Serial killer Charles Sobhraj, nicknamed ‘The Serpent’ for his snake-like talent to attract victims before they were drugged, robbed and killed, has been seen sightseeing in London.
The 79-year-old, suspected of murdering at least 20 backpackers in Asia during the 1970s and 1980s, was captured strolling among tourists on Westminster Bridge while wearing a wig and fake beard.
A new Channel 4 series depicts Sobhraj’s release from prison after being imprisoned in Nepal for nearly 20 years for the killings of an American backpacker and her Canadian travel companion in 1975. He had already served 20 years in India for poisoning Luc Salomon in Delhi in 1976.
During a pause from capturing images of landmarks including Big Ben, he boasts about his previous ability to avoid justice: ‘I was like a shadow.’
The three-part documentary series, The Real Serpent: Investigating a Serial Killer, contains recordings of Sobhraj discussing the murders of US traveler Teresa Knowlton, 21, in Bangkok in 1975.
He also purportedly talks about the killing of Vitali Hakim, from Turkey, whose body was burned in Pattaya, Thailand, the Mirror reports.
Sobhraj is confronted in the show by a team of top cops, including former Met Police Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Malton and Commander Gary Copson, along with a forensic psychologist over five crimes he has never been properly cross-examined on.
He has inspired various dramatisations over the years and has been described by those who knew him as a con artist, a seducer, a robber and a murderer.
Most recently he was depicted in BBC drama ‘The Serpent’ which was also streamed on Netflix.
Malton told The Times: ‘There have been numerous documentaries about Charles Sobhraj but the victims have never really had a voice. This was the opportunity for him to be challenged with evidence that is compelling but has never been put to him before.’
She added of Sobhraj: ‘I can see why the hippies were so attracted to him. He’s interesting, charming and highly educated. He speaks a number of languages and has superb manners.
‘He is a gentleman. But he has no regard for human life.’
Copson told the Mirror of his encounter with the sinister killer: ‘No way would I accept a cup of tea from him, put it that way. Yes, he’s 79. But he’s not a decrepit 79. He’s still got his marbles, he is capable.
‘He has always had women doing his bidding. It would astonish me if he had not convinced one or more women, even now, that he was a safe and entertaining companion.’
Frenchman Sobhraj has in the past admitted killing several Western tourists and he is believed to have killed at least 20 people in Afghanistan, India, Thailand, Turkey, Nepal, Iran and Hong Kong during the 1970s.
However, the first time he was declared guilty in court was in 2004, when he was convicted in Nepal.
Sobhraj spent twenty years in New Delhi’s high-security Tihar prison under suspicion of theft, but in 1997 he was sent back to France without being charged.
He surfaced again in September 2003 in Katmandu.
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