John Childs - Contract Killer

This man is one of the elite band of people that are caged for their whole life due to the heinous nature of their crimes.  Something grossly overlooked by European Judges.   The case of Childs hit the national headlines as he was a self-confessed multiple murderer.  He admitted taking part in six murders, but named big Harry Mackenny and Terry Pinfold as his accomplices.  Childs was a professional criminal, involved in armed robberies as a getaway driver.  Mackenny and Pinfold ran a business making life jackets and cuddly toys, but Childs claimed he discussed a murder for hire scheme with Mackenny, and it finally started in early January 1975 and the murder of George Brett and his young son, Terry.   Brett had allegedly beaten up a man called Thompson and so paid for Childs and his friends to eliminate Brett.  Childs appeared at Bretts` home, dressed like a businessman and asked his wife to make sure he was available on the first saturday in January.  Brett was to follow Childs in his car to view a load that Childs wanted transporting.  Brett was a haulier.  But his ten years old son, Terry, climbed into the car, and they were never seen again.

    Childs claimed that Thompson had supplied an old army Sten gun with ammunition.  First Brett was shot, then a teddy bear was handed to the youngster before he was shot dead.  Childs claimed that Mackenny wielded the gun.   Another partner in the toy business was Terry Eve.  He was killed because he was thought to be a liability to the business.  Eve was assaulted with a metal pipe then strangled.  A witness to this was an oddjob man called Robert Brown, who also operated as a part-time professional wrestler, known as the White Angel.  Brown had been jailed but escaped from prison.  Childs claimed that they thought Brown would horsetrade over the killing of Terry Eve.  Brown was induced to go to an apartment where he was battered with an axe, but being in a tough profession, he did not go easily and Childs ran him through with a sword.

    The next contracted killing was that of Fred Sherwood, who ran a nursing home in Herne Bay.  Childs agin claimed that they were paid to kill him by Paul Morton-Thurtle, a businessman unhappy with deals made by Sherwood.  The story was that Sherwood was selling his car and went to see a potential buyer.  Childs claimed he was shot in Mackennys` home.  The last victim was roofer Ronnie Andrews.  He disappeared, never to be seen again.  He and his wife had marriage difficulties, a fact confirmed by his best friend, Mackenny.  His car was found in a river but there was no body.  It was believed to have been swept out to sea.

   The downfall of Childs was when he was arrested over a security van robbery.  He left car keys in clothing that they changed out of after the job, and through these, the Police arrested the owner of the keys, who had been given money to mind, and so in a deal, he spilled the beans naming Childs and Mackenny.  Once in custody, Childs began to talk and admitted six murders, alleging Mackenny and Pinfold were heavily involved.  The trial was in 1980, and Childs received life whilst Pinfold and Mackenny received a minimum of twenty five years.  Childs claimed that they cut up the bodies and burnt them in the firegrate of his flat.  In response to the questions over the possibility, smells, heat levels and time to burn them, scientists conducted an experiment with a large pig.  Their findings corroborated Childs`claims.  But in 2003, the Court of Appeal dismissed the charges against them, stating that Childs was a pathological liar and a thoroughly unreliable witness.  Childs went on to boast to a reporter that he had murdered five more people, though this has not been substantiated.