Freed killer who ate victim’s brains jailed ‘forever’

A VOODOO-INSPIRED cannibal killer who ate the brain of one of his victims was behind bars last night after being told he will never be freed from custody.

Triple killer Peter Bryan, aged 35, believed eating human flesh would make him invincible.

He killed two men within months of each other and wanted to go on killing.

The Old Bailey heard yesterday how Bryan was being assessed for a possible release by mental health experts when he struck in February last year.

He killed friend Brian Cherry, 43, then fried his brains in butter and ate them.

His next victim was attacked inside the Broadmoor secure mental hospital while Bryan was being assessed for the previous gruesome killing.

Within two months Bryan attacked and killed fellow patient Richard Loudwell, 59, by smashing his head on a floor. He died two months later.

Bryan later said he regretted being discovered before he had tasted his flesh.

Bryan, originally from east London, pleaded guilty to the manslaughters of Mr Cherry and Mr Loudwell on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Sentencing him to two life sentences yesterday, Judge Giles Forrester told Bryan he would never be released because he was too dangerous.

The court was told that the mental health system had let the public down after Bryan was released from Rampton special hospital where he was sent after the manslaughter of shop assistant Nisha Sheth, in Chelsea, in 1993.

Psychiatrist Dr Martin Lock said Bryan was “probably the most dangerous man he has ever assessed.”

However Bryan had been able to fool doctors because of his ability to remain calm and appear normal.

On February 17 last year, while on leave from an open psychiatric ward, Bryan rained 24 hammer blows on Mr Cherry’s head before sawing off his arms and left leg with a Stanley knife and kitchen knives.

He had tried to cut his head and right leg off but was disturbed before he could finish.

But he had already fried some of Mr Cherry’s brain in butter and eaten it off a plate before police arrived.

He said eating body parts was part of a voodoo ritual he carried out to transfer his victims’ power to himself.

He believed human flesh was part of the “natural food chain” and described wanting to drink human blood as it was “full of protein.”