Alun Kyte

{{Short description|English criminal (born 1964)}} {{Use British English|date=October 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}} {{Infobox serial killer | name = Alun Kyte | image = | birth_name = | other_names = Midlands Ripper | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1964|7|07}} | birth_place = Tittensor, Stoke-on-Trent, England | death_date = | death_place = | cause = | occupation = Lorry driver | conviction = 2 counts of murder, 1 count of rape, 2 counts of buggery, 4 counts of indecency with a child, 3 counts of attempting to choke, 2 counts of indecent assault, 2 counts of deception, 3 counts of theft, 1 count of making off without payment, 1 count of failing to surrender to bail, other convictions for petty offences | sentence = Life imprisonment (25-year minimum tariff) | victims = 2+ | beginyear = Late 1980s | endyear = December 1997 | country = England | states = | motive = Hatred of women | apprehended = December 1997 (for rape), March 1998 (for murders), February 2023 (for further historical sexual offences) | imprisoned = HM Prison Onley (as of May 2023, previously HM Prison Rye Hill)<ref name="2023 ITV report" /> }}

'''Alun Kyte''' (born 7 July 1964),<ref name="Guardian2000" /> known as the '''Midlands Ripper''', is an English double murderer, serial rapist, child rapist, paedophile and suspected serial killer. He was convicted in 2000 of the murders of two sex workers, 20-year-old Samo Paull and 30-year-old Tracey Turner, whom he killed in December 1993 and March 1994 respectively. After his conviction, investigators announced their suspicions that Kyte could have been behind a number of other unsolved murders of sex workers across Britain in the 1980s and 1990s. He was apprehended due to the ground-breaking investigations of a wider police inquiry named Operation Enigma, which was launched in 1996 in response to the murders of Paull, Turner and of a large number of other sex workers. Kyte was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years imprisonment for the murders of Paull and Turner.

Operation Enigma, which reviewed the unsolved murders of more than 200 sex workers and vulnerable women across Britain since 1986, continues to influence police investigations today and was described as the first step towards the creation of a violent crime database in Britain.

In February 2023, Kyte was further convicted of historical sexual offences against a 9-year-old boy, which he committed in a violent campaign of rape, indecency, and threats which began in the late 1980s and continued for five years. Kyte is imprisoned at HM Prison Onley as of May 2023 and continues to refuse to accept his guilt for any serious crime of which he has been convicted, except for one murder which was verified with a DNA link to him and which he eventually 'accepted his culpability' in.

==Early life== Kyte was born in Tittensor, Stoke-on-Trent in 1964.<ref name="Guardian2000">{{cite news |last1=Walsh |first1=Nick Paton |title=Midlands Ripper unmasked |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/mar/19/nickpatonwalsh.theobserver |access-date=19 February 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=19 March 2000}}</ref> He grew up in Stafford.<ref name="Guardian2000" /> Kyte was said to be a sickly youngster who suffered from severe asthma, and his family doted on him constantly.<ref name="Guardian2000" /> After leaving school, he worked in a series of odd jobs and eventually became a lorry driver.<ref name="Guardian2000" /><ref name="BBC2013">{{cite news |title=Double killer Alun Kyte fails to cut jail term |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23623678 |access-date=19 February 2022 |work=BBC News |date=8 August 2013}}</ref> He was described as a loner and was said to have a violent hatred of women and an unusual interest in prostitutes.<ref name="Guardian2000" /><ref name="BBC2000">{{cite news |title=Prostitute killer jailed |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/664746.stm |access-date=19 February 2022 |work=BBC News |date=14 March 2000}}</ref> He was rarely seen with women and often lived in hostels or bed and breakfasts.<ref name="Guardian2000" /> He would regularly travel hundreds of miles across Britain, telling acquaintances he was looking for work.<ref name="Guardian2000" /> He was known at several hospitals and surgeries, as he would seek medication for a number of medical complaints as he drove lorries around the country.{{sfn|Howard|2009|p=263}}

==Criminal activity in the 1990s== Kyte's itinerant lifestyle allowed him to travel the country in order to seek prostitutes, his chosen victims.<ref name="Guardian2000" /> He would in particular frequent motorway service stations.<ref name="Guardian2000" /> He would ask for services from prostitutes, then attack and rob them.<ref name="Guardian2000" /> He was also a prolific conman, involving himself in petty fraud in cheating car owners by claiming he'd 're-tuned' their cars when he had not.{{sfn|Howard|2009|p=263}} He would frequently replace his own personal car, while also using the cars belonging to his would-be customers to trawl the motorways for women.{{sfn|Howard|2009|p=263}} He would occasionally drive as many as 1,000 miles in his customers' cars, then return them to the unwitting customers.{{sfn|Howard|2009|p=263}}

