Criminologist reveals the five groups of people who are targeted by serial killers in the UK

Though the US definitely has the market cornered when it comes to shocking serial killers, the UK has also been home to a few over the years.

Remember, a serial killer is not just someone with a gnarly backstory or an insidious name like the Night Stalker. By definition, a serial killer is a single person who has killed three or more people over more than a month and after a “cooling off” period. The World Population Review suggests there could have been over 190 UK-based serial killers over the years, but for obvious reasons, these stats might not be exact.

You’ve got Jack the Ripper, perhaps the most famous UK serial killer of all time, Peter Sutcliffe, who killed 13 women between 1975 and 1980, and, of course, the infamous Doctor Harold Shipman. But now we’ve highlighted what a serial killer actually is, here are the groups they tend to target, according to a renowned criminologist.

Harold Shipman, the UK’s most famous serial killer. Credit: Shutterstock

A criminologist said there are five groups targeted by serial killers in the UK

David Wilson is a criminologist and professor of criminology at Birmingham City University. A former prison governor, David is an expert in murder, and specifically, serial killers.

During an interview with LadBible earlier this year, David outlined the major groups that are targeted by serial killers in the UK. As you might have assumed, the list largely contains women.

“In this country, by and large, only five groups get targeted by serial killers, and women and girls dominate four out of those five groups,” he explained in the video interview. “The only group of men that gets overwhelmingly targeted by serial killers are gay men.”

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Criminologist David Wilson breaks down the five groups #truecrime #criminalminds #interview

♬ original sound – LADbible TV – LADbible TV

The next two groups of people were women over the age of 60 and sex workers, followed by young girls. Annoyingly, David didn’t detail the fifth and final group, but people in the comments seem to think it’s women of colour.

Later in the interview, David highlighted how police could reduce the number of serial murders by attacking the issue at its source.

He explained: “So even if you just take those simple realities, you can reduce the incidence of serial murder by targeting the circumstances that make those groups vulnerable to attack. So, for example, with gay men, they are made vulnerable by homophobia.

“Women over the age of 60, you try and work out their vulnerability is created by living in a culture that’s obsessed with youth. You know, we silence older people in our culture. We don’t give them a voice. They’re not seen as important. And because they’re not seen as important, if they die unexpectedly, that’s not questioned.”