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Serial killer who is UK's longest-serving prisoner is up for parole in April

Home> News

Published 20:26 1 Feb 2023 GMT

Serial killer who is UK's longest-serving prisoner is up for parole in April

Patrick Mackay is one of the most vicious killers you may never have heard of

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers

One of the UK's most vicious serious killers is up for parole later this year, but you've probably never heard of him.

Patrick Mackay has been locked up for the past 47 years, making him the country's longest serving prisoner.

The 70-year-old, from Middlesex, was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison back in 1975 after confessing to three murders.

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Calling himself the 'devil's disciple', Mackay was obsessed with Nazism, and set about on a spate of horrific attacks against three elderly victims.

His first attack was Isabella Griffith, who lived in Chelsea, London.

Mackay had moved back down to the capital following his release from Moss Side Hospital in Liverpool, where he had been committed for years earlier.

Patrick Mackay.
Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy

He strangled and stabbed the 84-year-old in her home.

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Over a year later, in March 1975, he went on to murder Adele Price.

Having managed to get into her home after asking for a glass of water, Mackay killed the 89-year-old moments before her granddaughter arrived.

At the time, though they didn't have him as a suspect, police were concerned that the two killings were linked.

Less than a couple of weeks after Ms Price was murdered, Mackay claimed his third and final victim, Father Anthony Crean, who was brutally killed in his home in Kent, not far from his mother's home.

He bludgeoned the priest to death, striking him with an axe.

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Mackay had previously been friends with Father Crean, until he stole an £80 cheque from him.

Mackay strangled Isabella Griffith.
Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy

Mackay was taken in by police hours after Father Crean's body was discovered.

He eventually confessed to the three murders, as well as eight other unsolved killings, including that of 17-year-old German au pair Heidi Mnilk, who was killed in July 1973.

However, Mackay later retracted these confessions, except for those of Ms Griffith, Ms Price and Father Crean.

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He was convicted of manslaughter, on the grounds of diminished responsibility, in November 1975 and sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 20 years.

Last year, after over four decades behind bars, Mackay was up for parole, with some concerned that he may have been released before Christmas.

Adele Price was also killed in her home.
Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy

However, his hearing was pushed back, with a new date set for April.

A spokesperson for the Parole Board told LADbible: "An oral hearing has been listed for the parole review of Patrick Mackay and is scheduled to take place in April 2023.

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"A panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims.

"Members read and digest hundreds of pages of evidence and reports in the lead up to an oral hearing.

"Evidence from witnesses including probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison as well as victim personal statements are then given at the hearing.

"The prisoner and witnesses are then questioned at length during the hearing which often lasts a full day or more.

"Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority.”

Featured Image Credit: Trinity Mirror / Mirrorpix / Alamy Stock Photo/PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

Topics: True Crime, Crime, UK News

Dominic Smithers
Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers is LADbible's Editorial Lead. After graduating from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History, he went on to write for the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express. So as you can imagine, he’s spent many a night wondering just how useful that second language has been. But c'est la vie.

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@SmithersDom

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