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Britain's Most Evil Killers S02E06 John Duffy and David Mulcahy
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00:00In February 1988, 29-year-old carpenter John Duffy
00:05was on trial for rape and the murder of three women.
00:09He was one half of a terrifying duo
00:11who'd become infamous across London.
00:14The newspapers had dubbed them the railway killers.
00:19As one victim later said,
00:20they were like two bodies with one brain.
00:22They knew exactly what the other one was going to do.
00:24Their bond was unique and wicked.
00:26After receiving six life sentences,
00:30Duffy still refused to give up the name of his accomplice,
00:33a 29-year-old father of four named David Mulcahy.
00:37I think Mulcahy is somebody who returns to a normal life
00:41and has absolutely no problem in doing that.
00:44He doesn't feel bad about what he's done,
00:47and it's very much about self-preservation for him.
00:51But over a decade later, Mulcahy was still free,
00:55and Duffy had had enough.
00:57He finally confessed to all his crimes,
00:59and told investigators he would testify
01:02against his former friend.
01:04It was almost as if he considered this was an act of betrayal
01:07of what was a unique and wicked bond for decades.
01:11These were so poles apart now across the courtroom.
01:15John Duffy and David Mulcahy had made their mark
01:19as two of Britain's most evil killers.
01:21Two rapists struck fear into the hearts of women across London.
01:38When John Duffy was arrested in November 1986,
01:51it brought an end to an horrific four-year crime spree
01:55across the British capital.
01:57But it would be another 15 years before Duffy's accomplice,
02:01David Mulcahy, was found guilty for his part in the heinous crimes.
02:06Between them, the deadly duo were responsible for over 20 rapes
02:11and three murders.
02:13It was Duffy's testimony at Mulcahy's trial in the year 2000
02:17that helped to incarcerate his one-time friend.
02:22As the judge delivered the sentence,
02:24Mulcahy gave no reaction, staring straight ahead.
02:26The judge told him these were sadistic killings,
02:29and of the two of you, I have no doubt
02:31it was you who derived gratification from the act of killing.
02:36One of the lead detectives charged with catching
02:39the so-called railway killers was Charlie Farqua.
02:43His son, Simon, remembers the case well.
02:46These women had their lives disfigured by these two men.
02:49Three women lost their lives to these two men.
02:52Nothing can ever atone for that,
02:53and it's a pretty grim thing to emerge yourself in
02:56for a period of time.
02:58Over 30 years after the murders,
03:01Simon has penned a book about the hunt and capture
03:04of Duffy and Mulcahy.
03:06Once I started to really delve into it
03:08and really investigate it,
03:10I realized I was completely unprepared
03:12for just how horrific a case like this actually is.
03:17Unlike police officers who have all kinds of defenses
03:19built up over years and years
03:21to deal with these sort of things,
03:22I did wander into this as a bit of an innocence,
03:24and it does still really haunt me.
03:27The story of these two killers
03:29begins half a century ago.
03:32John Duffy was born in 1958
03:35and David Mulcahy in 1959
03:38on separate sides of the Irish Sea.
03:42Well, both Duffy and Mulcahy are from Catholic families,
03:45Irish Catholic families.
03:47Duffy was actually born in the Republic of Ireland
03:50and came over to England with his family
03:52when his father was looking for work.
03:55Mulcahy was born in England,
03:56and he was the son of a man
03:59who went on to become a pub landlord.
04:00In 1970, the two 11-year-old boys
04:04struck up a friendship
04:06while attending Haverstock School in North London.
04:10I think that Duffy and Mulcahy came together
04:12for a variety of different reasons.
04:14They were both from Irish families,
04:16and the Irish community were still suffering
04:18quite a lot of discrimination at this point in time
04:21in British society.
04:23Also, there was a sense in which they could be a partnership
04:27because Duffy, he was quite short, he had red hair,
04:31he was bullied at school.
04:32But Mulcahy was bigger, he was broader,
04:35and he could be his protector, essentially.
04:37So it was quite a brotherhood, really,
04:40rather than any kind of casual friendship,
04:42and it was them against the rest of the world.
04:45By the age of 13,
04:47both boys were already displaying signs of disturbing behavior.
04:51Well, Mulcahy was suspended from school
04:54after he and Duffy were found essentially playing a version
04:56of cricket, but using a live hedgehog.
04:59And they were found after they'd been engaging in this,
05:03and Duffy was covered in blood,
05:05and he was laughing at Mulcahy,
05:07who was also covered in blood.
05:09So this really is quite a warning signal.
05:12It's basically a complete lack of empathy
05:14for the feelings of this living creature
05:18that they were tormenting,
05:19and they're starting to experiment here.
05:21Their behavior is starting to escalate,
05:23and it really is quite a significant red flag.
05:26They became fascinated with each other's company.
05:30They would haunt Hampstead Heath wearing Halloween masks
05:34and jump out and frighten.
05:37Courting couples who used to meet on Hampstead Heath terrify them,
05:40and they took enormous pleasure from him.
05:42So these two,
05:44they're really having the time of their lives doing this.
05:46They're really enjoying having that power over others,
05:49but I think to come across them
05:50out there in the park in the dark
05:52would have been really, really frightening.
05:54As the two teenagers became young men,
05:58Duffy and Mulcahy's scare tactics
06:00took a criminal turn.
06:02So in their case,
06:03you started with the pranks.
06:05It moved on to burglary and car theft.
06:09They stole the cars,
06:10and they didn't steal the car
06:11because they wanted to sell the car.
06:12It wasn't for profit.
06:13They stole the car
06:14because they wanted to drive around,
06:15and they wanted to have fun.
06:16But then we see that escalate.
06:18We see that their physical violence angle
06:20kind of start to come out a little bit more.
06:23So we hear stories of them shooting at people
06:26in the street with an air pistol.
06:28The pair found work at Westminster City Council,
06:32Duffy as a carpenter,
06:34and Mulcahy as a plumber.
06:36On one job, Mulcahy had spotted a woman
06:39who he thought needed to be taught a lesson.
