Stephen Akinmurele: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|Alleged Nigerian serial killer}} |
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{{Infobox serial killer |
{{Infobox serial killer |
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|name=Stephen Akinmurele |
|name=Stephen Akinmurele |
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|image=Stephen Akinmurele.png |
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|alias=The Cul-De-Sac Killer |
|alias=The Cul-De-Sac Killer |
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|birth_date={{Birth date|1978|3|16|df=y}} |
|birth_date={{Birth date|1978|3|16|df=y}} |
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|birth_place=[[Nigeria]]<ref name=":0"/> |
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|birth_place=[[Nigeria]]<ref>{{cite news |title='Serial killer' found hanged |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/aug/30/jamiewilson1 |access-date=22 January 2021 |publisher=The Guardian |date=30 August 1999}}</ref> |
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|death_date={{Death date and age|1999|8|28|1978|3|16|df=y}} |
|death_date={{Death date and age|1999|8|28|1978|3|16|df=y}} |
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|death_place=[[Manchester Prison]], [[Manchester]], [[England]] |
|death_place=[[Manchester Prison]], [[Manchester]], [[England]] |
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|conviction= |
|conviction= |
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|sentence= |
|sentence= |
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|victims= |
|victims=5–7 |
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|country=[[United Kingdom]] |
|country=[[United Kingdom]] |
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|beginyear=1995 |
|beginyear=1995 |
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'''Stephen Oladimeji K. Akinmurele''' (16 March 1978 – 28 August 1999) was a Nigerian suspected [[serial killer]] who was charged with murdering five elderly people between 1995 and 1998. |
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Initially, he was charged with the murder of an elderly couple, Eric Boardman and Joan Boardman. His third suspected crime was the murder of Jemmimah Cargill. After Cargill, he was also charged with the murders of Dorothy Harris and Marjorie Ashton. |
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He was arrested on the 1st of November 1998 for the murders of Eric and Joan Boardman after they were found strangled following post-mortem examinations. On the 6th of November he was also charged with the murder of Ms. Cargill, who was murdered in a fire at her home. After the arrest of Stephen Akinmurele, the police starting looking into unsolved murders and one in particular, Marjorie Ashton. She was strangled in her home in May 1995. The authorities also appealed for more information about Stephen Akinmurele when he lived in the area of Castletown and Douglas <ref name=Murderpedia /> |
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Akinmurele was born in Nigeria to a Nigerian father and a white British mother. He and his mother moved to the Isle of Man in 1988, before he moved to Blackpool, England to work as a barman.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=1999-08-30 |title='Serial killer' found hanged |url=http://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/aug/30/jamiewilson1 |access-date=2023-01-17 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref> |
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| ⚫ | Akinmurele had a history of mental illness and had committed crimes against the elderly from the age of 11. He was drawn to situations in which he would encounter the elderly with the police asserting he got a "kick" out of killing old people. Akinmurele confessed to a number of the murders but killed himself before his trial. Police believe he may have also been responsible for two further killings. The case is notable due to Akinmurele's long-standing hatred of elderly people. |
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==Victims== |
==Victims== |
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The victims in the case were all senior citizens; the lead investigator in the case noted that Akinmurele had a "pathological hatred" of old people. He was dubbed "cul-de-sac killer" due to his choice of elderly victims living in quiet suburban streets. |
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His first two known victims were Eric Boardman, 77, and his wife Joan Boardman, 74. Both were murdered at their home in Blackpool on 30 October 1998. One of their daughters discovered their bodies. Eric, who had been beaten to death, was found under a wardrobe in the hallway of their home. Joan had been strangled to death and was left on the living room floor. Akinmurele used batteries bound together to make a [[Club (weapon)|cosh]], which was found beneath Eric's body. Akinmurele was arrested and charged with their murders on 1 November 1998.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Man charged over murder of couple |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/205379.stm |access-date=2023-01-17 |website=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> |
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Eric Boardman posthumously received an award for his bravery in defending himself and his wife from Akinmurele. Boardman's actions caused vital evidence to be left at the scene by Akinmurle, enabling the police to trace him through his fingerprints. |
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In the months following his arrest, he was charged with 3 further murders. In November 1998 he was charged with the murder of Jemmimah Cargill, 75, who had previously been his landlady. She died in a flat fire in Blackpool in October 1998, prior to the murder of the Boardmans.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Murder suspect in court for fifth charge |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/233068.stm |access-date=2023-01-17 |website=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> |
