Ian Kay

Case record: Ian Kay

Background

Ian Kay (born in 1967, UK) was known as the "Woolworths Killer" and was a convicted murderer.

Kay killed 21-year-old John Penfold, a Woolworth's shop assistant, in Teddington, Middlesex, in November 1994.

Kay had been on leave from prison almost eight years after nearly killing another shop worker in a similar attack when he killed Penfold.

Kay described John Penfold as a "Have a go hero who got what he deserved".

Kay was transferred to Broadmoor, a maximum secure psychiatric hospital, after showing signs of mental illness.

The offence

In March 1997, while in Broadmoor, Kay attempted to kill Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper.

Kay stabbed Peter Sutcliffe six times in the left eye and four times in the right eye with a Parker Rollerball pen that was used during the hospital's drawing classes.

The attack blinded Sutcliffe in the left eye and severely damaged his right eye.

The court heard that Kay asked another patient to put on some loud music before he launched the attack, which lasted about fifteen minutes.

Kay pinned Sutcliffe to the floor of his room after asking to borrow an envelope.

Mr Paul Reid, prosecuting, told the court that Kay struck Sutcliffe five or six times deep into the left eye and three or four times in the right eye, and that he only stopped when Sutcliffe managed to grab hold of the pen and push it away from him.

The court was told that Kay brought a length of electrical flex with him but decided against using it and left the room before staff arrived.

After the attack, Sutcliffe was leaning over a sink in his room screaming: "I can't see. I think I'm blind."

Blood on Kay's hands was found after staff arrived; Sutcliffe's room was also described as having blood splattered on the wall and the bed.

Investigation

The investigation of the attack was headed by Det Insp Jamie Williamson, of the Thames Valley Police.

Kay was charged with attempted murder.

Trial

Kay was on trial in January 1998.

On January 27, 1998, Kay was in Reading Crown Court and admitted the charge of attempting to murder Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper.

The court heard that there was no history of hostility between Sutcliffe and Kay, and that they had both attended art therapy classes held weekly on the ward, and also bumped into each other during mealtimes.

Kay told the court that he had intended to attack Sutcliffe with a razor embedded in a toothbrush handle.

Kay said:

"I was going to ... walk into the room and cut his jugular vein on both sides and wait there until he was dead. Killing has always been in my mind, ever since I've been here [at Broadmoor]. In hindsight, I should have straddled him and strangled him with my bare hands... He said God told him to kill thirteen women, and I say the devil told me to kill him because of that."

Mr Paul Reid told the court:

"Prior to this attack, Kay had knocked on Sutcliffe's door and asked to borrow an envelope. Sutcliffe found one and gave it to him and that was the end of that. It was of no great surprise that Kay repeated this request at about 3:00 pm on March 10. Sutcliffe opened the door and Kay asked for an envelope. Sutcliffe turned to get one and as he turned back towards Kay, Kay immediately attacked him."

Mr Reid told the court:

"The defendant struck Sutcliffe five or six times deep into the left eye, and three or four times in the right eye. He only stopped when Sutcliffe managed to grab hold of the pen and push it away from him."

Kay described what he did after Sutcliffe's door was shut:

"I shut his door and attacked him. I started to stab him in the eyes and throttle him."

Kay said:

"My objective was to kill him, and I tried to do it as best as I could. I could not be bothered to use the flex in the end. I should have kneed him in the face a few times, straddled him across his body and throttled him with my bare hands."

Kay was asked about his motives during interviews with psychiatrists and told them:

"Because it was the Devil's work. He said God told him to kill 13 women, and I say the Devil told me to kill him because of that."

Kay also confided to a doctor:

"He killed 13 women and deserved what happened to him."

Bill Clegg QC, for the defence, said that Kay's personality was "the product of a deeply disturbed mind. He is an extremely dangerous man, and that danger presents an obvious risk to the public".

Mr Justice Keene sentenced Kay.

Sentencing

Kay was sentenced to be detained in a secure mental hospital indefinitely without restriction of time under section 37 of the Mental Health Act 1983.

Mr Justice Keene told Kay:

"You admitted your intention to kill him. It must cause some public concern that you were able to carry out such an attack. You are clearly a very dangerous man indeed. I'm satisfied you are suffering from a psychiatric disorder and that you ought to be detained in a hospital for medical treatment."

At Kay's trial, the recommended minimum term given would keep him behind bars until at least 2017 and the age of 50.

Kay had previously been sentenced to life for killing John Penfold in 1994, and had been jailed for a minimum term of 22 years imprisonment for the murder in 1995.

Outcome

Kay attempted to murder Peter Sutcliffe at Broadmoor in March 1997 and admitted the charge in Reading Crown Court on January 27, 1998.

Kay was sentenced to be detained indefinitely in a secure mental hospital (without restriction of time under section 37 of the Mental Health Act 1983).

