photo gallery

John Martin Scripps: Body-parts murder

By Nureza Ahmad

National Library Board Singapore

John Martin Scripps, a.k.a. John Martin, 35, was the first Westerner to be hung in Singapore for murder on 19 April 1996. He was convicted in the sensational "Body-parts" or "Black bin-bags" murder of South African tourist, Gerard George Lowe, 32, in March 1995. The police were alerted when various parts of Lowe's dismembered body were found floating in black bin-bags off Clifford Pier. Investigations led to the arrest of Martin, his eventual conviction and death sentence.

Background

Martin was born in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, in December 1959 to Leonard and Jean Scripps. He had an elder sister, Janet. His parents moved to London when he was very young. He was close to his father, who was a lorry driver. However, when Martin was 10, his father committed suicide. Martin left school when he was 15 because of dyslexia.

Known as a mild-mannered, reserved and polite man with "no friends", Martin had spent most of his adult life behind bars for petty crimes and drug-related offences before the body-parts murder. Martin was also linked to murder cases in Thailand, Mexico, Belize and San Francisco. The only love of his life outside his family, was said to be his Mexican ex-wife, Maria Arellanos, whom he married when he was in his 20s and who divorced him while he was in prison.

Scripps' life before the "Body-parts" murder

• 1973 : At age 14, Scripps disappeared in France from a cadet training camp.

• 1974 : Convicted for burglary and theft in juvenile court

• 1978 : First adult conviction for indecent assault

• 1978-1982 : Burglaries in London, jailed in Israel for burglary

• 1982 : Jailed for burglary and assault in Surrey. He absconded and travelled to Southeast Asia and America

• 1985 : Jailed again in Surrey for burglary. He absconded again to smuggle drugs through various countries

• 1987: Jailed in London for heroin offences

• Jun 1990 : Absconded from London jail

• Nov 1990 : Jailed for heroin possession at Winchester

• 1993 : Acquired butchery skills in prison

• 31 Oct 1994 : Absconded from Mount Prison in Hertfordshire. Travelled through Holland, Belgium, Paris, Spain

Description

In mid-March 1995, Singaporeans were gripped by the news that dismembered parts of a human torso and lower limbs were found floating in black garbage bags in the waters off Clifford Pier. Fears that this was the work of a killer at large proved true. The body parts were identified as belonging to a South African tourist, Gerard George Lowe, 32, who went missing. His head and arms were never found.

Following police investigations, John Martin Scripps, was caught and charged in court to stand trial for the murder of Lowe. Martin was accused of killing Lowe, in Room 1511 which they shared in River View Hotel between noon on 8 March and 8:00 am on 9 March. Acting for the prosecution were Jennifer Marie, Noral Huda and Toh Han Li. They highlighted that Martin had a reputation of befriending tourists, killing them and then dismembers their corpses. He robs them of their wallets, credit cards, cash and passports. Martin had considerable skill as a prison butcher and Lowe's body showed signs of being dismembered professionally.

In Lowe's case, the defence mooted that Martin killed Lowe unintentionally when he rebuffed the latter's unwanted homosexual advances in their River View Hotel room. In the ensuing fight, he hit Lowe with a camping hammer. He panicked and fled when Lowe was dead. An anonymous British friend disposed of the body. Acting for the defence were Edmond Pereira and Joseph Theseira. Justice T.S. Sinnathuray found Martin was found to be a calculative killer who set out to murder and rob the unsuspecting Lowe. He was sentenced to death, by hanging.

Timeline

• 8 Mar 1995 : Martin arrived in Singapore on a flight from San Francisco. He met South African tourist Gerard George Lowe at Changi Airport and agreed to share a room at River View Hotel. Martin later murders Lowe and dismembers the body.

• 9-10 Mar 1995 : Lowe's name was removed from hotel registry at Martin's request.

• 9-10 Mar 1995 : Martin used Lowe's credit cards, withdrawing $8, 775 in cash and buying a $499 videocassette recorder. He attended a Singapore Symphony Orchestra performance on March 10.

