A Bradford criminology student who dubbed himself the “crossbow cannibal” has admitted murdering three prostitutes.

Stephen Griffiths, 40, killed Suzanne Blamires, Shelley Armitage and Susan Rushworth, who all went missing in Bradford.

Griffiths, of Thornton Road, Bradford, pleaded guilty to all three murders at a packed hearing at Leeds Crown Court this morning.

Griffiths stood in the dock to enter his pleas surrounded by five security guards. Dressed in a grey tracksuit, he said “yes” when asked to confirm his name.

He then said “guilty” in a quiet voice when the clerk put each of the three charges to him. Griffiths then sat with his head on his chest.

The judge, Mr Justice Openshaw, told the court the defendant’s mental health had been carefully examined and there was “no question that he was fit to plead”.

Stephen Griffiths's victims worked the streets of Bradford’s red light district a short distance from his flat.

Suzanne Blamires, Shelley Armitage and Susan Rushworth were familiar figures in the network of run-down streets off Sunbridge Road, a two-minute walk from the city centre.

Parts of Miss Blamires’s body were discovered in May in the River Aire at Shipley, about five miles north of Griffiths’s Thornton Road flat.

In the days which followed, more of Miss Blamires was found in the water along with a small part of Miss Armitage’s body. No trace of Miss Rushworth has yet been found.

Stephen Griffiths being interviewed about DNA.