Inside 'Crossbow Cannibal' flat where evil PhD student butchered sex workers

Irish Daily Mirror

6 hours ago

The stench was the first thing that struck the police officers as they stormed into Stephen Griffiths' compact Bradford flat - a blend of decay and burnt flesh.
It didn't take long to trace the nauseating smell back to the dismembered body of a woman, who Griffiths had been seen on CCTV dragging back to his den.
Suzanne Blamires, 36, had vanished from Bradford's red-light district just days before. She had been enticed home by Griffiths, who had made friends with some of the sex workers operating in the streets surrounding his flat.
Suzanne was captured on the same CCTV camera fleeing in terror from his foul-smelling flat, pursued by the murderer wielding a black crossbow.
After rendering her unconscious in the hallway, the beast dragged Suzanne back inside, then smirked at the camera and raised his middle finger in a derisive salute, reports the Mirror.
It wasn't until the building's caretaker casually reviewed the footage on the morning of Monday, May 24, 2010 - three days later - that he noticed the altercation.
It was witnessing Suzanne's final act of courage, her attempt to escape, that ultimately led to the capture of the self-proclaimed 'Crossbow Cannibal'.
Griffiths, a criminology PhD student who idolised Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, amassed an arsenal of weapons and books about murder, nurturing dreams of becoming a serial killer.
As a child, he would torment animals, ripping the wings off birds and smashing his own pet rat with a hammer.
His younger siblings were subjected to violence. Griffiths designed a system whereby he would award them 'points' for annoying him.
After accumulating a certain number of points, he would launch a vicious attack on them, ignoring their sobs of pain.
But even they could not have predicted the twisted crimes he went on to commit against at least three women.
Now, 15 years on from the Bradford murders, a new Prime Video documentary looks back at how the killer was able to get away with his crimes for so long - crimes which would have a lifelong impact on everyone involved.
After the shocked caretaker and his manager called 999 to report the chilling CCTV footage, Damien Sharp, a former firearms tactical advisor with West Yorkshire Police, was tasked with planning and executing the raid to arrest Stephen Griffiths.
His partner Adam Twigg was part of the ground team, poised to break down the killer's door and free the woman they hoped was still alive inside.
Both men are speaking publicly about what they witnessed for the first time.
"We had a collapsing time frame," says Damien. "We knew from the cameras that Suzanne hadn't left Griffiths' apartment over the weekend. The hope was that she was still alive."
Firearms officer Adam and his squad broke through Griffiths' door only to find him sitting up in bed.
"I gave him a gentle prod with the front of my gun to drive him to the floor," he remembers.
A loaded crossbow was found near the scene, along with an array of hunting knives and shells.
As officers subdued the murderer and handcuffed him, Adam knelt to inform him of his arrest.
"I told him, 'Stephen, I am arresting you on suspicion of murder.' And he just looked up at me and went, 'I'm Osama bin Laden.'".
Adam's team then began a thorough search of the flat for any signs of Suzanne.
The discoveries they made were chilling to the core.
"One of them opened the microwave and immediately shut the door again," Damien recalls, describing how he could hear his team's reactions over the radio.
"He said the flat was like something out of [horror film] Seven, blood smeared everywhere and crossbow bolts embedded in the walls. The smell was horrific - sweet and rotten. It was the smell of death."
Adam proceeded to check the bathroom, which the murderer had ominously referred to as 'The Slaughterhouse. '.
Blood was splattered across various surfaces, and a burnt quilt in the bathtub covered what remained of a rucksack.
Griffiths was attempting to destroy DNA evidence from Suzanne's dismembered body parts, which he had packed into the bag to dispose of in the nearby River Aire.
"There was a sizable portion of a brain in the microwave," Adam recounts. "And there was another portion of brain on a plate, on a coffee table in the front room, next to a pair of amputated breasts."
The police also seized Griffiths' laptop and digital camera, which contained a trove of disturbing images and videos.
In a horrifying case, Shelley Armitage aged 31, who had vanished a month earlier on April 26, 2010, was found deceased with 'My sex slave' etched into her flesh. She had been fatally shot with a crossbow by Griffiths, who then dismembered and partly consumed her.
Griffiths, tagged as a sadistic schizoid psychopath since 1991, after he slashed a shop clerk's face during a theft, is known to have ended the lives of at least three women.
Susan Rushworth, 43, fell victim to his hammer attack when she went missing on June 22, 2009. He chopped up her body, using machine tools, cooked, and ate parts of her remains; her remains have not been recovered.
After his conviction, the merciless killer taunted her grieving family by withholding details of his vile act. Shelley was his second casualty, Suzanne his third.
In a chilling moment of courtroom drama, Griffiths declared himself the 'Crossbow Cannibal' when questioned on his identity - a claim that Dr Nicola Davies, a behavioural scientist and psychological profiler, sees as a cover for his bruised ego.
Dr Davies states: "Griffiths had invested so much of his identity into becoming what he saw as the ultimate predator," adding "He had rehearsed his fantasies, studied serial killers at PhD level, and created a mythologised version of himself online. Being caught destroyed that performance and he found that intolerable.
"Griffiths wanted to be a serial killer and yet he only just achieved that definition - three murders - before the brave Suzanne Blamires ensured he was caught when she escaped his flat and his crime was recorded on CCTV.
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"For a man who saw himself as untouchable and the ultimate predator, this would have severely hurt his ego – as would the fact that he 'underperformed' in comparison to his serial killer idols."
After being found guilty in 2010, Griffiths received a rare whole-life order for the killing of Susan, Shelley, and Suzanne, thus ensuring he'll spend the rest of his days locked up, with no chance of release. The presiding judge labelled him "wicked and monstrous".
He has since been implicated in the deaths of three other women, but defiantly refuses to assist police in their ongoing inquiries.