The London Underground Serial Killer

Fred West. Ian Brady. Harold Shipman. These names haunt the national consciousness and yet none was as prolific as the little-known ‘Underground Killer’, Kieran Kelly. Operating without motive or rationale he pushed sixteen souls to their deaths on the tracks of the London Underground, before vanishing back into the crowd. Geoff Platt has painstakingly researched the ‘career’ of Kelly, whose name may be unfamiliar even to those who study the minds and misdeeds of the criminal underworld. In a time of greater governmental control of the media, the case was hushed up, lest the residents of London be gripped by mass hysteria at the thought of a faceless killer lurking on the platforms of the Central line. Kelly’s first victim was his best friend and could have been called a crime passionnel, as it was committed in the heat of an argument after an evening of heavy drinking. However when Kelly realized his crime had gone undetected he felt a rush of power which he sought to recreate again and again. The killer took delight in his apparent cunning – he often passed himself off as a star witness, who had been talking to the ‘poor, depressed man about his unfaithful wife, when the train arrived at the station and he jumped underneath it’. The implications of Kelly’s actions spread wide, leaving families unable to claim life insurance once the death was ruled as suicide. The officers involved in the case were a small, select cadre of elite Flying Squad and Serious Crime Squad Officers from South London, the same ones who had also been dealing with the Krays and the Richardsons. Their story is equally compelling, involved as they were in extreme, unusual and certainly unorthodox tactics. These intricate strands of a murky underworld weave together to make a fascinating, if gruesome, story. The story is now thirty years old and most, if not all, of the characters involved were middle aged men at the time and are now dead. The story did make the national press when it first occurred. A murder in a Police Station is big news and something to beat the Police with. However, when it was found that 12 people had been pushed under underground trains in London by a man that they did not know, the government felt that it might lead to mass hysteria and put a lid on the story with the press.The officers involved were a small, select, cadre of elite Flying Squad and Serious Crime Squad officers from South London, the same ones who had been dealing with the Krays, Richardsons, Brinks Mat etc. Their methods were unorthodox and recorded in the best selling'Untouchables'book. They were several extreme and unusual and certainly unorthodox, tactics. Officers kidnapped senior Home Office officials and detained them until the Old Bailey judge issued a summons and threatened a warrant in 5 minutes. At the committal the judge, prosecution, defence and everybody had to step over the start witness and he vomitted on the judge's shoes. Witnesses being murdered. Other witnesses being locked up it secret cells to protect them from being murdered.The Attorney General was satisfied that there was convincing evidence of all 16 murders that Kelly admitted. He was in prison for thirty years with only one or two days between sentences and all the murders co-incided with his absences from prison and before his next arrest. When protected by Police, most had been witnessed. In 12 cases Kelly had presented himself to Police as a star witness who had been talking to the poor depressed man about his unfaithful wife when the train arrived at the station and he jumped underneath it. The widow eventually lost her husband, her reputation, when kelly's story was told to the coroner, and her insurance money, when the death was ruled to be suicide. The A.G. authorised five murders to be charged, and instructed that prosecutions were to be discontinued and the remaining charges left on file as soon as two convictions were secured, as further prosecutions would not be in the public interest, due to their expence. Fred West. Ian Brady. Harold Shipman. These names haunt the national consciousness and yet none was as prolific as the little-known 'Underground Killer', Kieran Kelly. Operating without motive or rationale he pushed sixteen souls to their deaths on the tracks of the London Underground, before vanishing back into the crowd. Geoff Platt has painstakingly researched the 'career' of Kelly, whose name may be unfamiliar even to those who study the minds and misdeeds of the criminal underworld. In a time of greater governmental control of the media, the case was hushed up, lest the residents of London be gripped by mass hysteria at the thought of a faceless killer lurking on the platforms of the Central line. Kelly's first victim was his best friend and could have been called a crime passionnel, as it was committed in the heat of an argument after an evening of heavy drinking. However when Kelly realised his crime had gone undetected he felt a rush of power which he sought to recreate again and again. The killer took delight in his apparent cunning - he often passed himself off as a star witness, who had been talking to the 'poor, depressed man about his unfaithful wife, when the train arrived at the station and he jumped underneath it'. The implications of Kelly's actions spread wide, leaving families unable to claim life insurance once the death was ruled as suicide. The officers involved in the case were a small, select cadre of elite Flying Squad and Serious Crime Squad Officers from South London, the same ones who had also been dealing with the Krays and the Richardsons. Their story is equally compelling, involved as they were in extreme, unusual and certainly unorthodox tactics. These intricate strands of a murky underworld weave together to make a fascinating, if gruesome, story In England there has been no serial killer as prolific as the little-known 'Underground Killer', Kieran Kelly. Operating without motive or rationale he pushed sixteen souls to their deaths on the tracks of the London Underground, before vanishing back into the crowd. Geoff Platt has painstakingly researched the 'career' of Kelly, whose name may be unfamiliar even to those who study the minds and misdeeds of the criminal underworld. In a time of greater governmental control of the media, the case was hushed up, lest the residents of London be gripped by mass hysteria at the thought of a faceless killer lurking on the platforms of the Central line. Kelly's first victim was his best friend and could have been called a crime passionnel, as it was committed in the heat of an argument after an evening of heavy drinking. However when Kelly realised his crime had gone undetected he felt a rush of power which he sought to recreate again and again. The killer took delight in his apparent cunning -- he often passed himself off as a star witness, who had been talking to the 'poor, depressed man about his unfaithful wife, when the train arrived at the station and he jumped underneath it'. The implications of Kelly's actions spread wide, leaving families unable to claim life insurance once the death was ruled as suicide. The officers involved in the case were a small, select cadre of elite Flying Squad and Serious Crime Squad Officers from South London, the same ones who had also been dealing with the Krays and the Richardsons. Their story is equally compelling, involved as they were in extreme, unusual and certainly unorthodox tactics. These intricate strands of a murky underworld weave together to make a fascinating, if gruesome, story