Steven John Grieveson (born 14 December 1970) is a British

serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

known as the Sunderland Strangler, who murdered four teenage boys in a series of killings committed between 1990 and 1994 in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

, England. Convicted of three counts of murder at

Leeds Crown Court Leeds Combined Court Centre is a Crown Court venue, which deals with criminal cases, and a County Court venue, which deals with civil cases, in Oxford Row, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is adjacent to Leeds Magistrates Courts. History Un ...

, Grieveson was handed three life sentences on 28 February 1996, with a recommendation that he serve a minimum of 35 years before the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...

considers his eligibility for release. In October 2013, Grieveson was convicted of the 1990 murder of 14-year-old Simon Martin at

Newcastle Crown Court The Newcastle Law Courts is a Crown Court venue, which deals with criminal cases, as well as a magistrates' court venue, on the Quayside in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. History Until the 1980s, all Crown Court cases were heard in the Moot Ha ...

and handed a fourth life sentence. He is incarcerated at HMP Full Sutton in the

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, often abbreviated to the East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, S ...

, England. Grieveson became known as the ''Sunderland Strangler'' due to the city in which he committed his murders, and his preferred murder method of

ligature strangulation Strangling or strangulation is compression of the neck that may lead to unconsciousness or death by causing an increasingly hypoxic state in the brain by restricting the flow of oxygen through the trachea. Fatal strangulation typically occurs ...

Murders and trial

On 26 November 1993, Grieveson murdered 18-year-old Thomas Kelly in an abandoned allotment shed in

Fulwell, Sunderland Fulwell is an affluent area and former civil parish in the Sunderland district, in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. The parish was abolished in 1928 as a result of the Sunderland Corporation Act 1927, and the area incorporated into the form ...

. His body was set on fire. On 4 February 1994, he murdered 15-year-old David Hanson in Roker Terrace, before finally murdering 15-year-old David Grieff on 25 February 1994 in an abandoned Fulwell allotment just 50 yards from where he had killed Thomas Kelly three months earlier. All three victims were pupils or former pupils of Monkwearmouth Academy, and suspicion among both law enforcement and the staff and fellow pupils at this school was that all three victims had known their killer—who may have been a present or former student of Monkwearmouth Academy himself. Grieveson was a pupil primarily at Hylton Red House School. Grieveson was initially arrested on 11 March, charged with an attempted burglary at the Roker Terrace household where the charred body of David Hanson had previously been found. Following an extensive investigation, Grieveson was charged with the three murders in November 1995, and faced a six-week trial in 1996 where he was handed three

life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are c ...

s for murder. He was ordered to serve a minimum of 35 years in prison. It was ascertained at this first trial, held at

, that Grieveson murdered the three boys in order to conceal evidence of his

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

. When asked their personal feelings towards Steven Grieveson following his conviction, the father of Thomas Kelly stated: "

t is T, or t, is the twentieth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is d ...

a great relief this monster is off the streets so no other family will have to go through what we faced."

Fourth murder conviction

In November 2000, Grieveson, serving his three life sentences at Full Sutton Prison, was arrested and questioned over the May 1990 murder of 14-year-old Simon Martin, who was murdered in Gilside House,

Roker Roker ( ) is a seaside resort in Sunderland, city of Sunderland district, Tyne and Wear. England. It is located north of the River Wear and Monkwearmouth, east of the southern part of Fulwell with the coastal resort of Seaburn to its nort ...

. In June 2004, Grieveson wrote a letter to the Victim Liaison Services in which he admitted murdering the three victims killed in 1993 and 1994, but in which he omitted his culpability in the murder of Simon Martin. As such, he was not charged with Martin's murder at the time. On 22 November 2012, however, Grieveson was charged with the murder of Simon Martin, and on 11 February 2013, he admitted being responsible for Martin's death, but denied that this particular murder had been

premeditated Malice aforethought is the "premeditation" or "predetermination" (with malice) required as an element of some crimes in some jurisdictions and a unique element for first-degree or aggravated murder in a few. Insofar as the term is still in use, ...

. He was convicted of Simon Martin's murder on 24 October 2013 following a trial at

Discounted link to other murder

On 20 February 2014, Grieveson was also arrested on suspicion of the 1992 murder of a seven-year-old girl named Nikki Allan, who had been found stabbed to death in a disused warehouse in October 1992. Two years after her death a neighbour, who had confessed to the killing, was acquitted after police were found to have used "oppressive methods" in their questioning. Although Allan was female and had been stabbed to death, the extensive

blunt force trauma A blunt trauma, also known as a blunt force trauma or non-penetrating trauma, is a physical trauma due to a forceful impact without penetration of the body's surface. Blunt trauma stands in contrast with penetrating trauma, which occurs when an ...

injuries inflicted to her head had been similar to those Grieveson had inflicted on Simon Martin in 1990. Grieveson was questioned as to his potential involvement, although detectives later stated he was to face no further current action in relation to their ongoing enquiries into Allan's murder. In 2017, police announced they had isolated a complete

DNA profile DNA profiling (also called DNA fingerprinting and genetic fingerprinting) is the process of determining an individual's deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) characteristics. DNA analysis intended to identify a species, rather than an individual, is cal ...

of Allan's murderer from previous samples, leading to the re-arrest in 2019 of a previous suspect (not Grieveson). In May 2023, 55-year-old David Boyd was found guilty of Allan's murder. Boyd was a convicted child molester; his partner in the early 1990s had been Allan's babysitter.

References

Cited works and further reading

* Baker, Jeanette (1996). ''Triple Horror in Sunderland''. ''Master Detective''. December 1996 issue. * Hall, Steve; Winlow, Simon (2012). ''New Directions in Criminological Theory''. Routledge. pp. 230–231.

External links

* 1996 ''Independent'' news article detailing Grieveson'
initial murder convictions
at Leeds Crown Court
Contemporary BBC news article
detailing Grieveson's 2013 conviction for the murder of Simon Martin *

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