• 11 Mar 1995 : Security guards observed Martin walking out of hotel around 6:35 a.m with a heavy suitcase. About 15 minutes later Martin returns without the suitcase. He checked out of hotel and left for Bangkok.

• 13, 16 Mar 1995 : Human body parts including torso, thighs and legs in black plastic bags were recovered off Clifford Pier. Positive identification of Lowe was made by his widow.

• 15 Mar 1995 : Martin meanwhile flew to Phuket from Bangkok. Canadian tourists Sheila Mae Damude, 49, and her son Darin, 22, were on the same flight. They were later found murdered and dismembered.

• 19 Mar 1995 : Martin returned to Singapore and was arrested at Changi airport. He was found to have knives, a 1.3 kg hammer, an electrical stun device, handcuffs, a can of mace, credit cards, possessions and the passports of Lowe and the Damudes with him.

• 21 Mar 1995 : Martin was charged for forgery. He told police he was Simon James Davis, age 29, the same named he used to check into River View Hotel with Lowe.

• 24 Mar 1995 : Martin -- his true identity now known - was convicted of Lowe's murder.

• 2 Apr 1995 : A third bin bag with body parts was found floating off Clifford Pier.

• 4 Apr 1995 : Martin gave statement to Singapore police, claiming that an anonymous British friend was responsible for disposing of Lowe's body.

• 18 Sep 1995 : Martin was formally charged for the Lowe's murder in Singapore court.

• 2 Oct 1995 :  Martin's trial begins in Singapore high court.

• 10 Nov 1995 : Martin was found guilty and sentenced to hang. Defence lawyers indicated they would appeal.

• 4 Jan 1996 : Martin withdrew his appeal

• 10 Mar 1996 : Martin declined to seek pardon from President Ong Teng Cheong

• 19 Apr 1996 : Martin hung at Changi Prison

John Martin Scripps - "The tourist from hell"

Capitalpunishmentuk.org

John Martin Scripps became the first Westerner to be hanged in Singapore for murder and only the second for any offence. (Dutch born Johannes van Damme was executed for drug trafficking in 1994). He is the last British murderer to be hanged since Britain stopped executions in 1964.

Dubbed the "tourist from hell" by the British tabloids he may well have murdered three people in all.

Scripps was convicted of the murder of Gerrard George Lowe after a trial that began on October the 2nd 1995. It was to be Singapore's most sensational murder case since that of Adrian Lim, who with his wife and girlfriend, were convicted, in May 1983, of the murder of two children in 1981.

46 year old Lim, a self-styled spirit medium and the two women, Hoe Kah Hong and Tan Mui Choo who both in their early 30s, were hanged together in Changi prison in November 1988.

September 18th 1995.

In the Singaporean equivalent of Committal Proceedings Scripps appeared in court to be formally charged with the murder of 32-year-old Lowe, a South African brewery engineer who was on a shopping trip to Singapore in March 1995.

Various parts of what were believed to be Lowe's dismembered body were found floating in black bin-bags in Singapore harbour.

Scripps, who fled from Britain while on parole, was also a suspect in the murders of Canadian tourist Sheila Damude and her son, Darin, on the Thai island resort of Phuket, and has been linked to murders in San Francisco, Mexico and Belize.

When arrested at Changi airport on March 19th 1995, Scripps was carrying more than US$ 40,000 in cash and traveller's' cheques and the passports, credit cards and other belongings of Lowe and the Damudes.

He also had a stun-device, handcuffs and a can of mace as well as a hammer and knives. Swabs from the hammer matched bloodstains across the carpet of the Damudes' hotel room.

The preliminary enquiry saw written statements from as many as 77 witnesses for the prosecution supporting the murder charge and 11 other charges ranging from forgery, vandalism and cheating to possession of weapons and small quantities of controlled drugs.

Defence lawyer Joseph Theseira said "The prosecution also wanted to introduce evidence linking the killings in Thailand."

