After killing two of his neighbours, a serial killer nicknamed the ‘Angel of Mercy’ told police he had the ‘urge’ to kill after writing a chilling confession note
The serial killer who nicknamed himself ‘Angel of Mercy’ slayed two of his neighbours in a brutal killing and wrote a chilling note to the police after the murders,
Andrew Dawson gave himself the name after he murdered two of his neighbours John Matthews and Paul Hancock, in separate attacks in Chaddesden, Derbyshire, and left their bodies in their bathtubs.
He told police he had an “urge” to kill, and the confession letter written by Dawson was signed off: “Yours, the Angel of Mercy,” and the murders have been detailed in an ITV documentary.
Dawson had already served one life sentence for the murder of a shopkeeper that he committed in 1981, and police found the remains of kitchen porter Mr Matthews, 66, with a rose on 25 July 2011, after concerned relatives and work colleagues reported him missing. Then just five days later, 58-year-old Mr Hancock, who lived on the floor above Dawson and Mr Matthews in the block of flats, was also found dead.
Both the deceased had suffered severe injuries, with Mr Matthews receiving at least 18 stab wounds to the face, neck and head and Mr Hancock at least 22 to the head, chest, and body. In ITV’s Murder: First on the Scene, revealed the brutal story of how the murders unfolded.
Claire Duffin, Crime Correspondent at the Derby Telegraph called the letter unusual and said: “The whole case is just bizarre. The fact that he was quite forensically aware and cleaned the first scene really well… and then wrote a confession letter.”
Dawson made sure he cleaned the flat making it spotless to remove any evidence of linking him to Mr Matthews death – but left a pink rose at the scene. Two weeks later, he killed Mr Hancock in waterproof clothing and rubber gloves to avoid leaving any clues. But despite this, the chilling letter imprinted on a notebook and extracted by special technology read: “To head of homicide, I want to confess to a murder.
“I stabbed a man to death. A man lies in a bath of water, two major wounds to his left side, one, maybe two, to his chest, one to his back, and one to the base of his neck. This is no hoax. If you don’t find him in a week, I will give you his address. The pink rose was a nice touch. Yours, the Angel of Mercy.”
Paul Callum, Senior Investigating Officer, said the letter was a ‘unbelievable breakthrough’ in the documentary and said: “The notepad was a confession and [he] talked about the murder and… about the rose being on a bed.”
Dawson was one of six siblings, his father was the foundryman and his mother was a hospital cleaner, and Duffin doesn’t suspect he had a poor upbringing – but from a young age was in and out of trouble with the police, and started taking drugs at a young age. He was sentenced to life for the murder of a 91-year-old shopkeeper, stabbing him a dozen times with bread knife in 1981 and was released in 1999.
His second and third murders didn’t come as a surprise to Dawson brother Malcom, who said: “They should have left him in there the first time. When they said life they should have meant it and kept him in for life. I was best man at his wedding but I would never turn my back on him for a second.
“I know what he is like – he has no conscience. He was always talking about The Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, and all these other murderers, saying they were wimps. I think he will take himself out or he will try and do one of the other inmates – he is pure evil, a total psycho,” as reported by Daily Mail.
Dawson was arrested for the murders 200 miles from the killings, and officers found him with camping gear, and a number of kitchen knives. He then told police he’d felt an “urge to kill” before knocking on the men’s doors in the block of flats in Chaddesden, Derby, where they lived, and attacked.
At the time, he denied the murders on the grounds of diminished responsibility – but then changed his plea on the first day of his trial at Nottingham Crown Court and was given a whole-life jail term by judge Mrs Justice Dobbs, who said Dawson’s victims had ‘done nothing to upset him’.
True Crime Presents: Tracking A Serial Killer is available on ITVX under Murder: First on Scene.
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