The British Contract Killer Who Should Never Have Been Caught

No bodies or murder weapon was ever found, so how was he brought to justice?

Screenshot from The True Crime Museum

John Childs, also known as Bruce Childs, is a British hitman and serial killer. He was convicted in 1979 of a series of contract killings. No bodies were ever found. During sentencing, he implicated two other men, Terry Pinfold and Harry MacKenney.

All three received whole life orders. Childs is regarded as the most prolific contract killer in British history.

Early Life and Criminal Beginnings

Childs began his career in the British Army as a sapper, combat engineer and soldier. He lasted just nine months before being expelled for burglary. From then on, he became a collector of weapons and war books. Shortly after, he was arrested and charged with stealing motorbikes.

On his release in 1972, he went to work for MacKenney and Pinfold. He later married and had two daughters.

The Murders

Childs was known for the severity of his killings and his methods of disposal.

His first killing was that of Terry Eve in August 1974. Eve was Pinfold’s business partner. By removing him, Pinfold could gain complete control of the business. Childs beat Eve with a pipe and axe, then strangled him.

The second victim was Robert Brown in January 1975. Brown was a friend of Eve’s and, according to Childs, knew too much about his disappearance. He shot Brown three times, hit him with an axe and stabbed him with both a knife and a sword.

George and Terry Brett were next. It is unclear why George was a target, but Childs claimed he was paid to kill him. Terry, George’s ten-year-old son, had gone for a ride with his father. Both were shot through the head.

Three years later, Freddie Sherwood met the same fate. Sherwood was also a contract killing target and the owner of a residential home in Herne Bay.

The last victim was Ronald Andrews, killed because MacKenney was having an affair with his wife. Childs lured Andrews to his flat and shot him.

Childs would later admit to many other murders, allegedly starting earlier in his career. However, as a pathological liar, it is impossible to verify all his claims.

Once the men were dead, Childs disposed of the bodies by dismembering them with a saw and incinerating the remains in his fireplace. He also purchased a mincer but found it too time-consuming to use.

Catching a Contract Killer

These murders might have remained unsolved had Childs not been arrested in 1978 for bank and security van robbery. While on remand, he confessed to the killings to Detective Chief Superintendent Frank Cater.

In 1979, he was sentenced on six counts of murder and then turned Queen’s evidence, implicating both Pinfold and MacKenney.

It is believed Childs was sentenced to a whole life order, although his name has never been officially published as such. Some names are withheld for specific reasons, and Childs is one of these cases.

MacKenney and Pinfold

Initially sentenced to whole-life orders, both MacKenney and Pinfold had their convictions overturned in 2003 and were released. Lord Woolf stated that Childs was a pathological liar and that his testimony was “so unreliable that it was worthless.”

Childs appealed in 2014, by which time he had been diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder. The appeal failed. The judge told him he would die in prison.

His family history, his personality disorder and psychopathy, his guilty pleas, while not ignored, do not lead to the conclusion that anything other than a whole life tariff is appropriate. – Mr Justice Nicol

The exact role of MacKenney and Pinfold has never been conclusively proved. Records show that Childs was paid for his role in the killings. It is also true that without his confession, the murders would never have been solved. With no bodies or murder weapons ever found, only Childs knows the full truth of what happened and why he confessed.

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