All language subtitles for The.Crossbow.Cannibal.2025.720p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

[soft ambient music]

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[footsteps thudding]

- Okay, ready.
- Okay, cool. [indistinct]

[tense music]

- I was enjoying my fish and
chips and the BBC news was on

and it came on a
40-year-old man in Bradford,

arrested, body parts
found in the river.

- [Reporter] Police divers continued
to search the river air near Shipley,

where Suzanne Blamires'
dismembered body was discovered.

[tense music continues]

- I made this funny
noise, I don't know,

kind of sucked air through
my teeth or something

and I just said, "My brother,
I bet you that's my brother."

[Tense music continues]

- [Reporter] Sniffer dogs on the
streets and in the alleyways,

searching the drains and
bagging up potential evidence.

The handle of a suitcase
pops up out of the water.

The diver drags it to the shore.

[tense music continues]

- Stephen Griffiths
is formally arrested

for the murder of Suzanne and
they begin questioning him.

"Do you know anything
about Shelly and Susan?"

[tense music continues]

- He told us that he was responsible
for the murder of all three victims.

- [Detective] Why did you feel the
need to- to kill her?

- I don't know.

Sometimes you kill
someone to kill yourself.

- He wanted to be infamous.

He wanted to be a serial killer.

[tense music continues]

- He wanted to be known for the
most extreme aspects of his crime,

which was the crossbow,
and the cannibalism.

[tense music continues]

- I watch true crime programs
and I think that's terrible.

And then I think God, my
brother did worse than that.

[tense music continues]

You hear about people
chopping people up and that,

and you think, awful.

And then the words 81
pieces come into your head.

[tense music continues]

And you never really
come to terms with it.

But it's real, it happened.

- Griffiths couldn't
answer the one question

that we all wanted to know. Why?

If you try and analyze the
mind of a serial killer,

you will never know.

Because they don't think like us.

They're not like us.

He is not of this world.

[tense music continues]

[tense music]

- Homefield Court is a big
converted mill building

on the outskirts of
Bradford Town Centre.

On one side, it was the city
center, on the other side,

was the Red Light District.

It was one of these
beautiful buildings,

fantastic architecture,
which had been part

of the city's famous
textiles industry.

But of course, as that declined,

it became a little bit
shabby, a little bit rundown.

It became disused and eventually
was converted into flats.

[tense music continues]

On the 24th of May,
2010, the caretaker

at Homefield Court
turned up for work,

began his usual routine of
checking the CCTV from cameras,

which were dotted
around the building.

And on a normal Monday,
very little would happen.

You know, there'd be
maybe a bit of vandalism,

some drunks causing trouble.

[tense music continues]

He was in the habit of
flicking through the CCTV

on fast forward, basically.

[tense music continues]

And the caretaker has
to do a double take

because what he witnesses appears
to be a violent attack on a woman.

[tense music continues]

What he sees initially
are two people coming out

of the lift on the third
floor and going into a flat.

He recognises one of
them as the loner, Steve,

who he's been told to avoid,
because he can be a bit volatile.

The person with Steve is a woman

with a small stature with dark
hair, both go in the flat.

They disappear for a period
of time, just a few minutes.

And then the woman runs
out fleeing in terror.

[tense music continues]

The caretaker, obviously
he's terrified by this,

and the first thing he
does is call his manager.

They watch the footage
again together,

and then they call police.

[tense music continues]

- I booked on as normal.

I was on a day shift,
collecting my firearm,

and fairly early into the shift,

I received a call asking me to blue
light immediately to Dudley Hill,

which is one of our sort
of major planning stations.

I met with Silver Commander
and CID team who briefed me

that there had been an incident

where a male had been
caught on a camera.

He'd been involved in an
altercation with a female.

[tense music continues]

- As soon as she got into that flat,

there was something
that startled her,

and she ran out of the
flat at some real speed,

almost hitting straight
into the wall that came out

into a corridor.

[tense music continues]
[heart beating]

- The male ran after her
and incapacitated her.

He appeared to knock her
out, or she was unconscious

on the floor, slightly off camera,

and then came out with what
was assumed to be a crossbow.

[tense music continues]

We were unsure if the crossbow
had been fired or not,

but the male dragged the
female back into the apartment,

and then the door was closed-

[tense music continues]

- I've seen a lot in my
operational activity in policing,

but seeing somebody run out the flat,

as she did, was startling

because what she must have
seen in that flat was so scary.

Oh, it was shocking.

[tense music continues]

- By analyzing the CCTV
from around Homefield Court,

police made another
amazing discovery.

- The CCTV at 3:35 shows him trying

to lure another woman
back to his apartment,

shortly after the
incident with the assault.

But fortunately she
must have got some sort

of vibe that there was
something really not right.

- And she declined to come in.

So, again, that raises
the threat level.

He's wanting to find
more people to bring back

to his flat for whatever purpose.

[tense music continues]

- As far as we were concerned

we've got a female who's
been incapacitated,

so we have hostage situation whereby,

she's been held against
her will, clearly.

We're dealing with a
collapsing timeframe,

so every second counts.

[tense music continues]

- Amongst the officers
viewing the footage,

are some from Bradford's Vice Squad

who immediately recognise the
victim as Suzanne Blamires.

[tense music continues]

- Suzanne came from a lovely family,

very well known family in the area.

And she was destined
for great things.

- Her father was a
successful businessman,

and so her childhood was one
of foreign holidays and ponies.

And, you know, she'd
done well at school.

She was popular, she was pretty.

She had every reason to
believe that she was going

to have a successful life.

- She wanted to become a nurse.

She'd got far into her training

when she met the wrong people.

[tense music]

- She had adopted a
hedonistic lifestyle,

which involved going out
late, drinking a lot,

and unfortunately taking drugs.

- And very quickly
she became an addict

and her life spiralled
and the family had

to sit back and watch it happen.

- There came a time when
the drugs became harder,

more addictive, and
she had no other way

of funding the habit other
than through prostitution

and street prostitution.

And that's what she did.

[tense music continues]

- Suzanne met a friend who had
also worked in the sex trade,

but had left and escaped.

And they had a little bit
of a meetup, had a coffee,

laughed and giggled,
shared some old memories.

And then the friend went
on her way and said,

"Just be careful,
just take extra care."

[tense music continues]

Next day, Suzanne's boyfriend,

noticed that she was
missing, went to speak

to her family to see if she'd
been in touch with them.

The answer was no.

He was extremely worried about her.

So he went straight to the police.

[tense music continues]

- It was in the mid-'90s

that the prostitution moved
from Lum Lane to Thornton Road.

- It's a very busy
thoroughfare, Thornton Road.

It's what goes on behind
there that people don't see.

[tense music continues]

There was at least 50,
60, 70 women selling sex

in that small area.

Many had given up their friendships,

any chance of prosperity,
their families.

They were waifs, they were six stone.

They were standing in
freezing cold conditions

wearing very little.

[dramatic orchestral music]

- At the time I was on the
streets, it was 10 pounds

to buy a vulnerable young woman.

