Capital Punishment in England officially ended on November 8, 1965, with the passing of the Murder Act.

Hanging had been in existence in this country for 15 centuries or more. But by the mid-Sixties avant-garde opinion held that it was a barbaric practice and could not be justified as a deterrent.

I mention this because the interesting feature of Charles Rickell's book about serial killers in Yorkshire is that the vast majority of first murders and repeat homicides in his chosen 24 case histories occurred after 1965.

Since 1965 in England and Wales, about 120 people convicted of murder or manslaughter have reportedly killed again upon release. In the past few years, the knifing, shooting and kicking to death of people has almost become a national pasttime, a kind of alternative blood sport for the disaffected and deranged.

So out of control have things become, there is even talk of putting metal detectors in schools, although what would powerless teachers do in the event of knives being discovered? They can't even put a troublesome pupil on detention without sending a note to his parent.

The title of this glossy 172-page book, Yorkshire's Multiple Killers, is slightly misleading. Flick through it and you won't find a word about Reginald Christie, Peter Sutcliffe, Donald Neilson or Mark Rowntree. That is because none of them were released from prison; Christie, from Halifax, was hanged for the multiple murders he carried out at 10 Rillington Place in London. Advocates for the return of capital punishment may also feel their position justified by the four or five cases in the book of convicted killers murdering again while in prison.

Once a killer always a killer? This does not appear to be a question that Mr Rickell, a contributor to True Crime, Master Detective and True Detective magazines, thought of answering polemically.

His book is essentially a chronicle and a catalogue, although he was inspired to set to work on it after reading a letter to a West Yorkshire newspaper that 70 convicted killers had repeated their offence since the abolition of capital punishment.

Of the 24 cases highlighted, seven have what may be called a local connection. One peculiarity, though, is that the black and white snaps do not include a single archive photograph of any of the killers.

  • Yorkshire's Multiple Killers: 1915-2006, by Charles Rickell is published by Pen & Sword Books Ltd and priced at £12.99.