A London man, David Mulcahy (41), was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and rape at the Old Bailey yesterday after a sadistic bond of friendship led to a four-year campaign of "desolating wickedness" against young women in the 1980s.
Mulcahy was given three life sentences for the murder of three women and concurrent sentences of 24 years for seven rapes and 18 years for five attempted rapes after his accomplice, John Duffy (41), already serving a life sentence for two of the murders and several rapes, gave evidence against him.
The two best friends went "hunting" for victims late at night in north London between 1982 and 1986 while listening to the Michael Jackson album Thriller.
Duffy was convicted in 1998 of two of the murders, five rapes and a serious sexual assault. However, while Mulcahy was arrested during the original investigation police did not have enough evidence to charge him and he continued working as a builder and living with his family in Chalk Farm, north London. It was only when Duffy implicated Mulcahy in the crimes in 1997 and police focused on his activities that it was possible to bring Mulcahy to trial.
After the six men and six women of the jury found Mulcahy guilty on all charges, the Recorder of London, Judge Michael Hyams, described the murders as "sadistic killings" and said life sentences "will reflect society's abhorrence" of his crimes.
During the five-month trial the court was told how Mulcahy and Duffy, who had been friends since they were 11 years old, were drawn together by their desire to "dominate and exploit" women.
They had talked about raping women when they were teenagers and in 1982 they took it in turns to rape a 21-year-old woman in Kilburn, north London.
Three years later, and with their appetite for violence increasing, they raped and then Mulcahy murdered his first victim, Alison Day (19), as she went to meet her fiance.
Mulcahy was also convicted of the murders of Maartje Tamboezer (15) and Anne Lock (29), who had recently returned from her honeymoon.