Unfortunately, it's even less now,

it's five pounds because
that's the cheapest bag

of heroin or crack cocaine.

So, you know, these men don't
value the women and girls.

The women and girls are so desperate

and they've usually got
a perpetrator lurking

in the background
that they're supplying

their drugs as well.

It's pretty grim.

[tense music]

- Women working within
the sex trade in this area

of Bradford in the Red
Light District were working

in an area that
wasn't highly policed.

They were vulnerable to
the police targeting them.

And as such, they
are in an environment

whereby they are
vulnerable to predators.

[tense music continues]

- A lot of the time they're
completely off their heads.

I mean, it was really
difficult to keep myself safe

and I was straight, I wasn't
under the influence of anything.

[tense music continues]

- As a firearms tactical
advisor all you're looking

for is information.

You're just filling in gaps,
finding out who's living there.

We find out this guy's
called Griffiths.

[tense music continues]

[dramatic orchestral music]

- I'm Stephen Sean Griffith's sister,

but I will call him Sean

because that's how we
knew him growing up

because my dad's name
was Stephen as well,

so we called him Sean.

There was three of us,

myself, Sean, who was
the older brother,

and then my younger brother,

and my mom and dad.

[dramatic orchestral music continues]

Sean started showing
then, when he was young,

the first signs of like
troubling behaviour.

He'd have been under 10 when
he first started stealing.

At one point we didn't have a
lot, so, you know, children,

you want things and Sean wasn't
satisfied to just want them.

He had to have them.

So he took them and he got
caught and he got into trouble.

And I think a lot of
my parents' arguments

as well as arguing with each other,

they were arguing about him as well.

[dramatic orchestral music continues]

That was just the
way he was, you know,

like he closed his eyes
and I think he was asked

to open his eyes and he
just didn't, he wouldn't,

and the more he was
asked to open them,

the more he kept them closed.

[dramatic orchestral music continues]

- He was a little bit
withdrawn, a bit of a loner,

didn't play with other children,
wasn't seen in the street,

was very slight of build.

And in fact, one nickname
for him at that time

was the Stick Man.

- He had a real fear of going
to a school called Outward Grange.

It had a reputation back then
as being quite a rough school.

And Shaun didn't want to,
I remember him waking me up

one night because Outward
Grange was on fire,

and I've no proof, but
I've always suspected

that maybe he had
something to do with that.

It just seemed so
coincidental that this school,

he had such a fear of going
to, and then the next thing,

it's in flames.

[dramatic orchestral music continues]

[fire crackling]

And then with the divorce,
he just got worse.

It's like consequences
didn't matter to him.

He would steal stuff from
the neighbour's sheds.

He would go down to
Wakefield on the bus

and he would come back
with stuff he'd stolen.

He stole off my mum as well.

He didn't seem to see the problem
with taking money from a woman

that was already
struggling to provide.

Yeah, so from a young
age he was problematic

and it just escalated over the
years, got worse and worse.

[tense music]

As he got older, the age
gap became more apparent.

Between him and my younger
brother, it was six years.

So that is a very big age gap.

And I used to worry about
what he was capable of.

He was quite mean and cruel

and could be violent towards
myself and my younger brother.

He developed a point system and
if we did something to Sean,

say we went in his stuff,
you damaged something,

he would give you so many
points and once you accrued

so many points, that was his cue

that he could punish you then.

And there was one night in particular

that I must have
accrued enough points,

so he decided to
launch an attack on me

and he would get you and he
would kneel on your arms there.

So you were pinned, basically.

And then I managed to
get one of my arms free

and there was a table
with a glass ashtray

and I managed to get that and I
hit him over the head with it,

which is not
something I'm proud of,

but I felt like I had to do it.

And his head bled.

I mean head wounds do bleed heavily.

And we had to get mum
back from a night out

and she wasn't very happy.

So yeah, he could be a
mean, mean boy, a bad boy.

[tense music]

- He enjoyed quite
simply shooting birds

and then not just watching them fall,
but then dissecting them.

Neighbours spoke of them catching him
pulling wings off dead birds.

This is not normal behavior.

[tense music continues]

- I had pet mice and we
weren't supposed to have them

and Sean knew about my pet mice.

So he decided to get
himself a pet rat.

Anyway, my stepmom found out

and she didn't want
them in the house.

So I arranged to give
my mice away to one

of my friend's schools,
which was an option for Sean,

but he decided not to do that.

And I was upstairs in my
bedroom and it was quite late.

Everyone was in bed and I
heard this thump thump thump.

So I knocked, I was
like, what are you doing?

You'll wake everybody
up and he let me in.

He says, "Oh, I'm
trying to kill the rat."

So what I'd heard was
him hammering this rat

with this broken off hammer
[hammer banging]

and it was all hunched
and crawling around

and I don't think he was
trying to kill it at all.

I think he was just
enjoying torturing it.

That poor thing.

[hammer banging]

- When a child harms an animal,
it usually is experimentation.

It will have entered their mind.

What is it like to hurt someone?

So they'll experiment on
animals, and most children

who do that will soon find out

that they don't like doing it.

But with Stephen, he recognized

that that was something
he gained pleasure from.

- He could have got rid of it,
he could have killed it

much more humanely if he wanted to,

but I think he just was having fun.

[tense music continues]

- He was very socially
isolated as a child.

He really couldn't
connect or make friends

and he had violent thoughts.

As he went on to his teenage years,

we see this developed into
not just harming animals

but harming people.

[tense music continues]

- I was always worried about him.

I knew that it was escalating

and that he had the potential
to do harm to people.

[tense music continues]

My maternal grandparents,
they lived in an upstairs flat

and Shaun was in front
of me on the stairs.

and I'd said something to
him and he back kicked me

in the mouth and knocked
one of my teeth out.

[tense music continues]

He had a cache of weapons
like had flick knives

and Rambo knives and he had a machete

and he had a crossbow
even at that age.

I was up in my bedroom,
the attic, and my brother,

my youngest brother, was
about two, three was there.

And the next thing there
was this thunk noise.

[arrow banging]

He must have known that he was there,

and he went ahead and fired
this crossbar at the door.

My brother started
screaming and crying.

To this day, I think, was
he trying to kill him?

Was he trying to injure him?

It's just so disturbing the
fact he's got a crossbow,

he's firing it through
a door in the house.

My brother's there and I think

that was the last
straw for my stepmom.

She was like, "Right, that's it.

Get him out."

My dad asked him to leave after that.

[tense music continues]

It's just another example of
his exacerbating behaviour,

his escalation, more
and more odd things.

It's almost like he
had a tick-box exercise

for I'm going to be a killer.

And he was just filling
it in as he went along.

[tense music continues]

- Stephen leaves school at 16,
and then he begins to drift.

- He moved down to a
bedsit in Heckmondwyke.

And his behavior, I don't
think it had changed

because he was stockpiling
weapons there as well.

[tense music continues]

He'd been to see dad and Dad
had given him a bit of money

and then he went
to the co-op and I think

it was just pathetic things
like sweets and a bottle of pop

that he could easily
have afforded to buy.

