'Pure evil': Toronto serial killer given eight life sentences

• Bruce McArthur, 67, not eligible for parole until he is 91
• Judge says McArthur has shown ‘no evidence of remorse’

Leyland Cecco in Toronto
Fri 8 Feb 2019 17.23 GMT

Bruce McArthur, the Canadian serial killer who preyed on the Toronto gay community for nearly a decade, has been given eight concurrent life sentences. He will not be eligible for parole until he is 91.

Passing sentence on Friday, Judge John McMahon described McArthur’s behaviour as “pure evil” and said he would have kept killing if he had not been apprehended by the police.

McMahon recognized McArthur’s guilty plea, but said it was highly unlikely he would ever be released on parole. “Although Mr McArthur has taken responsibility of his actions, there has been no evidence of remorse,” he said.

McArthur, 67, pleaded guilty last week to the first-degree murders of Andrew Kinsman, Selim Esen, Majeed Kayhan, Soroush Mahmudi, Dean Lisowick, Skandaraj (Skanda) Navaratnam, Abdulbasir Faizi, and Kirushnakumar Kanagaratnam.

McArthur targeted men living on the margins of Canadian society, and their disappearances initially attracted little attention.

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