06:42He and Duffy went to her house after dark,
06:45intent on raping the woman.
06:48So Duffy and Mulcahy break into the house
06:52and lay in wait for the woman
06:55whose house Mulcahy's been decorating.
06:57But the woman, thankfully, doesn't come home that night.
07:02She's gone to a friend's.
07:03This infuriates both Duffy and Mulcahy.
07:07So you've got a plan developing here.
07:10They're starting to actually decide,
07:12well, this is what we're going to do.
07:14This isn't something that's opportunistic.
07:16This is something that's very much premeditated.
07:19Duffy and Mulcahy were undeterred.
07:21They tried the same plan again with a different woman,
07:24but escaped from her house
07:26when she returned home with a man.
07:28And they probably talked about,
07:30say, look, the thing about breaking into people's houses
07:31and waiting for them is no good
07:33because we don't know if they're going to come back.
07:36We don't know if they're going to come back to somebody else.
07:37So instead of that,
07:38how about we actually drive around,
07:42find someone, see someone on the street,
07:44and then we pounce on them
07:46on a dark alley or something like that.
07:48So I think the rush that they got
07:50from breaking into the house
07:52just motivated them to go and do the real thing.
07:57By 1980, both men were in their early 20s and married,
08:02but their lust for rape remained.
08:04Two years later, they were ready to strike.
08:07In October 1982, they found the first one.
08:1121-year-old girl coming back from a party
08:16carrying a teddy bear.
08:19They put a knife to her throat
08:20and forced her into a garden of an empty house.
08:25They said, I think it was Duffy who said,
08:27don't worry, we only want the teddy bear.
08:30Nothing could have been further from the truth.
08:32They stripped the girl, gagged her,
08:36blindfolded her and raped her.
08:38From then on, the attacks became incredibly prolific.
08:42At one point, there was three in one night.
08:45They would generally drive around together,
08:48listening to music to psych themselves up.
08:51They carried with them a kit of balaclavas or masks.
08:56McCaughey would put gaffer tape inside his jacket,
09:00which would then be used to gag the victims.
09:03He'd often blindfold them as well.
09:05Paul Cheston from the Evening Standard newspaper
09:08recalls the fear felt across the capital.
09:11That added to the sense of terror felt by Londoners
09:15that it was almost a military-style operation,
09:18and the planning that was going into it
09:20was much more than just spur-of-attack, moment attacks.
09:24McCaughey would always ask the victims
09:25their names and addresses as well,
09:27and would often steal items which had their address on,
09:29library cards, that sort of thing.
09:31The idea was that if these victims went to the police,
09:34we will find you, you know, and so on.
09:36They always made sure their victims were reduced
09:38to a state of abject terror.
09:40One such attack occurred in the summer of 1984.
09:45The attack on the two Danish au pairs took place in July 1984.
09:49That night, Duffy and McCaughey had been driving around
09:51for a long time, unable to find a victim,
09:53and finally they saw these two 18-year-old girls
09:56walking along Spaniards Road on the edge of Hampstead Heath.
09:58They'd been out in the West End
09:59and missed the last train home and were walking back.
10:02They decided to attack them both.
10:07Duffy had a replica gun, McCaughey had a knife.
10:10They were dragged off the road and onto the Heath
10:11and brutally, brutally assaulted.
10:14For three years, Duffy and McCaughey continued undetected.
10:21In late 1985, the police had connected 24 attacks on women
10:27in North London, and posters went up across London
10:30for the North London rapists.
10:32They knew they were looking for two men,
10:33a shorter man and a taller one.
10:34They didn't know a great deal about the taller man,
10:36but they knew that the shorter man was an A.C.R.E.
10:38to Blood group, had fair hair.
10:41Taller man they knew a lot less about.
10:43He had a darker complexion, he had a mole on his chin,
10:45he had mousy brown hair and was about 5 foot 11 tall
10:48and was much more violent than the shorter man.
10:50The majority of the attacks had taken place
10:53in the vicinity of train stations.
10:55The press had dubbed them the railway rapists.
10:59It was a very big story in London.
11:02There was a widespread concern,
11:04not just because rapists were loose,
11:07but because they were finding victims
11:09in and around railway stations.
11:11And London, as millions of Londoners
11:15travel on public transport,
11:17and it was a serious, serious concern for Londoners.
11:21But it was about to get worse.
11:24The two rapists, John Duffy and David Mulcahy,
11:28were about to go one step further.
11:30Their next victim would not just be raped,
11:33she would be murdered.
11:37By December 1985,
11:47two 27-year-old council workers
11:50named John Duffy and David Mulcahy
11:52had been sexually assaulting women
11:54in and around railway stations in London
11:57for over three years.
11:59Still undetected by the police,
12:02their confidence was growing.
12:03I think it was inevitable
12:05that this was only going to escalate further
12:08because we've got two men here
12:10who are really enjoying the sexual violence
12:12that they've been perpetrating.
12:14And often when you look at offenders
12:15who are engaged in this kind of behavior,
12:18they're not going to just stop at a particular level.
12:20They want to keep upping the ante.
12:22So I think murder was unfortunately inevitable here.
12:25On December the 29th, 1985,
12:29Alison Day caught a train to Hackney Wick Station
12:32to meet her fiancé.
12:34Alison Day was a 19-year-old secretary
12:37who lived in Upminster with her parents.
12:40She'd been adopted as a baby
12:42and brought into a very, very loving household.
12:44She worked as a secretary in a local solicitor's office.
12:47She was enormously bubbly and popular,
12:49and she just got engaged.
12:50But Alison never completed her journey.
12:55At that time, obviously,
12:56it was a torture for her parents,
12:58not knowing if she'd just run away,
13:00although it seemed absolutely, you know,
13:02implausible that she had.
13:03What had actually happened was
13:04that she'd got the train to Hackney Wick,
13:07and Duffy and McCahey were waiting for her on the platform.
