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Patrick Mackay (born September 25, 1952) is a serial killer who confessed to murdering eleven people in England in the early 1970s.

As a child, Mackay suffered a great deal at the hands of his violent, alcoholic father. In his youth, he indulged in animal cruelty and arson, bullied younger children and even attempted to kill his mother and aunt. He spent his teenaged years in and out of mental homes and institutions, and at fifteen, he was diagnosed as a psychopath by a psychiatrist. As he entered adulthood, Mackay developed a fascination with Nazism, calling himself "Franklin Bollvolt The First" and filling his flat with Nazi memorabilia.

On March 21, 1975, then aged twenty-two, Mackay used an axe to brutally kill a priest who had befriended him, hacking through the victim's skull and watching him slowly bleed to death. He was swiftly arrested and was soon considered by police to be a suspect in at least a dozen other killings over the past two-years, most victims being elderly women who had been stabbed or strangled to death during robberies. Mackay himself bragged that he had murdered eleven people.

Patrick Mackay was charged with five murders, but two charges were eventually dropped due to lack of evidence. In November 1975 he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Patrick Mackay (born September 25, 1952) is a serial killer who confessed to murdering eleven people in England in the mid 1970s.

Early life

As a child, Mackay was frequently a victim of physical abuse at the hands of his violent, alcoholic father Harold. When Mackay was ten, Harold died from complications of alcoholism and a weak heart. His final words to his son were 'remember to be good'.

Patrick was said to be unable to come to terms with the loss, telling people Harold was still alive and keeping a photograph of his father on his person.

Later in his youth, he suffered from extreme tantrums and fits of anger, indulged in animal cruelty and arson (at one point setting the pet tortoise on fire), bullied younger children, stole from elderly women's homes and people in the street, and even attempted to kill his mother and aunt.

He also attempted to kill a younger boy, and later said he'd have succeeded had he not been restrained, and attempted to set fire to a Catholic church. Because of such incidents, he spent his teenage years in and out of mental homes and institutions. At 15, he was diagnosed as a psychopath by a psychiatrist, Dr. Leonard Carr. Carr predicted Mackay would grow up into a 'cold, psychopathic killer'.

Adulthood and murders

As he entered adulthood, Mackay developed a fascination with Nazism, calling himself "Franklin Bollvolt The First" and filling his flat with Nazi memorabilia. He lived in London and was frequently drunk or on drugs. In 1973, near his mother's home in Kent, he met and was befriended by Father Anthony Crean, a priest. Regardless, Mackay broke into Crean's home and stole a check for £30. Arrested and prosecuted by the police, he was ordered to pay the fine back but never did. The incident caused a rift between the two and Mackay returned to London. It was around this time that Mackay said that he had drowned a tramp in the River Thames.

On March 21 1975, then aged 22, Mackay used an axe to kill Father Crean, hacking through the victim's skull and watching him bleed to death. He was swiftly arrested and was soon considered by police to be a suspect in at least a dozen other killings over the previous two years, most victims being elderly women who had been stabbed or strangled during robberies. Mackay bragged that he had murdered eleven people.

Mackay was charged with five murders, but two charges were dropped through lack of evidence. In November 1975 he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. He is reported to be among the 50 or so prisoners in the United Kingdom who have been issued with a whole life tariff and are unlikely ever to be released from prison.

Wikipedia.org

Patrick Mackay

Even before he was born, Patrick Mackay was abused; he was in his mothers womb when she was kicked in the stomach by her drunked husband.

Born on September 25, 1952 in England, he was institutionalized for the first time at the age or 13 for trying to set fire to a Catholic church.

By 15, he had set his pet tortise on fire, played with dead birds, nearly killed a boy, and strangled his mother and aunt. He had an explosive temper. A doctor said that he would evolve into "a cold, psychopathic killer." he was certified psychopatic and commited to Moss Side Hospital for four years.

In the book psychopath, the authors state: Mackay adopted a bizarre name by which he demanded to be known... Franklin Bollvolt the First.."a name to be feared and remembered, like Hitler's." The world, he decided, needed a change, and he would be the world figure to provide it. Mackay was released in the summer of 1972.

Usually drunk or drugged, he stayed with friends, and entertained himself by building and burning the eyes out of Frankenstein models.