In January 1991, the ''Staffordshire Newsletter'' reported that Kyte had been convicted of stealing more than £700 from his father's bank account to feed his gambling addiction.<ref name="One-armed bandit">{{cite news |title=Fruit machine addict stole dad's £700 mortgage cash |work=Staffordshire Newsletter |date=11 January 1991 |page=3}}</ref> Kyte, then of Rickerscote Avenue in Stafford, went on the run once his father had discovered the theft, and was reported as a missing person prior to being apprehended by police.<ref name="One-armed bandit" /> During this time, Kyte was also convicted of deceiving a couple, whose car had broken down, out of £35 claiming he was going to buy them a spare part, and also for driving off without paying for petrol at a garage.<ref name="One-armed bandit" /> He pleaded guilty to two counts of deception, one count of theft and one count of making off without payment and was also found guilty of failing to surrender to bail.<ref name="One-armed bandit" /> He was given two years' probation.<ref name="One-armed bandit" /> His defence claimed that, following an examination by a psychiatrist, the clinician had "found nothing clinically wrong with him".<ref name="One-armed bandit" /> Kyte claimed to have remorse, and stated, "I have given up gambling and enrolled at an addiction control centre".<ref name="One-armed bandit" />

===Murder of Samo Paull=== In December 1993, Kyte picked up 20-year-old sex worker Samo Paull from Birmingham's Balsall Heath red light district.<ref name="BBC2000" /> She was a single parent.{{sfn|Howard|2009|p=264}} She was reported missing on 4 December and was missing for more than three weeks before her partially-clothed body was noticed by a horse rider on 31 December.<ref name="Questdoc" /> Paull's remains were lying in a water-filled ditch near a lay-by outside of Swinford, Leicestershire.{{sfn|Howard|2009|p=264}}<ref name="Questdoc" /> This was 38 miles from where she was last seen in Birmingham.{{sfn|Howard|2009|p=264}} The site was near junction 20 of the M1 motorway.<ref name="FL1" /> Because of the remoteness of the location, there was no CCTV evidence, nor were there any people living nearby who could provide information.<ref name="Questdoc" /> All of Paull's possessions had been stolen.<ref name="Questdoc" /> Detectives originally focused their investigation on Paull's boyfriend.<ref name="Questdoc" />

A key witness was a woman who had seen a man in a brown-coloured Ford Sierra car driving through Swinford in early December with a woman in the back seat who appeared to be dead.<ref name="Questdoc" /> The witness had previously worked as a pathologist, and had experience in examining dead bodies.<ref name="Questdoc" /> The woman was sitting "bolt upright" and had strange marks on her face.<ref name="Guardian2000" /> The car was covered in mud and the driver appeared to not want to be seen, pulling a hat over his face.<ref name="Guardian2000" /> When Paull was found dead on 31 December, the witness insisted to police that the dead woman she had seen being driven around was Paull.<ref name="Questdoc" />

===Murder of Tracey Turner=== On 2 March 1994, Central Television broadcast a reconstruction of Paull's murder. Kyte saw the broadcast, and it fuelled his desire to attack another victim.<ref name="Guardian2000" /> Shortly after the broadcast, he abducted 30-year-old Tracey Turner from Hilton Park Services on the M6 Motorway.<ref name="Questdoc" /><ref name="Guardian2000" /> Turner regularly solicited customers from motorway service stations across the country.<ref name="BBC2000" />{{sfn|Howard|2009|p=264}} Turner had a disability: she was virtually deaf.<ref name="BBC2000" /> She was found dead the next day at Bitteswell, near Lutterworth, 52 miles from where she was last seen.{{sfn|Howard|2009|p=264}}<ref name="Questdoc" /> Similarly to Paull, she had been dumped near the M1 motorway, this time near to junction 19.<ref name="FL1" /> She had been raped, stripped of her clothing and strangled.{{sfn|Howard|2009|p=264}} She was dumped by the side of the road and was found about six miles from where Paull had been found dead.<ref name="Questdoc" /><ref name="BBC2013" /> Police concluded that she had been transported to the location by car and dumped at the side of the road by the killer.<ref name="Questdoc" /> Initially, the police made no connection between this new discovery and the murder of Samo Paull three months earlier.{{sfn|Howard|2009|p=264}} The first suspect to be questioned was a man who was believed to have been seen speaking to Turner at Hilton Park services.<ref name="Questdoc" /> His car's registration was checked; he was traced to Glasgow, but, after speaking with him, investigators found no evidence to link him to the murder, and he was released.<ref name="Questdoc" />

