John Straffen was born in 1930. As he progressed through school life he became a thief and a truant. At age 10 he was sent to a school for backward children, and in 1947 he assaulted a child and was committed to a mental institution.  He was released in February 1951 and had, by August, strangled two small girls, Brenda Goddard and Cicely Batstone, both aged only 5. in the town of Bath. He did it, he claimed, to annoy the police. In October he appeared before a Taunton court, he was found unfit to plead and was sent to Broadmoor secure unit. April 1952, he escaped from Broadmoor, and although he was caught later the same day, it was not before he had strangled Linda Bowyer. The body of the young girl was found the next day in a field close to Broadmoor. Straffen implicated himself by telling officers ‘I did not kill the little girl on the bicycle.’ This was before they had asked him about the murder. triple child-killer John Straffen is taken to court in 1952 July 1952, Straffen appeared at Winchester Crown Court and pleaded not guilty. His ability to plead was accepted and he was found guilty and sentenced to death. An appeal against sentence was lodged , and a reprieve was granted. He was returned to Broadmoor to see out his days.  He had the claim of being the longest serving prisoner in the UK having been in continuous custody since 23rd April 1952 until eventually dying behind bars in Broadmoor on 19th November, 2007, at the age of 77. Caged for ever … evil Straffen gazes through bars of cell in 2007