But no he decided to steal
them instead because,

because that's just the way he was.

And he got caught.

And what would've been maybe just
a slap on the wrist, maybe a fine,

he just escalated it to the
point where he pulled a knife

and slashed somebody down their face,
stabbed somebody in the hand,

hurt somebody when he was
running out the store.

[tense music continues]

- This poor guy needed 19 stitches,

and Stephen found himself
arrested, taken to court,

prosecuted at Leeds Crown Court,

and was sentenced to
three years youth custody.

[tense music continues]

- It is like a shock,
but it's not a surprise.

You know, you could always see
that it was going to happen.

Maybe not to that degree,

but I could always see
him ending up in prison.

[tense music continues]

I remember seeing a
photo in the local paper

and it had been taken of
the arsenal of weapons

that he'd collected
knives and throwing stars,

nunchuckers, machete,
that kind of thing.

And it was like, God, it'd expanded.

It was more than what used to have

and lived at dad's and
expanded in such a short time.

- Stephen Griffiths was
assessed by a psychiatrist

in the criminal justice
system for the first time.

He was assessed as having
a personality disorder.

[tense music continues]

- Personality disorders
are patterns of ingrained

inflexible behaviors and thoughts,

usually behaviors and thoughts

that go outside the social norm.

His narcissism, like
his sadistic nature,

like being devoid of emotion,

they're incredibly hard to
treat, if not impossible,

simply because they are so ingrained.

[tense music continues]

And often people with personality
disorders are resistant

to treatment because they don't see

that there's anything
wrong with them.

What is wrong is with other people.

[tense music continues]

He didn't kind of go into
generalized psychology.

He went into abnormal psychology.

So he went into the
field of psychology

that allowed him to feed
his more darker desires.

[tense music continues]

- I had only just turned 18 really

when I moved up to Carlisle.

And after that our contact
was minimal, really.

I kept in touch with
my family by a letter

so me and my stepmom would
write to each other just,

you know, about the family news,

and she would always mention Sean

because I would ask about
him because obviously

I was worried about him.

- [Mum] Right now I'll
get down to business

and I'll start with
the worst first, Sean.

Your dad has kind of disowned
him since he found out

about Sean befriending that dog,

then throwing it out the window
three times and then killing it

because throwing it out the
window hadn't killed it.

Your dad just can't come to terms

with the son of his being so
cruel as to do something like that

and even laughing
about it afterwards.

- So this next letter is
dated the 25th of June, 1991.

Sean had been about 21.

- [Mum] Your dad had a
phone call on his birthday

from Sean's probation
officer telling him

that Sean is in the
hospital wing at Armley

because he isn't
considered stable enough

to be in the normal section.

He's on remand for threatening
with intent to kill.

We don't know just what it's about,

but he was getting very neurotic

about people looking at him.

- While going about the
campus one day, he imagined

that a group of girls
had somehow slighted him,

and his response to that
was to pull a knife.

[tense music]

He was sentenced for
possessing an offensive weapon,

and I think affray,
and found himself going

to jail again for two years.

[tense music continues]

- In prison, Stephen was diagnosed

as being a sadistic
schizoid psychopath.

It's a merging of three
different diagnosis really.

You've got the sadistic
part, the sadism,

so this is gaining pleasure
from hurting people.

This is perhaps the
most dangerous aspect

of his personality.

Then you've got schizoid
personality disorder.

So this is really about
being detached emotionally,

not being able to connect
with other people,

and it's that aspect of his disorder

that makes it easier
for him to hurt people

because he hasn't got
that emotional attachment.

And then you've got the
psychopathology aspect of it,

which is really about
having no empathy.

It's usually the empathy
that stops most people

from crossing that line
between violent fantasy

to actual behavior and
making it a reality.

So together you've got a concoction
of three very serious conditions

that make him a very dangerous man.

[tense music continues]

[tense music]

- The CCTV footage of a man

holding a crossbow sparked
a major police operation.

They had to find out
whether the young woman seen

in that footage was dead or alive.

- It really was an imminent threat.

[tense music continues]

When we found out subsequently

that there was two other
sex workers missing,

you couldn't help but think back

to the Peter Sutcliffe days
of the Yorkshire Ripper

and start to think, actually,

we don't want another
Yorkshire ripper taking place

in the force area.

- I think Stephen
was around six to 11

during the time that Peter Sutcliffe

was carrying out his
crimes and, yeah,

he would've most certainly been
aware of what was going on.

[tense music]

- The Yorkshire Ripper was
active between 1975 and 1980.

It was a series of murders,
13 women, seven attacks,

and there was a build, it
began in red light areas,

and it ended anywhere,
anytime, any place.

And for five long years,

every woman in Yorkshire
dare not walk the streets.

They dare not go out.

They literally held
themselves in a group

of fear behind closed doors.

And that was the power he enjoyed.

[tense music continues]

- [Reporter] In her own
ground floor flat in Bradford,

the body of 33 year
old Patricia Atkinson.

She was last seen
walking home from the pub

where she'd spent the evening.

- The idea that a serial
killer is on the loose

will be prime territory
for the media.

It is intensely newsworthy.

They are going to want
to weave a narrative.

They want to get people
watching the news.

- [Reporter] The Yorkshire
Ripper's trademark is the unique

and vicious way

in which he mutilates the bodies
almost beyond recognition.

- And as such people
are talking about it.

We are gossiping.

It is inescapable.

And as such, it can play in
the corners of people's minds.

And this feeds into a culture of fear

and an inability to truly switch
off from what is going on.

[tense music]

People were frightened,
people were questioning

who they could trust.

People were looking at
neighbors, colleagues, friends,

and thinking, is it you?

[tense music continues]

- I've always talked of
Bradford as a grim grey place.

That's how it strikes me.

And it was a grim time, all in all.

And the Yorkshire Ripper,
it was like a dark,

miasma spread all over, you know.

Everyone was scared.

But Sean had an unhealthy
interest in him.

[tense music continues]

- He had once even told prison staff

that he had one ambition and that was

to outdo the Yorkshire ripper.

[tense music continues]

- He once told me as well
that if he couldn't be famous,

he would be infamous.

And that if I was famous and
I was more famous than him,

he would find me and
he would kill me.

[tense music continues]

- I do think Peter
Sutcliffe re-emerged

into his memory when he was studying,

when he was deciding on
the person he wanted to be.

So I think that he kind of
re-emerged in Stephen's life

at a time when he needed a goal.

[tense music continues]

[dramatic orchestral music]

- Susan Rushworth had
grown up on the outskirts

of Bradford in a very loving family.

She had loving parents,
she had a brother.

She was a very quiet, in some
ways, quite vulnerable girl.

- I know mutual friends.

I've talked to her brother.

She just literally went
down the wrong track.

It was all going so well for Susan.

She was married, she had children.

She was a grandma.

[dramatic orchestral music continues]

- But then the marriage failed.

And I think that was a
turning point for Susan.

She didn't really recover.

I think she suffered from depression.

