Sadistic Killers: Profiles of Pathological Predators by Carol Anne Davis

Colin was a magnet for paedophiles. At age 11, he took a holiday job with a fairground and one of the older male employees lured him to a caravan and pulled down his trousers, but he left before the paedophile could take the situation further. At 12, he was using a public toilet when a man offered him money for sexual activity. Colin remained in the cubicle for some time, tempted at the thought of the money and vaguely curious, but when he left the cubicle the man had gone. Shortly after this he was offered sweets by a paedophile at the local cinema and a few weeks after that an older male acquaintance offered him money in return for sex. Ireland would later say that he rebuffed all four offers and was disgusted by them – but psychiatrists believe that he was sexually ambivalent, hardly surprising given the raging hormones of adolescence and his long-term loneliness. The bullying at school continued, making him feel increasingly sadistic and he fantasised about destroying the entire world.
    Animal abuse and arson
    By 13 he’d begun to catch and torture cats, eventually killing them. This gave him more pleasure than masturbating over lingerie catalogues and vanilla porn. He learned how to make a garrotte and would slowly strangle small animals to death.
    At 16 he stole a few pounds and made plans to run away but was caught and sent to a school for disturbed teens. There he was mocked by another boy because of his poverty and got his revenge by setting fire to the clothes he found in the teenager’s room. Luckily a social worker found the fire and put it out quickly before the building caught alight, but it was a clear 52
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    Colin Ireland
    arson attack and Ireland was asked to leave the school that day.
    He left with one ‘O’ Level, no future plans and a heart filled with hate.
    Early criminality
    Colin now fled to London and got another fairground job where he saw boys of his own age and younger being abused by paedophiles. To support himself, he took to burglary, was caught and sent to borstal. He quickly escaped. He was caught and sent to a stricter borstal where he remained until he was 18. He now began to read Nazi propaganda – as did Moors murderer Ian Brady when he was in borstal – fantasising that he was part of a cruel master race.
    Ireland continued to offend throughout the remainder of his teens and was sent to prison again aged 21 for stealing a car and burgling two properties. Released at age 22, he moved in with a workmate, a West Indian woman with four children. They slept together and he at last lost his virginity.
    But all too soon he went back to prison for demanding money with menaces. He served 18 months, was out for a few months then went back inside for two years for robbery.
    The following year he committed the crime of deception.
    He was also violent towards various girlfriends. Employees would initially like Ireland as he was polite and helpful. But his antisocial side would quickly resurface and he lost or quit various jobs – everything from a bouncer in a gay club to a volunteer fireman – because of his changeable moods.
    Survivalism
    Colin wanted recognition yet wasn’t prepared to put in the work necessary to get himself a good education or a work-based skill. So he turned to survivalism, joining other macho men who were determined to live off the land, albeit only at 53
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    weekends. Unfortunately his fellow survivalists noticed that he often sneaked into town for fried chicken – when perfectly good berries were on the menu – and they began to call him Chicken Colin. Desperate to win their approval, he took to sleeping outside without even a sleeping bag and told them that he’d served in the French Foreign Legion, but the Legion have no record of this.
    First marriage
    Then, at 27, he met a 36-year-old disabled woman called Virginia. He was kind to her and