Stephen Griffiths, the self-styled Crossbow Cannibal, pleaded guilty to the murder of three women today.
The 40 year old criminology student, considered an eccentric loner by his neighbours, killed Suzanne Blamires, Shelley Armitage and Susan Rushworth.
The three women were working as prostitutes before going missing in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
Griffiths pleaded guilty to all three murders in Leeds Crown Court.
He was arrested after a caretaker at a block of flats in Bradford watched CCTV footage showing Griffiths dragging his third victim, Blamires, into his flat where he is then believed to have fired a crossbow bolt into her skull.
Her remains were later found floating in the River Aire in Shipley.
Griffiths has not revealed the whereabouts of Armitage and Rushworth’s bodies and has not revealed a motive for the killings.
During court hearings Griffiths referred to himself as the “Crossbow Cannibal”. He also made claims to police that he ate parts of his victims though police state that there is no evidence that cannibalism took place.
Griffiths lived alone in a district of Bradford close to the red light district. He kept pet lizards and his Amazon wishlist included 25 books and DVDs, the majority of which were about real-life crime and serial killers.
Police are currently investigating possibility that Griffiths might be responsible for three more unsolved murders after he hinted that he had killed six women.