13:12They could quite easily have walked her out of the station,
13:14but instead they decided to walk her
13:15across the live rail tracks,
13:17down the railway siding,
13:18and then under the railway bridge.
13:21There, they both committed horrific attacks on her.
13:26And at this point, as far as Duffy was aware,
13:29the plan was to leave Alison on the far side of the bridge
13:31and then make their escape.
13:33But McCahey wanted to do something more than that,
13:36so he made her walk along the outside ledge of the bridge.
13:39She couldn't swim.
13:40It was also at one degree below freezing,
13:42and she fell into the River Lee,
13:45screaming out that she couldn't swim.
13:46Um, she waded to the edge and Duffy helped her out,
13:49and then she managed to, uh, to run.
13:52She ran for her life, and this enraged McCahey,
13:55and McCahey yelled out,
13:57get the bitch, John, get her.
13:59Duffy caught up with Alison,
14:01but McCahey's slip of the tongue had sealed her fate.
14:04He said to Duffy,
14:06we have to do this because she's seen us
14:09and she knows your name now.
14:12He cuts up the blouse she's wearing
14:15and uses it to strangle her.
14:19And he says to Duffy,
14:21you turn the tourniquet one more time
14:23just so that we're in it together.
14:26Alison was begging and pleading for her life,
14:28and her last words were,
14:30please, it's only the moustache I've seen.
14:31I won't tell anyone.
14:33Do not hurt me.
14:34Um, just unbelievable.
14:38She was strangled, rolled into the river,
14:41and then they both drove back.
14:43Uh, Duffy was panicking.
14:45McCahey said,
14:45we would have been done for attempted murder anyway.
14:47It's got to be, that's just the way it is.
14:50He dropped Duffy off.
14:51McCahey picked his children up,
14:53went back home,
14:54and Alison Day was dead.
14:55The 19-year-old's body
14:59was found three weeks later,
15:01face down in a canal.
15:03The railway rapists
15:04had become the railway killers.
15:07Duffy and McCahey
15:09had strangled Alison to death
15:11using a tourniquet.
15:13I think when we're looking
15:14at the murder of Alison Day
15:16and we hear about them twisting
15:17the tourniquet together,
15:19basically what they're doing here
15:21is saying, we're in this together.
15:23We've both done this.
15:24You can't blame it on me.
15:26I can't blame it on you.
15:27So there is that, that pact,
15:29going back to their school days
15:31when they said they're not going
15:32to grasp on each other.
15:33That really is the,
15:34the kind of cementing of that.
15:37Less than six months later,
15:40Duffy and McCahey struck again.
15:43This time, their victim
15:44was even younger.
15:46Marti Tambosa was a Dutch schoolgirl.
15:48She'd just celebrated her 15th birthday.
15:51On Thursday the 17th of April,
15:53about four o'clock in the afternoon,
15:55after coming home from school,
15:57she had something to eat,
15:58had a drink,
15:59and then got on her bike
16:01to cycle into the village
16:02to buy some sweets from the shop.
16:04Her mum said to her,
16:05as she always did,
16:06don't take the railway path
16:08because it's very quiet along there.
16:10Take the long way round.
16:11Marti, being a teenage girl,
16:14thought it'll be all right.
16:14And she took the railway path
16:16and Duffy and McCahey
16:17were waiting at the end of it for her.
16:21Marti was raped by both men
16:23in the woods near Horsley Station.
16:26McCahey used a rock
16:28to knock the 15-year-old schoolgirl unconscious
16:30and then made the decision
16:33that she had to die.
16:35He then instructs Duffy
16:37that he has to kill her.
16:39After all, I killed the first one.
16:41You've got to kill the second one.
16:42They take her belt,
16:44put it round her neck,
16:44and they stick a stick
16:47through the belt
16:48to tighten the pressure on her neck.
16:51And they do indeed
16:52kill the poor 15-year-old.
16:54Innocent,
16:54had done nothing more
16:55than ride her bicycle,
16:56and she'd done nothing
16:57to these two men.
16:58It was an absolutely abhorrent,
17:00depraved, disgraceful cry.
17:03Once Duffy had killed Marti Tambosa,
17:06McCahey ran up to him
17:07and said,
17:08well done, you've done good.
17:10And almost like he was
17:11the captain of a football team,
17:12congratulating a new player.
17:16He then told Duffy
17:17to go back to the station
17:18and said he would see him there.
17:20He said he wanted
17:20to go back to the body
17:21to make sure
17:23there were no fingerprints
17:23left on the rock.
17:24He actually went back
17:25to make sure
17:26that she was dead
17:27and to make
17:29a pretty vile attempt
17:31to destroy any forensic evidence
17:32there was
17:32by setting fire to her.
17:35Marcher's body
17:35was found in the woods
17:37the following day.
17:39The sight that greeted
17:40those police officers
17:41was absolutely horrific.
17:42She'd been savagely raped,
17:44submitted to brutal head injuries,
17:46strangled,
17:47and the body
17:48had been set on fire
17:49in a clear attempt
17:50to destroy forensic evidence.
17:52She was lying
17:53beside some bluebells,
17:56and the police
17:57christened the inquiry
17:58Operation Bluebell
17:59in tribute to her.
18:00Metropolitan Police Detective
18:03Charlie Farquhar,
18:04who was investigating
18:06the murder of Alison Day,
18:08contacted his colleagues
18:09in Surrey Police.
18:11He believed the two murders
18:12were connected.
18:14And when he told
18:15Surrey on the phone,
18:17Surrey realized
18:18that the piece of wood
18:20that was lying
18:20next to Marty's body
18:22wasn't in fact
18:23just a piece of wood
18:24on the ground.
18:24It had actually fallen
18:25out of the knot
18:25in the rope
18:26and obviously was
18:27the same murder method.
18:28And at that point,
18:30this became
18:30a joint murder inquiry.
18:32Shortly afterwards,
18:33the connection was made
18:33with the London rapes.
18:35And this went from being
18:36a small inquiry
18:37being run from a porter cabin
18:39to the biggest criminal manhunt
18:41since the search
18:41for the Yorkshire Ripper.
