Murders linked to theft have declined significantly in the last 13 years, according to crime historian Eddie Attard.

His statistics show that while at least 15 of the 78 killings that took place between 1987 and 1999 were connected to theft, only five of the 73 since the year 2000 were.

Mr Attard was speaking on the current affairs programme Times Talk, which yesterday discussed a spate of killings in the past two years which police believe are the result of a turf war between rival criminal gangs.

The historian said there was no precedent for these types of murders, particularly because of the way the victims were killed – executed at times with sophisticated weapons such as machine guns and in broad daylight.

He said that the murders still fall within the norm in Malta and advised against alarm. On the other hand, he pointed out that the murders that people usually find most unsettling – those connected to theft, especially burglary – are steadily declining.

Some of the homicides that make up those statistics in the 1990s come from the gruesome murders committed by 49-year-old Salvatore Mangion, who became known as the ‘serial killer’ after he tattooed the initials SK on his earlobes.

He is serving two life sentences on top of a 21-year jail term for three burglaries in the late 1980s and 1990s, which ended up with him killing his victims.

The jail time was given in three separate cases in which he killed three elderly people and tried to kill a fourth in three separate burglaries.

He killed one of his victims, 54-year-old Rosina Zammit, by stabbing her 37 times with a foot-long knife.

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