His room was decorated with pictures from Nazi Germany, and made himself an outfit that was a replica of a quasi-German SS uniform, complete with lapel badges and armband.

Proving the psychiatrists right, he murdered eleven people from July 1973 until his arrest on March 23, 1975. His last victim was a Catholic priest that had befriended him, named Father Anthony Crean. The wounds to Crean's head were so devastating that his brain was exposed, before he died, he reached his hand up and touched the exposed portion of his brain. Mackay was arrested two days later and sentenced to life in prison.

Mackay, Patrick David

Born September 25, 1952, in Middlesex, England, Mackay was the son of a violent, alcoholic father who once kicked his pregnant wife in the stomach while she was carrying Patrick. 

Ten years old when his father died, Mackay had already established his reputation as a bully, thief, and liar. As a child, he tortured his pets, including cats and rabbits, once roasting a tortoise alive, and his preoccupation with death was manifested in habitual fondling of dead birds. Hauled into juvenile court for setting a Catholic church on fire, Mackay was let off with probation. At thirteen, he was committed to a mental hospital for the first time, after trashing the furniture at home, and assaulting his mother and sisters. Though large for his age - topping six feet in his early teens - Mackay insisted on taking a doll to bed in his hospital room. 

By age 15, Mackay had compiled a long record of violent offenses, including the attempted strangulation of his mother and a near-fatal assault on a younger neighborhood boy. Diagnosed by one psychiatrist as a "cold, psychopathic killer," Mackay was released from the asylum a second time against staff recommendations, moving in with two aunts. Drinking heavily and dabbling in drugs, he later tried to strangle one of the women in a drunken rage.

On the side, Mackay developed a fascination with Nazism, decorating his bedroom with World War II photos and fixing himself a stormtrooper's uniform. In public, he began to call himself "Franklin Bollvolt the First," imagining himself as a world dictator. 

In 1973, Mackay was befriended by a Catholic priest, 63-year-old Father Anthony Crean. He repaid the priest's kindness by burglarizing Crean's home, cashing a stolen check, escaping with a $50 fine on conviction of theft. Police dismissed him as a petty criminal, and they would recognize their grave mistake too late to save an estimated dozen lives.

In July 1973, Mackay killed Heidi Mnilk, an au pair girl, by hurling her from a train near New Cross. That same month, victim Mary Hynes was beaten to death in her Kentish Town apartment. 

In January 1974, Stephanie Britton and her four-year-old grandson were stabbed to death at Hadley Green, in Hertfordshire. A few days later, Mackay tossed an aging vagrant to his death from Hungerford Bridge.

In February 1974, he invaded the Chelsea home of Isabella Griffith, strangling her to death and plunging a kitchen knife into her stomach. The rash of "unconnected" slayings would be solved with Mackay's confessions, in 1975, but none of the crimes were ever charged against him. 

By early 1974, Mackay was living with friends in Finchley, north London, proclaiming himself possessed by demons. Ejected from the house for his bizarre activities, he tried to rob the dwelling out of spite and drew six months in jail on conviction of burglary. By autumn, he had settled into a career of purse-snatching and mugging the elderly, chalking up three more homicides in the process. At Finsbury Park, he bludgeoned a 62-year-old tobacconist to death with a piece of lead pipe. Sarah Rodwell, age 92, was beaten to death on her doorstep in Hackney, robbed of a $10 Christmas bonus. In Southend, cafe proprietress Ivy Davies was slain with an ax. 

By March 1975, Mackay was out of control. On March 10, he strangled Adele Price, an elderly widow, in her London apartment. Eleven days later, he invaded the home of Father Crean, in Gravesend, splitting the priest's skull with an ax, stabbing the body repeatedly for good measure. Arrested two days later, he was charged with Crean's murder, convicted, and sentenced to life.

Michael Newton - An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial Killers - Hunting Humans

SEX: M RACE: W TYPE: T MOTIVE: PC-nonspecific

MO: Psychopath obsessed with Nazism; stabbed/axed victims of both sexes, age 17-89.

DISPOSITION: Life sentence following guilty plea on three counts of manslaughter; two other counts dropped in plea bargain.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

- Tim Clark & John Penycate: Psychopath  (1976).