18:43Duffy and Mulcahy
18:45didn't wait long
18:46to claim their third victim.
18:48On May the 18th, 1986,
18:51recently married Anne Locke
18:52boarded a train
18:54for Brookmans Park Station
18:55in Hertfordshire.
18:56But she never made it home.
18:59Anne Locke was 29 years old.
19:01She was a bright, attractive girl
19:04with a huge amount of talent
19:07and a future in broadcasting.
19:10She was a secretary
19:11at London Weekend Television.
19:12And she was in love.
19:14She'd been married
19:15just four weeks earlier,
19:17had returned from a dream honeymoon
19:19in the Seychelles
19:20where she'd gone scuba diving.
19:21She still had a suntan
19:22from that lovely holiday
19:24and she disappeared.
19:26Paul Dockley from Hertfordshire Police
19:29led the inquiry
19:30into Anne's disappearance.
19:32The weirdest thing was
19:34that the initial officers
19:36attending this missing person inquiry
19:38discovered that her bike
19:41was missing
19:42and in fact we found it
19:44behind the shed
19:45and leaned up against a tree
19:46which was unusual
19:48to say the least.
19:50And so we started searching.
19:52We started searching
19:53around the railway station.
19:55We also did a trawl
19:57of people that may have been
19:58on the train
19:59coming out of London
20:00on that particular night.
20:02It was the latest twist
20:04in a story
20:04that had captivated
20:06the British public.
20:08The disappearance of Anne Locke
20:08was a media sensation
20:09that summer,
20:10the Missing Bride story
20:11as it was called.
20:12And the headlines
20:14about Missing Bride
20:15escalated.
20:17The speculation
20:18became more frenzied
20:19about what could have
20:20happened to her.
20:21They were already
20:21piecing her disappearance
20:24to the two previous murders
20:26and there was a tangible air
20:28of what are the police doing?
20:30They cannot even find a body
20:31let alone find
20:33the people responsible.
20:35But the police
20:36had little to go on.
20:38They could not even be sure
20:39that Anne had reached
20:41Brookmans Park Station.
20:43The first time
20:44that the police
20:44genuinely realized
20:45that Anne was probably dead
20:47was when Inspector Paul Dockley
20:50was searching the area.
20:52And even though
20:52the search was massive,
20:53the search was generally
20:54at ground level.
20:55And being a good detective,
20:58he looked up
20:59and up in the trees
21:00cradled in the branches
21:01was Anne's diary.
21:03I didn't know
21:04it was Anne's diary immediately
21:05but I saw it in the tree
21:06so we recovered that.
21:08And within the next day
21:09we reasserted
21:10our search in the area
21:11and recovered her purse,
21:13her LWT pass
21:16and her address book.
21:18So at that point,
21:20which was probably
21:21four weeks
21:22into the inquiry,
21:23we knew
21:24at that point
21:25that Anne
21:26had returned
21:27to Brookmans Park.
21:29And just a week later,
21:31the police found out
21:32the devastating truth
21:33of what had happened
21:35to 29-year-old Anne.
21:38Eventually,
21:38after nine weeks,
21:39the search was called off.
21:41The police had gone
21:41to the edge
21:42of the Hertfordshire boundary
21:43and still couldn't find anything.
21:45And then a few days later,
21:47some railway workers
21:48found her body
21:49just into the Metropolitan Police District,
21:51dreadfully decomposed.
21:52Following the discovery
21:54of Anne Locke's body,
21:56we actually developed
21:58a joint investigation
21:59with Hertfordshire,
22:03the Met,
22:04Surrey
22:05and British Transport Police.
22:07Investigating a murder
22:08is almost like
22:10starting a jigsaw puzzle
22:12with a piece of blue sky
22:14because you do not know
22:17the pattern
22:18of how things
22:19have occurred.
22:21You're faced
22:21with a scene,
22:23but it doesn't actually
22:24tell you necessarily
22:26who the offender is.
22:27So you're working
22:28through that jigsaw
22:29of trying to put together
22:31all the elements
22:32in order to prove a case.
22:34And it's hard
22:35as a detective
22:36to detach yourself
22:37from what you actually see.
22:39You're dealing with this
22:40on a regular basis.
22:41And, um,
22:43but I don't think
22:44I've ever come across
22:46a case like this.
22:47As one victim later said,
22:49they were like two bodies
22:50with one brain.
22:51They knew exactly
22:52what the other one
22:52was going to do.
22:53If they split up
22:54and ran in different directions,
22:54they knew where they were
22:55going to meet up
22:56and so on.
22:57Their bond was unique
22:58and wicked.
23:00While police
23:00from three regions
23:02searched for them,
23:03Duffy and Mulcahy
23:04remained hidden
23:05in plain sight,
23:06married men
23:07with regular jobs.
23:09But the net
23:10was closing in
23:11on the pair.
23:12Working as a team
23:13and sharing evidence
23:14from all three murders
23:15and over 20 rapes,
23:17they were beginning
23:18to piece together
23:19the puzzle
23:20of the railway killers.
23:30In the summer
23:31of 1986,
23:33Hertfordshire, Surrey
23:34and London's
23:35Metropolitan Police
23:36forces were working
23:38together to try
23:39and capture
23:39the two men
23:40the papers were calling
23:42the railway killers.
23:43But the evidence
23:44they had
23:45was minimal.
23:47So this was the 1980s.
23:48Forensic science
23:49was still in its infancy
23:50compared to the advances
23:51that had been made since.
23:53Also,
23:54it wasn't just
23:55forensic science
23:56which was in quite
23:56a primitive state
23:57at the time.
23:58Also,
23:59police treatment
23:59of sexual crimes
24:01wasn't as sophisticated
24:03as understanding
24:03as it is now.
24:05The surviving victims
24:07had provided investigators
24:09with descriptions
24:10of their attackers.
24:12They knew
24:12that one of the rapists
24:13was tall and violent,
24:15the other short
24:16with piercing blue eyes.
