Steven King

Steven Leonard King (24th March 1920 - 10th August 1983) was an English columnist for the Newcastle Daily Express, which he wrote articles for until 1981, when he was found out to have murdered twelve people, between 1957-1981. He was the son of Broadway actress Gladys Morris, younger brother of electrician Jeffrey King, greengrocer Thomas King and midwife Julia Lawrence. His death in 1983, was caused by a police chase, who had ran after him, when he was climbing on the top of roofs and slipped and fell to his death.

Early life
King was born at Queen Alexandra's Hospital, in Northumberland, on 24th March 1920, the fourth and final child of Albert King(1889-1963), a farm labourer and Gladys Morris(1896-1979), a Broadway actress, he had three older siblings called Jeffrey, Julia and Thomas. He was only a few months old, when his mother, left his life, when she moved to California, with her partner Edwin Stewartson, who King was too young to remember. He was raised to believe that his father's second wife, Joyce Harris was his mother, which he always referred her as, it was not until he was twelve, that he learnt the truth. He was educated at Florence Road Primary school, which he left at the age of 14, after which he worked as an apprentice for a blacksmith, which he did for two years, but hated it. At the age of 16, he got a job, working as a postman, that enjoyed doing, though the thing he really wanted to do, was to write, which he did in his spare time.

Career
In 1934, a few weeks after leaving school, King got a job as an apprentice for a blacksmith, working for the company, Conway Steel Works, though he hated doing it, as he found it much too hard and very manual. Beginning at the age of 16, King got a job as a postman, which he enjoyed doing and knew that he could be more successful in it, though that was not what he wanted to do for the rest of his life, which was writing, that he done in his spare time. In 1955, King's father referred him to Thomas Macintosh, who was a friend of King's father and manager of the newspaper Newcastle Daily Express, who was looking for a columnist and after seeing how good King was at writing, he was hired. Though in 1957, unknown to many, King murdered two people, who's house, he broke into, he then wrote an article, with the headlines Another Murder On Florence Road, which he blamed a man named Mr. Wilson for. King wrote eleven more articles for the newspaper, about murders in the area of Newcastle, all of which, he blamed other people for. However in 1981, King wrote his last article for the newspaper, as he was arrested shortly afterwards, when his thirteen year old son Joshua, told the police that his father was a murderer, whilst being questioned himself for murder.

Murders
In 1957, King broke into 9 Florence Road, in Newcastle, which he got access to from the roof, his intentions was to steal valuable items from the house and sell them for money, though things backfired, when he was caught by the tenants Mick Mckenzie and his wife Angela, who King stabbed to death, after they threatened to call the police, in front of their four year old son, who King did not see. Their murder, King wrote about in the Newcastle Daily Express, blaming a man called Mr. Wilson, who was a known thief in the area.

In 1959, King broke into his second house, on Alexander Road, near Florence Road, by gaining access to the house, from the roof, he then murdered a man, who was sleeping in his armchair, at the time, King stepped into the living room, but woke up, after hearing footsteps, King took a knife, from his pocket and stabbed the man, repeatedly in the chest, causing his death. Again, King wrote another article about death, with the headlines A Murder on Alexander Road, which he a man called blamed Mr. Stevens, who was seen on the night of the murder.

In 1961, King tried breaking into a house, from the attic's open widow, by climbing up a ladder, that was already outside, in the garden. Whilst climbing the ladder, King was caught by a woman, who was brushing her hair, in her bedroom, she screamed and was killed, when King used a pistol to shoot her, before rushing back down the ladder and jumping over the fence. In the headlines of the newspaper, he wrote, Husband Murders Wife In Bedroom.

One morning in 1963, King saw a husband and wife loading their car, whilst standing on the corner of Fair View, with suitcases, that he assumed they were going on holiday and thought that the house would be empty that night, however, when gaining access to the house from the roof, King saw an eighteen year old girl, sleeping on the sofa, she was woken up, when a baby began to cry, which she then saw King, pointing a knife at her from across the room, she asked who he was, but he never answered and when she tried to rush to the telephone, behind King, he stabbed her in the chest and hid her body, in the cupboard. It took a few weeks, before the girl was found, but when she was, King wrote the headlines Girl Found Dead In Cupboard on Fair View, this time blaming, Mr. Archer, who he accused of coming back from his holiday early, without his wife and butchering his babysitter.

In 1965, King had heard that a wealthy couple had moved onto Hanham Crescent, which only the rich could afford to live on. One night, King climbed up a drain pipe and tried to force open a widow, with a crowbar, once gaining opening the upstairs window, King was caught climbing into the house, by the man who lived there, with his wife and children, who he informed of the situation and told them to hide, King choked the man, with a rope, that he tightly wrapped around the man's neck, suffocating him to death, before running out of the house, through the front door. King wrote about it in the newspaper, when he wrote the headlines Killer In The Family on Hanham Road.

On bonfire night in 1970, King returned to breaking into houses, after a five year break, when he climbed on top of a flat roof, on Smithers Lane, he waited until it was dark, by laying on top of the roof and watched as the family walked down the street, to watch a fireworks display nearby, he came into luck, when an upstairs window was opened suddenly, which King climbed into. King put valuable items in a bag, that he carried over his shoulder and once walking downstairs, saw a thirteen year old boy home alone, who once seeing King, tried to run out of the back door, but was stopped when King chased after him and stopped him, just before the boy could run, King killed the boy, by knocking his head repeatedly against the kitchen wall, he then picked up the boy's body and buried it. In the newspaper headlines, King wrote Boy Missing on Smithers Lane, Presumed Dead.

