The 'Santa Claus' who turned out to be a gay serial killer

Bruce MacArthur was a gardener who also worked as Santa Claus at a shopping center in Canada.

 Despite receiving a light sentence for a violent assault years ago and numerous run-ins with the police, he eluded arrest for a long time. By the time he was arrested, he had killed eight people between 2010 and 2017.

 Arthur, 67, was tried for the murders of eight people and pleaded guilty during the hearing.

 Most of his victims were from the gay area near Toronto. Almost all the individuals belonged to South Asian countries.

 But because McArthur pleaded guilty during the trial, not much evidence related to the case was presented in court.

 The BBC's Mubeen Azhar visited Toronto to find out how Bruce MacArthur was caught and killed eight people over seven years.

 He found out that the police had been searching for him for many years before he was caught

A lucky escape

 One lucky escapee from MacArthur's clutches was Sean Cribbon, who he found in July 2017.

 The two exchanged messages on an online dating app where MacArthur used the name 'Silver Focus'. In his online profile, MacArthur described himself as a 'Leather Daddy' (a man who has all the power in a sexual relationship) and wrote that he 'likes to push his partner to any extent.'

 Cribbin had come to MacArthur's apartment to have sex, but had passed out after using the drug GHB.

 "When I regained consciousness, I saw him standing there looking at me," Cribbin recalls. "He never made any reference to the fact that 'I was unconscious for 20 minutes.' . I take it as a bad meeting.'

 But really, Cribbon is lucky to be alive. MacArthur's meeting with him was only a month after Arthur killed his eighth victim.

 Shortly after the incident, a detective contacted Cribbin and told him that a photo of MacArthur had been found on his hard drive.

 "He put a hood over my head and taped my eyes, he had his hand around my neck and he took a picture of me and it was a 20-minute meeting," Cribbin said.

 Cribbin didn't even know the photo existed until the police informed him, but the strange habit of taking pictures with his victims was part of Arthur's behavior.

 Police found numbered folders on MacArthur's hard drive that belonged to each of the eight men he killed. MacArthur also dressed his victims in fur coats, and the folders contained photographs of the men before and after their deaths.

 It seems that he kept all these pictures as a memory. As in many cities around the world, the illegal drug GHB is readily available in Toronto.

 Some people use this drug during sex. It has no taste or smell and can easily cause sedation.

A GHB drug dealer, who gives his name as 'Joey', says he used to go to MacArthur's house to use the drug and have sex with him.

 "We both used GHB, I started to feel weird because he was asking me weird questions like are you close to your family?" says Joey. Do you have any other siblings?

 Meanwhile, I thought that if I disappeared, would anyone remember me? I told him that I am not feeling well, so I have to go. There was no life in his eyes, he looked like a devil to me. Every time I hear his name I feel disgusted. 

Majeed Kayhan, one of MacArthur's victims, lived near Church Street. He moved there after breaking up with his wife.

 According to his gay friends, he was in a relationship with a man who his family says was his roommate.

 Majeed's nephew Sabir says that his uncle's marriage did not work out but he had a good relationship with his children.

 "He loved his children and had a good relationship with his wife and normal communication between them," says Sabir.

 Despite what has been said about Majeed's relationship with a man, his family maintains that he was not gay.

 "I know him well, he was not involved in any such activity, maybe he was misinformed about something," says his nephew Saber.

When MacArthur was finally caught, there was an outcry from gay communities in Toronto about how he had been able to kill for seven years without anyone knowing, especially when he was caught by the police. He also had several encounters with and had relationships with some of his victims.

 A detective investigating the case of Abul Basir Faizi, who disappeared in December 2010, says she told colleagues she might be dealing with a serial killer.

 Mary Catherine Marsot was then working for the Peel Regional Police in Ontario.

 "When you come back to the office and say, 'I think we have a serial killer,' everyone laughs," she says. Of course, because what's the chance of catching a serial killer in a police officer's career? There is really very little chance.

 "I immediately tried to contact the Toronto police," she says. I left a voicemail and they did not call me back. I was getting worried, so I sent a formal email.

 In this email, Mary Catherine highlighted similarities between two men in Toronto's gay area who were both black and who were believed to have disappeared during that time.

 Mary Catherine says the city's police never responded. In turn, Toronto police say they have no record of the warning.

 MacArthur killed six more men before he was captured. Abdul Basir Faizi actually became his second victim.

 Apart from Abdul Basir, Salem Esan, Andrew Kinsman, Majeed Kayhan, Dean Leswick, Krishna Kumar Kanagartanam, Sikandaraj Navaratnam and Soorosh Mahmoudi were the other seven people killed by MacArthur.

 An independent review of Toronto police's handling of missing persons cases found 'serious flaws' in the serial killer's investigation but also acknowledged the good work of special officers and concluded that the lapses were 'biased or deliberate. were not due to the grounds of discrimination.'

 There will always be a void in the lives of those who knew and loved these eight men.

 Like Sean Cribbon, Joey survived his attack but the other eight did not

Hidden lives

 Many of the men killed by MacArthur were not always honest about their sexual relations with him because of things like their religious background.

 For example, his victim Krishna Kumar Kanagaratnam was hiding in Canada because his asylum application to flee Sri Lanka was rejected.

 And they were never reported missing because their friends and family were afraid it might get them into trouble.

 Similarly, another victim, Abdul Basir Faizi, was of Afghan origin and came to Canada as an immigrant. He lived with his wife and children and worked in a factory.

 The night they disappeared, they went to a hamburger joint in Toronto's gay area.

 Abdul Basir's wife is said to have been 'deeply shocked' when she was told this.

 Like many men at the hands of MacArthur, Abd al-Sair had a hidden life.

 Today, many in Toronto's Afghan community still find it difficult to talk publicly about what happened to Abdul Basir and other Afghan Canadians who were exploited by MacArthur.

 In talking to family and friends of some of the victims, it became clear that talking about sexuality was considered a handicap.