Free The Evil Within - A Top Murder Squad Detective Reveals The Chilling True Stories of The World's Most Notorious Killers by Trevor Marriott Page B

earlier, McCafferty had formed a gang from an odd assortment of teenagers along with Carol Ellen Howes, a 26-year-old woman with whom he was living. McCafferty had met her and 16-year-old Julie Ann Todd when he was a patient at a psychiatric centre. The rest of the gang was made up of Michael John (Mick) Meredith and Richard William (Dick) Whittington, two 17-year-olds McCafferty had met in a tattoo parlour a few days earlier. Mick and Dick had a couple of rifles. The sixth member of the gang was 17-year-old Donald Richard (Rick) Webster, whom McCafferty had met only days earlier. Led by McCafferty, the gang chose their first victim, 50-year-old George Anson, who, on the evening of 24 August 1973, was spotted by the gang as he staggered down the street towards his home after drinking heavily at a local bar. The gang was in a stolen Volkswagen. Anson was far too drunk to put up a fight. They dragged him into a side street. McCafferty kicked Anson repeatedly in the head and about the body. McCafferty later stated that he heard voices for the first time, saying ‘Kill seven. Kill seven. Kill, kill, kill… ’ As a result, McCafferty pulled out a knife and plunged it into Anson’s back and neck seven times. McCafferty gave the dying man one final kick in the face before running back to the car. One of the gang, Rick Webster, was not happy about what had happened and voiced his concern to McCafferty. This would later prove to be Webster’s demise.
    Still hearing voices telling him to kill seven, McCafferty and his gang planned another crime en route to the cemetery to visit the grave of his son. They dropped Julie Todd and Mick Meredith off to pose as hitchhikers. The plan was that as soon as a car stopped they would force the driver to the cemetery atgunpoint and then rob him. Moments later, a car pulled into the cemetery and stopped about 150yd from the graveside. In the car were Julie Todd and Mick Meredith. They were holding 42- year-old Ronald Neil Cox at gunpoint. Cox had felt sorry for the two kids hitchhiking in the rain and had stopped to give them a lift. McCafferty left the graveside and ran over to them. Ronald Cox was forced to lie face down in the mud while McCafferty and Meredith held rifles to the back of his head. Cox begged for his life as the voices in McCafferty’s head spurred him on. Ronald Cox was still begging for his life, telling them that he was the father of seven children. Although he had no way of knowing, this was a fatal mistake. On hearing the word ‘seven’, McCafferty and Meredith each shot Ronald Cox through the back of the head.
    After the killing of Cox, the gang members returned home. But McCafferty could still hear the voices telling him to ‘kill seven’ and he told two of his gang to go out and find him another victim. In the early hours of the following morning, 24-year-old driving instructor Evangelos Kollias picked up Julie Todd and Dick Whittington as they hitchhiked along the road. Once in the car, Whittington produced a .22 rifle from under his coat. They forced Kollias into the back seat and told him to lie on the floor while Julie drove the car back to the flat. McCafferty then took over. They went out in the victim’s car with McCafferty driving. They all knew that McCafferty had murder on his mind. Kollias was told to lie low, as they did not want him to see where they were going. Assured that he would come to no harm, Kollias lay on the back floor and went to sleep. McCafferty’s plan was to kill Kollias then drive his car to where his wife, Janice McCafferty, her mother and her mother’s boyfriend were. Killing them would make the total six. The seventh victim was to be one of his own gang, Rick Webster. McCafferty felt that Webster was likely to betray him to the police. McCafferty told Whittington to kill Kollias. As Kollias woke up in the back of the car, Whittington held the sawn-off .22 rifle to his head and pulled the trigger,killing him instantly. McCafferty