Two days after the murder, Kyte was seen at the service station posing as a newspaper reporter.<ref name="BBC2000" /> He told staff he was conducting an investigation into prostitution.<ref name="BBC2000" />

Initial inquiries into the murders of Paull and Turner yielded few clues, and Kyte was not apprehended during this period.<ref name="BBC2000" />

===Further events of 1994 === It is known that Kyte also attacked a second woman in 1994.{{sfn|Howard|2009|p=263}} That March, he again picked up a sex worker from the Balsall Heath area of Birmingham and drove to a dark area, before pulling out a Stanley knife and holding it to her neck.<ref name="Guardian2000" /> He ordered her to give him her belongings and remove her clothes, but, when she begged for her life and told him that she was three months pregnant, Kyte told her to get out, throwing her clothes after her.<ref name="Guardian2000" /> The victim reported the attack to the police; Kyte was not apprehended for this offence.{{sfn|Howard|2009|p=263}}

On 22 April 1994, it was reported in the ''Staffordshire Sentinel'' that a man had been charged with kidnapping Kyte from his Stafford home and robbing him of £55.<ref>{{cite news |title=Kidnap charge man for trial |work=Staffordshire Sentinel |date=22 April 1994 |page=14}}</ref> At this stage, it was still not known that Kyte had murdered and attacked several victims.

===1995 theft convictions=== In January 1995 Kyte, still not known to have committed the murders and attacks on women, pleaded guilty at a magistrates' court to two counts of theft, having stolen a vehicle he said he was working on for a client, and also stealing an £800 welding equipment set, after lying and claiming he had already given the equipment back to its rightful owners.<ref name="Repair man's theft">{{cite news |title=Repair man's theft |work=Staffordshire Newsletter |date=20 January 1995 |page=7}}</ref> At this time, Kyte, recorded as being of Plant Crescent, Stafford, was also charged with a number of other petty offences.<ref name="Repair man's theft" />

===1997 attack and imprisonment=== In December 1997, Kyte committed a violent attack and rape of a woman at knife-point in Weston-super-Mare.{{sfn|Howard|2009|p=263}}<ref name="Questdoc" /> The victim had been staying in the same hostel as Kyte, and was attacked by him there at night.<ref name="Questdoc" /> She managed to escape and report the incident to the police.<ref name="Questdoc" /> Police were dispatched to the hostel, where they arrested Kyte.<ref name="Questdoc" /> Kyte was ultimately found guilty of the attack at trial{{when|date=May 2023}} and sentenced to 8 years' imprisonment.<ref name="Guardian2000" />

==Murder investigations== ===Operation Enigma=== At the time, police in Britain were often ineffective at solving the murders of prostitutes.<ref name="Questdoc" /> The victims received markedly less sympathy from detectives, their murders were rarely featured prominently in the media, and sex workers were often blamed for making themselves vulnerable.<ref name="Questdoc" /> In the six months after Paull's death, four other sex workers, including Tracey Turner, were murdered across Britain, and Leicestershire Constabulary detectives asked for a cross-force investigation. Many of Kyte's crimes were committed across force boundaries, and there were often difficulties in running investigations into such crimes and in sharing resources between forces.{{sfn|Kinnell|2013|p=219}} The increasing number of unexplained prostitute deaths in the 90s eventually led to the creation in 1996 of Operation Enigma, which was intended to review the unsolved murders of up to 207 women dating back to 1986 which were committed against sex workers or women who "could have been mistaken for sex workers".<ref name="Questdoc" /><ref name="BBC2000" /><ref name="FL1">{{cite news |title=Justice is done as 'sick' killer jailed, says sister. |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Justice+is+done+as+%27sick%27+killer+jailed%2C+says+sister.-a060508393 |access-date=20 February 2022 |work=The Free Library |date=15 March 2000}}</ref> The operation was run by the National Crime Faculty in Hampshire, and made use of tracking and data analysis techniques from Canada as well as new forensic techniques which detectives hoped would upgrade crime scene samples.<ref name="Guardian2000" /> Enigma was one of the first steps towards a database for violent crime analysis, and many of its features influence present-day police investigations.{{sfn|Wade|2012}}

