RELIEF - that was the reaction of a Blackpool couple's family after their suspected serial killer was found hanged in his remand cell.

Stephen Akinmurele, 21, had been due to appear at Preston Crown Court on September 27 charged with the horrific double murder of retired pleasure boat operators Eric Boardman, 76, and his wife Joan, 74, at their home in Seafield Road, North Shore, last November.

Akinmurele was also accused of murdering his former Blackpool landlady Jemima Cargill, 75, the month before - setting fire to the house to cover his tracks - as well as two more elderly women, Marjorie Ashton, 72, and Dorothy Harris, 68, in the Isle of Man in 1995 and 1996.

A convicted burglar, he was caught when he left fingerprints and a cosh at the Boardmans' house, having strangled Mrs Boardman and beaten her husband to death.

The seemingly random killing shocked the resort where the couple had been held in affection by tourists and residents for many years, operating pleasure boats on Central Beach in summer and inshore fishing in winter.

A close family member said: "It was a relief more than anything when we heard of his death - relief that the matter is effectively closed, that the family hasn't got to go through the trauma of a court case and that we're not wondering about his coming back on to the streets in the fullness of time. We feel sad for his mother, but from our point of view I think relieved is the best word for it."

Akinmurele was found hanging from a strip of clothing tied to a window at Manchester Prison, formerly known as Strangeways, on Saturday (August 28) afternoon. Detectives said he had made a previous suicide attempt.

A civil servant of Nigerian/British parentage, he had lived in the Isle of Man since his father died when he was a child, moving to Blackpool in 1996, where he worked at a benefits office by day and as a fun-pub barman at night.

Det Supt Bob Denmark, who led the Blackpool murder investigations, described him as "a very volatile and angry young man.

"I have interviewed him personally and regard him as one of the most dangerous men I have ever met.

"He had a strange and hostile attitude towards elderly people. It would have been brought out in the trial that he was drawn to situations where he was likely to encounter old people and have the propensity to kill them."

The prison service is holding an internal investigation into Akinmurele's death, to be carried out by a senior governor unconnected with Manchester Prison.

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