Serial killer Charles Sobhraj, dubbed ‘The Serpent’ for his snake-like ability to seduce victims before they were drugged, robbed and murdered, has been spotted sightseeing in London.
The 79-year-old, suspected of killing at least 20 backpackers in Asia in the 1970s and 1980s, was photographed wandering among tourists on Westminster Bridge wearing a wig and fake beard.
A new Channel 4 series follows Sobhraj’s release from prison after being locked up in Nepal for nearly 20 years for the murders of an American backpacker and her Canadian travelling companion in 1975. He had already served 20 years in India for poisoning Luc Salomon in Delhi in 1976.
During a break from taking photos of landmarks including Big Ben, he brags of his previous ability to evade justice: ‘I was like a shadow.’
The three-part documentary series, The Real Serpent: Investigating a Serial Killer, includes tapes of Sobhraj talking about the murders of US tourist Teresa Knowlton, 21, in Bangkok in 1975.
He also apparently discusses 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.
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‘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, his 2004 conviction in Nepal was the first time he was found guilty in court.
Sobhraj was held for two decades in New Delhi’s maximum-security Tihar prison on suspicion of theft but was deported without charge to France in 1997.
He resurfaced in September 2003 in Katmandu.
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