Colin Ireland (16 March 1954 – 21 February 2012) was a British serial killer known as the Gay Slayer because his victims were homosexual. Criminologist David Wilson believes that Ireland was a psychopath. Ireland suffered a severely dysfunctional upbringing. He committed various crimes from the age of 16 and had served time in borstals and prisons. While living in Southend, he started frequenting the Coleherne pub, a gay pub in Earl's Court. Ireland sought men who liked the passive role and sado-masochism, so he could readily restrain them as they initially believed it was a sexual game.