John Childs, also known as Bruce Childs, is a British hit man and serial killer from

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

who was convicted in 1979 for a series of apparent

contract killing Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...

s, though none of the bodies have been found. He implicated Terry Pinfold and Harry MacKenney in the murders, but they were released in 2003 after the judge ruled that Childs is a "

pathological liar Pathological lying, also known as ''mythomania'' and ''pseudologia fantastica'', is a chronic behavior in which the person habitually or compulsively lies. These lies often serve no obvious purpose other than to paint oneself as a hero or vict ...

". Childs is serving a

whole life tariff In England and Wales, life imprisonment is a sentence that lasts until the death of the prisoner, although in most cases the prisoner will be eligible for early release after a minimum term set by the judge. In exceptional cases, however, a ju ...

. He is known as the most prolific

hit man Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...

in the UK.

Investigation and trials

John Childs confessed to having committed the murders to

Detective Chief Superintendent Chief superintendent is a senior rank in police forces, especially in those organised on the British model. Rank insignia of chief superintendent File:Sa-police-chief-superintendent.png, South Australia Police File:RCMP Chief Superintendent.png ...

Frank Cater in June 1979, after Childs was arrested in September 1978 for a series of bank and security van robberies in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

. The investigation was based at

Waltham Abbey Waltham Abbey is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, within the metropolitan and urban area of London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. It lies on the Greenwich Meridian, between the River Lea in the west and E ...

police station in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. Childs was convicted of carrying out six murders of Terence "Terry" Eve, Robert Brown, George Brett, Terry Brett, Frederick "Freddie" Sherwood, and Ronald Andrews from November 1974 to October 1978. Their remains have not been found, and no murder weapons were uncovered. Childs was tried at the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

, with John Mathew QC prosecuting. Childs was convicted on 4 December 1979 and was sentenced by Mr Justice Lawson to six concurrent

life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

s. Childs then turned Queen's Evidence to implicate his former employers, Essex businessmen and former prisoners Terry Pinfold and Harry "Big H" MacKenney, in the murder of Eve and the other victims. Other co-accused were Leonard Thompson and Paul Morton-Thurtle. Former prisoner Terence Eve, who had become a toy maker in

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...

, went missing in November 1974. Eve had made teddy bears in the same converted church hall that Pinfold and MacKenney used to make diving equipment for their company. Also missing was a haulage contractor, George Brett, along with his 10-year-old son, Terry, who had disappeared on 4 January 1975. A second eight-week-long trial began at the Old Bailey in October 1980, after Childs had been held in solitary confinement for 15 months. The judge was Mr Justice May, the prosecutor was David Tudor Price, and MacKenney's defence lawyer was

Michael Mansfield Michael Mansfield (born 12 October 1941) is an English barrister and head of chambers at Nexus Chambers. He was recently described as "The king of human rights work" by The Legal 500 and as a Leading Silk in civil liberties and human rights ( ...

QC. Childs said at trial that Eve was killed so that they could take his business; he said Eve was beaten and strangled, and that his body was

dismembered Dismemberment is the act of cutting, ripping, tearing, pulling, wrenching or otherwise disconnecting the limbs from a living or dead being. It has been practiced upon human beings as a form of capital punishment, especially in connection with ...

and burned. He said that the defendants pretended to offer Brett work so that he would visit the factory, and that MacKenney shot him and his son with a

Sten gun The STEN (or Sten gun) is a family of British submachine guns chambered in 9×19mm which were used extensively by British and Commonwealth forces throughout World War II and the Korean War. They had a simple design and very low production cost ...

. Childs said that Andrews was killed because MacKenney was having an affair with his wife; that nursing home owner Sherwood was killed because of a £7000 debt, and Brown was killed because of what he knew about Eve's murder. Childs said he had considered killing MacKenney with a crossbow because he was afraid of him. The

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

called as witnesses two prisoners who said that Childs had confessed to them that he had falsely implicated MacKenney because he was worried that his own wife Tina would be accused of murder. Pinfold and MacKenney were convicted by the jury on 28 November 1980, though MacKenney was cleared of involvement in Eve's murder. The other accused men, Thompson and Morton-Thurtle, were found not guilty. MacKenney was sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

and had to be restrained by guards when the sentence was delivered. It was later reported that Childs had been issued with a

by at least one

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

after the tariff-setting system was introduced in 1983, making it unlikely that he will ever be released.