Scripps arrived in Singapore on March 8th from San Francisco and left for Phuket three days later.

The investigation into Lowe's murder began shortly afterwards when a black plastic bin-bag containing a pair of legs was fished out of the water off Singapore's Clifford Pier.

A few days later, another bag containing thighs and a naked, headless torso turned up.

The skulls, torsos and several limbs belonging to the bodies of the Damudes were found in a deserted tin mine on Phuket between March 19th and 25th.

The Damudes are reported to have travelled on the same plane to Phuket as Scripps and checked into a room close to his in the same hotel.

Douglas Herda, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which is helping co-ordinate the Singapore and Thai murder investigations, said Thai authorities were waiting for the forensic evidence before deciding whether to file charges.

October 2nd 1995 - The trial.

The trial began with Scripps entering no plea but "claiming trial" which, under Singapore law, means he was contesting the charges. Singapore does not have jury trials.

Evidence of how Lowe's body was skilfully cut up and wrapped in black plastic bin bags before being thrown into the Singapore harbour was presented to the court.

On Tuesday the 3rd, James Quigley, a Prison Officer at Albany Prison on the Isle of Wight, told the court he had taught Scripps how to dismember and bone slaughtered animals.

"He was instructed in butchery over a six-week period in March and April 1993. He was trained to bone out fore quarters and hind quarters of beef, sides of bacon, carcasses of pork, and how to portion chicken". Quigley said that Scripps, who was serving a 13-year jail term for drug-related offences, had been a quick learner.

Chao Tzee Cheng, a government pathologist, testified that the manner in which Lowe's body was cut up indicated that only a doctor, a veterinarian or a butcher could have dismembered it.

Chao told the police, "Look, you are dealing with a serial killer."

Security was heavy throughout the court session, with Scripps sitting between two uniformed armed police officers in a glass and metal cage, his legs in irons.

He was allowed to speak briefly to his mother and sister before and after the proceedings.

The prosecution alleged that Scripps, using a false name, had checked into the same Singapore hotel room as Lowe on March 8th and later killed him.

Scripps flew to the Thai island resort of Phuket in Thailand on March 15th and was arrested on his return to Singapore's Changi airport on March 19th.

Police witnesses testified that when he was arrested he was wearing a money belt containing four different passports, each with different names but with his own photograph, and that one of the passports belonged to Lowe.

Police said he also had passports belonging to Canadians Sheila and Darin Damude whose dismembered and mutilated bodies were later found on Phuket island. Thai police had issued a warrant for Scripps's arrest in connection with those murders.

In a confession made public when it was admitted as evidence, Scripps told the court he met Lowe at Changi airport on March 8th and they agreed to share a hotel room. He admitted killing Lowe in the room in the after he was awakened by a half-naked Lowe, who was smiling and touching his buttocks.

"I am not a homosexual and at that time it appeared to me Mr. Lowe was a homosexual. I freaked out, I kicked out and started swearing "I had experience of such things in the past and I was very frightened."

Scripps said he used a three-pound camping hammer "to hit Lowe several times on the head until he collapsed onto the carpeted floor. "My right hand was covered with blood. Everything happened so quickly," he said.

After realising Lowe was dead, Scripps said he sought the help of a British friend, whom he refused to name. The friend disposed of the body without telling him how. Scripps denied that it was he who cut up Lowe's body, however.

The defence tried to show Scripps did not intend to kill Lowe and that the killing was an act of manslaughter, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

The prosecution claimed Scripps committed premeditated murder with the intent to rob Lowe.

On the fourth day of the trial, prosecutor Jennifer Marie said Scripps had practised forging Lowe's signature, suggesting the killing was premeditated.

She showed the court items seized from Scripps's luggage, including a notebook and tracing paper filled with practice signatures of Lowe's name.

Marie also produced credit cards, passports and other documents she alleged had been tampered with.

His defence lawyer Edmond Pereira questioned two police officers, trying to show they conducted an inadequate search for blood traces next to the hotel-room bed where Scripps claimed that Lowe had fallen and bled to death.