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His third murder was Jemmimah Cargill, 75. She was killed in her flat about five days after Akinmurele murdered his first two victims.<ref name=Murderpedia /> |
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In November and December 1998, following a joint investigation between Lancashire and Manx police, he was charged with 2 murders that had taken place on the Isle of Man. First, he was arrested in connection with the murder of Dorothy Harris, 68, who was killed in February 1996. Harris, who had been partially blind and deaf, was found after a house fire at her home in Ballasalla. The second murder was of Majorie Ashton, 72, who was found strangled in her home, also in Ballasalla, in May 1995.<ref name=":1" /> |
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Four days after the murder of Ms. Cargill, Akinmurele is suspected of murdering the elderly Dorothy Harris in February 1996 by arson. Once the Lancashire police caught on, they re-opened other files of unsolved arson cases resulting in death in north-west England over the previous two years.<ref name=Murderpedia /> |
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Detectives in both Lancashire and the Isle of Man believed that Akinmurele may have been responsible for further deaths and carried out re-examinations into house fires and sudden deaths.<ref name=":1" /> |
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While in custody, Akinmurele confessed to three further murders, including that of a rambler on the Isle of Man. He claimed that he had killed the man and buried his body on a cliff overlooking the sea. Manx police found a gun with his fingerprint on it but found no body despite extensive excavation. Police believe that Akimurelle made these false confessions in order to hide that his motivation to commit the murders was his hatred for the elderly.<ref name=":0" /> |
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==Death== |
==Death== |
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Akinmurele |
Akinmurele died by suicide in Manchester Prison in August 1999, just weeks before his trial. He [[suicide by hanging|hanged himself]] from a window with a ligature. He had made two previous suicide attempts, and his girlfriend had warned prison authorities that he was a danger to himself.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title='Tormented' serial killer {{as written|com|mited [sic]}} suicide |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/432715.stm |access-date=2023-01-17 |website=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> |
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A suicide note was found in his pocket after his death, with Akinmurele having written “I know it's not right always thinking like this but it's always on my mind. I can't help the way I feel, what I did was wrong - I know that and I feel for them - but it doesn't mean I won't do it again. I'll keep on having this feeling I'm going mad because I can't take any more of this and that's why I'm saying goodbye." He had also written to this mother that "I couldn’t take {{sic|anymore|nolink=y}} of the feeling like how I do now, always wanting to kill".<ref name=":2" /> |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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*[[List of serial killers |
* [[List of serial killers in the United Kingdom]] |
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==References== |
==References== |
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{{reflist}} |
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<references /> |
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{{Authority control}} |
{{Authority control}} |
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[[Category:1978 births]] |
[[Category:1978 births]] |
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[[Category:1999 suicides]] |
[[Category:1999 suicides]] |
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[[Category:20th-century English criminals]] |
[[Category:20th-century English criminals]] |
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[[Category:Crime in the Isle of Man]] |
[[Category:Crime in the Isle of Man]] |
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[[Category:English people of Nigerian descent]] |
[[Category:English people of Nigerian descent]] |
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[[Category:English serial killers]] |
[[Category:English serial killers]] |
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[[Category:History of Blackpool]] |
[[Category:History of Blackpool]] |
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[[Category:Male serial killers]] |
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[[Category:Murder in Lancashire]] |
[[Category:Murder in Lancashire]] |
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[[Category:Place of birth missing]] |
[[Category:Place of birth missing]] |
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[[Category:Prisoners who died in England and Wales detention]] |
[[Category:Prisoners who died in England and Wales detention]] |
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[[Category:Serial killers who |
[[Category:Serial killers who died by suicide in prison custody]] |
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[[Category:Suicides by hanging in England]] |
[[Category:Suicides by hanging in England]] |
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{{criminal-stub}} |
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Latest revision as of 13:27, 5 August 2024
Stephen Akinmurele | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Stephen Oladimeji K. Akinmurele 16 March 1978 |
| Died | 28 August 1999 (aged 21) |
| Cause of death | Suicide by hanging |
| Other names | The Cul-De-Sac Killer |
| Details | |
| Victims | 5–7 |
Span of crimes | 1995–1998 |
| Land | Vereinigtes Königreich |
Stephen Oladimeji K. Akinmurele (16 March 1978 – 28 August 1999) was a Nigerian suspected serial killer who was charged with murdering five elderly people between 1995 and 1998.
