hospital. Mackay found no support for his bid to go to Broadmoor, being described as a ‘cold psychopathic killer,’ A professor from the Royal College of Psychiatrists had the following to say about Patrick Mackay:
‘(He has) an extreme form of personality disorder, known as psychopathic personality disorder(which cannot be treated) what to do with this man presents considerable problems, he is a risk to himself and the inmates and the staff of whatever institution he is in, in the circumstances, I recommend detention indefinitely in a prison, and if he were to start that sentence in a prison hospital wing it might be possible at a later date to a secure hospital if that proved necessary.’
Mackay was then sentenced. He received 3 life sentences from the judge with a minimum of 20 years to serve. The judge commented:
‘You are a highly dangerous man and it is my duty to protect the public, that I can only do by making an order which will ensure that unless and until you cease to be the menace you now are, you will be kept in secure custody.’
With that, the Devil’s Disciple was taken to the cells, and to Parkhurst Prison. The national newspapers ran headlines about Mackay the next day, ‘Life for the mad killer let go!’, ‘the psycho who had to kill’, a ‘fiend’, ’The Monster of Belgravia.’ Now sentencing was complete, the mistakes of the police and mental health services were heavily reported. Mackays former neighbours described how he ‘was taken away in a straitjacket after beating up his mother, and then 24 hours later he came waltzing down the road free as a bird. The authorities literally gave him a license to kill.’ It was also noted that Mackay’s mother Marion still called her son a ‘good boy.’ During Patrick Mackay’s 18 month killing spree, he had been put in psychiatric units twice, released within a few days, and on both occasions had killed someone within days. Just 3 days before killing Father Crean he was released from a hospital in London, and Moss Side hospital where he had been held before had no record of a Patrick Mackay, or of the fake name he had given- Peter McCann. Despite all of this and Mackay once being described as ‘The most dangerous man in London’ and a slew of unsolved murders that he was suspected of committing, there was no high profile enquiry into the failures.
Patrick Mackay faded back into obscurity after his sentencing. In his writing, before sentencing even, he had showed a lack of remorse for his victims, instead feeling sorry for himself and stating that he wished he could ‘put a bullet through my head and through my brain’ Lack of empathy is a core trait of psychopathy so it’s not surprising Mackay hadn’t gained any insight. Around 15 years after his incarceration, a documentary was shown on the BBC which focused on a new prison unit which would house the most difficult and disruptive inmates in the country. The idea of this unit was to take a different approach to the prisoners, and allow them to become angry and behave badly, then when they wanted to have a conversation about their problems, they could. This was a controversial and expensive regime. The documentary starts with the surprising introduction of a now 39 year old Patrick Mackay, sporting a neat hairstyle and mustache. He had been transferred from Parkhurst Prison which also housed Moors Murderer Ian Brady. Mackay says that him and the other inmates have been in ‘constant trouble.’ Mackay was know to have clashed with one of Britains most notorious prisoners, Charles Bronson. Bronson claimed in one of his books that Mackay had been beaten up in prison, and didn’t fight back and ‘rolled into a ball on the floor.’ Bronson held the view that Mackay could terrorize elders women but wasn’t’ quite so tough when faced with a man! Mackays cellmate is an armed robber, who is seen helping him carry his artwork and supplies into the cell. His love of art had led to some of his work being anonymously shown in exhibitions that display prisoners art. He is also seen making a clay sculpture. Upon being asked about his psychopathy in an interview shown with the prison governor, Mackay denies he is a psychopath, saying: ‘From the point of view of somebody who is supposedly using that label to enjoy taking human life, there was never, ever any suggestion in my mind that I ever a psychopath, if one was to use that criteria, I could have perhaps understood some people being rather uncertain as to whether or not I was, but I certainly have never considered myself psychopathic, if one takes the criteria that one gets a special enjoyment out of killing. No such enjoyment have I ever had. I have never found any pleasure out of any such thing.’
Patrick Mackay is now 72 years old and has been in prison for 50 years. Since 1995, after serving the minimum of 20 years, Mackay has been up for parole 10 times. He has been denied parole every time, but as of 2017- has been serving his sentence in an open prison, which means he can live under less supervision, and is was allowed to spent time in Bristol- the town local to his prison. At the time of writing, it is not known which prison Mackay is currently held in. The cold cases where Mackay was a suspect have never been opened again, despite his case being raised in Parliament, and even requests to the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner to reopen them. Perhaps still, the prospect of the many failings in releasing Mackay again and again from various institutions, as well as not even having records of him being there at all, coming to light again plays a role. There are few relatives left to complain. There is little known about how much rehabilitation has gone on with Patrick Mackay, despite many experts having the opinion that he couldn’t be helped, but being moved to an open prison means he must show some kind of change, or is he just considered too old to be a danger now, or has ‘served his time?’ In 2021 the Parole Board concluded he was ‘unsuitable for release’ but that he will be entitled to another parole hearing in due course. Opposers to his release have argued that he is indeed capable of killing again, after all if he can’t be rehabilitated, what would stop the ‘mist’ he described descending again…
Editor's note: this article ran in Serial Killer Magazine and is reproduced as written. Patrick Mackay is recorded in this archive at three to eleven, and the article's own account explains the range. He pleaded guilty in November 1975 to three counts of manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility, for Isabella Griffiths, Adele Price and Father Anthony Crean, and was given an indefinite sentence; the eleven is the number of deaths he confessed to and later retracted, and no court has ever tested those. He remains in prison. The article's argument is not about the count but about the releases, and there the record supports it: Mackay was assessed as dangerous repeatedly through his teens and returned to the community each time. The clinicians and officials named made those decisions with what they had, and the piece names them as the original did. Dennis Nilsen, Peter Sutcliffe, Harold Shipman and Ian Brady are mentioned only in the opening comparison and are recorded here at six convictions, thirteen, fifteen convictions, and five respectively.