Claims of Childs

Childs wrote a statement in July 1986 when he was held at

HMP Winchester HM Prison Winchester is a Category B men's prison, located in Winchester, Hampshire, England. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. History There has probably been a prison in Winchester, mainly known as Winchester gaol, si ...

, admitting that Pinfold was "only convicted because of my perjured evidence". In 1997, ''

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'' reported that Childs had written to a penfriend through the

Prison Reform Trust The Prison Reform Trust (PRT) was founded in 1981 in London, England, by a small group of prison reform campaigners who were unhappy with the direction in which the Howard League for Penal Reform was heading, concentrating more on community punish ...

, describing how he dismembered the bodies of his victims and burned them on a 55 gallon drum in his

council flat A council house is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction took place mainly from 1919 a ...

in Poplar. When he was at

Long Lartin HM Prison Long Lartin is a Category A men's prison, located in the village of South Littleton (near Evesham) in the Wychavon district in Worcestershire, England. It is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. History Long Lartin was opened as ...

and then

Frankland Prison HM Prison Frankland is a Category A men's prison located in the village of Brasside in County Durham, England. Frankland is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. History Frankland was originally opened in 1980 with four wings each holding ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, Childs was interviewed by the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...

'' newspaper, who reported on the front page in 1998 that he had confessed to committing five more murders.

Appeal of co-accused

Pinfold and MacKenney unsuccessfully

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

ed against their convictions in 1981 and were denied leave to appeal in 1987. Pinfold was released on bail in September 2001. After a referral by the

Criminal Cases Review Commission The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is the statutory body responsible for investigating alleged miscarriages of justice in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It was established by Section 8 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1995 and bega ...

, both Pinfold and MacKenney had their convictions overturned at the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

in December 2003.

Lord Woolf Harry Kenneth Woolf, Baron Woolf, (born 2 May 1933) is a British life peer and retired barrister and judge. He was Master of the Rolls from 1996 until 2000 and Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from 2000 until 2005. The Constitutional R ...

, with Mr Justice Aikens and Mr Justice Davis, ruled that Childs' evidence against them was unreliable because he was a "

". A

forensic psychiatrist Forensic psychiatry is a subspeciality of psychiatry and is related to criminology. It encompasses the interface between law and psychiatry. According to the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, it is defined as "a subspecialty of psychiatr ...

, David Somekh, concluded that Childs had a

personality disorder Personality disorders (PD) are a class of mental disorders characterized by enduring maladaptive patterns of behavior, cognition, and inner experience, exhibited across many contexts and deviating from those accepted by the individual's culture ...

that led him to compulsively lie, and the original trial jury were blocked from being told this. Childs' account of the murders changed. Pinfold's lawyer Danny Simpson said that former

Detective Chief Inspector Chief inspector (Ch Insp) is a rank used in police forces which follow the British model. In countries outside Britain, it is sometimes referred to as chief inspector of police (CIP). Usage by country Australia The rank of chief inspector is use ...

James Harrison-Griffiths, when investigating Eve's disappearance, was told by Commander Bert Wickstead of the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

in 1976 that Eve was alive and living in

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: North London ...

, and that Childs had previously written a letter that said Childs' wife had asked him to kill Eve after he

sexually assaulted Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...

her. MacKenney's former wife Eileen said in her autobiography, published by

Simon and Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

in 2011, that Childs' story about the murders was false, and that he was really from

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and called Martin Jones; he had taken the name Childs from a previous tenant of his flat.

Personal life

Childs joined the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

as a

sapper A sapper, also called a pioneer (military), pioneer or combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefie ...

, but was expelled after nine months for committing

burglary Burglary, also called breaking and entering and sometimes housebreaking, is the act of entering a building or other areas without permission, with the intention of committing a criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, robbery or murder ...

. Reports of the 1980 trial said that he collected weapons and war books. Childs had been jailed for stealing motorbikes before he was released in 1972 and began working for MacKenney and Pinfold. Childs was married with two daughters, but his wife Tina divorced him in 1982 following his conviction.

References

External links

Transcript of the appeal of MacKenney and Pinfold

Gangster Henry MacKenney gets life sentence
- 28 November 1980 radio report from the London Broadcasting Corporation/Independent Radio News on

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