Detectives concluded that many murders of sex workers in the 1990s appeared to have been committed by the same person and investigated the theory that a serial killer or serial killers could be at large.{{sfn|Cawthorne|2007|p=467}} 14 murders were in particular said to have similarities and Enigma concluded that up to four serial killers could be at large.<ref name="FL1" /> Many of the unsolved murders Enigma investigated were clustered in the Midlands and in Merseyside.<ref name="Questdoc" /> Information was shared between police forces around Britain.<ref name="Questdoc" /> Detectives concluded that the similar murders of Paull and Turner were likely linked.<ref name="Questdoc" />

===Arrest and conviction for murders=== When Kyte was arrested in December 1997 for the attack on the woman in Weston-super-Mare, his DNA was taken as part of standard procedure when arresting individuals suspected of a crime.<ref name="Questdoc" /> This DNA profile was uploaded onto the national DNA database in March 1998, which revealed a match to a sample taken from the scene of Tracey Turner's murder in 1994.<ref name="Questdoc" /><ref name="Guardian2000" /> Both Turner's and Paull's murder investigations were then re-opened by Enigma investigators.<ref name="Questdoc" /> Kyte was interviewed by these detectives, who decided not to disclose that they had found a DNA link in order to see what his defence would be.<ref name="Questdoc" /> He subsequently denied ever using prostitutes.<ref name="Questdoc" /> He denied ever having pretended to be a newspaper reporter at Hilton Park Services, but CCTV had captured him doing it.{{sfn|Britton|2001|p=586}} He then revealed that he owned a brown Ford Sierra car, the same type as had been seen by the witness transporting a dead body near to where Samo Paull was found dead.<ref name="Questdoc" /> Soon after, Kyte was charged with the murders of both Turner and Paull.<ref name="Questdoc" /><ref name="Guardian2000" />

At trial, forensic experts stated that the likelihood of the DNA found on Turner belonging to anyone other than Kyte was "one in 33,000 million" (one in 33 billion).<ref name="BBC2000" /> Kyte's fellow prison inmates testified that he had boasted of the murders while imprisoned for his 1997 attack.{{sfn|Howard|2009|p=265}}{{Sfn|Kinnell|2013|p=220}} They stated that he had told them that he killed Turner because she laughed at him during sex, infuriating him.{{sfn|Britton|2001|p=586}} The prosecution asserted that the two murders were linked by "type, origin and disposal".{{sfn|Britton|2001|p=586}} Kyte put in a last-minute defence that the reason his semen was found on Turner was because he regularly used prostitutes (despite his earlier declaration that he had never used them) and had had consensual sex with her, saying: "You meet people and have sex with them or a one-night stand and you don't remember it".{{sfn|Howard|2009|p=265}}<ref name="BBC2000" /> He was found guilty of both murders by unanimous decision.{{sfn|Howard|2009|p=265}}{{sfn|Wade|2012}} He was given a minimum 25-year tariff.<ref name="Questdoc" /><ref name="BBC2013" />

In news media coverage of his offences, Kyte was labelled the "Midlands Ripper", in part because he was also suspected of having multiple other victims.<ref name="Guardian2000" /><ref name="Questdoc" /><ref name="CT" />{{sfn|Fido|2001|p=193}}

==Investigations into other possible victims== {{see also|List of unsolved murders in the United Kingdom (1990s)}} Operation Enigma had investigated Kyte's potential links to some of the other 200+ cold cases it was re-investigating.<ref name="Questdoc" /> Because Kyte lived an itinerant lifestyle and drove across the country, it was believed he could be responsible for other unsolved murders across Britain.<ref name="Questdoc" /> In prison, Kyte allegedly boasted of killing 12 women in total, which the detective in charge of investigations into his two known murders said "could be true".<ref name="Independent2000"/> He is said to have stated to inmates that "you don't pay for that kind of women".<ref name="Guardian2002">{{cite news |last1=O'Kane |first1=Maggie |title=Mean streets |work=The Guardian |date=16 September 2002}}</ref> There were reports in the media that detectives feared Kyte could have more victims than Peter Sutcliffe.<ref name="Guardian2000" /> After his conviction in 2000, Leicestershire Police took the unusual step of issuing every police force in Britain with his details and a tape recording of his voice.<ref name="Independent2000">{{cite news |title=Nationwide hunt for victims as jailed 'Midlands Ripper' boasts of murdering 10 more women in his countrywide hunt for victims |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/nationwide-hunt-for-victims-as-jailed-midlands-ripper-boasts-of-murdering-10-more-women-in-his-countrywide-hunt-for-victims-284691.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220219195448/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/nationwide-hunt-for-victims-as-jailed-midlands-ripper-boasts-of-murdering-10-more-women-in-his-countrywide-hunt-for-victims-284691.html |archive-date=2022-02-19 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |access-date=19 February 2022 |work=The Independent |date=18 March 2000}}</ref> Detectives, in particular, noted that Kyte was not yet known to have committed any attacks between 1994 and 1997, and stated that they suspected that there could have been other unknown victims between these dates.<ref name="Independent2000" /> There were several murders that took place when Kyte was known to have been in the vicinity, and it was revealed after Kyte's 2000 conviction that detectives were already planning to speak to him about such murders.<ref name="Questdoc" /> Many were committed near motorways, or the victim's bodies were found near motorways, similarly to Paull and Turner.<ref name="FL1" /> The murder victims announced by investigators as possible victims of Kyte were:

*Yvonne Coley, Birmingham, May 1984.<ref name="Guardian2000" /> *Gail Whitehouse, Wolverhampton, October 1990.<ref name="BBC2000" /><ref name="Questdoc" /> *Janine Downes, Wolverhampton, February 1991.<ref name="BBC2000" /><ref name="Questdoc" /> Kyte was working in the area at the time.<ref name="FL2" /> *Lynne Trenholme, Chester, June 1991.<ref name="BBC2000" /><ref name="Questdoc" /> *Barbara Finn, Coventry, October 1992.<ref name="Independent2000" /> *Natalie Pearman, Norwich, November 1992.<ref name="BBC2000" /><ref name="Questdoc" /> *Carol Clark, Gloucester, March 1993.<ref name="BBC2000" /><ref name="Questdoc" /> Kyte was living in Weston-super-Mare at the time, 20 miles from her flat in Bristol.<ref name="Guardian2001">{{cite news |title=Were these murdered women the victims of Rippers on the loose? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/mar/11/tonythompson.theobserver1 |access-date=20 February 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=11 March 2001}}</ref> *Dawn Shields, Sheffield, May 1994.<ref name="BBC2000" /><ref name="Questdoc" /> Kyte had recently moved to a residence near the place she was abducted from and the murder was said to have all the hallmarks of a Kyte killing.<ref name="FL1" /><ref name="FL2">{{cite news |title=DID MIDLANDS RIPPER KILL MORE WOMEN?|url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/DID+MIDLANDS+RIPPER+KILL+MORE+WOMEN%3F%3B+EXCLUSIVE%3A+A+shocking+Sunday...-a060952472 |access-date=20 February 2022 |work=The Free Library |date=26 March 2000}}</ref> *Sharon Harper, Grantham, July 1994.<ref name="Independent2000" /> *Julie Finlay, Liverpool, August 1994.<ref name="Guardian2000" /> Kyte was said to have detailed knowledge of the area where she was found.<ref name="FL2" /> *Tracey Wylde, Glasgow, November 1997.<ref name="Guardian2000" />

A link between Kyte and these murders could not be proven at the time, as there had been no DNA evidence acquired in these cases.<ref name="Questdoc" /> However, Enigma detectives believed that Kyte was responsible for other murders.<ref name="Questdoc" /> Leicestershire Police assistant chief constable David Colman stated: "I do not believe that we have uncovered the full extent of his criminality and, in particular, there is every reason to believe he may have been responsible for other serious attacks on women".<ref name="CT" /> Operation Enigma concluded that there were notable similarities between the murders of Whitehouse, Trenholme, Pearman, Clarke and Shields.{{sfn|Cawthorne|2007|pp=467-468}} Some of the suggested links between Kyte and these murders were later disproven: In 2017, Norfolk Police revealed they had DNA evidence in the Natalie Pearman case, and in 2019 another man was convicted of Wylde's murder.<ref name="Pearman">{{cite news |title=Natalie Pearman case: DNA could solve 1992 murder |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-41989345 |access-date=19 February 2022 |work=BBC News |date=20 November 2017}}</ref><ref name="Wylde">{{cite news |title=Man jailed for 1997 murder of Glasgow woman Tracey Wylde |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-48308465 |access-date=19 February 2022 |work=BBC News |date=17 May 2019}}</ref> Kyte was originally also linked to the murder of Celine Figard in 1995, but another man was later convicted of the killing.<ref name="Independent2000" />{{sfn|Fido|2001|p=213}} Investigators already have fingerprint evidence in the Trenholme case.<ref>{{cite news |title=The 29-year mystery of one of Chester's most baffling unsolved murders |url=https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/29-year-mystery-one-chesters-18227938 |access-date=20 February 2022 |work=CheshireLive |date=10 May 2020}}</ref> In April 2023 a 66-year-old man was arrested and then bailed in the Carol Clark case, following the discovery of "new and significant" information by police.<ref>{{cite news |title=Carol Clark: Man bailed over 1993 cold case murder |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-65200234 |access-date=29 April 2023 |work=BBC News |date=6 April 2023}}</ref>

