http://www.smh.com.au/world/i-am-ven-pariah-i-am-the-bloodbath-artist-cannibal-to-spend-rest-of-his-life-in-prison-20101221-194lc.html
'I am Ven Pariah, I am the Bloodbath Artist': cannibal to spend rest of his
life in prison
December 21, 2010
Pleaded guilty ... Stephen Griffiths. Photo: Reuters
A British PhD student who referred to himself as the 'Crossbow Cannibal' will
spend the rest of his life in prison after he admitted murdering and
dismembering three women whom he also claims to have eaten.
Stephen Griffiths pleaded guilty on Tuesday to murdering Suzanne Blamires, 36,
Shelley Armitage, 31, and Susan Rushworth, 43, after luring them to his flat on
the edge of Bradford's red light district.
As he was jailed for what a judge described as his "monstrous and wicked"
crimes, police announced they were reviewing unsolved murders after he
indicated that he had killed six women in total.
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Griffiths, a criminology student obsessed with serial killers, told detectives
he had committed murder because:
"I'm misanthropic, I don't have much time for the human race."
The 40 year-old was free to commit murder despite a 23-year history of violence
during which psychiatrists repeatedly warned that he was dangerous, with one
doctor describing him as a "psychopath" who was "strongly attracted" to killing
people.
His macabre crimes were discovered in May after a caretaker witnessed Miss
Blamires's murder as he reviewed CCTV footage of the flats where Griffiths
lived.
It showed Griffiths firing a crossbow bolt into his last victim's head as she
tried to run away from him. He then held the crossbow above his head in a
triumphant gesture before "toasting" the death by raising a can of drink to the
camera.
It emerged that after Griffiths dragged Miss Blamires's body back into his
flat, he went out to find another victim, hoping to carry out a second murder
within an hour, but a prostitute he approached refused to go with him.
Griffiths told police he cooked and ate parts of his first two victims and ate
the third one raw.
As he was led into the dock at Leeds Crown Court, he mouthed "who are you
looking at?" to relations of his victims. Some sobbed as the prosecutor, Robert
Smith QC, revealed gruesome details of the murders.
He said Griffiths had admitted to killing Miss Blamires in the flat and
dismembering her by hand. He used power tools on the other victims.
"It was just a slaughterhouse in the bathtub," Griffiths told officers. He said
he was studying for a PhD in homicide and had "cut himself off from society"
and that a "civil war" was going on in his head.
Mr Smith also told the court 81 different pieces of Miss Blamires were found in
or near the River Aire in Shipley. A broken knife and a crossbow bolt were
embedded in her severed head.
Imposing a whole life tariff, Mr Justice Openshaw told the court that Griffiths
had no mental illness and had expressed no remorse for killing the women, who
all worked as prostitutes.
Griffiths videoed himself defiling Miss Armitage's naked body. She had been
"hog-tied" with green twine and the words "My Sex Slave" had been painted on
her back. Griffiths gave a running commentary, saying: "I am Ven Pariah, I am
the Bloodbath Artist. Here's a model who is assisting me."
It allowed police to establish that Miss Armitage must have died before 1am on
April 28 this year. A small piece of her spine was found in the same stretch of
river as Miss Blamires's remains. The only evidence relating to Miss Rushworth,
who is thought to have been killed with a hammer after she went missing in June
last year, were traces of blood found in the flat.
Griffiths was arrested by armed police immediately after they were alerted to
the CCTV recording showing Miss Blamires's death.
During interviews at Halifax Police Station, he told detectives: "I've killed a
lot more than Suzanne Blamires, I've killed loads."
Mr Smith told the court: "He said he had eaten [Miss Blamires] and she was the
third he had cannibalised. He said the first time he had done it he had eaten
the thighs and disposed of the body."
Griffiths was quick to seize on a tabloid headline when he made his first
appearance in court in May, giving his name as the 'Crossbow Cannibal'.
The judge said Griffiths was capable of suppressing his urges to control women,
but had chosen not to "for his need and enjoyment of exercising power over
others".
He added: "According to psychiatrists, cannibalism is exerting ultimate control
and taking it to a new level."
The Daily Telegraph, London
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