Bradford murders
Three sex workers murdered in Bradford by the 'Crossbow Cannibal.'
Between 2009 and 2010, three women were killed in Bradford, West Yorkshire, in a series of murders later attributed to a single perpetrator. The victims were all sex workers from the area: Susan Rushworth, aged 43, vanished on 22 June 2009; Shelley Armitage, 31, disappeared on 26 April 2010; and Suzanne Blamires, 36, went missing on 21 May 2010. On 25 May 2010, parts of Blamires’s body were recovered from the River Aire in Shipley, near Bradford. Additional human tissue found in the same river was later identified as belonging to Armitage. Rushworth’s remains were never found.
Stephen Shaun Griffiths, then 40, was arrested on 24 May 2010 and charged with the three murders. He was a semi-professional postgraduate student in criminology at the time. When he appeared in magistrates’ court, he gave his name as “the Crossbow Cannibal.” He was remanded in custody, and a trial date was set for 16 November 2010. On 21 December 2010, Griffiths pleaded guilty to all three murders. At Leeds Crown Court, Mr Justice Openshaw sentenced him to life imprisonment with a whole life order, meaning he will never be eligible for parole and is likely to die in prison. While incarcerated, Griffiths has attempted suicide multiple times. In 2011, he undertook a 120-day hunger strike, during which he avoided contact with others.
Griffiths had a prior criminal record. At age 17, he received a three-year sentence for an unprovoked knife attack on a supermarket manager. While in custody, he stated he saw himself becoming a murderer, and psychiatrists warned he fantasised about being a serial killer. In 1991, he was diagnosed as a “schizoid psychopath,” and the following year he was given a two-year prison sentence for holding a knife to a girl’s throat. In 2009, he was admitted to the University of Bradford to pursue a PhD in homicide studies.
Police had been monitoring Griffiths for two years before the murders and had already seized hunting weapons from him. They contacted the housing association that owned his flat after observing him reading books on dismemberment. The housing association shared police concerns and installed a better CCTV system in anticipation of an incident. At the time of the murders, police lacked evidence to obtain an Anti-Social Behaviour Order.
Quick Facts
- Birth Name
- Stephen Shaun Griffiths
- Other Names
- The Crossbow Cannibal
- Education
- University of Bradford
- Birth Date
- 1969-12-24
- Birth Place
- Dewsbury, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
- Victims
- 3+
- Country
- England
- Beginyear
- 22 June 2009
- Endyear
- 21 May 2010
- Apprehended
- 24 May 2010
- Conviction
- Murder
- Sentence
- Life imprisonment (whole life order)
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Stephen Shaun Griffiths, born 24 December 1969 in Dewsbury, West Riding of Yorkshire, was a semi-professional postgraduate student in criminology at the time of the murders. When arrested in May 2010, he gave his name in magistrates' court as 'the Crossbow Cannibal.' He had a criminal history including a three-year sentence at age 17 for an unprovoked knife attack on a supermarket manager, and a two-year prison sentence in 1992 for holding a knife to the throat of a girl. In 1991 he was diagnosed as a 'schizoid psychopath.' While in custody as a teenager, he stated he saw himself becoming a murderer, and psychiatrists warned he fantasised about becoming a serial killer. In 2009, Griffiths was admitted to the University of Bradford to write a PhD in homicide studies. Police had been watching Griffiths for two years before he killed his victims and had already seized hunting weapons. The housing association that owned his flat fitted a better CCTV system after police shared concerns about Griffiths reading books on dismemberment.
Reader's Guide
The Bradford murders gained notoriety partly because of the perpetrator's self-styled nickname and his academic background in criminology. Griffiths pleaded guilty to all three murders on 21 December 2010 at Leeds Crown Court, where Mr Justice Openshaw sentenced him to life imprisonment with a whole life order, meaning he will not become eligible for parole. While in prison, Griffiths has attempted suicide several times and in 2011 went on a 120-day hunger strike, avoiding contact with others. The case prompted then-Prime Minister David Cameron to call for a review of the decriminalisation of offences related to prostitution, though he cautioned against jumping to conclusions. When arrested, Griffiths claimed to have killed a total of five sex workers in Bradford, suggesting two additional victims, but after his conviction he refused to speak to police, preventing further investigation. Detectives also investigated possible links to the 2001 murder of 19-year-old Bradford prostitute Rebecca Hall, who was found dead 800 metres from Griffiths' flat. Griffiths knew Hall and she regularly visited his flat, but he refused to answer questions about her murder. In 2013, criminologist David Wilson released a documentary examining unsolved murders possibly linked to Griffiths, including Hall's case. In 2016, police reviewed the Hall case using advances in forensic science, and in 2019 arrested a 37-year-old woman in connection with it, who was released under investigation. Wilson also examined a possible link to the 1994 murder of Sheffield prostitute Dawn Shields but concluded a link was unlikely.
Did You Know?
- Griffiths gave his name in court as 'the Crossbow Cannibal.'
- Griffiths was a PhD student in homicide studies at the University of Bradford at the time of the killings.
- No remains of victim Susan Rushworth were ever found.
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