24:19Forensic evidence
24:20suggested that the shorter
24:21man had the blood group A.
24:24We were literally
24:25going through
24:28a list of people
24:30that could be
24:31possible offenders
24:32called the Zedmen.
24:35And the Zedmen
24:36had been previously arrested
24:38and you've got to remember
24:39this is pre-DNA,
24:41so we're the precursor
24:42to DNA
24:42and we were looking
24:44at A secretors.
24:45So people who secreted
24:47in their blood
24:48or their saliva
24:50or semen
24:51an A secretor factor.
24:53The Zedmen
24:54had over 2,000 people
24:56in it.
24:56John Duffy
24:57was on it
24:58because of a serious
24:58assault on his wife
24:59the previous year.
25:01He was number
25:011,595 on that list
25:04and it was just
25:05a case of working
25:06through the list
25:06and interviewing
25:07every single one
25:07of those men.
25:08Eventually,
25:10number 1595 came up
25:11and it was time
25:12for him to be questioned.
25:14He sat down,
25:14was quite polite
25:15and cooperative
25:15but was behaved
25:17rather strangely.
25:18He was trying
25:18to be much too helpful
25:19and his answers
25:20were rather glib.
25:21The two police officers
25:22interviewing him
25:23had an uneasy feeling.
25:25They left the room
25:26and said to each other
25:27this could be him
25:28not least because
25:29of these piercing
25:30blue eyes he had
25:31which many of the
25:32great victims
25:32had commented on
25:33the shorter man
25:34having very piercing
25:35blue eyes.
25:36Despite their suspicions,
25:38Duffy was released
25:39but before long
25:40he was back.
25:42The two investigators
25:43rang me and said
25:44Governor,
25:45you won't believe this.
25:47He said
25:47last night
25:48John Duffy
25:49presented himself
25:50at West Hampstead
25:52Police Station.
25:54He'd been slashed
25:55across the chest
25:56with a blade
25:57and he was saying
25:59that he had amnesia.
26:01They took him
26:02to his home address.
26:03He didn't recognize
26:04his mom,
26:05his dad,
26:05his dog,
26:06nothing.
26:07And he was taken
26:08to Freeham Barnet
26:09Hospital
26:09where he was sectioned.
26:11The investigation
26:12had taken
26:13a bizarre twist.
26:14Duffy was still
26:15a suspect
26:16but the police
26:17were not permitted
26:18to talk to him
26:19while he was sectioned.
26:21So Duffy was
26:23at Freeham Barnet
26:23Hospital
26:24and we weren't
26:24allowed to interview him
26:26for at least
26:28eight weeks.
26:31And unbeknown to us
26:32we thought he was
26:33in a secure unit
26:34at Freeham Barnet
26:35Hospital.
26:36In actual fact
26:37he was allowed
26:38to come and go.
26:40Duffy had been
26:40attacking on his own
26:41since mid-1984
26:42and unlike
26:43Mokahi
26:44didn't possess
26:45the same level
26:46of self-control
26:46he was becoming
26:48wildly unstable
26:49and he also took
26:50a lot more risks
26:52when he was carrying
26:53out these attacks
26:53and was much
26:54more careless.
26:56And unfortunately
26:57he went out
26:58to a railway line
27:01and raped
27:01a young girl
27:02whilst he was
27:03in the care of
27:04Freeham Barnet
27:04Hospital.
27:05The last attack
27:06he committed
27:07when he knew
27:07the police were
27:08closing in on him
27:09was on a 14-year-old
27:10schoolgirl in Watford
27:11and during that attack
27:12her blindfold slipped
27:13and she saw him
27:14very clearly.
27:16When Duffy
27:17was arrested
27:18that girl
27:19walked into
27:20the ID parade
27:20and walked
27:22straight up
27:22and pointed him
27:23out
27:23and at that point
27:25that was the end
27:26for John Duffy.
27:28He said nothing.
27:30He said no comment
27:31to everything.
27:32He didn't deny anything
27:33he just said no comment.
27:35He would talk to me
27:36about martial arts
27:37as long as the day.
27:39He was quite happy
27:40to talk about that.
27:42Anything to do
27:43with rape,
27:44missing girls,
27:45murders,
27:46not interested.
27:47And of course
27:48his answer was
27:49I've been in hospital.
27:50I've had amnesia.
27:52I don't remember anything.
27:54I don't remember anything
27:55before I go
27:56into hospital.
27:57Detectives knew
27:58they needed
27:59some solid evidence
28:00if they were going
28:01to charge Duffy
28:02with murder
28:02and the string
28:04that he and Mulcahy
28:05had used
28:05to tie up
28:06Marcia Tambosa
28:07seven months earlier
28:08was about
28:09to give them
28:10just that.
28:11They used
28:12a particular
28:13piece of string
28:14that was called
28:15some yarn
28:16and a lot of us
28:18will think
28:19string is string
28:19is string
28:20but when you get
28:21down to the forensic
28:22detail,
28:23how it's made,
28:24what it's made of,
28:25all of these things
28:25can be very different
28:26and if you happen
28:28to use
28:29a very unusual
28:30piece of string,
28:32it's going to help
28:33identify
28:33where that's come from.
28:35and the company
28:37said this is
28:37a very unusual
28:38piece of string
28:39because it's been
28:40taken from
28:41the end of the yarn
28:42so basically
28:44it's on a loom
28:44and it's cut
28:45and this is
28:46an end piece
28:47and they said to us
28:49if you can find
28:49the ball of string
28:50we could do a match.
28:53So the search team
28:56who went to
28:56Duffy's parents' address
28:57searched the outside
28:59toilet
29:00and in a bucket
29:01in there
29:01was a ball
29:03of Somyon.
29:04It was enough
29:05to finally put
29:06an end
29:07to the murderer's
29:08career
29:08of one of
29:09the railway killers.
29:11Gradually
29:12the evidence
29:12is building up
29:13against Duffy
29:14and he was charged
29:15with the murder
29:16of Anne Locke
29:17in addition
29:18to the murder
29:19of Alison Day,
29:20Marty Tambosa
29:21and a number
29:23of rapes.