The murder of Dawn Shields was covered in a 2013 documentary, as part of the ''Killers Behind Bars: The Untold Story'' series.<ref name="Killers Behind Bars">{{cite web |author1=David Wilson |author1-link=David Wilson (criminologist) |title=Killers Behind Bars: The Untold Story - Stephen Griffiths |url=https://ok.ru/video/1631886445103 |publisher=Channel 5 |access-date=29 October 2021 |format=TV Documentary |date=21 March 2013}}</ref> The presenter David Wilson spoke to detectives who were on the Shields case; they also visited the site where she was found.<ref name="Killers Behind Bars"/>

Kyte continues to be regularly linked in the press to many of these murders and other unsolved killings.<ref name="CT">{{cite news |title=Are missing Coventry sex workers victims of the Midlands Ripper? |url=https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/local-news/missing-coventry-sex-workers-victims-22984273 |access-date=19 February 2022 |work=Coventry Telegraph |date=5 February 2022}}</ref><ref name="BL">{{cite news |title=The murder of Bristol's Carol Clark, strangled and dumped on the bank of a canal, is still unsolved 25 years later |url=https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/bristols-carol-clark-strangled-dumped-4295 |access-date=19 February 2022 |work=BristolLive |date=4 December 2016}}</ref><ref name="BL4">{{cite news |title=Midlands murderer Alun Kyte 'could have more victims than Yorkshire Ripper' |url=https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/midlands-murderer-alun-kyte-could-22998360 |access-date=19 February 2022 |work=BirminghamLive |date=5 February 2022}}</ref><ref name="BL2">{{cite news |title=Unsolved: The women and girls who have never seen justice after violent murders |url=https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/unsolved-women-girls-who-never-21823173 |access-date=19 February 2022 |work=BirminghamLive |date=17 October 2021}}</ref><ref name="BL2010">{{cite news |title=From the Archives: When a killer stalked Birmingham's vulnerable vice girls |url=https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/archives-killer-stalked-birminghams-vulnerable-126712 |access-date=19 February 2022 |work=BirminghamLive |date=17 June 2010}}</ref><ref name="SM">{{cite news |title=DID THIS DOUBLE KILLER MURDER 3 MORE VICE GIRLS? Ex-detectives link monster to series of unsolved red light cases. |work=Sunday Mercury |date=16 August 2020}}</ref>

==Imprisonment== Kyte had an appeal against his conviction rejected in February 2001.<ref name="CET">{{cite news |title=Killer's appeal rejected |work=Coventry Evening Telegraph |date=23 February 2001}}</ref>

In 2013, it was announced that Kyte had failed in an appeal against the length of his 25-year minimum sentence.<ref name="BBC2013" /> Kyte had argued that the sentence was "too long".<ref name="BBC2013" /> It was revealed that Kyte had accepted his culpability in relation to Turner's murder but continued to deny any involvement in the murder of Paull.<ref name="BBC2013" /> The judge said that he had not made enough progress in prison to qualify for a reduction in his sentence.<ref name="ITV2013">{{cite news |title=Killer's appeal rejected |url=https://www.itv.com/news/central/story/2013-08-08/killers-appeal-rejected/ |access-date=19 February 2022 |work=ITV News |date=8 August 2013}}</ref> Because his appeal was rejected, prior to his 2023 conviction, Kyte was due remain in prison until at least 2025.<ref name="BBC2013" />

