Kenneth Erskine, The Stockwell Strangler

[chris]

When 24-year-old Erskine was judged to have the mental age of eleven. He was abandoned by his parents, and was known as a 'persistent loner' that drifted through special schools and flophouses. He was arrested on numerous occasions for burglary and had ten different bank accounts full of the proceeds from his successful thefts.

Eventually Erskine felt the need to go one step further and began taking more than money. His first murder victim was Eileen Emms, 78. She was strangled in her own home in early April, 1987. Less than a month later Janet Crockett, 67, went the same way. On June, 28 Erskine scored a double-header. First he got Valentine Gleime, 84. And if you thought that was pretty sick he went one better later in the day with 94-year-old Zbigniew Stabrawa. All of these victims had been manually strangled. But this was not all, the sick little fucker had also molested all the victims. The molested victims had all been sodomized. The police could not determine if this buggery was done before or after death. Either way it sound pretty sick to me.

It was at this time that Erskine was dubbed 'The Stockwell Strangler', named such because the victims all lived in the South-west London neighbourhood.

On July 28, Erskine was arrested for trying to conceal one of his savings accounts from Social Security, and unluckily for him his palm print matched one found at a 'Stockwell Strangler' crime scene. He was then picked out of a line-up by a survivor of one of his attacks. When questioned about the crimes Erskine said, "I don't remember killing anyone, I could have done it without knowing it. I am not sure if I did it."

Erskine was charged with seven murders (two more were dropped on insufficient evidence, and police have closed the book on two other murders) and was found guilty. He was given seven life terms, but comes up for parole in 2028.

Quotes & Interesting Bits

"It tries to think for me. It says it will kill me if it gets me. It blanks things from my mind." Erskin tried to blame the murders on a voice in his head.

As a child Erskine had twice tried to hang his younger brother. When he was eighteen he was involved in an affair with a young male. One night he burst into his boyfriend's bedroom and started stabbing him. No charges were laid and Erskine was allowed to go free.

"I'm nice and cosy inside and I don't give a damn if I ever come out." Obviously a man who is dying to get out of prison.

"There is simply no way of knowing how many defenceless old folk he killed; it could be dozens. This man must be from another planet. He simply does not have any regard for human life at all."
A senior detective gives his opinion on Erskine.

"I can't believe he did those things. Kenneth is just too weak and quite." A childhood friend gives her opinion.

He'd get really mad. When they were least expecting it he'd pick up a chair and hit them over the head." A former cellmate tells of Erskine's temper.

You can read more about Erskine here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Erskine

Erskine's last known prison address:

Kenneth Erskine
Broadmoor Hospital
Crowthorne
Berkshire
RG45 7EG
England

Here is a short video about the Erskine police investigation.