Few will shed tears for killer Raymond Morris
Raymond Morris may well have been the worst serial killer the West Midlands has ever known.
He was convicted of the murder of Christine Ann Darby following one of the biggest manhunts Britain had ever seen and remained the prime suspect in the deaths of schoolgirls Margaret Reynolds and Diane Tift, whose bodies were found on Cannock Chase.
His death at the age of 84 comes following 45 years in prison.
Cannock Chase child murderer Raymond Morris is dead
Life meant life for wicked killer Raymond Morris
There are generations of people who will not even have heard of him. To put his wicked crime into context, he is comparable to, if not worse, than the Soham murderer Ian Huntley.
The sheer number of officials that were involved in the search for the girls he was accused of killing was bigger even than the infamous Moors Murders, committed by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley.
Morris tried to argue his case saying there was evidence of police misconduct and always maintained his innocence. A jury of his peers disagreed.
That many people will be unaware of this wicked man is in part testament to the British justice system, that has ensured he has been locked away and largely forgotten about.
Of course that comes as no comfort to the family of Walsall girl Christine Darby, whom Morris murdered in 1967. She was only seven years old.
They have had to endure his attempts to win his freedom and overturn his conviction, going through the sickening fear that he might have walked the streets again.
The families of Margaret and Diane would never have been able to forget the horror of their beloved daughters being found in a ditch on Cannock Chase.
It was only due to the timing of his trial that Morris escaped the hangman's noose and was told he would spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Back then, in the 1960s, life meant life.
And in his case, it has. Raymond Morris has died knowing he is not a free man and that society did not consider him fit to be among decent people.
Death, however it comes to anyone, is always a cause for sadness.
But few people will shed tears for the despicable monster, Raymond Morris.
