20-DEC-1993 08:47 LONDON "GAY SLAYER" CONVICTED OF FIVE
MURDERS

    LONDON (Reuter) - A "gay slayer" who sought notoriety as a
serial killer was sentenced to life in prison on Monday after he
admitted strangling five homosexual men in murders that struck
fear into London's gay community.
    Colin Ireland, a 39-year-old fascinated by outdoor survival
training, showed no emotion as the judge handed down five life
sentences and told him he should never be released.
    Ireland had pleaded guilty to murdering all five victims
earlier this year. Four were throttled within 17 days.
    "These murders were premeditated and meticulously planned. It
would seem the defendant set out to be a serial killer. He told
others, in order to be so classified, he knew he would have to
commit at least four murders," prosecutor John Nutting told a
packed London court.
    "He chose a vulnerable group as his intended victims --
homosexual men who indulged in sado-masochistic sex, thus
enabling him to tie them up with no resistance from them before
killing them," Nutting said.
    Ireland told detectives he had chosen gay men as his victims
instead of women because he thought the public would have less
sympathy for them.
    Though he said he hated gays police believed Ireland murdered
not out of a sexual motive but because he wanted to be a famous
serial killer.
    Before he was arrested, Ireland taunted police in a series of
anonymous phone calls claiming responsibility for the murders and
threatening to keep striking once a week.
    Police said Ireland had read a book by an ex-Federal Bureau
of Investigation detective, Robert Ressler, who classified a
serial killer as someone who murdered at least five people.
    "I have got the book, I know how many you have to do -- you
have to do one over four," Ireland told police.
    Nutting said Ireland left his fingerprints only in one place,
on a window grille at the flat of his fourth victim.
    "That was his only mistake," the prosecutor said.