Evil Doncaster serial killer who murdered three people in 56 hours is focus of new TV documentary

Deranged Anthony Arkwright hacked three people to death during his rampage in 1988 - and is one of around 70 people in the UK serving a whole life tariff, meaning the evil murderer will never be released and will die in prison.

Now his horrific crimes are the focus of a new TV crime documentary which will air for the first time this week.

WARNING: STORY CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT

Evil Arkwright disembowelled his victims in one of the most brutal murder sprees Britain has ever seen and his sickening crimes have now been laid bare in the documentary series When Life Means Life series on H2, the history channel.

The middle child of five siblings, Arkwright was shunted between care homes in Wath upon-Dearne and was dogged by false rumours he had been born out of an incestuous relationship between his mother and grandfather.

His troubled upbringing led him to a life of petty crime and he had a string of convictions for burglary, theft and arson - but he had far more sinister aspirations to become the next Jack the Ripper.

When he turned 21, Arkwright moved into Denman Road, Wath, where he frequently rowed with his neighbours Raymond Ford and Marcus Wright.

On August 27, 1988, Arkwright told neighbour Neil Hirst he was going to "kill that b*****d" after spotting the latter on his way to a nightclub.

He later butchered wheelchair-bound Marcus before slicing open his stomach and shoving a crutch through it.

Depraved Arkwright had then stuck cigarettes in his nose, mouth and ears - making him resemble a grotseque "birthday cake".

Cops arrested him on suspicion of murder but were unaware he had killed three others in hauntingly similar attacks.

While Arkwright was being interviewed, PC David Winter made his way to Raymond Ford's house to follow up on a burglary he had reported against the brute when he came across a gruesome sight.

Making his way through a sea of empty cider bottles at the sweltering home of the alcoholic, the cop avoided stepping on "objects" littered across the hallway.

His crutch had been shoved through his victim's open stomach as he lay disembowelled on the ground.

It was only when he discovered Raymond's eviscerated body that he realised he had been tiptoeing around his organs.

He said: "There was blood on the walls. I opened the bedroom door and I thought there was this pile of clothes in the corner but there was this body underneath this and all the bits and pieces I'd seen in the hallway, that was all his all his organs.

"He'd removed just about every organ in his body."

Raymond had been stabbed 500 times with such force one of the knives Arkwright used had shattered. The other was left in the empty hole in his stomach where his intestines - now draped across the bedroom - had been.

Unaware his second victim's butchered body had been found, the beast toyed with officers in the interview room and while playing with a stack of cards, made a harrowing confession as he turned over the four of hearts: "One you've got, three to come".

Still reeling from the slaughter of Raymond, PC Winter this time travelled to Ruskin Drive, Mexborough, to speak with Akrwright's grandfather Stasys Puidokis.

After letting himself in through an open window, the officer was met with another body - this time Stasys' 72-year-old housekeeper Elsa Konradaite, who had been hit over the head with an axe.

Police now had three of the four hearts and suspected Arkwright's grandfather - the reason for the bullying throughout Arkwright's childhood - would be the fourth.

On advice of neighbours, PC Winter went to a nearby allotment beloved by Stasys and let himself into a gardening shed where discovered the 68-year-old lying in a bloodbath on the earthy floor.

He had been bludgeoned to death with an iron bar and a 14lbs sledgehammer on August 26 - one day before Raymond was killed and two days before the brutal slaying of Marcus Law.

Arkwright was charged with four counts of murder and stood trial at Sheffield Crown Court in 1989 where he pleaded not guilty.

But he was convicted on three counts of murder and sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in prison. Elsa's murder was ordered to lie on court files.

Forensic psychologist Kerry Daynes said Arkwright idolised Jack the Ripper.

"But he didn't just disembowel his victims like the Ripper did and wasn't merely a copycat killer," she said.

"Arkwright wanted that same notoriety though - he presented his victims' bodies like trophies and even hung the intestines of one up around the room like bunting."