Student charged with UK killings

A mature student studying serial killers was last night charged over the murder of three prostitutes in an English city infamous as the home of the Yorkshire Ripper.

LONDON // A mature student studying serial killers was last night charged over the murder of three prostitutes in an English city infamous as the home of the murderer dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper. Stephen Griffiths is studying for a PhD in criminology at the University of Bradford in the Yorkshire city that Peter Sutcliffe used as a base to kill 13 women, mainly prostitutes, in the 1970s. Mr Griffiths, 40, was arrested as the partial remains - including the severed head - of the sex worker Suzanne Blamires, 36, were found in a bag beside a local river. According to reports yesterday, Ms Blamires was seen on CCTV footage being beaten by a man close to the apartment block where Mr Griffiths lives. She was then shot through the head with a bolt from a crossbow. Detectives were also questioning Mr Griffiths, who has a degree in psychology, about the disappearance of Shelley Armitage, 31, and Susan Rushworth, 42. Ms Armitage has not been seen since vanishing from the streets in April while Ms Rushworth, a grandmother with a heroin addiction, has not been seen since last June. Aside from the inevitable links to the Yorkshire Ripper, who stalked Bradford's red light district and killed three women there including his first victim, the case also has echoes in the 2006 murders in Ipswich, where five prostitutes were killed in little more than a month. Mr Griffiths describes himself on his MySpace social networking site as a "misanthrope who brought hate into heaven". Using the name Ven Pariah, he describes his mood as "evil" and cites the passage from the Old Testament book of Ezekiel that reads: "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides" - a quote made famous in an execution scene from Quentin Tarantino's film Pulp Fiction. Mr Griffiths also wrote on the site: "Humanity is not merely a biological condition. It is also a state of mind. On that basis I am a pseudo human at best. A demon at worst. "Ven Pariah has finally emerged into the world. What will this pseudo human do, one wonders?" People living around Mr Griffiths's home in an apartment block on the edge of the red light district, described him as "a little weird". With the apartment block still sealed by police yesterday as forensic officers continued working inside, a local shop worker where Mr Griffiths bought his daily newspaper said: "He wouldn't say much but used to say hello and buy a few things. I thought he was a bit weird." Neighbours who knew him described him as an oddball and a loner who would dress in black, "Goth" clothes. Police had been examining a number of derelict buildings in the area since Ms Armitage, who also had drink and drug problems, disappeared last month. The last images of her were captured on CCTV cameras as she plied her trade on the streets of the city centre. Ms Blamires vanished on Friday and her partial remains were found by a passing dog walker on a riverbank outside Bradford. A friend told The Daily Mail yesterday: "Suzanne was always sent out on to the streets by the boyfriend she lived with and when she went missing people were very, very upset and scared. "For many of the older generation, it brought back all the horror of the Yorkshire Ripper ... and this is just appalling." [e-mail]