I think her life began
to unravel at that point.

She began taking drugs.

The drugs got harder
ending with heroin.

She became an addict.

[tense music]

- And when she needed
drugs, she sold sex.

Susan's mum adored her,
she was really close

with her brother.

And yet her brother used to see her
on the streets selling sex

and used to wind the window
down and say, Susan,

you can't keep doing this.

And she'd promise and
promise to get clean.

And she did.

And then some other
disaster would happen

and she would fall foul to
heroin and crack cocaine.

[tense music]

- I was really fortunate
that I got off the streets

just before they were swarmed
with crack cocaine and heroin,

which was in the sort of
late-'80s, early-'90s.

And certainly the women
I've worked with, certainly

on the streets, the
vast majority have

a very high addiction to
crack cocaine and heroin.

And that must be, I
can't even imagine

because the day I got into
the sex trade,

I lost me.

I wasn't Fiona anymore.

I became an object.

I completely
disassociated from myself.

With an addiction on top
of the kind of emotional

and mental torture you're living with

is almost impossible

to get away from.

[tense music]

- Susan was a little
bit older than many

of the women who worked
the Red Light district.

She was 43.

It was actually a good time for
her because she'd made a bit

of a recovery in her
battle against heroin.

And she was actually planning to
go on holiday with her family.

Normality had begun to sort of seem
like a realistic goal for her.

However, in June, 2009, she
went off to see a friend

and was never seen again.

[tense music continues]

- She planned to go into town
and pick up her methadone.

And after a week, the
family began to get worried.

Not only had she not
picked the methadone up,

she hadn't been in contact,

but they knew that she wouldn't
have her epilepsy tablets,

which she desperately needed.

And so they called the police.

[tense music continues]

- When missing people
come in, it's something

that is treated with
real seriousness,

because what you don't
want, the worst case

is someone is murdered
or is kidnapped.

You start with the family.

You ask the questions,
where are the places

that they may visit.

Maybe that you are trying
to do electronic tracing

round the telephone number.

And also trying to look at any CCTV
that you may be able to find.

[tense music continues]

- There was a police appeal.

There was a police dragnet.

They carried out
door-to-door inquiries,

they put up posters,
they contacted the press,

but there's absolutely
no sign of Susan.

There appeared to be no
activity on her phone

or credit card after the
day of her disappearance.

[tense music continues]

By the 24th of May, 2010 Susan
Rushworth had been missing

for a year.

[tense music continues]

- We know that he's got a crossbow,

and they're extremely lethal.

It'll just go straight through you.

- It was established that we'd need

to do a planned firearms operation
to arrest the individual.

Griffiths had previous convictions

for offences including violence.

He was otherwise so
dangerous so that he needed

to be arrested by
specialist armed officers,

and there was even a preemptive
taser strike authorized

by the Silver Commander on Griffith.

[tense music continues]

- This is a sort of a
method to control somebody

who you think might be violent,

and it's really to protect them.

We know that this
guy's got a crossbow,

we know he has caused
harm to this female,

and we know this female is in danger.

So our job is to go in there
and essentially rescue her.

And we needed to get it done

as quickly as possible.

[tense music continues]

Our role that day was
to do what's called

an emergency entry, which
is the most dangerous entry

you can do as a firearms team.

But we were so limited in our options

because obviously we've
got a female that we assume

is under duress and is being harmed.

So what we'll do in an
emergency entry situation

is we will try and
overwhelm the suspect.

[tense music continues]

- Stephen Griffiths lived on
the third floor of this block.

He was a bit of a loner,
bit of an oddball.

- He was also very socially isolated,

so he didn't like to
spend time with people.

If he was seen out and about,
it was usually at night.

- He dressed almost
in a gothic manner,

a full length matrix
style, black leather coat.

He slicked his hair back.

It was in ringlets.

- He had Nile monitor lizards.

He would walk them in
the corridors on a lead.

He would take them to
nightclubs in a bag

and show off amongst the
other nightclub revelers.

And he used to feed them
on live mice and rats,

which he kept and bred in a
cage at the back of his flat.

[tense music continues]

- Stephen Griffith had
amassed this huge library

of macabre books about
murder, murderers, Nazis,

terrorists, Satanists.

[tense music continues]

He got himself on a PhD
course at Bradford University

with a specialization
in local history.

He wanted to study homicide
and lethal violence

in Bradford during the second
half of the 19th century.

[tense music continues]

- Stephen cocooned himself
in a world of serial killers.

Not only was he studying it
and studying it intensely,

but he decided to take
the topic of homicide

in Victorian Bradford.

So the area he was living in.

[tense music continues]

It was almost like he was
studying the evolution

of crime within that area
so that he could become part

of that evolution and
become part of that history.

[tense music continues]

- He was interested in mass
shootings at schools in America.

He was interested in cannibalism

and he made references
to all those subjects

on his MySpace page.

He seemed to use the
internet and MySpace

to promote this kind of alter ego

that he'd invented for himself.

[tense music continues]

- Stephen had a pseudonym
online, which was Ven Pariah.

So Ven it's kind of theorised
that this could be venerable,

which means worthy of high respect,

or it could be a
shortening of his name.

Stephen and Pariah is outcast.

[tense music continues]

- Online spaces give us the
opportunity to embrace personas

that are not completely who we are.

They are who we would like
to be or extreme forms

of who an individual could be.

[tense music continues]

- He's got lots of very
interesting quotes online

from himself in this persona

where he's kind of describing Stephen

as more like a vessel to
carry him, Ven Pariah,

the demon through the
world and through life.

[tense music continues]

- [Stephen] "Humanity is not
merely a biological condition,

it is also a state of mind.

On that basis I am a
pseudo human being at best.

A demon at worst."

- So we see a real splitting
here of Stephen's personality.

There was nothing really challenging

that world that he created.

So it was very hard to step outside

of that and kind of
have that wake up call

that this isn't reality,

and there's something wrong with me.

[tense music continues]

- [Stephen] Ven Pariah has
finally emerged into the world.

What will this pseudo-human
do, one wonders.

Poor Stephen.

Pretended to be me, but
he was only the wrapping.

He knew, towards the end,

that I supplied the
inner core of iron.

Hatred bound tightly in flesh.

At very long last, the
time has come to act out.

Think about the number four.

Maybe add a couple more.

All of this before the war.

Ven Pariah embraces destiny
and he still smiles.

[tense music continues]

- There's a large
movement now of resources

that have to go to Homefield court.

An awful lot of firearms,
cars, a fleet of vehicles.

You need to make sure
you've got enough

to surround the whole house.

- The team amassed at the property.

They went up the stairs.

We had a method of entry
device that we used

to go through the door.

There was a shout from a bedroom.

Team rapidly entered
into the bedroom,

and he was overwhelmed immediately.

[tense music continues]

- Griffith didn't
put up any resistance

to the armed police whatsoever.

When the police officers
entered his flat,

he introduced himself
as Osama bin Laden.

[tense music continues]

- Once he was cuffed, he
went from being compliant

to being haughty and quite cocky

and quite sneering at officers.