==2023 further convictions== In February 2023, Kyte was further found guilty of sexually abusing an underage boy in the years leading up to his two known murders.<ref name="2023 developments">{{cite news |title=Convicted killer Alun Kyte guilty of historical sex offences |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-64642827 |access-date=29 April 2023 |work=BBC News |date=14 February 2023}}</ref> Kyte began to target the boy in the late 1980s and continued to regularly attack him for 5 years, luring the 9-year-old boy to his house and attacking him after promising him toys.<ref name="2023 developments" /><ref name="late 80s" /> It was heard that each attack saw increased violence and threats against him and his family if they told anyone and that Kyte would punch, choke, kick and taunt the boy.<ref name="2023 developments" /> Kyte also raped the child on at least two occasions.<ref name="2023 ITV report">{{cite news |title=Double killer Alun Kyte guilty of violently sexually abusing boy in years before fatal attacks |url=https://www.itv.com/news/central/2023-02-15/double-killer-guilty-of-historical-rape-after-abusing-young-boy-9-in-home |access-date=29 April 2023 |work=ITV News |date=15 February 2023}}</ref> After the victim felt finally able to come forward and testify, Kyte was found guilty in 2023 of four counts of indecency with a child, three counts of attempting to choke, two of indecent assault, and two of buggery.<ref name="2023 developments" /><ref name="2023 ITV report" /> Kyte accepted he was capable of extreme violence but denied everything, with his justification being that the victim "has got no reason to make these allegations".<ref name="2023 ITV report" /> During cross-examination Kyte similarly refused to accept that he had killed Samo Paull but admitted murdering Tracey Turner on the grounds that she had "pestered" him to finish a meal in a motorway service station.<ref name="2023 ITV report" />

It was revealed during the 2023 trial that Kyte was now imprisoned at HM Prison Rye Hill.<ref name="2023 ITV report" /> Kyte's 2023 convictions were widely publicised,<ref name="2023 developments" /><ref name="2023 ITV report" /> and also led to further speculation on the possibility of him having claimed more murder victims.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Marshall |first1=Sarah |title=Dawn Shields: Detectives believe 'Midlands ripper' Alun Kyte may be responsible for more deaths |url=https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/crime/dawn-shields-detectives-believe-midlands-ripper-alun-kyte-may-be-responsible-for-more-deaths-4114911 |access-date=29 April 2023 |work=The Star |date=24 April 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Child-abusing double murderer suspected of other murders |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/law/article/child-abusing-double-killer-suspected-of-other-murders-7t2pjsm73 |access-date=29 April 2023 |work=The Times |date=17 April 2023}}</ref><ref name="late 80s">{{cite news |title='There's more victims out there', says former detective as double killer Alun Kyte guilty of rape |url=https://www.itv.com/news/central/2023-02-15/more-victims-of-alun-kyte-out-there-says-former-detective |access-date=19 April 2023 |work=ITV News |date=15 February 2023}}</ref>

On 11 May 2023, Kyte was given a third life sentence, and additionally ordered to serve a minimum of ten years and eight months' imprisonment, meaning he will ultimately not be eligible for parole until late 2033.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-05-11 |title=Killer gets third life sentence for abusing boy |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-65556070 |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> By this point, Kyte had been moved to HM Prison Onley.<ref>{{cite web |title=Double killer sentenced over non-recent child sexual abuse |url=https://www.staffordshire.police.uk/news/staffordshire/news/2023/may/double-killer-sentenced-over-non-recent-child-sexual-abuse/ |website=Staffordshire Police |access-date=6 June 2023 |date=11 May 2023}}</ref>

==In popular culture== ===Books=== * In 2001, criminal profiler Paul Britton, who worked with detectives on the case, released a book titled ''Picking up the Pieces'' which included a section on the case.{{sfn|Britton|2001}} * In 2007, author Nigel Cawthorne published a book titled ''The Mammoth Book of Killers at Large'' which featured a chapter on Operation Enigma.{{sfn|Cawthorne|2007}} * In 2009, author Vanessa Howard published a book which featured a chapter noting possible links between Kyte and the murder of Birmingham sex worker Janine Downes in 1991. The book was titled ''Britain's Ten Most Wanted: The Truth Behind the Most Shocking Unsolved Murders''.{{sfn|Howard|2009}} * In 2012, author Stephen Wade included a chapter on Kyte in his book ''DNA Crime Investigations: Solving Murder and Serious Crime Through DNA and Modern Forensics''.{{sfn|Wade|2012}}

