A former detective claims Scotland Yard covered up the case of a self-confessed serial killer who pushed up to 18 people to their deaths on the London Underground during the 1970s.
Retired Scotland Yard Detective Geof Platt said the cases were “suppressed” by press officers working for the government as they “didn’t want people knowing a serial killer got away with pushing innocent people onto the tracks.”
In his book, ‘The London Underground Serial Killer’, Platt revealed the murders committed by Kieran Kelly between 1953 and 1983 were covered up to avoid causing fear among commuters.
The 60-year-old said the records of these cases were not made public until last September.
Kelly, who was known for his drunken acts of violence, allegedly pushed many of his victims on to the train tracks on the Northern Line in the ’70s.
Platt said Kelly confessed to the killings when he was interrogated over the murder of his prison cellmate William Boyd in 1984.
Kelly was locked up in the same cell as Boyd after committing a robbery. Platt told the Mail Boyd was once snoring too loudly and Kelly “knocked him onto the floor and jumped on his head,” eventually strangling him to death.
The murderer was “proud” of what he did and confessed to killing 18 people in an interview, the former detective told the paper.
He was also locked up for the killing of Hector Fisher, a man he repeatedly stabbed in a south London graveyard before he murdered Boyd.
“He was loaded with adrenaline he was loaded with testosterone, he couldn’t stop talking and he came out and started telling everything,” he added.
Platt investigated his claims and discovered Kelly was the only one present at a number of reported suicide incidents on Northern Line platforms.
Kelly “often appeared to have been the only man left standing on the platform” after the victims had died, Platt told the Huffington Post.
Platt also heard Kelly boast about killing his first victim, who had been his best friend, after he suggested Kelly was a homosexual.
Despite the seriousness of the case, police chiefs “hushed up” the truth to avoid spreading panic among the public.
The Home Office “decided this was not a case they wanted broadcasted” as if it was “workers wouldn’t go to work on the Northern Line,” Platt told the Huffington Post.
“It was a Home Office policy decision: Don’t talk to the press and don’t encourage the story,” he added.
RT questioned the Home Office over these allegations. A spokesperson said, “Any evidence to suggest a crime has been committed is a matter for the police.”
According to Platt, Kelly was charged with attempted murder in 1982 for pushing an elderly man on to the tracks at Kensington Station, but walked free due to “lack of evidence.”
Authorities “didn’t want people knowing a serial killer got away with pushing innocent people onto the tracks,” Platt told the Daily Star. “They’d be afraid if it could happen again.”
A Scotland Yard spokesperson told RT the British Transport Police (BTP) is dealing with the claims made by Platt.
A BTP spokesperson told RT it is “aware of the claims included in this book, but given the passage of time since they are alleged to have been committed these would prove difficult to substantiate without further evidence.
“We would invite Mr. Platt to submit any information he has on these matters to us.”