38 Facts About Colin Ireland

Colin Ireland was a British serial killer known as the Gay Slayer, because his victims were gay men.

Colin Ireland committed various crimes from the age of 16 and had served time in borstals and prisons.

Colin Ireland was heterosexual: he had been twice married to women, he pretended to be gay only to befriend potential victims.

Colin Ireland was highly organised and carried a full murder kit of rope, handcuffs and a full change of clothes to each murder.

Colin Ireland was sentenced to five counts of life imprisonment for the murders on 20 December 1993 and remained imprisoned until his death on 21 February 2012, at the age of 57.

Colin Ireland was born in 1954 in Dartford, Kent, to an unmarried teenage couple; shortly after his birth, his father left him and his 17-year-old mother.

Colin Ireland's father is not named on his birth certificate, and Ireland did not know his identity.

Colin Ireland was raised in poverty and moved home many times.

Colin Ireland was released in November 1976 and moved to Swindon, Wiltshire.

Colin Ireland lived with a woman and her children for a few months.

In 1982, Colin Ireland married Virginia Zammit; the couple and their daughter lived in the Holloway area of London.

Colin Ireland divorced in 1987 after his wife discovered he had committed adultery.

Colin Ireland moved to Southend-on-Sea, where he became homeless and lived in a hostel.

Colin Ireland placed two teddy bears in a 69 position on the body.

Colin Ireland told them he wanted to become famous for being a serial killer.

Colin Ireland's death was initially believed to be an accident that occurred during an erotic game.

Colin Ireland met 35-year-old businessman Perry Bradley III at the Coleherne pub.

Colin Ireland assured Bradley that he was merely a thief and would leave after stealing Bradley's money.

Bradley eventually did fall asleep and Colin Ireland momentarily thought of leaving Bradley unharmed.

Colin Ireland then realised that Bradley could identify him and used the noose, which he had earlier attached around Bradley's neck, to strangle him.

Colin Ireland, angered that he had received no publicity even after three murders, killed again within three days.

Colin Ireland met and courted 33-year-old Andrew Collier, a housing warden, and the pair went to Collier's home in Dalston.

Colin Ireland gripped a horizontal metal bar that ran across the window.

Colin Ireland later forgot to wipe the bar for fingerprints during his usual cleanup phase.

Once he had tied up his victim on the bed, Colin Ireland again demanded his victim's bank details.

Colin Ireland put a condom on Collier's penis and placed the dead cat's mouth over it, and placed the cat's tail into Collier's mouth.

Colin Ireland was angered at discovering Collier was HIV positive while rummaging through his personal effects looking for bank details.

Colin Ireland then phoned the police, asking why they had not linked the four murders.

Colin Ireland strangled the cat to demonstrate that the "animal lover" assumption had been wrong.

Colin Ireland's fifth victim was a Maltese chef named Emanuel Spiteri, aged 41, whom he had met at the Coleherne pub.

Once more, Colin Ireland demanded his PIN but did not obtain it.

Colin Ireland rang the police later to tell them to look for a body at the scene of a fire and added that he would probably not kill again.

Colin Ireland was charged with the murders of Collier and Spiteri and confessed to the other three while awaiting trial in prison.

Colin Ireland told police that he had no vendetta against gay men, but picked on them because they were the easiest targets.

Colin Ireland pretended to be gay in order to lure his victims.

Colin Ireland had robbed those he killed because he was unemployed at the time, and he needed funds to travel to and from London when hunting for victims.

When his case came to the Old Bailey on 20 December 1993, Colin Ireland admitted all charges and was given life sentences for each.

On 22 December 2006, Colin Ireland was one of 35 life sentence prisoners whose names appeared on the Home Office's list of prisoners who had been issued with whole life tariffs and were unlikely ever to be released.