Stephen Oladimeji K. Akinmurele was born on March 16, 1978, in Nigeria to a Nigerian father and a white British mother. When he was ten years old, in 1988, he and his mother relocated to the Isle of Man, a British Crown dependency in the Irish Sea. He later moved to Blackpool, England, where he worked as a barman. Despite an unassuming appearance and polite manner, those who knew him later described him as emotionally unstable and prone to erratic behavior.

Akinmurele’s early years were marked by deep psychological disturbance and an unusual fixation on the elderly. Reports indicate that his pattern of offending began as early as age eleven, when he committed petty crimes targeting senior citizens. He was described by police as having a “pathological hatred of old people,” a compulsion that became the defining feature of his later crimes.

Though he held various jobs, including bar work, Akinmurele struggled to maintain stability in either employment or personal life. Psychological assessments and witness statements suggested that he suffered from long-term mental illness, likely a combination of antisocial and psychopathic tendencies. Police later concluded that he derived a sense of control and “pleasure” from attacking elderly victims, believing that he targeted them not for financial gain but to satisfy an ingrained hatred.

In the mid-1990s, after several years living quietly on the Isle of Man, Akinmurele began a violent killing spree that would ultimately result in five confirmed deaths and at least two additional suspected murders.

Stephen Oladimeji K. Akinmurele, known as "The Cul-de-Sac Killer," is linked to multiple murders of elderly victims in the United Kingdom between 1995 and 1998. His first confirmed victims were Eric Boardman, 77, and his wife Joan Boardman, 74. They were killed in their home in Blackpool on October 30, 1998. Their bodies were discovered by one of their daughters. Eric was found beaten to death, while Joan had been strangled.

After the Boardman murders, Akinmurele was charged with killing Jemmimah Cargill, 75, who was previously his landlady. She died in a flat fire in Blackpool in October 1998. During the investigation, police also connected him to two murders on the Isle of Man. These were Dorothy Harris, 68, who was found after a house fire in February 1996, and Marjorie Ashton, 72, who was found strangled in her home in May 1995.

Akinmurele was arrested on November 1, 1998. While he confessed to several murders, including one of a rambler on the Isle of Man, investigators believed these confessions were false. They suspected he had a "pathological hatred" of elderly people and had a history of committing crimes against them.

In August 1999, Akinmurele died by suicide in Manchester Prison, just weeks before his trial. He hanged himself in his cell. A suicide note found in his pocket revealed his troubled thoughts about his actions and feelings. He was only 21 years old at the time of his death.