===Television=== * In 2013, Channel 5 broadcast a documentary with high-profile criminologist David Wilson which covered the murder of Dawn Shields, one of Kyte's suspected victims. The episode was part of the ''Killers Behind Bars: The Untold Story'' series and was focused on possible links between unsolved crimes and Stephen Griffiths (although Wilson concluded links to Griffiths were unlikely). Wilson spoke to investigators who were on the Shields case and visited the site where she was found.<ref name="Killers Behind Bars"/> * In 2019, Quest released a documentary on Kyte titled ''Alun Kyte: The Midlands Ripper''. It was released as part of the ''British Police: Our Toughest Cases'' series and was the fifth episode of series 1.<ref name="Questdoc">{{cite AV media |author1=Quest |author1-link=Quest (British TV channel) |title= Alun Kyte: The Midlands Ripper |publisher=British Police: Our Toughest Cases (S01E05)|url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Police-Toughest-Cases-Season/dp/B082CT1DK2 |format=Television documentary |date=30 November 2019}}</ref> It featured interviews with detectives who investigated Kyte. * In 2020, retired detective Jackie Malton released a documentary on Kyte on CBS Reality as part of her ''The Real Prime Suspect'' series. The episode was the fourth episode of series two and was titled "A Serial Killer in the Making?".<ref>{{cite AV media |author1=Jackie Malton |author1-link=Jackie Malton |title=A Serial Killer in the Making? |website=CBS Reality |publisher=The Real Prime Suspect |date=2020}}</ref>

==See also== * David Smith, another killer of sex workers in the 1990s investigated by Enigma; he is also suspected of having murdered more victims * Murders of Jacqueline Ansell-Lamb and Barbara Mayo, unsolved murders committed on British motorways by a similarly transient killer * Operation Anagram, a similarly named cross-force police investigation into the activities of transient British serial killer Peter Tobin * Murder of Lindsay Rimer, an unsolved 1994 murder also re-investigated by Operation Enigma * Murder of Julie Pacey, another 'Enigma'-investigated case

Other UK cold cases for which the offender's DNA is known: * Murder of Deborah Linsley * Murders of Eve Stratford and Lynne Weedon * Murder of Lisa Hession * Murder of Lyn Bryant * Murder of Janet Brown * Murder of Sheila Anderson * Murder of Linda Cook * Murder of Melanie Hall * Batman rapist, subject to Britain's longest-running serial rape investigation

== References == {{Reflist}}

==Cited works== * {{cite book |last1=Britton |first1=Paul |title=Picking Up the Pieces |date=2001 |publisher=Random House |isbn=9780552147187}} * {{cite book |last1=Cawthorne |first1=Nigel |title=The Mammoth Book of Killers at Large |date=2007 |publisher=Robinson |location=London |isbn=978-1-84529-631-5 |pages=467–468 |chapter=England and Wales – Operation Enigma}} * {{cite book |last1=Fido |first1=Martin |title=To Kill & Kill Again: How Britain's Most Famous Serial Killers were Identified, Caught and Convicted |date=2001 |publisher=Carlton |location=London}} * {{cite book |last1=Howard |first1=Vanessa |title=Britain's Ten Most Wanted: The Truth Behind the Most Shocking Unsolved Murders |date=2009 |publisher=John Blake |location=London |isbn=9781844547593 |pages=243–268 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/britainstenmostw0000howa/page/242/mode/2up |access-date=19 February 2022 |chapter-format=Online copy |chapter=Janine Downes: All Women Count}} * {{cite book |last1=Kinnell |first1=Hilary |title=Violence and Sex Work in Britain |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781134024506}} * {{cite book | last1=Wade |first1=Stephen |title=DNA Crime Investigations: Solving Murder and Serious Crime Through DNA and modern forensics|chapter=Chapter 9: The Midlands Ripper, 1993-2000| date=2012 |publisher=Pen & Sword |location=Barnsley|isbn=9781844688142}}

==External links== * {{cite AV media |title= Alun Kyte: The Midlands Ripper |url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Police-Toughest-Cases-Season/dp/B082CT1DK2}} Prime Video link to 2019 Kyte documentary * [https://www.itv.com/watch/the-real-prime-suspect/10a3271/10a3271a0014 ITVX link to 2019 ''The Real Prime Suspect'' documentary on Kyte]

{{Murders in the United Kingdom in the 1990s}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyte, Alun}} Category:1964 births Category:1993 crimes in the United Kingdom Category:1993 in England Category:1993 murders in the United Kingdom Category:1994 crimes in the United Kingdom Category:1994 in England Category:1994 murders in the United Kingdom Category:1997 crimes in the United Kingdom Category:2000 in England Category:20th-century English criminals Category:Crimes against sex workers in the United Kingdom Category:English male criminals Category:English people convicted of child sexual abuse Category:English people convicted of indecent assault Category:English people convicted of murder Category:English people convicted of rape Category:English prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Category:Crime in Bristol Category:Crime in Leicestershire Category:Crime in Somerset Category:Living people Category:Male murderers Category:Murder in Leicestershire Category:Prisoners and detainees of England and Wales Category:Suspected serial killers who worked as truck drivers Category:Truck drivers Category:Violence against children in England Category:Violence against women in England