Patrick Mackay

Patrick Mackay
Born	Patrick David Mackay (1952-09-25) 25 September 1952 (age 64) Dartford, Kent, England, UK
Other names	The Psychopath The Devil's Disciple
Criminal penalty	Life imprisonment
Killings
Victims	11
Span of killings	February 1974–March 1975
Country	United Kingdom
Date apprehended	March 1975

Patrick David Mackay (born 25 September 1952) is a British serial killer who confessed to murdering 11 people in London and Kent in England, from 1974-1975.

Mackay was born to Harold Mackay and his wife, Marion, a creole he had met in Guyana. As a child, Mackay was a frequent victim of physical abuse at the hands of his violent alcoholic father, Harold. When Mackay was 10, Harold died from a heart attack on his way to work – the result of complications of alcoholism and a weak heart. His final words to his son were 'remember to be good'. Patrick was said to be unable to come to terms with the loss, telling people Harold was still alive and keeping a photograph of his father on his person. He refused to attend the funeral in Scotland and instantly assumed the role of 'father figure' of the household, regularly beating his mother and two sisters. His mother Marian eventually moved the family from Dartford to Gravesend, but family life did not improve and the police were called to the home as frequently as four times a week. Between the ages of 12 and 22, Mackay was removed from his family home on 18 occasions and put into various specialist schools, institutions and prisons. Both a female police officer and a teacher predicted that Patrick would go on to kill.

Later in his youth, Mackay was prone to extreme tantrums and fits of anger, indulged in animal cruelty and arson (at one point setting his pet tortoise on fire), bullied younger children, stole from elderly women's homes and from people in the street, and even attempted to kill his mother and aunt. He also attempted to kill a younger boy, and later said he would have succeeded had he not been restrained, and attempted to set fire to a Catholic church. Because of such incidents, he spent his teenage years in and out of mental homes and institutions. At 15, he was diagnosed as a psychopath by a psychiatrist, Dr. Leonard Carr, who predicted Mackay would grow up to be a "cold, psychopathic killer." In October 1968, he was committed to Moss Side Hospital, Liverpool as a diagnosed psychopath. He was released in 1972.