‘As evil as the Yorkshire Ripper’

A SERIAL rapist, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of a 14-year-old girl in Britain, was investigated by gardaí in connection with the disappearance and murder of three Irish women, it has emerged.

The movements of Robert Howard, a native of Laois described by one detective as “as evil as the Yorkshire Ripper”, are also to be traced by gardaí in relation to a number of sex attacks and robberies dating back to the 1980s.

He is serving life for the murder of teenager Hannah Williams, from Deptford in east London. Her body was dumped in a disused cement works in March 2001.