Arrest and Trial
The investigation led to Hardy, who was arrested a week later. He had gone on the run, but was spotted by an off-duty policemen when he went to a hospital to collect his prescription for insulin. A search of his flat found evidence, including old blood stains, indicating the two women had been killed and dismembered there. Both had died over the Christmas holidays.
Under arrest, Hardy simply said "no comment" to every question put to him by police. He was eventually charged with the murders of both MacClennan and Valad, and Sally White, the woman whose death had originally been put down to natural causes.
At his trial in November 2003 Hardy, despite his initial lack of cooperation with the police, abruptly changed his plea to guilty to all three counts of murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Because of Hardy's history of psychiatric problems and violent behaviour, an independent enquiry was announced into his care.
Police have been reported to believe that Hardy was likely connected to the unsolved cases of two prostitutes found dismembered and dumped in the Thames, and up to five or six other area murders that bore marked similarities to the ones for which he was convicted, but there is not enough evidence available directly implicating him in the murders for further action.
In May 2010, a High Court judge decided that Hardy should never be released from prison, placing him on the list of whole life tariff prisoners.
Mr Justice Keith, sitting in London, said: "This is one of those exceptionally rare cases in which life should mean life."
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