Police witnesses said there were no traces of blood in the carpet, only in the bathroom. That, the prosecution argues, supports its contention that the killing was premeditated murder.

But Pereira implied that if police found no blood traces on the carpet, it could have been because they did not conduct enough tests, and not in the exact spot where Lowe fell.

Pereira asked for a one-day adjournment so he could consider new evidence the prosecution wanted to introduce in an attempt to link Scripps with the two murders in Thailand.

October 19th 1995.

The prosecution said that Scripps used Lowe's credit card for a shopping spree and to attend a classical music concert soon after the killing.

They alleged that this undermined his defence that he was "dazed and confused" at the time of the killing. "You were not dazed enough, to think of all this," Jennifer Marie told Scripps during her cross examination. She cited documents showing that he used Lowe's credit card to withdraw Singapore $8,400 in cash from a local bank soon after the killing.

He used the same card to buy a videocassette recorder, hi-fi stereo speakers, and running shoes on March 9th. The next day he used Lowe's card to buy a S$30 ($21) ticket to attend the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, where he heard a programme of Brahms and Tchaikovsky. The used concert ticket and symphony programme were among the items seized after his arrest. "You're not telling us the truth when you say you were walking in a dream world (after killing Lowe)," said Marie. "On the contrary, you were clear in your mind what you were doing."

Scripps said that he did not remember buying the concert ticket, and that he did not attend the performance. He told the court he went drinking with a British friend that night.

Pressed by the prosecution about his movements between March 8th and March 11th, Scripps said his memory was hopeless.

"You've got a good memory. I haven't," he said. "I'm dyslexic. I get things mixed up."

October 24th 1995.

Scripps told the court he had tried to commit suicide by slitting his wrists to escape being hanged.

"I believed I was going to be hung," the 35-year-old Scripps said on his fifth day in the witness box. "I kept thinking about Lowe and the Filipino lady that got hanged."

Jennifer Marie told the court Scripps tried to cut his wrist with a small, sharp piece of glass in police custody shortly after he was arrested. The prosecution depicted Scripps as a cool, methodical criminal who murdered tourists to steal from them.

Scripps agreed with a suggestion by Judge T.S. Sinnathuray that it would take about five minutes for a skilled butcher to dismember an animal. Asked by the prosecution whether the same skills could be used to dismember a human, he said: "The bones look similar." But asked whether he dismembered Lowe, Scripps said: "No, I don't have all the skills you mentioned." Scripps disputed the prosecution's assertion that he had ample time and opportunity to chop up Lowe's body, pack the parts in a suitcase, and throw them in the river.

October 25th 1995.

Scripps said he did not report killing Lowe because he feared he would be automatically hanged under Singapore's tough laws.

In his sixth day on the witness stand, he was asked by prosecutor Jennifer Marie why he did not immediately call a doctor or hotel staff after Lowe collapsed in their room. "Because this man died at my hands, and under Singapore law that is an automatic death sentence," he replied. "That's what I understood at the time."

Scripps had earlier alleged that a British friend staying at a hotel on the nearby resort island of Sentosa, connected to Singapore by a causeway, disposed of Lowe's body. He said he fled to the friend's hotel while the body was being disposed of. He said he had known this man for eight to 10 years and remembered that he once worked at an abattoir. He refused to name the friend, whom he described as a dangerous man, or describe the hotel in further detail because he said he feared retaliation against his family. Scripps was cautioned by the Judge that his reluctance to give basic information on the friend could harm his defence. "Here you are facing a murder charge, which carries a death penalty in this country," "I have to ask myself, at the end of the day, this question: Did the accused, John Scripps, go to a hotel on Sentosa?" Scripps still declined to describe the hotel.

