Kenneth Erskine

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Kenneth Erskine (born 1962) is an English serial killer who became known as the Stockwell Strangler.

During 1986, Erskine murdered as many as 11 elderly men and women, breaking into their homes and strangling them; most often they were sexually assaulted. The crimes took place in the Stockwell area of London.

A homeless drifter and solvent abuser, Erskine was 24 years old when he committed the crimes, but had the mental age of a 12-year-old. He was convicted of seven murders, although police believe that he was responsible for four other murders with which he was never charged.

Erskine was jailed for a minimum term of 40 years, but has since been found to be suffering from mental disorder within the meaning of the Mental Health Act 1983, and is therefore now held at the maximum security Broadmoor Hospital. He is unlikely to be freed until at least 2028 and the age of 66. Almost 20 years on, the trial judge's recommendation is still one of the heaviest ever handed out in British legal history.

In February 1996 Erskine was again in the news, this time for preventing the possible murder of Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper", by raising the alarm as a fellow inmate, Paul Wilson, attempted to strangle Sutcliffe with the flex from a pair of stereo headphones [1].