[tense music continues]

I think he was arrested for assault

because we had nothing
else other than that.

[tense music continues]

- After he's arrested
by the armed team

he'd be removed from the flat.

One of the things
that really stood out

was that there was
obvious signs of violence

that taken place in the flat.

[tense music continues]

- Bear in mind these
firearms officers go

to all sorts of scenarios
and all sorts of places.

They said that there was
something that made the hair

on the back of the neck stand up.

It was something quite
unsettling about the apartment.

There was a duvet that was
burning in the bathtub.

There was a strange sort
of smell, like rotten meat.

There was blood smeared everywhere,

crossbow holes in the wall
where he'd been using it

as target practice.

- There was a crossbow
also located in the flat,

which was seized by
the officers as well.

[tense music continues]

- The search through the apartment

was made by the
officers for the female,

which was of course, the goal.

And sadly, there was no
female in the apartment.

[tense music continues]

That's why why we're there.

We're there to save that girl.

And, you know, we were all gutted.

Unfortunately we were just too late.

We didn't get the report
until Monday morning.

Yeah, we were gutted.

We were gutted.

[tense music continues]

- Shelly Armitage was
a beautiful young girl.

She looked like a model.

She wanted to be a model.

She was confident.

One always thinks about
girls who have been groomed

as being the weak, quiet ones.

It isn't that.

It's, it's the confident ones.

The gregarious ones, the
ones who dare to skip school.

- She'd ended up
becoming a heroin addict.

And in order to fund that
habit had taken to sex work.

- Shelly was so loved by her
family, her mom, her dad,

and yet they couldn't help her.

So many times, Shelly came back home,

and they never judged her.

And time after time, they gave
this beautiful young woman

who could have had
everything at her feet,

the opportunity to beat the drugs

that were absolutely killing her.

[dramatic orchestral music]

- This CCTV camera catches Shelly
working the red-light area.

She's just walking up and
down looking for punters,

basically looking for many
cars who are looking for sex.

And she seems in good spirits.

- She's got a certain
swagger with her.

She's pulling the cardigan

as she walks past Griffith's home.

And to me, that, that
moving image sticks with me.

And that's the image
I was asked to put out

on our news programme.

Have you seen this girl?

- I would emphasize
that this is a missing

from home inquiry.

The appeal from myself
is for Shelley or anybody

that may know Shelley
to contact the police

so I can in turn update the
family and bring some calm

to the anxiety that the family
are suffering at the moment.

[tense music]

- Every day in the life
or in the sex trade,

you would expect to have at
least one or two men hurt you.

Some of the guys become
regulars, so you see them,

you see them walking up and down.

They might live in the community

that you are selling yourself in.

They don't present as monsters.

They're ordinary men,

which is why you can
never ever make it safe

because you never know when
they're going to murder you.

You never know when they're
going to attack you and rape you.

They're often smiley and friendly,

but what lies beneath
that you just don't know.

[tense music continues]

- Griffiths knew the territory

and he knew quite a lot of the women,

and he had friendships,
rather ambiguous friendships

with some of the women.

He would go and talk to them,
share a cigarette with them.

He would bring some of
them back to his flat.

He certainly had sex
with some of them.

- Griffiths was seen as
maybe just a little bit

of an outsider, slightly unusual,

but potentially not such a threat.

- [Reporter] This prostitute,
who didn't want to be identified,

says he's well known in the area.

- [Speaker] He used to like
come up to us, talk to us,

say that he'd been out for drinks

at student nightclubs,
offer cigarettes.

He were nice to me really.

- Stephen was very good

at knowing people's
vulnerabilities, knowing people

who needed something,
and he was really tapping

into what these women needed,

whether it was just
a nice cup of tea,

a bit of companionship,
a chat over a cigarette.

He was trying to paint himself

as kind of like a harmless
character, a friend,

so that they trusted him.

I kind of see Stephen as
a bit of a hunter, really.

And the red light district
was his hunting ground,

and these women were his prey,

and he's using these
strategies to lure them in,

to put them at ease,
to make his job easier.

The sad thing is that this

would've made it so
much more shocking

for them when they got to his flat

and he'd suddenly turned
from this kind companion

to someone who was going
to take their lives.

[tense music continues]

- [Reporter] Griffiths himself paid
for the services of prostitutes.

One who didn't want
to be identified said

his behavior could be frightening.

- [Speaker] That always
made me nervous.

When you were outside it were
really nice or can I help you

with that love blah de blah de blah.

But then when you got inside,

it was like you weren't
a human being no more.

He owned you.
You were piece of meat.

What he were going to
do, what he wanted to do.

[tense music continues]

- Yeah, I think he's got
a real problem with women.

He had a relationship with one
lass and she took him to court

because he'd attacked her with a belt

and I think he got found not guilty,

so he celebrated by having a tattoo,

"Diane lost the war."

As if he was celebrating
getting away with it.

And he must have
thought that was clever.

Not an iota of remorse
for that girl or anything.

[tense music continues]

[dramatic orchestral music]

- I met Stephen in my
late-20s walking back

from a club night in Bradford.

I used to have a thing
for men with long hair,

that's all I saw as well
as the intelligence.

And he was a good looking lad though.

He told me years later that
he liked the challenge of me.

I'm fiery. [chuckling]

[tense music]

It's within two and a half weeks

of meeting Stephen
that he first tried

to kill me by putting
a drug in my tea.

I had two dogs and one
night one of my dogs Taz,

part Collie, growled at him.

I then that night
was over at his flat.

And as I was sat and to my
right was the television,

I sat on the floor for
some strange reason

and I looked and thought, what
is going on with the screen?

And I turned to my left and I
could see a smirk on his face.

And he went, "You're starting
to feel the effects, aren't you?"

and he said, "I've poisoned
you, I'm killing you."

I took myself to A&E at Bradford

and they kept me in overnight.

In the morning, went to
my house in Wakefield.

And as we pulled up outside,
the front door was open.

Where's my dogs?

Then my next door neighbour
came in and basically said

to me it was him.

He was here at half
three in the morning.

He came in, went in
and took the dogs.

I completely fell apart.

It totally destroyed
any thought process,

confidence, anything.

And Stephen said to me,
"Look, you best stay

at mine until you've calmed down

and then I can go back to my house."

But then he never let me out again.

[tense music continues]

He was with me permanently

unless he went to do
studying at the university,

then I were locked in anyway.

[tense music continues]

Daily life just consisted
of walking on eggshells

and looking to see if,
what his mood was like.

If I upset Stephen, it would end up

in mental torture or
physical, but not at the time.

It can be a week or
so later or a few days

and he'll ask you a
question, a leading question.

And if you don't come back

with exactly the right
thing he'd remember.

He broke my nose.

He stabbed me, he's burnt me.

Oh, all sorts.

But, they're easy to deal
with because it's over with.

It's the mental torture
that's horrendous.

[tense music continues]

It was his ex-girlfriend
of his that took me

to the domestic violence
unit in Bradford

who then told me what I was going
to do to get away from him.