Initially, he was charged with the murder of an elderly couple, Eric Boardman and Joan Boardman. His third suspected crime was the murder of Jemmimah Cargill. After Cargill, he was also charged with the murders of Dorothy Harris and Marjorie Ashton.
Akinmurele was born in Nigeria to a Nigerian father and a white British mother. He and his mother moved to the Isle of Man in 1988, before he moved to Blackpool, England to work as a barman.[1]
Akinmurele had a history of mental illness and had committed crimes against the elderly from the age of 11. He was drawn to situations in which he would encounter the elderly with the police asserting he got a "kick" out of killing old people. Akinmurele confessed to a number of the murders but killed himself before his trial. Police believe he may have also been responsible for two further killings. The case is notable due to Akinmurele's long-standing hatred of elderly people.
Victims
[edit]The victims in the case were all senior citizens; the lead investigator in the case noted that Akinmurele had a "pathological hatred" of old people. He was dubbed "cul-de-sac killer" due to his choice of elderly victims living in quiet suburban streets.
His first two known victims were Eric Boardman, 77, and his wife Joan Boardman, 74. Both were murdered at their home in Blackpool on 30 October 1998. One of their daughters discovered their bodies. Eric, who had been beaten to death, was found under a wardrobe in the hallway of their home. Joan had been strangled to death and was left on the living room floor. Akinmurele used batteries bound together to make a cosh, which was found beneath Eric's body. Akinmurele was arrested and charged with their murders on 1 November 1998.[2]
In the months following his arrest, he was charged with 3 further murders. In November 1998 he was charged with the murder of Jemmimah Cargill, 75, who had previously been his landlady. She died in a flat fire in Blackpool in October 1998, prior to the murder of the Boardmans.[3]
In November and December 1998, following a joint investigation between Lancashire and Manx police, he was charged with 2 murders that had taken place on the Isle of Man. First, he was arrested in connection with the murder of Dorothy Harris, 68, who was killed in February 1996. Harris, who had been partially blind and deaf, was found after a house fire at her home in Ballasalla. The second murder was of Majorie Ashton, 72, who was found strangled in her home, also in Ballasalla, in May 1995.[3]
Detectives in both Lancashire and the Isle of Man believed that Akinmurele may have been responsible for further deaths and carried out re-examinations into house fires and sudden deaths.[3]
While in custody, Akinmurele confessed to three further murders, including that of a rambler on the Isle of Man. He claimed that he had killed the man and buried his body on a cliff overlooking the sea. Manx police found a gun with his fingerprint on it but found no body despite extensive excavation. Police believe that Akimurelle made these false confessions in order to hide that his motivation to commit the murders was his hatred for the elderly.[1]
Death
[edit]Akinmurele died by suicide in Manchester Prison in August 1999, just weeks before his trial. He hanged himself from a window with a ligature. He had made two previous suicide attempts, and his girlfriend had warned prison authorities that he was a danger to himself.[4]
A suicide note was found in his pocket after his death, with Akinmurele having written “I know it's not right always thinking like this but it's always on my mind. I can't help the way I feel, what I did was wrong - I know that and I feel for them - but it doesn't mean I won't do it again. I'll keep on having this feeling I'm going mad because I can't take any more of this and that's why I'm saying goodbye." He had also written to this mother that "I couldn’t take anymore [sic] of the feeling like how I do now, always wanting to kill".[4]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c "'Serial killer' found hanged". the Guardian. 30 August 1999. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
- ^ "Man charged over murder of couple". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
- ^ a b c "Murder suspect in court for fifth charge". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
- ^ a b "'Tormented' serial killer commited [sic] suicide". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
- 1978 births
- 1999 suicides
- 1999 deaths
- 20th-century English criminals
- Crime in the Isle of Man
- English people of Nigerian descent
- English people who died in prison custody
- English serial killers
- History of Blackpool
- Murder in Lancashire
- Prisoners who died in England and Wales detention
- Serial killers who died by suicide in prison custody
- Suicides by hanging in England