Evil serial killer ‘The Serpent’ is caught strolling UK streets on holiday in disguise & boasting about being a ‘shadow’
Charles Sobhraj slaughtered his victims after gaining their trust
FREED serial killer Charles Sobhraj – suspected of slaughtering at least 20 backpackers – has been spotted holidaying in London.
The 79-year-old, known as ‘The Serpent’, was released from a Nepalese prison in 2022 after nearly 20 years behind bars.
Chilling pictures now show him in a fake wig and beard on Westminster Bridge taking photos of Big Ben.
As unsuspecting tourists walk past, Sobhraj boasts of being “like a shadow” during his Asian murder rampage in the 1970s.
Asked if Londoners should be scared of him, Sobhraj replies: “I am fed up of all these allegations so I’m going to put forward my facts and let the people decide.
“You are the victim of brainwashing by the media.”
The sinister scene will feature in upcoming Channel 4 documentary ‘The Real Serpent: Investigating a Serial Killer’.
The show includes tapes of the Frenchman in a Delhi jail, talking about the killing of US tourist Teresa Knowlton, 21, in Bangkok in 1975.
The killer recalls: “She said, ‘Did you give me something? Because I feel very funny’.
“I said, ‘Teresa, I’m sorry to say to you but I think I have to do something bad to you’.”
Charles Sobhraj preyed on Western tourists travelling on South Asia’s hippie trail while posing as a gem dealer.
Alongside girlfriend and accomplice Marie-Andree Leclerc – who died of cancer in 1984 – they would entice victims via various frauds before poisoning them.
WHO IS THE SERPENT?
Sobhraj may have killed 24 people during his murder spree throughout Nepal, India and Thailand in the 1970s.
Posing as a gem dealer, he’d usually poison then slaughter hippies who he hated for their lifestyle.
After killing them, he would often take money and passports.
Sobhraj was dubbed “The Serpent” due to his conniving ways and constant escapism from reprimand.
He served two sentences in India between 1976 and 1997, and in Nepal from 2003 to 2022.
After nursing their captives back to health, Sobhraj would kill them.
Sobhraj was Interpol’s most wanted man for a period of time in the 70s and earned the nickname ‘The Serpent’ for his ability to evade detection.
He was also known as the ‘Bikini Killer due to the clothing worn by his victims.
After a Goliath manhunt, he was convicted and jailed in India from 1976 to 1997.
Upon his release, he returned to France before going to Nepal in 2003, where he was arrested, tried, and given a life sentence.
During the three-part documentary, the killer talks about some of his victims, including Vitali Hakim, from Turkey, whose body was burned in Pattaya, Thailand.
He is also confronted by ex-detectives and a forensic psychologist who present him with evidence of his guilt.
Despite being unable to explain why he was caught with dead travellers’ belongings, he continues to deny the murders.
The serial killer’s story was adapted for a 2021 BBC drama titled The Serpent, it was later streamed on Netflix.