29:24Investigators
29:25were certain
29:26that Duffy's
29:26accomplice
29:27was his oldest
29:28friend,
29:29David Mulcahy.
29:30He was actually
29:31arrested four times
29:32over the next few months.
29:34Every time the police
29:35got another break
29:36they brought him in again
29:37but eventually realised
29:38there just wasn't
29:39enough evidence.
29:39There was no forensic
29:40evidence to connect him
29:41with the crimes at all.
29:42When they searched
29:43his vehicles
29:43they found in the cab
29:44of his van
29:45masking tape,
29:47balaclavas,
29:47all sorts of things
29:48that incriminated him
29:49but none of it
29:49was enough.
29:50But his name
29:51was known to the press
29:52and a lot of people,
29:54a lot of press men
29:56went to see him
29:57just to gauge
29:59what sort of reaction
30:00he would give.
30:01Of course there was
30:01no reaction
30:02he would say,
30:02no comment
30:03and he got increasingly
30:04angry about what
30:05he called
30:05was harassment
30:06but the press
30:07knew that there
30:08were two people
30:09involved in the
30:10railway rapist
30:11cases
30:11and Duffy's friend
30:13was the prime suspect.
30:15John Duffy
30:16would go to trial
30:17alone
30:17and there was
30:18more bad news
30:19for investigators.
30:21The judge
30:22instructed the jury
30:23to dismiss
30:24the murder charge
30:25of Anne Locke
30:26due to a lack
30:27of evidence.
30:28This caused
30:29a lot of anguish
30:30with Anne Locke's
30:31family
30:32and a lot of surprise
30:33amongst the press
30:35but the problem
30:37was that with
30:38in the Locke case
30:39there was no surviving
30:40victim to give
30:41any evidence.
30:42There were no
30:43witnesses
30:43to the attack.
30:45The fact that
30:45the body had been
30:46laid unfound
30:47for two months
30:48meant there was
30:49no DNA evidence.
30:51In February
30:521988
30:53John Duffy's trial
30:55began at the
30:56Old Bailey
30:56in London.
30:58John Duffy
30:58walked into
30:59the witness box
31:00at the Old Bailey
31:02and put up
31:03one of the
31:03worst defences
31:04ever heard
31:05by an Old Bailey
31:06jury
31:06to suggest
31:08that he was
31:10suffering from
31:10amnesia
31:11and could remember
31:12nothing about
31:13what happened
31:14during the period
31:15in which he is
31:16accused of
31:17murders and
31:18rapes
31:19was frankly
31:20an insult
31:21to the
31:21intelligence
31:22of anyone
31:23in court
31:23let alone
31:24the jury.
31:25His whole
31:26body language
31:27was of defiance.
31:28I am going
31:28to give you
31:29nothing.
31:29I am standing
31:30here sticking
31:31to my story
31:31and I don't
31:32care.
31:33And the
31:34piercing eyes
31:35that his
31:35victims spoke
31:36of, the
31:36wild staring
31:37blue eyes
31:38absolutely
31:39radiated out
31:40from the
31:40witness box
31:41across the
31:42court.
31:43Duffy
31:44was found
31:44guilty of
31:45two murders
31:46and five
31:46rapes.
31:47He was given
31:48six life
31:49sentences
31:49but despite
31:50everything,
31:51he refused
31:52to give up
31:53the name
31:53of his
31:53accomplice
31:54and best
31:55friend.
31:56Well, maybe
31:56the reason why
31:58Duffy kept
31:59quiet right
31:59at the beginning,
32:00they had
32:01the agreement
32:02that they had
32:03from a very
32:03young age
32:03and they never
32:04broke the agreement.
32:05We're never going
32:05to rat on each
32:06other.
32:06So when he went
32:07to prison,
32:07he probably
32:08decided,
32:09I'm going
32:09to stay true
32:10because I am,
32:11you know,
32:12a good friend
32:12or I'm the man
32:13I am,
32:13whatever,
32:14I'm true
32:14to my word.
32:15As Duffy's
32:16sentence began,
32:18David Mulcahy
32:19remained a free man.
32:21The married
32:21father of four
32:22set up his own
32:23decorating business
32:24and life went
32:25on as normal.
32:27I think
32:28Mulcahy
32:28is somebody
32:29who returns
32:30to a normal
32:31life and has
32:32absolutely no
32:33problem in
32:33doing that
32:34and that's
32:35because he
32:35can switch,
32:37he can flip
32:38very easily
32:39because he
32:40doesn't feel
32:40empathy for his
32:41victims,
32:41doesn't feel
32:42bad about
32:43what he's
32:44done and
32:44it's very
32:45much about
32:45self-preservation
32:47for him.
32:48Everybody knew
32:49that David
32:49Mulcahy
32:50was the
32:50second man
32:51but he
32:52honestly thought
32:53that he got
32:54away with it
32:55and for the
32:56next 10
32:57years,
32:57he pretty
32:58much had.
33:00But as
33:00Duffy's time
33:01in prison
33:02passed by,
33:03something inside
33:04of him clicked.
33:06After claiming
33:07to be suffering
33:07from amnesia,
33:09he suddenly
33:09got his
33:10memory back.
33:11By 1999,
33:13he was ready
33:13to talk
33:14and tell
33:15the police
33:15all about
33:16his accomplice,
33:18David Mulcahy.
33:29In 1999,
33:3011 years
33:31after his
33:32conviction,
33:33John Duffy
33:34was in prison
33:35serving six
33:36life sentences
33:37for his part
33:38in a series
33:38of rapes
33:39and murders
33:40in and around
33:41London
33:41between 1982
33:43and 1986.
33:45But Duffy's
33:46partner in crime,
33:47David Mulcahy,
33:49remained free
33:50and had returned
33:51to living a
33:52normal,
33:52crime-free life.
33:54Macauhy was the one
33:55who first suggested
33:56let's break into
33:56the girl's house.