[tense music continues]

- Although the relationship
was quite brief,

Kathy spent probably the best part

of seven years trying to
shake Stephen Griffiths off.

[phone whooshing]

- [Automated Voice] Message
two, Saturday 10:23 a.m.

- [Stephen] Don't make
me do this, Kathy.

I swear to God all I did
was ring your mum and dad,

and I sent you some nasty texts,

that's all I did 'cause
you pissed me off.

You've got so many enemies there

and you want to add me to them.

I don't want to have
to do that to you.

- [sighing]

Getting away from
Stephen was half the battle.

The other half was him
pursuing my parents,

going to my friends.

He's slashed tyres on my cars
on on numerous occasions.

He contacted the
RSPCA, benefits people,

told the government I
was importing cigarettes

from going abroad, anything he could.

[tense music]

[computer chiming]

- He sent voicemail
after voicemail to Kathy,

just harassing her and not
letting her escape him.

[phone whooshing]

- [Automated Voice] Message five.
Wednesday 11:46 p.m.

- [Stephen] I really
miss you as well, Kathy.

You've had the police onto me,
but I still care about you.

- He's trying to gain
control of the situation.

He really can't cope with the
fact that she has escaped him.

- [Automated Voice] Message one.
Saturday 8:38 a.m.

- [Stephen] If you're gonna
blame me for doing things

to you, then I might as
well start doing things

to you, all right?

I demand an explanation,
and I will not fucking stop

until I get that, okay?

That's all I want.

[tense music]

- He rang me up one
night distraught, almost

begging me to help but
to not tell the authorities.

[tense music]

And then he told me
that what he'd done

is he'd decided to steal
a puppy, feed it Valium.

And he wanted to dock its tail

and do the ears like
pit bulls in America.

And what he said was,
he'd gone too far.

[tense music]

- This is one of the
worst letters I received.

- [Mum] The next thing is
about your brother Sean.

He's shoplifting and
thieving big style now.

Last weekend he stole
an eight-week old puppy.

He docked its tail, which
he said was successful,

but when he tried to clip her
ears to make 'em stand up,

it went wrong.

So he cut them both off and
when I say off, I mean off.

Then he told us he'd bought
it for us for Christmas.

- I begged him for me
to drive from Wakefield

to Bradford to pick this puppy up

and deal with the situation.

I went straight to his dad's
and banged on the door.

[tense music]

- [Mum] I don't know
how you feel about it,

but we were disgusted

and so upset when we saw
the poor little thing.

Sean thinks he did well
letting it live because

as he said to your dad, he
could have microwaved it.

We cared for the dog
for a couple of days

before she went to the
vets to be rehomed.

Kathy says he's losing the
plot and going downhill fast.

For your dad's sake,
I hope she's wrong.

- I was horrified,
horrified, shocked.

I knew he was capable of that
kind of thing but, you know,

to see it written down.

[tense music continues]

- This, for me, feels very
much a manipulative behaviour

and a way to tap into
Kathy's vulnerabilities.

This also shows us that Stephen

knows other people have
emotion and they have empathy,

and they don't like
to see animals hurt.

And I think he's using
that to lure Kathy in.

[tense music continues]

- 2008, gone to Turkey for
two weeks and ended up staying

for three months just because it

was like a different life and relief.

And then I came back to
England to slag being written

on the wall and all of my
windows painted bright yellow.

I ended up getting a court order,

a non-molestation
order to keep him away.

I had a police alarm in my flat,

they'd blocked up the letter box.

[tense music]

When you get a court order
at that point in time,

they were for a year.

So they run out at midnight,

and the only time
throughout most of this

where I've been almost frozen
to the spot through fear

was when he left a message
at about 3:25 in the morning.

My answer machine had clicked

before I could get
to answer the phone.

So I get halfway across my front room

and then there's just this
noise that went on and on.

[tense music continues]

- [Automated Voice] Message seven.
Thursday 3:23 a.m.

[Stephen laughing]
[tense music]

- At the time my court order
had ran out at midnight.

So I assumed he's laughing
because I can't have him arrested.

[Stephen laughing]
[tense music]

- When I listened to it,
it's a very chilling,

elongated laugh, almost a cackle.

He's completely lost reality.

He's somewhere else.

[Stephen laughing]
[tense music]

[tense music]

- We were in the incident
room at the homicide

and major inquiry team
when we got a call

that someone had been
arrested in the Bradford area

for a murder.

We made our way across to
Halifax police station.

We were waiting as
Stephen Griffiths came in.

He started saying all sorts
of significant statements

like, "I've killed loads
of people," and all sorts

of things like that.

We had no idea whether
any of the victims

were alive or whether
they died or not.

So we organized for an
urgent interview with him.

There's no legal
representative present

and you can only ask
questions where you're hoping

to save life, or
recover urgent evidence.

[tense music continues]

We were in the interview
room me, my sergeant

and Mr. Griffiths.

We were asking him is she
still alive and if she is,

where can we go and find
and help her and rescue her?

- Griffiths then drops a bombshell.

He asks whether this Suzanne,
they're asking him about,

is the one known as Amber.

And he says that if it
is, then she's gone.

He uses that word, gone.

[tense music]

- More or less straight
away we realised

that we couldn't carry
on with the interview.

We'd confirmed that the
person we were looking for

was not alive.

[tense music continues]

He then was then taken back
out to the custody area

and a solicitor was requested.

And believe it or not, it
was the same solicitor's firm

that represented Peter
Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper.

[tense music continues]

By this time we were
aware that certain girls

had gone missing in Bradford area.

[tense music continues]

- West Yorkshire police
had spent months trying

to find Susan Rushworth
and Shelly Armitage.

- I think as a matter of routine
in these kind of inquiries,

missing sex workers, the
police compile a list of men,

punters basically, who they
think might be suspects.

And I think the police did
exactly that in this situation.

At no point during the police inquiry

was Stephen Griffith's
on the radar as a suspect

in the disappearance or
potential murder of these women.

They get him into an interview room,

and they begin questioning him.

- [Detective] Are you saying
that you've killed Susan Rushworth?

- Yes.

- [Detective] And what
was the other name?

- Shelley Armitage.

- [Detective] Are you saying

that you've murdered
Shelley Armitage?

- Yes.

- [Detective] And then the last one?

- Suzanne Blamires.

- [Detective] Are you
saying you've murdered her?

- Yes.

- He told us that he was
responsible for the murder

of all three victims.

- [Detective] Why did you
feel the need to kill her?

- I don't know.

I don't know.

Sometimes you kill
someone to kill yourself,

or kill part of yourself.

I don't know, I don't know.

It's like deep issues inside me.

- It's just quite matter
of fact, it felt in a way

to me personally a bit
like he'd almost planned

what he was going to say
if he ever got caught.

- [Detective] So, why
did you feel the need

to kill any of the girls?

- I don't know.
- Pardon?

- I don't know.

I don't know.

Well, I'm misanthropic.

I don't have much time
for the human race.

- He was just so controlled
about what he was saying.

