Editing Colin Ireland (section)

==Criminal case==
=== Investigation ===

There are suggestions that [[homophobia]] on the part of the police delayed the linking of all the murders and that they were initially not handled well,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/may/15/gayrights.ukcrime |work=The Guardian |first=Hugh |last=Muir |title=Officers' homophobia hampered murder investigations, says review |date=15 May 2007}}</ref> but police eventually connected all five killings. The crimes were publicised by the mass media and it quickly became known in the [[gay community]] that a serial killer was specifically targeting gay men.

Investigations revealed that Spiteri had left the Coleherne pub and travelled home with his killer by train, and a security video successfully captured the two of them on the railway platform at [[Charing Cross railway station|Charing Cross station]].<ref name=Tru/> Ireland recognised himself and decided to tell police he was the man with Spiteri but not the killer—he claimed to have left Spiteri in the flat with another man.<ref name=Kirby/> However, police had also found fingerprints in Collier's flat, which they linked to Ireland.<ref name=Kirby/>

=== Trial, convictions and imprisonment ===
Ireland was charged with the murders of Collier and Spiteri and confessed to the other three while awaiting trial in prison. He told police that he had no [[Feud|vendetta]] against gay men, but picked on them because they were the easiest targets. Ireland pretended to be gay in order to lure his victims.<ref name=Sky>[http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16174542 'Gay Slayer' serial killer dies in jail], Sky News, 21 February 2012</ref> He had robbed those he killed because he was unemployed at the time, and he needed funds to travel to and from London when hunting for victims.<ref name=BM>{{cite web |url=http://britmurderers.synthasite.com/colin-ireland.php |title=Colin Ireland |publisher=Notorious British murderers |date=1993-12-20 |accessdate=17 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130904204720/http://britmurderers.synthasite.com/colin-ireland.php |archivedate=4 September 2013}}</ref>

When his case came to the [[Old Bailey]] on 20 December 1993, Ireland admitted all charges and was given [[life sentence]]s for each. The judge, [[Michael Sachs (judge)|Mr Justice Sachs]], said he was "exceptionally frightening and dangerous", adding: "To take one human life is an outrage; to take five is carnage."<ref name=Kirby2/>

On 22 December 2006, Ireland was one of 35 life sentence prisoners whose names appeared on the [[Home Office]]'s list of prisoners who had been issued with [[whole life tariff]]s and were unlikely ever to be released.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rozenberg |first=Joshua |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1537597/35-prisoners-are-told-life-means-life.html |title=35 prisoners are told life means life |work=The Telegraph|date=22 December 2006 |accessdate=22 July 2011}}</ref>

Ireland's crimes received sensationalist coverage in the tabloid press. As well as the nickname "The Gay Slayer", he was headlined as "Jack The Gripper" by the ''[[News of the World]]''.<ref>[[Jake Arnott]] (2004), ''True Crime (The Long Firm Trilogy Part 3)'', Hodder General Publishing Division, {{ISBN|0340818573}}</ref>