Ex-cop, 80, who plotted to be ‘most evil’ serial killer jailed for rape and homicide fantasies

Brian Darby, 80, a former cop jailed for life after plotting to become a serial killer, has been handed more years in prison after sharing horrifying rape and murder fantasies online

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A former police officer who previously conspired to become a serial killer has been jailed once more for distributing fantasies online about raping and murdering women and girls. Brian Darby, 80, was sentenced to life in 2002 after implementing his deadly schemes, stalking prospective victims and breaking into one woman’s residence before placing a wire around her neck.

Darby, who confessed at the time he wished to be “as evil as possible”, was ultimately released from custody on licence in 2017. But Wood Green Crown Court heard he began viewing indecent images of children online almost immediately after his release.

When he was detained in February this year, following the creation and distribution of indecent images of children that he had generated using AI, police also discovered a series of online conversations where he had shared horrifying rape and murder fantasies.

Prosecutor Bartholomew O’Toole told the hearing Darby had posted a sexual fantasy involving killing children on Reddit, and online chats featured his ambitions to strangle, smother and drown women.

He said one post spelled out the “strangulation of his wife with family gathering around to voice encouragement and advice”.

In another post, Darby said schools should “train girls to be sex slaves and dominatrices”, while women should be killed at the age of 30.

Judge John Law sentenced Darby on Friday to four years in prison, with an extra two years on licence once released. However, he informed the octogenarian, who has been summoned back to prison to continue serving his life sentence, that he may now face the prospect of dying in jail without ever being released again.

He described Darby as “emotionally detached and indifferent” when questioned about his most recent offences, and noted that he “did not appear to be embarrassed or ashamed”.

He stated that the online rape and murder fantasies “echo” Darby’s 2002 convictions for attempted murder, conspiracy to murder, and aggravated burglary.

In assessing Darby as a dangerous offender, the judge highlighted his “entrenched interest in violent sexual material involving children and adults, your online dissemination of that material and fantasies, and a pattern of offending”.

Darby was dismissed from his role as a PC at Leicestershire Police in the 1970s following his conviction for indecently assaulting boys.

He later found employment as a health and safety officer for the BBC during the 1980s, the court was told.

In 2001, Darby pleaded guilty to attempted murder and was convicted at trial of conspiracy to murder alongside his partner Jeanette White.

The Old Bailey heard that White was “under the spell” of Darby as they exchanged approximately 450 pages of letters discussing serial killing, rape, cannibalism, and necrophilia.

By 2000, these fantasies had become reality as the pair conspired to murder a woman and her children in their Westminster home, while Darby responded to adverts from women seeking a room to rent so he could stalk them.

A 45-year-old mum narrowly avoided death when Darby visited her home in Ealing, west London, masquerading as a BBC researcher.

He put a wire noose around her neck with the intention to rape and kill her, but she managed to flee into the street, the 2002 sentencing hearing was informed.

The court was told on Friday that Darby utilised encryption technology to attempt to conceal his identity when he used AI online to generate the indecent images of children.

Olivia Beach, representing Darby, stated he acknowledges his actions were “wrong”, and he attributes it to an “addiction which is something out of his control and there is nothing he can do about it”.

The court also learned that Darby volunteers in prison to listen to the problems and concerns of other prisoners.

After Darby’s sentencing hearing, Detective Inspector Andy Cook of the Met’s Online Child Sexual Abuse Exploitation team, said: “Darby is a vile individual whose previous offending makes this case all the more disturbing.

“We launched an investigation as soon as we received intelligence that he was suspected of uploading indecent images of children to the internet. Darby was arrested in February and was immediately recalled to prison.

“Extensive digital forensic work on Darby’s phone by Met detectives helped build a strong case against him. He was left with little option except face up to what he had done.”

Darby, from Enfield, north London, will serve approximately two and a half years of his prison sentence before being considered for release, but he must now also persuade the Parole Board that he is safe to be released again from his life sentence.

He pleaded guilty to nine charges of obscene communication, three counts of creating indecent photographs of a child, and two counts of distributing indecent photographs of a child.