Anthony Arkwright

Anthony Arkwright
Born 1967 (age 50–51)
Nationality English
Years active 1988
Known for Murder
Spree killing
Criminal charge Murder
Criminal penalty Whole life tariff
Criminal status Imprisoned

Anthony Arkwright is a convicted British spree killer, who, over the course of 56 hours in August 1988, murdered three people in Wath-upon-Dearne, South Yorkshire. Arkwright is also suspected of murdering a fourth person during his killing spree, the charge of which Arkwright's trial judge ordered to be laid on his file. Arkwright was 21 years old at the time of the killings and was 22 when he was convicted. He is currently serving a whole life tariff.

Background

Anthony Arkwright was born in the mining community of Wath-upon-Dearne in what was the historic county of West Riding.[1] He is one of five siblings who were abandoned by their mother at an early age; his father was a miner. Arkwright spent most of his formative childhood in care homes and after performing badly at school, which led him into a life of crime and a sentence to a borstal. Rumours persisted that he was the product of an incestuous relationship.[2][3] By the time he was 21, Arkwright was working at a scrap merchants in Mexborough, South Yorkshire, but was sacked on 27 August 1988 for a poor attendance record. It was after this sacking that the 56-hour killing spree began.

Arkwright went to Wath-upon-Dearne, where he stabbed his grandfather, 68-year old Stasis Pudoikis,[note 1] which resulted Pudoikis suffering paralysis.[4] Afterwards he dragged Pudoikis' body into a shed on his allotment and used a 14-pound (6.4 kg) lump hammer to crush Pudoikis' skull.[5] After killing his grandfather, Arkwright went on a pub crawl in Mexborough and dropped hints about the murder, saying things such as, "It's been murder on the allotment today."[6] It was believed that Arkwright's second victim was his grandfather's housekeeper, 73-year-old Elsa Kronadaite,[7] whilst in the process of robbing his grandfather's savings of £3,000. Both Pudoikis and Kronadaite were left undiscovered for six days.

The next to be killed was Raymond Ford, a neighbour of Arkwright's, an unemployed teacher and who was being bullied by Arkwright. He had burgled items from Ford's flat and Ford had reported him to the police. Arkwright knew this and wanted revenge. At 3:00 am on the 28 August 1988, he entered Ford's flat completely naked apart from a devil mask. Arkwright stabbed Ford more than 500 times and draped his entrails around the room that he was murdered in. Arkwright went home to shower off the blood and at 7:00 am, the police came around to arrest him for burgling from Ford's flat, completely unaware that Ford lay dead next door.[8]

After being interviewed for three hours and then released on police bail for a court appearance the following week, Arkwright went out on another drinking session. Arkwright was amazed at being a murderer allowed to walk free from a police station and in the early morning of 28 August, he entered the specially adapted bungalow belonging to his other next-door neighbour, Marcus Law.[9] Law, who was 25 at the time, was in a wheelchair after a motorcycling accident and, in what Arkwright would describe as a punishment for all the cigarettes that Law had scrounged off of him, he stabbed Law at least 70 times, before trying to gut him. When this failed, Arkwright inserted one of Law's crutches into a gaping wound in his stomach. He also gouged out Law's eyes and inserted cigarettes into his eye sockets, ears and mouth.[10] After he had left Law's bungalow, he bumped into Law's mother and remarked upon her son's suicide whilst smiling. She went around to her son's bungalow and found him dead.[4] Police arrested Arkwright who confessed to four murders which meant that the police had to organise a hasty search. It was suggested that when shocked police found all three remaining bodies, Arkwright felt that he was losing control, so he invented a fifth victim which incurred further searches of lakes and drainage ditches.[9]

Whilst at HMP Hull awaiting trial, Arkwright smeared the walls of his cell with excrement in a dirty protest at not being recognised and revered as he believed he should be. After convincing prison doctors that he was insane, he was transferred to Rampton Hospital in Merseyside. Psychiatrists determined that he was sane and fit to plead, with one doctor commenting that Arkwright was "the sanest person in the building".[11]

At his trial in Sheffield Crown Court in July 1989, Arkwright pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life.[12] It was commented upon that Arkwright was an "evil fantasist" who had a desire to be as famous as Jack the Ripper.[13] The case against Arkwright killing Kronadaite was unproven and at the trial, the judge ordered the case to lie on his file.[14]

In 2003, Home Secretary David Blunkett changed the law so that those who had been sentenced to life, would spend the rest of their life behind bars with no chance of parole. This was challenged in 2013 when the European Court of Human Rights decreed that whole-life tariffs without the option for a review or parole amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment.[15] However, a Court of Appeal process ruled that the whole life sentences were "entirely compatible" with the European Convention of Human Rights.[16]

The television programme When Life Means Life broadcast an episode about Arkwright in its first series in 2012.[17]

Notes

  1. ↑ Also known as Stays Puidokis, Stanislav Pudoikas

References

  1. ↑ Appleyard 2009, p. 218.
  2. ↑ Christodoulou, Holly (9 April 2018). "Chilling true story of British serial killer who idolised Jack the Ripper and slaughtered three people leaving organs scattered". The Sun. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  3. ↑ Appleyard 2009, p. 213.
  4. 1 2 "The sick killer who lived up to his Ripper boasts". The Yorkshire Post. 19 June 2002. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  5. ↑ Burke, Darren (10 April 2018). "Evil Doncaster serial killer who murdered three people in 56 hours is focus of new TV documentary". The Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  6. ↑ Appleyard 2009, p. 214.
  7. ↑ "Wath murderer Arkwright too dangerous for release". South Yorkshire Times. 2 March 2009. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  8. ↑ Appleyard 2009, pp. 214–215.
  9. 1 2 Appleyard 2009, p. 215.
  10. ↑ Taylor, Sandie (2015). "3: Forensic Mental Health and Criminal Behaviour". Forensic Psychology; the Basics. Oxfordshire: Routledge. p. 80. ISBN 978-1-138-02158-7.
  11. ↑ Appleyard 2009, p. 216.
  12. ↑ "I am all powerful ... you are my prey; ANTHONY ARKWRIGHT. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  13. ↑ Taylor, Sandie (2016). Crime and Criminality; a Multidisciplinary Approach (1 ed.). Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge. p. 453. ISBN 978-1-138-88861-6.
  14. ↑ "Notorious murderers on 'never set free list'". South Yorkshire Star. 17 February 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  15. ↑ "South Yorkshire killers move a step closer to freedom". South Yorkshire Times. 20 July 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  16. ↑ "Judges back life sentences". The Sheffield Star. 19 February 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  17. ↑ "When Life Means Life - S1 - Episode 1: Anthony Arkwright". radiotimes.com. Retrieved 13 April 2018.

Sources

  • Appleyard, Nick (2009). Life Means Life; True Stories of Britain's Most Evil Killers. London: John Blake. ISBN 978-1-84454-668-8.
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