In 1973, King drove his wife's friend Martina Matthews back to her house, on Thompson's Avenue, and after dropping her off, he drove away from the area, but did not return home immediately. He parked his car, around the corner of Martina's house and gotten into the property, from an upstairs widow, he walked downstairs quietly, not trying to alert Martina, who was home alone and in the kitchen, he stepped into the living room and waited a full half an hour, for her to turn the lights on and drop a plate, with food on, after receiving a shock, from seeing King. He told her that he fancied her and that he knew she felt the same way about him, which she denied, leading to him to walk towards her slowly, but telling her that, she was the only woman for him, which she refused to believe and asked what he felt about his wife Elizabeth, which in reply, he said that their marriage was over and that he wanted to be with her instead. Once standing in front of him, looking her in the eyes, he placed his hand on her cheek and tried to kiss her, but she pushed him away and he slapped her hard across the face, making her almost cry, she told him that, she was going to call his wife and tell her what had happened, but that did not worry him and he told her to do it, leading to her to tell him, that she would call the police, which King told her that would be a stupid thing to do, though she tried to do it anyway, but King stopped her, when he stabbed her to death, in front of the living room window, with the black blinds closed. King then left Martina to die on her living room floor and drove back to his house, where he had an argument with his wife, who accused him of taking a long time. It took a few weeks before anyone knew that Martina was killed and feeling worried about her, King's wife tried to call her, but there was no answer, which she then drove over to her house and knocked on her front door, which she got no answer from. King's wife Elizabeth walked around to the back of the house, where she saw that the upstairs window was still wide open, with the ladder, still up against, which she used to get entrance into the house and rung for an ambulance, once seeing her friend's body, though it was clear to see that she was dead, with the amounts of flies flying around her corpse. Later that day, Elizabeth accused King of murdering her, which was why he took so long to get back home, that nght he dropped her off, but he refused that he knew anything about it and lied by telling his wife, that he was stuck in traffic. King wrote the headlines Suicide on Thompson's Avenue.

Whilst under the influence of cocaine in 1978, King broke into 112 Morgan's Avenue, where an eighty-eight year old first world war veteran was living, King tried to steal his war medals, which he would of sold for money, but he was caught putting other items into his bag, by the man, who held the telephone receiver in his left hand, with his finger on number nine, but King ran over to the man and punched him, leading to the man to drop the phone, when suffering from a heart attack, which killed him. King wrote in the newspaper, Murder on Morgan's Avenue, blaming Mr. Courtney, who many of the neighbours knew the man disliked.

Arrest and trial
In 1981, whilst at work, at the Newcastle Writers Room building, King was arrested for suspicion of murder, he was taken to the local police station, where they questioned him about the death of Martina Matthews, though they had little amount of evidence to go by, which is why they had to let King go. However, in 1983, a thirty year old man called David Mckenzie, who's parents Mick and Angela, were both killed by King, reported that he saw King murder his parents, but never did anything about it, until now, following this confession, other witnesses, who also saw King breaking into houses, reported him, leading to his arrest. At his trial in Newcastle Crown Court, many of the witnesses gave evidence against King, who was sentenced to life imprisonment, without parole, though when getting outside, with handcuffs on, King kicked the guards in their testicles and ran from the area, with the police chasing him, who for a short while, lost sight of him.

Marriage and children
King was married twice, his first wife was Barbara Martin, who he met in Newcastle, in 1944, they were in a relationship for three years before marrying at All Saint's Church, in the same city, they met in. Together they had one child, a son named Charlie King(b. 1949). Their marriage lasted until 1960 and after their divorce was finalised, their son lived with Barbara, though he seen his father frequently. In 1961, King married Elizabeth Jones, who he met that same year, together they had three children named Angela King(b. 1962), Deborah King(b. 1965) and Joshua King(b. 1968). Their marriage was long, but not successful, as King would often have affairs, which they would argue about. In 1973, King tried to have an affair, with his wife's friend Martina Matthews, who he ended up killing, after she threatened him with the police. Jones accused King of murdering her friend, though he refused to accept that he done it and lied to her, when saying he was stuck in traffic, on the night she died. Jones fell out of love with King, though remained married to him, for the sake of their children, though there was no physical affection between them. In 1982, Jones filed for divorce from King and it was finalised within a matter of months, never to get back together.

Death
On the afternoon of 10th August 1983, King, who had just been found guilty of murder, assaulted the guards, before being put into a prison van, he was then chased by several police officers, who for a short while, lost sight of him. King climbed up onto the roof of 1 Florence Road and was seen by a police officer, who was travelling in a police car. Four police officers then also climbed up onto the same roof, which was slippery, from rain, King did not stop climbing from one roof to the next, until he came to the end of the terraced houses, which was number nine, where he killed his first two victims, twenty-seven years previously. Knowing that there was nowhere else to go, King thought about giving himself up to the police, who were coming towards him rapidly, but when he stood up straight, that was the moment, he slipped and fell to his death, banging his head on concrete slabs and was rushed to the hospital, where he was declared dead.

King was buried at the same cemetery, as his father and stepmother, though not in the same grave, which was hardly ever visited by his family.