John Martin Scripps
English spree killer
Died when: 36 years 132 days (436 months)Star Sign: Sagittarius
John Martin (born John Martin Scripps, 9 December 1959 – 19 April 1996) was an English spree killer who murdered three tourists—Gerard Lowe in Singapore, and Sheila and Darin Damude in Thailand—with another three unconfirmed victims.
He posed as a tourist himself when committing the murders.He cut up all his victims' bodies, using butchery skills he had acquired in prison, before disposing of them.
Martin was arrested in Singapore (where he had killed Lowe) when he returned there after murdering the Damudes.Photographs of decomposed body parts were shown as evidence during his trial, making it "one of the most grisly" ever heard in Singapore.
He defended himself by saying that Lowe's death was an accident and that a friend of his killed the Damudes.
The judge did not believe Martin's account of events and sentenced him to death by hanging, making him the first Briton since Singapore's independence from Britain and Malaysia to be given the death penalty.
He is also one of the first Westerners to be executed in Singapore since independence, the first one being Johannes Van Damme of the Netherlands in 1994.