Chilling moment wedding day killer taunts cops while on the run after butchering 3 and raping teen

Publish date: 2024-09-06

THIS is the chilling moment a murderer boasted about his sadistic crimes and taunted cops while on the run after butchering a family and raping a teen at a wedding.

Depraved Arthur Hutchinson, 78, became known as "The Fox" during a reign of terror that left families petrified to leave their homes after dark.

The fiend had calmly tucked into cheese and champagne before slaughtering Basil and Avril Laitner, 59 and 55, at their daughter's wedding in Sheffield in 1983.

He then stabbed their 28-year-old son Richard to death before brutally raping his sister Nicola, 18, at knifepoint.

Hutchinson then sparked a huge manhunt as officers desperately tried to catch the triple killer before he struck again.

But documentary The Killer In My Family reveals how arrogant Hutchinson revelled in his new nickname and called a local newspaper to boast about his time on the run.

'DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?'

In one call, he says: "I'm living rough like the police have said...stealing out of people's back gardens, cabbages and things like that.

"I sleep by day and I travel at night.

"So what do you want to ask me then? You definitely know who I am, don't you?

"I'm not a hoax. So I'm not going to give myself up."

Growing up in Hartlepool in the 1940s, Hutchinson displayed an obsession with bloodlust even from a young age - stabbing his sister with scissors when he was just seven years old.

But in the 1970s, Hutchinson appeared to turn his back on petty crime and moved in to a home owned by his brother Dino rent-free.

The criminal couldn't resist breaking the law though and attempted to shoot his brother when he tried to turf him out - before calmly driving to work when the bullet missed.

WEDDING DAY MASSACRE

After being released from five years in prison for attempted murder, Hutchinson soon landed himself back in custody on charges of rape, theft and burglary.

But on September 28, 1983, he escaped after clambering through a window at Selby Magistrates' Court.

It was three-and-a-half weeks later that the brute sneaked into the home of the wealthy Laitner family in Dore, near Sheffield.

Basil and Avril had just celebrated the wedding of their daughter Suzanne - unaware the beast was watching the happy day from a nearby field ready to pounce.

The monster broke in through a patio door as the family relaxed in a marquee and butchered the couple before killing their son.

Cops discovered Basil in his pyjamas lying face down at the top of the stairs, while his wife lay in a pool of blood on the bedroom floor.

'MASTER OF DISGUISE'

Brave Nicola, who was repeatedly raped as Hutchinson held a blade to her throat, was able to give a detailed description to cops matching the wanted man.

Journalist David Leslie says: "Hutchinson taunted the police while he was at large.

"During this time, there were families in Yorkshire who would not go out at night."

The 39-day hunt for the triple murderer spanned nine counties as "The Fox" continued to taunt officers and brand himself a "master of disguise".

But the net began to close in when Hutchinson called his mum and told her he was "coming home" - leading police to set up road blocks in the area ready to catch the brute.

Hutchinson was finally cornered in a turnip field on the outskirts of Teesside and arrested and later charged with murder and rape.

He was sentenced to life with a minimum of 18 years, which could have seen him released from prison in 2002.

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But the then Home Secretary Leon Brittan intervened and Hutchinson joined the grisly rank of prisoners who will die in prison.

Hutchinson has since fought against his sentence - even launching an appeal at the human rights court in Strasbourg, which was thrown out.

There are around 70 offenders serving whole-life sentences, including some of the country's most notorious criminals, such as one-eyed police killer Dale Cregan and Levi Bellfield.

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