33:57He was the one
33:58who first suggested
33:58let's go and
34:00find victims
34:00on the street.
34:01And he was the one
34:02who first suggested
34:02let's commit murder.
34:04But the one who was
34:04paying all the price
34:05was Duffy.
34:06So it's very,
34:06very easy for you
34:07to see that
34:08after 10 years,
34:10you know,
34:11the little fuse
34:12from Duffy
34:13got to one end.
34:14And he was like,
34:15forget it,
34:16I'm gonna come
34:16and clean.
34:17In 1997,
34:19Duffy,
34:20who had originally
34:20claimed to be
34:21suffering from amnesia
34:22about the crimes,
34:24had begun visiting
34:25a prison psychologist.
34:27So, basically,
34:28Duffy had been
34:29in prison for 10 years
34:30and thought,
34:32this is an opportunity
34:33to talk and talk
34:34and talk.
34:35And, basically,
34:37he told the psychologist
34:39about the offences
34:40that he had committed
34:40and the fact
34:42that he hadn't
34:42committed them alone.
34:44During their conversations,
34:46Duffy reveals
34:46that he committed
34:47his crimes
34:47with another person
34:48and she casually
34:50asked which prison
34:51his co-defendant
34:52is in
34:53and Duffy drops
34:54the bombshell.
34:55He's not in prison,
34:55he was never caught.
34:58She says,
34:59I have to tell
34:59the police about this,
35:01which Duffy agrees to.
35:02And so she tells
35:03the police,
35:03John Duffy's just
35:04named his accomplice.
35:05It's someone
35:06called David Mulcahy.
35:07It was a big breakthrough
35:09for detectives
35:10who'd been trying
35:11to bring Mulcahy
35:12to justice
35:12for over a decade.
35:14And a huge slice
35:15of fortune
35:16was about
35:17to initiate
35:17his downfall.
35:19There's an extraordinary
35:19coincidence here.
35:20At the same time
35:21that this was going on,
35:23a similar series
35:24of attacks
35:24was taking place
35:25on Hampstead Heath
35:25and police began
35:27to suspect
35:27that David Mulcahy
35:28may have become
35:29active again.
35:30They had a DNA profile
35:32for the attacker.
35:33Mulcahy was brought in,
35:34questioned,
35:36they took his DNA
35:37and it didn't match.
35:38And once again,
35:39he left the police station
35:41very cocky,
35:42very arrogant.
35:43But the police
35:44now had Mulcahy's DNA
35:46on file.
35:48They had to go back
35:4915 years
35:50to find a match.
35:52Amazingly,
35:53in deep storage
35:54was the clothing
35:56of the Danish au pairs
35:57raped on Hampstead Heath
35:58in 1984.
35:59And when the clothing
36:00was run through forensics,
36:03one sample of clothing
36:03had Duffy's DNA on it
36:05and the other
36:05had David Mulcahy's DNA.
36:07And suddenly,
36:07after all those years
36:08of thinking he got away
36:09with it,
36:10suddenly that case
36:11had come back
36:11to haunt him.
36:12On February the 6th,
36:141999,
36:15David Mulcahy
36:16was taken into custody.
36:19He would never be free
36:20again.
36:21As soon as I found out
36:22that the police
36:23had arrested
36:24and charged
36:25a new suspect
36:27in the railway rapist cases,
36:30I, like every other
36:31pressman who had been
36:32in any sort of involvement
36:33in the case,
36:34immediately knew
36:35that it had to be
36:36David Mulcahy.
36:38He thought they were
36:38just clashing at straws.
36:39He thought that this
36:39was just another attempt
36:41to arrest him
36:42which was going
36:43to fall through.
36:44When they sat down
36:45to question him,
36:46the first thing
36:47they asked him
36:47was about the night
36:48of the 15th of July,
36:491984.
36:50Um,
36:51in the company
36:52of John Duffy
36:53and he wasn't
36:54expecting this at all
36:55and then the police
36:57revealed that
36:58they'd found his DNA
36:59on an exhibit
37:00from that crime
37:01and the odds
37:02of it being another person
37:03other than him
37:04were one in one billion
37:05at which point,
37:08uh, a police officer
37:09told up the waste paper
37:10basket because
37:11he was violently sick
37:12and he realized
37:13that the game was up.
37:15Mulcahy's trial
37:16was set for October 2000
37:18and the prosecution
37:20had a surprise witness
37:21lined up.
37:23John Duffy
37:24was ready to testify
37:25against his former friend.
37:28He had admitted
37:29to detectives
37:30that the pair
37:30had killed
37:31all three women,
37:32including Anne Locke.
37:34Duffy couldn't be retried
37:35for the murder of Anne Locke
37:36because at that time
37:37there was still enforced
37:38something called
37:38the double jeopardy rule,
37:39which means you can't be tried
37:40for the same crime twice.
37:42It was a silly law
37:42which is now gone,
37:44um, but Duffy
37:44said himself at the time,
37:46if I could be tried again
37:47for this one,
37:47I would be.
37:48So there was never any point
37:49where he was trying
37:50to minimize his involvement.
37:52After it seemed like
37:53he was going
37:53to get away with murder,
37:55the gathered press
37:56were excited
37:57to finally see Mulcahy
37:59on trial.
38:00Paul Cheston
38:01was in the courtroom
38:02throughout.
38:04Mulcahy trial
38:04was unquestionably
38:05the trial of the year
38:06at the Old Bailey.
38:07Um, there was
38:08huge anticipation
38:09at reopening
38:10this historic case
38:11dating back
38:12almost 15 years
38:13and, as always,
38:16when the case opens
38:17and the defendant
38:18is brought in,
38:19everyone's eyes
38:20just immediately
38:21shifts straight
38:22to the dock.
38:23He looked more
38:24like a bank manager
38:25than a serial killer
38:26and he immediately
38:27set about, uh,
38:28giving an air
38:29of, uh, relaxed
38:30as if this was
38:32just a formality
38:33that would be
38:33thrown out of court
38:34straight away.
