How two brutal double killings could be the work of an evil serial killer who might still be on the loose

TWO double killings could be the work of a mystery serial killer who is still on the loose.

Police have repeatedly rejected the possibility the deaths of husband and wife Howard and Bea Ainsworth, and elderly couple Auriel and Donald Ward, were anything other than murder-suicides, but mounting evidence suggests the same person was behind all four.

The Ainsworths, aged 79 and 78, died in Wilmslow, Cheshire, in 1996.

Police said they believed Howard had killed his wife with a hammer and knife before taking his own life with a bag over his head.

A suicide note was found next to their bodies at the scene, and it was declared a murder-suicide.

Three years later, another pensioner couple died in similarly violent circumstances, also in Wilmslow.

Auriel, 68, was discovered beaten, stabbed and suffocated and, like Bea, had a pillow partially covering her face.

Cops concluded murder-suicide and suggested Donald, 73, lost his mind before stabbing his wife and then himself.

The coroner's officer for Cheshire at the time, Christine Hurst, raised the potential link with investigators but was essentially told: "Leave it alone, Miss Marple, it’s all in hand."

It wasn't until her successor Stephanie Davies began looking into the cases once more that the idea of a serial killer was taken seriously.

She claimed everything about the two double deaths pointed to a single assailant who may be targeting frail OAPs across the North West of England.

Davies was most concerned about the lack of blood on Howard's pyjamas as the kind of attack he was supposed to have carried out would have left spots with "tails" - but there was nothing.

She also questioned how Donald would have managed to kill himself by slashing his throat and stabbing his heart, but none of his wounds showed any sign of heaving bleeding.

Her growing suspicions led to her believe his injuries may have been inflicted after he was dead, reports.

Other undeniable commonalities included that the Ainsworths and the Wards were both found on the right-hand side of their beds with wounds that did not seem to match the evidence found at the scenes, she said.

Auriel appeared to have suffered hammer marks on her head, but no such tool was found, and Donald had a slash to his hand, which indicated self-defence.

The bruising across Howard's upper lip, which did not fit with suicide, could also not be explained, and the fact Bea's nightdress had been pulled up to her hips remained unclear.

Finally, both couples had been happily married with no history of domestic violence, health issues, financial problems or serious family concerns.

Davies began to look for other potentially suspicious murder-suicides with elderly couples and identified three more, in 2000, 2008 and 2011, for further investigation.

All three involved blunt and sharp force trauma, and two of them were just a few miles away from Wilmslow in south Manchester.

Davies argued there was enough evidence to link at least separate killings to the same person, suggesting a serial killer had been operating in Cheshire since at least 1996 - though the victims' families have rejected this.

In 2020, a 179-page report into the possibility was leaked, urgently calling for the National Crime Agency and Interpol to review other cases across Britain and Europe.

Davies profiled her potential suspect as a younger man, more powerful than his victims, who is likely to have befriended them.

She also suggested the murderer "had a strong hatred toward women, especially domineering females".

Davies concluded: "This individual will not stop killing until someone or something stops him.

"The acts of dominating the victims, carrying out the murders, and fooling the police, are all addictive to him.

"He will have meticulously planned each murder, ensured he left no forensic evidence and followed the cases in the media."

But Davies, now 42, had her home raided by detectives from her own police force over suspected misconduct in public office.

The Crown Prosecution Service declined to prosecute, but Davies is still suspended while the force completes its own internal probe.

Journalist David Collins, whose reporting helped police convict Levi Bellfield, has investigated the case in new book .

In it, using "dozens of witnesses, police investigators, forensic and crime scene experts, coroner's officers and family members, he pieces together the clues in an attempt to solve the mystery of what really happened.

• The Hunt for the Silver Killer by David Collins is out now.