Serial killer
THE family of a priest who was butchered by Britain’s “forgotten” serial killer have begged the Parole Board to block the maniac’s release after 44 years behind bars.
Nazi-obsessed Patrick Mackay split Father Anthony Crean’s skull open with an axe and stabbed him repeatedly in a horrific attack in 1975.
The beast then dumped the 63-yearold in the bath and started the taps running before leaving him to die.
The priest’s family now fear Mackay – who has changed his name to David Groves – could be free in months after his move to an open prison in 2017.
And they have written to the Parole Board to tell of their suffering.
John Lucas, who wrote a book about Mackay called Britain’s Forgotten Serial Killer, has been in touch with them. He said: “The family are still deeply affected by what’s happened.
“It might be 40 years ago but they still think about him. They still have fond memories of him.”
Shocked
Mr Lucas also insists Mackay will still be a grave danger to the public if he is released, saying: “Prisoners say he seems to have mellowed but that won’t change the fact that he’s a psychopath and a stone-cold killer.
“Age is no barrier to crime and I can’t see a way of him living outside prison which is safe to neighbours or people he may come into contact with. He’s never shown any remorse.”
Mackay, now 66, was jailed after a killing spree across London and Kent in the 1970s. Nicknamed the Devil’s Disciple, he targeted vulnerable old women and tortured birds for fun.
He was convicted of three killings. The horrific death of Father Crean in Shorne, Kent, on March 21, 1975, was the most brutal of Mackay’s attacks.
He was also convicted of strangling and stabbing Isabella Griffiths, 87, in Belgravia, central London in 1974 and Adele Price, 89, a year later.
Mackay was jailed for life in 1975 with a minimum 25 years – but judges said he should not be released unless considered safe. He is thought to be our longest-serving prisoner.
He admitted eight further killings, but then retracted his confessions. The cases remain unsolved and include a gran and her four-year-old grandson in Barnet, North London, in 1974.
He is also suspected of murdering Heidi Mnilk, whose body was found by railways tracks between London Bridge and New Cross in 1973. She had been stabbed and thrown from a