38:35On November the 6th,
38:372000,
38:38John Duffy
38:39entered the courtroom
38:40to give evidence
38:41against his former
38:42friend and accomplice.
38:44There was huge
38:45anticipation,
38:46a real
38:47frisson in court,
38:49uh,
38:49when John Duffy, uh,
38:50shuffled in
38:51through the judge's
38:52entrance,
38:53not through the main
38:53entrance because he
38:54was a Category A
38:55prisoner, the first
38:56Category A prisoner
38:57serving life murderer,
38:58uh, to give evidence
38:59for the crown
39:00at, uh, at the Old Bailey.
39:02And when he entered court,
39:04he shuffled.
39:06He had his head down.
39:07He would mumble.
39:08The piercing eyes
39:09were hooded.
39:10He didn't want to look up.
39:12The tension in the courtroom
39:14between the two killers
39:15was palpable.
39:17Duffy avoided eye contact
39:19with Mokahi.
39:20It was almost as if he
39:22considered this was an act
39:23of betrayal.
39:23He couldn't look in that
39:25direction.
39:25He didn't want to catch
39:26Mokahi's eye.
39:28Meanwhile, Mokahi, the doc,
39:29was acting as if he'd never
39:30met him, and this was some
39:31complete stranger.
39:32And he was, uh,
39:34scribbling notes and this
39:36and that, and, uh, uh,
39:38there seemed bizarre that what
39:40was a unique and wicked
39:42bond, uh, for decades.
39:44These were so poles apart
39:46now across the, uh,
39:47across the courtroom.
39:48True to his word,
39:50Duffy gave a detailed
39:51account of the duo's career
39:53of rape and murder.
39:55His accounts, particularly
39:56of Alison Day pleading for
39:58mercy with Mokahi claiming
40:00we're going to have to kill
40:01her because she's seen us.
40:04And Alison Day saying,
40:05I've only seen the mustache
40:07and don't do this to me.
40:09Uh, don't hurt me.
40:10I won't tell anybody.
40:12And Mokahi, in Duffy's words,
40:15twisting the tourniquet and
40:17throttling her to death,
40:19that for the first and only
40:20time, John Duffy showed a
40:22glimmer of remorse.
40:24His eyes welled up, his voice
40:26faltered, the judge called a
40:28halt, he was led away.
40:29The case was adjourned for
40:3010, 15 minutes.
40:34Duffy gave testimony across
40:36two weeks of the five-month
40:38murder trial.
40:39On February the 2nd, 2001, the
40:43jury had made a decision on the
40:45fate of David Mokahi.
40:48And when the jury foreman was
40:50asked to go through, uh, on each
40:52count on this long indictment and
40:55answered the first, uh, if you do
40:57find, uh, Mokahi guilty or not
40:59guilty, answered guilty, there was
41:01such an escape of emotion and, like,
41:04steam from a kettle of relief.
41:06And then it went through the
41:07indictment, guilty, guilty, guilty,
41:09guilty, guilty.
41:10And when it came to the verdict on
41:12Anne Locke, because this had been a
41:13case that Duffy had been found not
41:14guilty of because of the lack of
41:16evidence, this was finally the chance
41:18to really lay this to rest.
41:19And when a guilty came in on that as well, the
41:21atmosphere was extraordinary in that
41:23court.
41:24And there was a lot of victims, a lot
41:26of victims' families in court, an
41:29inevitable outbreak of relief, of tears.
41:32Um, Mokahi himself seemed entirely
41:35unmoved, it's almost as if he expected
41:36it.
41:37And it was an extraordinary scene, uh,
41:39at the Old Bailey, even by the Old Bailey
41:41standards.
41:42And David Mokahi had nothing else, no
41:44other way of hurting those victims
41:47anymore.
41:47So as he walked out of the dock, he
41:49looked over at two of the victims
41:50sitting in the public gallery and
41:51smirked at them.
41:52It was his last desperate act of, of
41:56revenge.
41:57And, and then that was it.
41:59And then he was promptly sentenced to a
42:01total of 258 years in prison.
42:04Um, so I think we can safely say he's
42:06never going to get out.
42:07Sentencing, Judge Michael Hyam told
42:09Mulcahy, these are all the
42:12acts of desolating wickedness.
42:14You descended to the depths of
42:16depravity.
42:17Finally, 15 years after the murder of
42:20Anne Locke, John Duffy and David
42:22Mulcahy were both behind bars.
42:2512 years were added to Duffy's
42:27sentence, while Mulcahy is still
42:29never confessed to any of the crimes.
42:31I think the fact that Mulcahy's always
42:33maintained his innocence really is
42:34testament to his narcissism.
42:36He is protecting the, the image of
42:38himself that he's putting out there to
42:40other people.
42:41He doesn't want others to believe that he is
42:43this individual who's carried out these
42:45heinous crimes.
42:46There's always been speculation that
42:49Duffy and Mulcahy were guilty of other
42:51rapes, some of which will not even have
42:53been reported.
42:54But thank goodness, at least finally, they
42:56were brought to justice.
42:57These were perhaps crimes that they may not have
43:01committed had they never met, but they come
43:03together and you create the perfect storm.
43:05For four years, John Duffy and David Mulcahy targeted
43:09vulnerable women in and around London.
43:12They callously raped over 20 and murdered three.
43:16One of them, a 15-year-old schoolgirl.
43:19Although initially detained in 1986, it wasn't until Duffy
43:24broke the bond that he and Mulcahy had shared since their
43:28childhood that their world of lies fell apart and justice
43:32was finally served upon the twisted pair known as the
43:36Railway Killers.
43:38One of them, a 15-year-old schoolgirl.
43:45For some reason, it was that the
43:55Luffy and Mulcahy, a 10-year-old schoolgirl.
44:01The Luffy and the Luffy
44:02are no longer a day.
44:03The Luffy and the Luffy
44:05are in a back.
44:05The Luffy and the Luffy
44:06are in a way.