Former Isle of Wight resident John Martin Scripps became the first Westerner ever sentenced to death in Singapore on 10th November 1995 – 30 years ago today.
On that day, the world’s media dubbed him ‘the tourist from hell’. To Sandown locals, he had once been simply John – quiet, polite, unremarkable. But behind that calm exterior lay one of Britain’s most chilling murderers, whose crimes spanned continents and confounded investigators.
In a humid Singapore courtroom that November morning, the evidence against 36-year-old Scripps was overwhelming. He had befriended South African tourist Gerard George Lowe, bludgeoned him with a hammer, and dismembered his body with surgical precision. Lowe’s torso and thighs were discovered floating in Singapore Harbour; his head and arms were never recovered.
Scripps had once lived quietly with his mother, Jean, who ran a small guesthouse and later a DIY shop in Sandown.
The family appeared ordinary, but Jean carried a heavy secret – she knew her son was dangerous. She had repeatedly warned authorities that he would abscond if granted home leave from prison. Her pleas went unheeded, and in 1994, during a period of release, Scripps vanished.
Before fleeing the UK, he had served time at HMP Albany, where he took a butchery course. What seemed at the time a harmless rehabilitation effort would later prove terrifyingly useful: the precision cuts on Lowe’s body betrayed a trained hand.
Within weeks of absconding from prison, Scripps had committed murder. In Phuket, Thailand, Canadian mother and son Sheila and Darin Damude disappeared after encountering the softly spoken Englishman. Their mutilated bodies were buried near a beach resort, their possessions recovered from Scripps’s luggage.
Interpol soon realised the killings followed a pattern: Scripps used multiple fake identities and stolen passports to befriend travellers, kill them, and drain their bank accounts. Authorities suspected at least three more victims – in Mexico, Belize, and the United States – though these were never proven.
During his trial, Scripps claimed the killing of Lowe was an act of self-defence, alleging that Lowe had made unwanted homosexual advances. He told the court he awoke to find Lowe half-naked, smiling, and touching his buttocks, which he said ‘freaked him out’. The judge dismissed the story as fabrication, calling the crime ‘cold, calculated and beyond redemption’.
In court, the judge stated:
“I’m satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Martin had intentionally killed Lowe. After that, he disarticulated Lowe’s body into separate parts, and it was he who subsequently disposed of the body parts by throwing them into the river behind the hotel.
“The sentence of this court upon you is that you will be taken from this place to a lawful prison and taken to a place to be hanged by the neck until you are dead. And may the Lord have mercy on your soul.”
Scripps reportedly responded:
“Karma is karma. It’s in God’s hands now.”
The press soon gave him another name – the Garden City Butcher – a grim reference to Singapore’s reputation as a clean, orderly metropolis.
Scripps showed no emotion as the sentence was read. Outside the court, journalists marked the moment as historic: the first Westerner condemned under Singapore’s strict capital-punishment laws.
Scripps’ mother remarked:
“Whoever he is now, he’s the person the prison service trained him to be. These bastards have no right to take my son’s life. I brought him into the world. I am the only person who can take him out of it.”
Scripps announced his intention to appeal his sentence before dropping it. He also turned down the opportunity to petition the President of Singapore for clemency, saying he was impatient to be executed. The British government decided not to issue an appeal for clemency to Singapore.
He spent 5 months on death row at Changi Prison, reportedly writing poems and letters to his mother. On 19th April 1996 – after a final meal of pizza and hot chocolate – he was hanged.
Investigators continued probing his global trail of death and deception, but never found further victims.
Very interesting reading stories like this, and the fact his mother blames the prison service, did she not realise he got himself in prison in the first place, anyway more true stories like please