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Camden Ripper jailed for life
Last updated at 00:00am on 25.11.03
Murdered: Elizabeth Valad
The man called the Camden Ripper today dramatically pleaded guilty to murdering three prostitutes.
In a surprise development at the beginning of his Old Bailey trial he admitted murdering Sally White, 31, Elizabeth Valad, 29, and Bridgette MacClennan, 34, last year.
Only weeks before the killings he was released from a psychiatric hospital without supervision after doctors said he posed a low risk to the public.
As Hardy waited for sentencing, police and health professionals were facing serious questions about the way the shocking case was handled.
It can be revealed that Hardy, of Royal College Street, Camden, strangled two of the women.
At Hardy's home police found scores of photographs he had taken of Ms Valad and Ms MacClennan's bodies in different poses on his bed, having covered their faces to stop them being identified.
In one photograph Ms Valad's head was covered with a devil's mask. In another Ms MacClennan was wearing a baseball cap, the same cap that Hardy was wearing when he was arrested.
Hardy sent his film to a friend to be developed and then went on the run. The friend handed the photographs to police. Hardy's first victim, Sally White, was killed in January last year.
Despite her body being found in a cupboard at Hardy's home, he was never charged with killing her because a post mortem found she had died of a heart attack.
Hardy, who spent long periods in mental hospitals, denied having anything to do with Ms White's death but, following the discovery of the remains of the two other women, detectives were convinced he had killed her as well.
In court today Hardy's counsel, Malcolm Swift QC, told the judge after his client's guilty plea: "We would like to prepare carefully any remarks that we make before sentencing."
Reader views (21)
whoa this bloke is just as messed up as the plan b song i knew it was based on true story but this is a bit extreme
- James Duley, Redhill, United Kingdom
lol if it wernt for plan b then no one would be reading this.
YEah awesome song brutal as hell like most of his tunes eg tough love and the fact that its based on truth is unreal as well.
- Charles, stafford
He is actually wrong, i dont know how he cant find any remorse for his victims, and he actually admitted to murdering them, guilty much!?
I heard Plan B's song Suzanne, and when people were talking about how its a true story, i felt sick, he is twisted, and wrong.
He's going to rot in hell, and he'll get everything he deserves!
- Leanne Handy, Wiltshire UK
err its messed up i fort the song by plan b was just a lyrical but then i was thinking soo i looked it up and my belly turned it makes me sik knowing career ect. could of stopped this after finding someone dead in his house if he was mental it would of been quite ioveas he killed her she wudnt jus shockingly die .
he should be chopped up and dump in the canal sickoo maan i swear down
erghhh i cant get ovaaa it nasty maan
- Rhia, gloucester
I dont even think sick can describe it!
For someone to think like this and then just carry on as normal is WRONG
Police, Carers, whatever, need to think about dangers people are these days, look harder for the right people
Things wont get better!
They aint no way to describe this man, he is NOTHING! ROT IN HELL!
- Chloe, Grays, Essex
watt a nutterrrr maaahn jheeze should of stayed in his mad housee
Erghhh iymm scaredd :L
- Jazminee Ashleigh., London
what a sickoo!!
had to look it up after listening to plan b tbh
well my mate found it but still
what a nut job!
- Jayy Longstaff, Bath
utter sick :/
sick sick sick SICK!
and yeah the plan B song suzanne utter scares the life outtah me
all my friend fault weve stayed up all night now becuase we were scared of the story HA!
- Chloe-Anne, england
what a freak, but the weird thing is ther is people like him everywher. this is nothing compared to some cases i have studied, find out about that freak who hosted cannibal cafe online. that man shud be shot on sight.he made a website called canibal cafe and asked for volunters to contat him if they would like to be eaten, and the sick thing is he got over 600 replies in euroup alone. sick ****s but highly intresting, the sycology of the twisted insaine.
- Charlie Stevens, exeter england
i got tha song on my phone (suesan)it is sick how can some 1 do **** like tha he must be sick in the head or sumthingg ur a demete sick *******d
- Lauren & Chantelle, wales /newport
yeah i heard the song buy plan b
very graphic
says he decapitated the women with chain saws and dumped part of there bodies in Camden lake
then man is very sick and im pretty sure alot of people are happy he got life
- James Hunter, Stevenage
Really think people shud be more careful, I mean anything can happen. Yeah that man is messed up, dayamm
- Kyros, Poole, England
theres a song by Plan B - suzanne thats all about it. the songs good but explains how sick this guy was
- Matt Carter, stoke on trent, england
I heard the song by Plan-B and my mates said it was real but i didn't remember about this story it wasn't till today when I remembered what happened..
- Keira, London England
That Guys Mess Up In The Head Boyo! Watta Sick Old Pervert !! x
- Corey Thomas, Cardiff, Wales
I Find It Really sickin i heard the song by Plan B and didnt think it was true then i saw on the news about a another man who done the same then i looked up this guy..
this mail is sick
- Lauren, Watford England
this guy is messed up but the song by plan b is cool i like it but the chainsaw part makes me cringe
- Connor Costello, warrington england
this is a sick and twisted guy yeah they were prostitutes but to take the girls back to your house stab them and after making sure there alive and chopping there heads off with a chainsaw bagging them and then choppin up the rest of there bodies and dumping them in a conal is just sick i hope he lives with this for the rest of his life he is a sick and disgusting man who deserved a three times over life sentence lets hope he rots away in prison and then in hell
- Korey Barnett, watford
Plan B did a song about him, well, a song based on one of the prostitutes, it's called Suzanne.
Pretty gruseome track but it's good you should check it out.
- Jay, Manchester, England
Plan B wrote a song about this guy and he is 100% twisted.
Some of the things they wrote about, he chopped up one of the girls with a chain saw!
Sick guy.
- Laura Greenwood, Notts, UK
He should be ripped up.
- Jess, Chi Uk
