A Troubled Mom Went Out Drinking with a Man. She Didn't Know He Was the 'Cannibal' Killer

Mar. 15, 2025

Julie Paterson.

Content warning: The following article contains disturbing details.

A British man remains behind bars more than 25 years after he was convicted in one of most harrowing murder cases in modern English memory.

David Harker, known in the media as the “cannibal” killer, was convicted in 1999 of murdering Julie Paterson, a 32-year-old mother of four whom he’d met just weeks prior.

The details of Harker’s crime continue to shock and disturb roughly a quarter century after the gruesome murder took place in Teesside, about 70 miles north of Leeds.

PEOPLE is looking back at Paterson’s April 1998 murder, which occurred after she and Harker, then 24, met up at a local park to drink.

David Harker.PA Images via Getty

PA Images via Getty

A Troubled Mother

Paterson was a mother of four who was struggling with alcoholism and depression at the time she met Harker, according toThe Teesside Gazette. Paterson’s partner Alan Taylor had reportedly told police that Paterson would often disappear on drinking binges, but would always show up at home afterwards.

However, when Paterson went to meet up with Harker to have a drink at a local park in April 1998, the mother never came back.

Harker Proudly Confessed — and Claimed More Victims

After Paterson went missing, police searched for a month hoping to find her body, according toThe Guardian, but the mother of four was only found in pieces. It wasn’t until questioning Harker’s friends that investigators began to understand the brutal truth of what happened, the outlet reported.

“Harker has told friends and psychiatrists at Ashworth hospital that he killed her,” lead investigator Superintendent Barry Peart testified later in court, according toThe Guardian. “He also said he had eaten part of her thigh, fried it and eaten it with pasta and cheese.”

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

Harker had told friends he one day wanted to become a serial killer, according to theGazette, which reported that he also read books about other murderers. He pleaded guilty in February 1999 after telling a psychiatrist that “people like me don’t come from those films, them films come from people like me," the outlet reported.

The search for Julie Paterson’s remains.Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty

Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty

Paterson’s Remaining Body Parts Were Never Found

Harker was convicted of Paterson’s murder in 1999, but he has still never told authorities where he discarded Paterson’s head and limbs, according toThe Northern Echo.

TheGazettereported that while in prison, Harker also withheld the information from Paterson’s first husband, who wrote a letter to his ex-wife’s killer pleading with the convicted murder to tell investigators where the woman’s head and limbs were buried.

“You are correct when you speak of decency, I have none,” Harker reportedly wrote to Paterson’s ex-husband Fred Newman, according to theGazette. “I have no inhibitions, remorse or regret, and therefore care not one bit if your wife has a full body burial or not.”

BBCreportedthat Harker was denied parole in October 2021 under “Helen’s Law,” a law put in place to make it harder for convicted murderers to receive parole if they refuse to tell authorities where they discarded their victims’ remains.

source: people.com