Sutcliffe received treatment by an eye specialist at Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey, who was unable to save the sight in his left eye.

Mr Paul Reid told the court:

"Even now he has restricted movement still in his right eye and his sight is very considerably diminished."

Other details

Peter Sutcliffe was a former lorry driver from Bradford.

Sutcliffe was jailed for life in 1981 for murdering 13 women—mostly prostitutes working in the red light districts of Bradford, Leeds and Manchester—and trying to kill seven others.

Sutcliffe used hammers and knives to mutilate his victims.

Sutcliffe was moved to Broadmoor in 1983 after a fellow inmate at Parkhurst jail on the Isle of Wight slashed him with a broken coffee jar.

The hospital had drawing classes during which Parker Rollerball pens were used.

John Sutcliffe, the father of Peter Sutcliffe, complained about not being informed by the hospital about his son's condition:

"All I have heard about him being blind is through the media, which annoys me - I would much prefer to hear from the hospital myself."

Peter Sutcliffe was considering suing Broadmoor Hospital and was to consult with his solicitor, Kerry Macgill.

In March 1998, the family of Peter Sutcliffe appealed directly to the Home Secretary, Jack Straw, in a letter asking for Sutcliffe to be moved from Broadmoor to the secure unit at Ashworth Hospital in Liverpool, based on compassionate grounds.

The family stated that the journey to Broadmoor, Berkshire, takes eight hours and they had great difficulty visiting him.

They also stated that the prison had been unable to move Sutcliffe because it could not give him another room.

The family said that, prior to the attack by Ian Kay, Sutcliffe had his own room and communal area, and that his room was given to another prisoner while he was being treated for the injuries he sustained.

The family stated that they had asked the authorities at Broadmoor for the move shortly after Ian Kay had been sentenced in January 1998, but without result.

The appeal to the Home Secretary also had been without result.

Det Insp Jamie Williamson headed the investigation.

At the time of Kay's earlier history, it was said Kay had been jailed for eight years in December 1991 for nearly killing a shop assistant and for 16 robberies on stores in London.

Kay was allowed out on home leave less than three years later and within two hours he had robbed a post office.

Kay was given leave again in August 1994 and failed to return.

Between August and November of that year, Kay admitted seven robberies, a theft, and an attempted theft, all but one of them involving Woolworths.

Kay was charged with the November 1994 murder of Woolworths' assistant manager John Penfold.

Kay stabbed John Penfold through the heart with a kitchen knife before grabbing two 50p coins from the till, which he dropped as he ran to a nearby car.

Kay described John Penfold as a "have-a-go hero who got what he deserved."

Psychiatrists said Kay was suffering from an abnormal personality disorder, and it was argued at his trial that he was unable to control his violent impulses.

The jury rejected Kay's plea of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Kay was transferred to Broadmoor after showing signs of mental illness.

One account stated that Sutcliffe was sitting in his room in Henley ward when Kay burst in, and that "An argument started and before staff could reach him, Kay had attacked Sutcliffe.There was a scuffle and Sutcliffe was stabbed in both eyes by what we believe was a fibre tip pen. The points of these types of pens are very sharp and can do a lot of damage. Kay had apparently been showing signs of violence in the past few weeks. We have had other patients in Broadmoor who have been stabbed with a felt pen like this. They are available in the work areas and are used for drawing."

Another account stated that, after Kay had been moved to a private room two doors from Sutcliffe, he went berserk and that it was believed he objected to be so close to one of Britain's most notorious murderers.

A hospital source said:

"At about the time of the attack, Sutcliffe usually stays on the ward to write letters to the various pen pals he has. He has got pens and pencils he uses but it is not clear whether Kay used one of Sutcliffe's felt-tips to attack him. It would have been very quiet on the ward at the time of the attack and most patients would have been off on therapy courses or in work units."

One nurse said:

"Kay has made a couple of attacks on patients in the last few months and Sutcliffe seems to have been his ultimate aim. He definitely knew who he was attacking. He struts around the high-security ward like a cockerel in a show of bravado. He needs to prove himself and become top dog - to remove the fear of being attacked by others."

A hospital source said:

"He was smiling and appeared very calm. Then the nurse spotted blood on the front of Kay's shirt. The nurse raced into Sutcliffe's room and found him lying on the floor with his face in a terrible state. He was writhing in agony saying that he couldn't see."

The attack on Peter Sutcliffe by Ian Kay happened just a week after Health Secretary Stephen Dorrell had announced a wide-ranging review concentrating on security and the quality of care at Broadmoor.

The Prison Officers' Association had criticised security and staffing levels at Broadmoor, including a lack of experienced nurses and patients intimidating the staff, and had warned that the hospital was reaching a "breaking point".

It was said that earlier, a separate attempt to strangle Peter Sutcliffe by Paul Wilson occurred thirteen months before the attack by Ian Kay.