He were going to tell us
what he wanted to tell us.

- Griffith told officers

that Susan, his first victim,
was killed with a hammer,

and he then dismembered her
body with machine tools,

and he cooked and ate
parts of the flesh.

[tense music]

He goes on to say he'd killed
Shelly with a crossbow.

He told officers that he'd
dismembered her in the bath,

but he also said they would find
traces of her body on the cooker.

- Cannibalism is very rare.

I think for Stephen,

it was part of this
hunting mentality he had,

where he would hunt his prey
and then he would eat his prey.

I think it's the ultimate
form of ownership, though,

to consume someone.

[tense music]

- I've had the discussions

with Stephen regarding
cannibalism and him saying

that it's society that says
what you can and can't eat.

What's justifiably
okay and what isn't.

So I've had those conversations

about five years before he
even murdered his first victim.

And he's told me that
that's the ultimate

that people cannot
cope with the idea of.

- Cannibalism goes beyond
breaking a legal rule

of just killing someone.

So it adds a degree of
violence

and almost specialness

to a violent crime.

It's like an escalation
of a homicide.

[tense music]

- He said he'd killed
Suzanne with a crossbow,

but, despite giving them
lots of very gory detail,

Griffiths refused to give
them any helpful information

about where he'd left the bodies.

- [Detective] And what sort of
location have you put them in?

If you can't tell us where,

what sort of location
have you put them?

- I don't know.

Where a robot, where a
computer would put them, or,

you know, a rational, emotionless

aberration would put it.

- We were thinking of the
family of the victims.

We wanted to try and help find out

where all the victims were.

And he wasn't up for doing
that, he was, just wanted

to give us basic
information to make himself

a serial killer and then not
pass any more information on.

- I believe he was
cryptic about what he did

to the bodies because,
one was that need

to hold onto some of it himself

and to withhold some of it just

for that control he thrives off.

- After the first
couple of interviews

he completely refused
to talk to us again.

Wouldn't even come out of his cell.

He said, "Well, to
become a serial killer

you only need to kill three people."

So he said, "I'm only telling
you about three people."

[tense music]

- Stephen had huge aspirations

to possibly even
outperform Peter Sutcliffe.

- He believes that Peter
Sutcliffe wasn't as smart

or clued up as people seem
to think because he used

to say to me, "Look at the idiot.

He got caught on something pathetic."

- In that police interrogation,

we are kind of seeing
this deflated man

who looks nothing like
the man we saw in front

of the CCTV camera.

Like this huge man with a
crossbow looking scary.

Like they're complete opposites.

Stephen's ego would've
been knocked significantly

by being caught on CCTV camera.

It wasn't the way he wanted
his reign of terror to end.

[tense music]

- After the murder of Suzanne
Blamires he emerges again,

carrying the crossroad
again, making no attempt

to hide from the gaze of the camera.

He raises the crossbow towards
the camera in one hand,

and raises the other hand

in a one-fingered gesture of abuse.

He goes back home and
then he emerges again

with a bottle of lemonade,
and he raises this

to the camera again in a toast.

[tense music]

- This to me, all seems like an act.

He wouldn't have liked
that he was caught

and caught so stupidly and so easily,

and that the woman he was trying

to kill had actually been
the one to get him caught.

So for me, this was
an act of defiance,

and pretending that he doesn't
care, but he would've cared.

- During the search of his flat,

police found a digital
camera and a laptop.

On those devices were some
incredibly disturbing images,

a video of Shelly Armitage's
murdered body naked in the bath

with the words "My sex
slave" written on her flesh.

Another video showed
another victim's body,

never identified, which had
been bound in green twine.

Griffiths provided a sick commentary,

in which he describes himself
as a bloodbath artist.

He described Shelly as his assistant.

[tense music]

- I think a big, big part
of this is the sadism

and the fact that
he will rewatch this

to relive that pleasure
that he got from it.

And also he's turning his actions

into some kind of artistry,
almost propelling it

and making it seem
something wonderful.

[tense music]

[Stephen laughing]

- When I listened to that,

for many years I
thought he's laughing

at me because I can't do anything.

But that's not the case.

That's when he'd murdered
his second victim.

[Stephen laughing]

So upon reflection it's
like, is he laughing at me

or is it a manic laughing cry
because of what he's done?

[Stephen laughing]

- If it coincides with a murder,

I think he could be just
totally absorbed in the joy

that he got from carrying that out.

[Stephen laughing]
[tense music]

- The day after Griffiths
was arrested, a member

of the public who was walking
by the River Aire in Shipley,

reported seeing something
unusual in the water.

- He'd found a sports
holdall discarded

by a side of the stream.

And when he picked it up,
he'd quite a weighty thing.

He'd opened it and in there
he'd found a human head.

It stands out as one
of the most gruesome

and startling incidents
we've ever dealt with really.

- When officers come,

they begin a huge search
operation with police divers

and officers on the banks.

- This was a team probably
of six or seven officers.

Incredibly well trained
at underwater search,

but as you can expect,
the River Aire,

they can't even see their
hands in front of their faces.

They're having to
feel their way around.

And subsequently found more
body parts weighted down

in bin bags in the River Aire.

[tense music]

When the body parts were found,

there was consideration and thoughts

that perhaps the suspect
could be a butcher,

because the body parts had
been cut up so thoroughly

and so minutely.

[tense music continues]

- They also found in her
head the shaft of a knife

and the bolt from a crossbow.

- It's unbelievable.

To have skinned people and sat
in the bath with body parts,

you know, you just cannot believe

that humans can do
stuff to each other.

- I think there's a number of
reasons why Stephen mutilated

Suzanne's body, and I think a key one

is just how angry he was
that she outsmarted him

for that moment and got away
and got him caught on CCTV camera.

I think he had a lot of rage there.

He knew that this was perhaps
going to be his last kill,

and he was getting out
some of that sadism

that's so deep in him.

[tense music]

- Police were able to track
him removing body parts,

not only after Suzanne was killed,

but after Shelly and
families were forced to

come to the conclusion
that those bin liners

contained their loved ones' remains.

[tense music continues]

- One of the other
things that he did say

was that he'd dropped
bones all over Bradford.

And this was in the height of summer,

so if you can imagine that
the search teams were working

in really, really hazardous areas.

There's an awful lot of urban debris.

So there's a lot of rubbish.

There's a lot of
food waste discarded.

There's bin bags, there's
wheelie bins to look through.

You don't know what is
and what isn't evidence

a used condom might be,
might be something.

You'll find needles.

[tense music continues]

- A few days later,
they find a canvas bag

and it's full of what
can only be described

as a killing kit.

It's got hacksaws, it's got
knives, it's got razor blades.

It's analysed and
there's a certain amount

of tissue which can be traced
back to Shelly Armitage.

[tense music continues]

- Shelly's family were
among the loveliest families

that a journalist could meet
in such horrific circumstances.

I went to her funeral,
I saw them release the doves.

[gentle music]

But what struck me
and does to this day,

was the devastation of
finding so little of her.