Prosecutors alleged that Scripps's story of the friend was a complete fabrication. They also tried to point out discrepancies between his earlier statements to police and his testimony on the witness stand. Marie said Scripps's statement to the police on April 29th made no mention of attempted homosexual assaults he later told the court he suffered while in prison in 1978 and 1994. "I'm suggesting that this (1994) incident never occurred," said Marie. "It's yet another fabrication of yours." Scripps countered that the assault really happened, but he did not report it to the British prison authorities.

November 6th1995.

Jennifer Marie told the court in her closing arguments "The conduct of the accused after the killings suggested that he was cold, callous and calculating a far cry from the confused, dazed man walking in a dream world, the picture he gave of himself". She said Scripps was "a man very much in control of his faculties" when he embarked on a shopping spree using Lowe's credit card, buying a pair of fancy running shoes, a video cassette recorder and a ticket to a symphony orchestra concert.

"He is a man who has no qualms about lying continuously, consistently and even on the (witness) stand, in any and every matter," she said. Concluding her case, Jennifer Marie said the excuse that Scripps killed Lowe because of a homosexual advance was just one of a "string of lies" to mask a premeditated murder by a greedy serial killer "who preyed on tourists."

Lowe's widow testified that her husband, who had gone to Singapore on a shopping holiday, was not a homosexual.

In his closing statement for the defence Edmond Pereira said "we urge this court to come to a finding that the accused is not guilty of murder, but is guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder." "The killing occurred in a sudden fight in the heat of passion upon a sudden quarrel," he said. "He is not a man prone to violence." Pereira also urged Judge T.S. Sinnathuray to ignore information from Thailand. "There is no evidence to suggest that the accused is responsible for the deaths of the two Canadians," he said, calling the Thai information "nothing more than circumstantial" and "prejudicial."

November 7th 1995.

The trial was adjourned for the judge to consider his verdict after more than a month of evidence.

November 10th 1995.

Scripps, dressed in khaki with a prison-style crew-cut and standing in a glass cage, was said to be laughing and joking with his guards minutes before the verdict. In court, as he awaited sentence, he said: "Karma is karma. It's in God's hands now."

The judge told a packed courtroom: "I'm satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Scripps had intentionally killed Lowe." "After that, he dis-articulated Lowe's body into separate parts, and it was he who subsequently disposed of the body parts by throwing them into the river behind the hotel."

Having announced the guilty verdict Judge T.S. Sinnathuray sentenced Scripps to death by hanging. Scripps showed no emotion as the verdict was read.

His mother and sister, who attended the trial's early days, were not in court to hear the verdict. His mother, Jean Scripps, 58, from Sandown, Isle of Wight, said: "I brought John into this world. I am the only person who has the right to take him out of it. "I cannot believe how my boy could have changed from a kind, human being into the monster described in court."

After the verdict, defence lawyer Edmond Pereira told reporters: "Scripps has a right to an appeal, which he can exercise within 14 days and he shall be advised of that right." He declined to make any other comment. A legal source said any such plea would likely be heard by an appeals court early in1996.

The Judge said he was convinced that Scripps killed and dismembered the Damudes, but added that he decided Scripps's guilt independently of the Thai evidence. "On the evidence, I had no difficulty to find that it was Scripps who was concerned with the deaths of Sheila and Darin and for the disposal of their body parts found in different sites in Phuket,".

"The dis-articulation of the body parts of Lowe, Sheila and Darin have the hallmark signs of having been done by the same person." The judge said the Thai evidence was "materially relevant" because it rebutted Scripps's defence that he killed Lowe unintentionally during a sudden fight.

January 4th 1996.

On the 4th January 1996 Scripps withdrew his appeal which was scheduled to be heard on January 8th. His lawyer Edmond Pereira declined comment on why Scripps had decided against appealing.

"He has written with his own hand to the prison authorities that he does not wish to pursue the appeal," the lawyer said. Pereira said Scripps could still ask for clemency. "It would appear to me that it's the last avenue open, but we have no instructions (from Scripps)," he said. Prison authorities have yet to inform him of his deadline for filing a clemency plea, said Pereira. There is usually a six-to-eight-week period in which a prisoner may file. Pereira described Scripp's mood as "sad" during their last prison visit. "We were talking about his concerns for his family. I can't say he's worried, because he would have known the consequences of not pursuing the appeal."

