Anthony Hardy
Anthony John Hardy (31 May 1951 – 26 November 2020) was an English serial killer who was known as the Camden Ripper for dismembering some of his victims. In November 2003, he was sentenced to three life terms for three murders, but police believe he may have been responsible for up to five more. Early life. Born in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire Hardy had an apparently uneventful childhood and excelled in school and college. He earned an engineer's degree from Imperial College London and subsequently became the manager of a large company. Hardy married and fathered three sons  and one daughter; in 1982, he was arrested in Tasmania for trying to drown his wife, but the charges were later dropped. In 1986, Hardy's wife, Judith, divorced him. After the divorce, Hardy spent time in mental hospitals, diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He was also treated in psychiatric hospitals across London for depression, drug-induced psychosis and alcohol abuse. He lived in various hostels in London, picking up convictions for theft and being drunk and disorderly. He was arrested in 1998 when a prostitute accused him of raping her, but the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence . He became an alcoholic and diabetic. Murders. In January 2002, police were called to the block of flats where Hardy lived by a neighbour complaining that someone had vandalised her front door and that she strongly suspected Hardy. When the police investigated Hardy's flat, they found a locked door and, despite his claims to the contrary, found that Hardy had a key to it. In the room the police found the naked dead body of a woman lying on a bed with cuts and bruises to her head. She was identified as Sally White, 38, a prostitute who had  been living in London. Forensic pathologist Freddy Patel subsequently concluded that White had died of a heart attack, in spite of the circumstances. Patel later came under scrutiny for this and other findings in his career, including the 2009 death of Ian Tomlinson, resulting in a suspension from the government's register of pathologists pending an inquiry. In 2012, his name was erased from the medical register by the General Medical Council, meaning that he can no longer practice medicine in the United Kingdom. Hardy pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal damage and claimed he had no knowledge of  how White came to be in his flat due to his drinking problem. Whilst in custody Hardy was transferred to a psychiatric hospital, under section 37 of the Mental Health Act 1983, remaining there until November 2002. Arrest and trial. On 30 December 2002, a homeless person scavenging in rubbish bins found the dismembered body parts of two women, wrapped in black plastic bin-liners. The victims were identified as Bridgette MacClennan, 34, and Elizabeth Valad, 29. The investigation led to Hardy, who was arrested a week later. He had gone on the run, but was spotted by an off -duty policeman when he went to University College Hospital to collect his prescription for insulin. During a search of the grounds of the hospital, Hardy was found hiding behind bins. A fight took place as he resisted arrest, during the course of which a police officer was knocked unconscious and another officer was stabbed through the hand and had his eye dislocated from its socket. Despite suffering these injuries, the wounded police officer held Hardy until backup arrived and he was arrested at the scene. A subsequent search of his flat found evidence, including old blood stains, indicating the two  women had been killed and dismembered there. Both had died over the Christmas holidays. Under arrest, Hardy simply replied "no comment" to every question put to him by police. He was eventually charged with the murders of both MacClennan and Valad, and of White, the woman whose death had originally been put down to natural causes. At his trial in November 2003 Hardy, despite his initial lack of cooperation with the police, abruptly changed his plea to guilty to all three counts of murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Because of Hardy's history of psychiatric problems and violent  behaviour, an independent enquiry was announced into his care. Hardy was diagnosed with a personality disorder. In May 2010, a High Court judge decided that Hardy should never be released from prison, placing him on the list of whole life tariff prisoners. Mr Justice Keith, sitting in London, said: "This is one of those exceptionally rare cases in which life should mean life." Death. Hardy died of sepsis in prison on 26 November 2020, aged 69. Possible links to other murders. It was originally reported that police believed Hardy was possibly connected to the unsolved cases of two prostitutes found  dismembered and dumped in the River Thames, and up to five or six other murders that bore marked similarities to the ones for which he was convicted, but where not enough evidence was available directly implicating him. However, one of the murders Hardy was originally linked to, that of London prostitute Paula Fields whose body was dumped in the Thames in 2001, was in fact solved in 2011 when murderer John Sweeney was convicted of her murder. The other Thames prostitute murder that was linked to Hardy was that of Zoe Parker, who had last been seen in Hounslow in  December 2000 before her dismembered body was found in the river. Two of the murders linked to Hardy occurred in Nottinghamshire, near to where Hardy grew up in Burton-on-Trent. In 2013, high-profile criminologist David Wilson released a documentary on Hardy as part of his "" series, in which he examined claims Hardy could be linked to the murders of London prostitutes Sharon Hoare in Fulham in 1991 and Christine McGovern in Walthamstow in 1995. In popular culture. Hardy was the subject of an episode of "Evil Up Close" on the Crime and Investigation Network, focusing on the 2010  decision to keep Hardy in prison for the rest of his life. The film was directed by Robert Murray and written and produced by Will Hanrahan. After Hardy was imprisoned, British rap artist Plan B released a song about Hardy, dubbing him the 'Camden Ripper'. Hardy is also mentioned, and his flat pointed out, in the music video "Guided tour of Camden" by Charlie Sloth. Hardy was the subject of a Channel 4 documentary, "The Hunt for the Camden Ripper", broadcast in 2004. It was narrated by Juliet Stevenson and directed by Olly Lambert.