I think for me seeing a
family, not only traumatised,

seeing a family who
had spent years fearing

that something like this would happen

to then have the dilemma
as to what size of coffin

to use at their beloved
daughter's funeral.

Because all they had
managed to find was a piece

of her backbone stays
with me to this day.

[dramatic orchestral music continues]

[tense music]

- I have authorized the
police to charge him

with all three murders
this afternoon.

The events of the last few days

have understandably been very
upsetting for the families

and friends of Suzanne,
Shelley and Susan,

as well as for the wider
public in Bradford.

[tense music continues]

- When it first happened,
when he first got arrested,

I just did not want anyone to know.

I did not want anyone to know.

Once he'd been named and the
media just took it and ran

with it and his face was
everywhere, everywhere I went.

So you're at work and there's
newspapers in the canteen

and he's staring at you and
you're going into a shop,

there's newspapers and
he's staring at you.

[tense music continues]

Look at him, how proud
he looks of himself

and he'd clearly
gone and got changed.

He's killed the lass,
dragged her back into his flat

and taken the time to change
his clothes and do his hair

so he can come out and do this,

'cause he knows he's been caught.

- [Reporter] Police divers continued
to search the River Aire

near Shipley, where Suzanne
Blamires' dismembered body

was discovered.

It's a grim task, but necessary.

- And then after that it all came out

about the body parts and stuff

and it was just awful.

[tense music continues]

It wasn't even enough for
him to just kill these women.

He just absolutely desecrated
them like he wanted

to destroy them, just wipe all
faces of them from the earth.

It was horrific.

And despite the fact
I wasn't surprised

by the culmination as
it were of his life,

it was still shocking and horrifying.

It was just a horrible,
horrible time.

Very mentally distressing
and I feel terrible saying

that because I can't imagine
how it was for the families

of his victims, you know.

Those poor women.

[dramatic orchestral music]

I mean people ask me,
"Do you write to him?

Would you go and see him?

Oh, you should write to him."

It's not that easy.

What am I going to say?

I'm going to say, who are you?

What happened to the
little boy I knew?

Why have you done this?

What is wrong with you?

[tense music]

[tense music]

- On the Friday after
Griffith's arrest,

he's brought up before
magistrates at Bradford.

Court Number three.

When a defendant appears in
court for the first time,

it's usually a very dry,
short, nondescript affair.

Not with Stephen Griffiths though.

- He was asked to give his name.

You know, we were sitting
there, we knew his name.

We were just waiting for
Stephen Sean Griffiths.

And instead he kind
of pulled himself up

and pronounced,
"The Crossbow Cannibal."

[tense music]

The whole court gasped.

It was shocking enough as
a journalist to hear that.

But imagine what it
must have been like

for the families who were in
court of those three women.

And he knew it would shock.

The look on his face was smug.

He was proud.

He had found a way
to become infamous.

[tense music continues]

[gentle music]

- I know all the names.

I'll never forget the names.

Susan Rushworth,

Shelley Armitage, Susan Blamires.

Yeah, I can still see
the faces as well.

The pictures they put
in the papers and stuff.

Never leaves you.

Never. You know.

Just terrible.

Terrible waste.

Terrible waste of
him and those three.

[sombre music]

Sorry.

I think he wanted to be someone.

I mean, it's not my idea

of someone you would want to
be, but clearly to him it was.

[sombre music continues]

If it wasn't for the
fact that that brave,

brave young woman had run
out of that flat

and he had to chase her,

then maybe he would
never have been caught.

And thank God she did really,
I know what happened to her,

but still she stopped it
happening to a lot more people.

She's a very, very brave girl.

[sombre music continues]

[tense music]

- We were told as journalists
that he was pleading

not guilty and it would
be quite a lengthy trial.

And then we saw his lawyers run.

[tense music continues]

I know the lawyer.

And he looked at me and he went,

once again a game had been played.

Griffiths at the last minute

told his defence team he
wanted to plead guilty.

And at that moment,
I suppose I was glad,

I was glad that the families
would not have three weeks

of listening to the gruesome details

about what he did
to their loved ones.

But make no mistake, he
didn't do it for them.

He did it for himself to
add a little bit of drama.

In fact, he turned
to the public gallery

where the family was
sitting and said,

"And what are you looking at?"

And there was just a moment
when I thought somebody

was gonna leap over.

The tension was so high
and then they led him away.

[tense music]

- Because Griffiths
had pleaded guilty,

there was no need for a full trial.

So all the court needed was a summary

of what was being said against him.

[tense music continues]

People had a good idea
of what he'd been up to

in that grotty flat in
the center of Bradford.

But nevertheless, the
details were truly shocking.

And at various points, there
was the sound of sobbing

from the public gallery
as the relatives of Susan,

Shelly and Suzanne
were forced to listen

to what happened to them.

[tense music continues]

- When the police forensic teams

entered Stephen Griffith's
flat, we learned today

that they would find blood
samples from all three women,

blood which had been
projected onto the walls,

over furniture and onto the carpets.

Griffiths would later
describe his bathroom

to the police as the slaughterhouse.

[tense music continues]

- I think the depravity
of Griffiths' crimes

was born out by the fact

that he's one of very few criminals

to get a whole life tariff,
which means he will never,

ever be eligible for parole.

In fact, the judge described
him as wicked and monstrous,

and indeed he is.

[dramatic orchestral music]

- Susan's family have
never had a body to bury.

- I've spoken to Susan's family
on a number of occasions,

and even now, more
than a decade later,

they have not been
able to say goodbye.

There is no grave for them to visit.

All that was found in
Griffiths' flat was some blood,

but it was Susan's.

And what he has
steadfastly refused to do

is to tell them what he did to her

and where he put her body
and that haunts them.

[sombre music continues]

To not be able to lay
a bunch of flowers,

to not be able to
really grieve is cruel.

And it's part of his power game.

[dramatic orchestral music continues]

- While Griffiths admitted his
offenses by pleading guilty,

he didn't actually show
any signs of remorse.

[tense music]

- I'm not surprised
he's shown no remorse.

I think this has all
been about Stephen.

It's all been what he wants.

And these women have been
a means to an end for that.

Stephen did know he was doing this.

He had mental disorders,

but he also made conscious decisions

to carry out these
murders and crafted a life

where he could do that more easily.

[tense music]

- It's always there,

always there in the
back of your mind.

I just want to ask him why, probably.

Why you did this and who are you?

I'd probably tell him
that I loved him as well.

People might be shocked to hear that,

but he's my brother, my big brother.

I loved him. I love him.

I always will, probably, part of me.

Even though part of me
absolutely hates him

for what he's done

and for what he's put
so many people through.

[tense music]

- The most important people
to remember in this story

are the three women,
Susan, Shelly, and Suzanne.

It is so important that attention
is always brought back to them

because for their families,

they were people that they loved,

people that they tried to help,

people that they were
desperately worried about.

And their worst fears came true.

And they ended up
meeting a psychopath,

a cold-hearted killer
who wanted to be famous.

[dramatic orchestral music]

[tense music]