February 14th 1996

Scripps was said to be eager to die, according to a spokeswoman from the British High Commission in Singapore. "He won't be putting in an appeal. He's eager to get it over and done with. He's just waiting for the day," she said.

His lawyer Edmond Pereira said he was surprised by the High Commission's remarks. "There are some instructions Scripps has given me, but I'm not at liberty at this stage to make any comment because the matter has not been finalised," he said. He also said that even if a prisoner refused to petition for clemency the matter still had to go before the president, but added: "If you don't request clemency, they won't exercise clemency."

Scripps was being held in solitary confinement on death row at Changi and spent most of his time watching television and reading, the High Commission spokeswoman said. A priest visited him weekly, and once a fortnight a consular representative went to check on his welfare and pass on messages from his family. "He's okay. He's generally well. He doesn't really want to see many people at all," the spokeswoman said.

March 10th 1996

Scripps declined seek a pardon from President Ong Teng Cheong, Singapore's Sunday Times newspaper reported. The newspaper quoted Edmond Pereira as saying he had received a letter from Scripps during a prison visit last month. "His instruction to us was that he did not want to petition for clemency from the President," Pereira said. "It was his wish to let the law take its course."

April 15th 1996.

It was announced that Scripps was to be hanged at dawn on Friday 19th April. His lawyer, Mr Edmond Pereira, told The Straits Times newspaper that he had been informed of the execution date by Scripp's relatives in London.

The British Foreign Office in London had also issued a similar statement to the press, adding that the British government had considered the case and had decided not to submit a plea for clemency.

The Straits Times understood that while being held on Death Row, Scripps had turned down a request from the London's Scotland Yard to interview him. British police detectives believe that he is linked to the disappearance of management consultant Timothy McDowell, 28, who went missing while holidaying in Belize in Central America. Scotland Yard suspects that Mr McDowell was possibly murdered and his body, which was never found, dumped into a crocodile-infested river by Scripps. They found a substantial amount of money transferred from Mr McDowell's bank account to Scripps's account in Britain after his arrest in Singapore. This sum of money was later moved to another account, also under Scripps's name, in the United States.

Scripps had spent his last days writing garbled love poems to his former Mexican wife - described as the one true love of his life - from his 8ft-by-6ft windowless cell, lit 24 hours with a camera monitoring him permanently. There is a hole-in-the-ground lavatory and straw roll-mat to sleep on.

April 19th 1996 - The execution.

His sister Janet and mother Jean said goodbye to him 12 hours before his execution. Under Singaporean law they would not have been allowed to be present at the hanging. Janet said: "How do you say goodbye to your own brother like that? We didn't actually say the word. I just couldn't."

In accordance with Singapore's execution rules hangings are carried out in private on Friday mornings on a large gallows within the prison that can accommodate up to seven prisoners. The measured drop method of hanging is used. It is normal practice in Singapore to hang several prisoners simultaneously although no details of the executions are released to the media.

For his last meal, he asked for a pizza and a cup of hot chocolate.

He would have been woken by guards at about 3.30am and escorted to a waiting room where he and the other two prisoners (two Singaporean drug traffickers) were prepared. He would have been allowed to speak to a priest and a prison chaplain before the execution.

It is thought that the three men were led to the gallows at around 6.00 am local time with black hoods covering their heads. After being left to hang for an hour the bodies were taken down and released to the families during the morning.

At about 10.30 am, his body, wrapped in a white sheet, was taken in an undertaker's van to a funeral parlour for cremation prior to his mother and sister taking his ashes back to Britain.

Scripps left a final, rambling semi-literate note which read: "One day poor. One day reach. Money filds the pane of huger but what will fill the emteness inside? "I know that love is beyond me. So do I give myself to god. The god that has betrad me. "You may take my life for what it is worth but grant those I love peace and happiness. Can I be a person again. Only time will tell me."

