Bradford murders: ‘crossbow cannibal’ in court

Nick Martin writes: “In what is usually a routine court appearance when Stephen Griffiths was asked to confirm his name he replied: ‘The crossbow cannibal’.

“When asked to confirm his address, he replied: ‘Here, I guess’.

“Several hours later Stephen Griffiths appeared again, this time before Bradford Crown Court. He was remanded into custody and will re-appear via video link on 7 June.

“Griffiths, 40, was charged yesterday for the murders of 36-year-old Suzanne Blamires, 31-year-old Shelley Armitage, and 40-year-old Susan Rushworth. All three women worked as prostitutes in Bradford’s red light district.

“Human remains found in the River Aire near Shipley, West Yorkshire, on Tuesday were confirmed to be that of Suzanne Blamires. The other two women are still missing.”

Relatives of the some of the victims were in court for the three-minute hearing this morning.

At his first court appearance, court clerk Miss Amarjit Soor read out the charges to Griffiths. She said he was charged with murdering Ms Blamires between 20 May and 25 May, murdering Ms Rushworth between 22 June 2009 and 25 May this year, and murdering Ms Armitage between 25 April and 25 May this year.

Police were conducting “extensive and thorough” searches in parts of Bradford as part of the ongoing murder investigation.

As Stephen Griffiths appeared in court, police divers were continuing to examine the River Aire in nearby Shipley.

And today a senior police source told Channel 4 News that the National Policing Improvement Agency had been brought into to assist West Yorkshire Police establish a “search strategy” for the remaining two women.

A spokesman added: “We are making extensive and thorough enquiries into the whereabouts of Ms Armitage and Ms Rushworth and those investigations are continuing today.”

Police teams with sniffer dogs were searching parts of Lister Park in the centre of Bradford and the area around Sunbridge Road, known as the city’s red light district.

An area of undergrowth behind the flat where Stephen Griffith lived was also being searched.

All three women worked as prostitutes in the area and were friends.

‘Much-loved daughter’
Channel 4 News has obtained a statement from Suzanne’s mother, Nicky Blamires.

The 55-year-old said: “Unfortunately my daughter went down the wrong path and she did not have the life she was meant to have.

“She was a much-loved daughter, sister and neice and what has happened to her will haunt me to the day I die.

“Suzanne was a bright, articulate girl who went to college and was training to be a nurse. Even though she ended up on the wrong path, she tried to protect her family and kept herself to herself so people knew very little about her.

“She always knew she could come home and that the door was always open. We also saw her all the time and were always there for her. At the end of the day nobody deserves this.

“All these girls were human beings and peoples daughters.”

And Kirsty Rushworth, the daughter of Susan Rushworth, told Channel 4 News: “Even though she used to take drugs and stuff, my friends always used to have a laugh with her.

“She’d give her right arm to anybody. She wasn’t like all these other druggies. You know, she was just completely different.

“She was like a sister more than a mum.”

Channel 4 News has also spoken to her neighbours, Zoe Harford and Jody McConnache, who believe they are the last people to have seen her alive.

They said she told them she didn’t want to go out the night she went missing, that she looked sad and they had wanted to give her a cuddle.