Serial killer Patrick Mackay to be grilled by Parole Board to see if he is ‘safe’ to be freed freed

Serial killer ‘Disciple of the Devil’ Patrick Mackay will be questioned at a parole hearing over eight murders to which he initially confessed but later recanted before it is decided whether he should be released.

Mackay, 70, spent 47 years in prison for three murders, but previously admitted to eight more.

The serial killer later recanted his confessions about the eight murders, but now he must convince the Parole Board that he was lying about those initial confessions.

The Kent and Essex murderer, who split the head of Catholic priest Anthony Crean in half with an ax in March 1975, is considered Britain’s oldest prisoner.

Mackay has been told he will have two days to argue his case with the Parole Board, one day longer than convicted murderers are usually given.

Talking about the upcoming case with the Parole Board, a source said Mirror: ‘The notoriety of Patrick Mackay and his historic ‘confessions’ to unsolved murders deserve this level of attention.

“The board will look beyond Mackay’s behavior in prison, any remorse, and focus on his prior criminal history.

This obviously includes the three murders he was jailed for, but there will be questions about any other crimes he has committed.

“Mackay will have to convince the panel that his ‘confession’ to other murders was the ramblings of a man who was mentally ill at the time.”

The serial killer is reportedly optimistic about his chance of being released. He told himself that he was furious after learning that his parole hearing, scheduled for last year, had been called off and that he would not be out in time for Christmas.

The ax murderer is also considered by some to be a “model prisoner”.

A prison source said Mirror last year: ‘He really believes he finally has a chance to be released. He is seen as a model prisoner.

“In theory, there is little reason to keep him behind bars, but it will be a strong board that approves his release; the public will be outraged.”

Mackay was born in 1952 and raised in an abusive home where he was regularly beaten by his alcoholic father.

At a young age he began committing criminal acts, including arson, animal cruelty, and stealing from garden gnomes.

Medical professionals identified Mackay as having psychopathic tendencies and he was sectioned at the age of 16. He was later released four years later.

After his release, Mackay developed a fascination with Nazism and began calling himself ‘Franklin Bollvolt the First’. He filled his apartment with Nazi memorabilia.

Mackay’s first identified victim was Isabella Griffith, a frail 87-year-old widow. He befriended her pensioner before strangling and stabbing her at her home in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea in 1974.

Thirteen months later, he killed Adele Price at her home in Lowndes Square, Kensington. Having entered the property after asking Mrs. Price for a glass of water, Mackay unknowingly passed his granddaughter on her way out.

Mackay then killed Father Anthony Crean in a frenzy using his fists, a knife and an ax in the village of Shorne, Kent, near his own mother’s home. The mutilated body of the 63-year-old priest was left floating in a bathtub filled with bloody water.

The serial killer was arrested two days later after a police officer recalled an earlier incident that occurred a few months earlier in which Mackay was arrested for stealing a £30 check from the priest. As with Mrs. Griffith, he befriended Father Anthony before breaking into his house.

Mackay’s fingerprints were taken at the time of his arrest and found to match the scene of Mrs. Price’s murder.

The serial killer initially confessed to all three murders, but later told police that he had killed eight more since 1973, many of them unsolved murders.

Mackay said his first murder was that of 17-year-old German au pair Heidi Mnilk in 1973, whom he stabbed to death on a train and then threw out the door of a tram in south London.

Mackay also admitted to killing an unidentified drifter by pushing him into the Thames a year later. The body was never found.

He said he killed 57-year-old Stephanie Britton and her 4-year-old grandson Christopher Martin in January 1974. The serial killer later claimed he killed Frank Goodman later that year, saying he kicked him to death. Mackay also claimed that he killed 92-year-old Sarah Rodmell in Hackney in December 1974; cafe owner Ivy Davies, 48, in Southend in 1975; and Mary Hynes in Kentish Town in 1974.

Mackay withdrew all eight confessions before facing trial.

In 1975, he was convicted of the manslaughter of Adele Price, Isabella Griffith, and Father Anthony Crean.

Although he was charged with five counts of murder, Mackay’s convictions were for only three counts of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.

The other two cases, the murder of Frank Goodman and Mary Hynes, were allowed to go on file because there was insufficient evidence.