What really upset him, he wrote in prison, was "when you are told every day that you are not a member of the uman rase (sic)".

One of the stories he wrote on whilst death row graphically described a fantasy suicide hanging, but the hanging of which he dreamt was very different from the cold meticulous execution he experienced. In his fantasies he contemplated suicide at the end of a rope but he survived. He wrote "I tied the rope around my little neck before I got up on the old creaky chair. I reached down and picked up a handful of earth and put in my mouth. Then I crawled up to the old creaky chair and pulled the rope tighter and tighter still. I was tiptoe, just one more pull, then my feet left the chair knocking it over and darkness embraced me as the heavens opened. "I woke up in darkness and felt a heavy weight on my chest. I cried out 'Mummy, I am here.'

His former wife, Mexican, Maria Arellanos, learnt for the first time that the death sentence had been carried out, on the Friday he was executed. She had married Scripps at 16 and the couple separated in 1988, but they remained emotionally attached. She said: "I knew this would happen to John but I didn't know it would hurt so much. The last memory I have of him is a message he sent promising we would meet in the next life and that he would never let me go again."

She said Scripps was a deeply religious man who had become a devotee of the Virgin of Guadaloupe, Mexico's patron saint. Although their relationship ended in recrimination over his criminal ways and his womanising, he was never violent towards her and she remained in love with him.

Background.

Scripps was born in Hertford in December 1959 and his parents moved to London when he was young. His father, a lorry driver, committed suicide. At 14 he disappeared in France from a cadet training camp. A year later he was in juvenile court for burglary and theft.

His first adult conviction was for indecent assault in 1978 and he was fined £40 at Hendon. Thereafter it was a grim catalogue - burglaries in London followed by jail in Israel for stealing from a fellow kibbutz worker; jailed again in 1982 for burglary and assault in Surrey where he absconded to embark on criminal trips through South East Asia and America. In 1985 he was jailed again in Surrey for burglary (he absconded again to smuggle drugs through various countries). 1987 - jailed in London for heroin offences (absconded June 1990). August 1990 - detained carrying heroin at Heathrow. November 1990 - arrested again, carrying heroin and jailed at Winchester - absconding from Mount prison in October 1994, then travelling via Holland, Belgium, Paris and Spain to reach Mexico in November

His ultimate journey began on October 28th 1994 when he failed to return to the Mount Prison in Hemel Hempstead, Herts, after four days' leave. The Mount governor, Ms Margaret Donnelly, said: "He was no longer considered a risk. He had no history of violence. He was quiet and reserved." However, his mother says the authorities should have realised the risk because he had been selling his possessions openly to raise money.

Comment.

One wonders whether Scripps actually wanted to die for his crimes - few other countries nowadays would have obliged him in this relatively short time scale. It was clear from his own evidence that he knew the penalty for murder in Singapore. One wonders why he chose to commit one of the murders there and then return a few days later.

I am less surprised that he withdrew his appeal and decided not to ask for clemency - he knew that he would lose and that he would just be delaying the inevitable and living in miserable conditions on death row for many more months or even years to come.

Singapore hanged over 260 people (including several women) between 1975 and 1996 for drug trafficking and murder and reprieves are extremely rare.

It is also interesting to note that the British government declined to get involved in Scripp's case - possibly they felt that Singapore had done the rest of the world a favour. They are normally resolutely anti death penalty.

But what made a non violent criminal suddenly turn into a serial killer? A question to which we will never know the answer now but still a very interesting question none the less. Unusually for a serial killer there appears to be no sexual motive behind the murders but merely a greed motive and perhaps an enjoyment of killing.

Vanessa Lowe had filed the report because she was distressed that her husband, who used to make daily contact with his family when overseas, had not called home or returned to South Africa by March 12. Lowe's peers at work had also tried to locate his whereabouts through personal contacts in Singapore. On April 1, she confirmed that the body parts were her husband's through visual identification. However, his arms and head were never found.