Ligus: ‘Fifth victim’ theory
Saturday 11th June 2011, 4:00PM BST.
Alleged Shropshire serial killer Robin Stanislaw Ligus killed a fifth man when he was just 17 years old, a court was told.
Ligus, formerly of Shrewsbury, is on trial charged with the murders of Trevor Bradley, Brian Coles and Bernard Czyzewska in the county in the space of seven months in 1994.
The 59-year-old is already serving a life sentence for the murder of 75-year-old Robert Young.
Ligus was ruled unfit to plea to the three murders he is on trial for following a medical and psychological review.
Prosecutors yesterday told a jury at Birmingham Crown Court Ligus also confessed on tape to committing another murder as a teenager, when he is alleged to have drowned a man near the English Bridge in Shrewsbury.
But prosecutors said the admission cannot be pursued because of a lack of information about the death which is alleged to have happened in 1969.
Yesterday the jury was also told that during the trial it would hear recordings of Ligus confessing to the murders. The tapes were made after an inmate at Gartree Prison agreed to be wired, the court heard.
Mr James Curtis QC, prosecuting, said the conversations between the two men took place in the late 1990s when Ligus showed no sign of mental illness. He said, in the tapes, Ligus is referred to by his prison name “Stan”.
Mr Curtis also told the jury that Ligus mentioned details of all three murders for which he is charged and that he bought the Shropshire Star newspaper to read about his victims. On Thursday the court was told Ligus confessed to being one of the county’s most prolific serial killers during a series of police interviews.
Ms Rachel Brand, QC, defending, told the jury to keep an “open mind” about the confessions made by Ligus which she said contained “bluntly wrong” information which are inconsistent with the facts.
The trial continues.
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