Chilling moment depraved serial rapist The Fox, nicknamed because he broke into homes and made secret dens before emerging to attack, admits to police he did it to satisfy his 'sex drive' in new Channel 5 documentary tonight

Unheard police tapes have revealed the chilling words of one of Britain's most notorious sex attackers who targeted more than a dozen victims in 1984.

Malcolm Fairley, who became known as 'The Fox' for the way he built lairs in targets' homes so he could lie in wait before attacking them, was finally caught in September 1984.

He was handed six life sentences the following year and remains behind bars. 

In a Channel 5 documentary airing tonight, audio of Fairley's admission to police in 1984 that he felt a 'sexy drive' to carry out more attacks is revealed for the first time.

And asked by police why he carried out his attacks, which included three rapes, he claimed: 'I cannae think of anything.'

Twice-married Fairley, whose hunting ground in villages in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire became known as the 'Triangle of Terror', will be eligible for parole later this year after spending nearly 30 years in prison. 

But former Detective Chief Superintendent Brian Prickett, who led the investigation that led to his capture and is heard on the tapes, said the criminal must never be released.

He said: 'Malcolm Fairley should never come out of prison after all the fear and harm he put into the community. He never deserves to be released because I think he's still a real risk to the public.' 

Fairley carried out his crimes in the hot summer of 1984, when national tensions were inflamed amidst the ongoing miners' strike.

His victims included both men and women, ranging in age from teenagers to pensioners. 

Fairley would break into victims' homes, help himself to food and drink and then build a lair out of furniture and blankets. 

He would also remove all light bulbs and then wait in the dark, flicking through victims' family photo albums by torchlight before they returned. 

At the height of his crimes, there were three attacks in the space of a week. 

In the new documentary, The Intruder: He's Watching You, Fairley is heard being asked by DCS Prickett if he tried to stop. 

He replied: 'Well I tried to. Many times. Every time I went I tried.'

Fairley was then asked by another officer: 'Do you still feel you want to do it?'

He said: 'Not really, it's... but I still... get a sexy drive type thing.'

Asked by DCS Prickett about an attack he carried out on an elderly woman, he said: 'Well, I felt disappointed in myself to do it. You know, like it's... it just weren't me.' 

Bedfordshire Police ended up with more than 5,000 suspects and terrified residents resorted to sleeping with weapons under their beds, fearing that they might be next during the four-month spree. 

Fairley, who wore a mask made from a trouser leg, also committed break-ins and sexual crimes in Milton Keynes, South Yorkshire and his native North East. 

He was eventually arrested in at home in Kentish Town, North London, after forensic evidence linked his car to an attack. 

At the time of his arrest he had committed 81 offences as 'The Fox'. 

He had a string of previous convictions to his name and was the father of three children from his two marriages. 

In one break-in, he stole a shotgun and ammunition and later used the weapon in other attacks, including in one where he shot a businessman at point-black range.

The victim had to have his finger amputated.  

DCS Prickett added: 'Psychiatrists said that he was rational and that he was normal. 

'Well, I never accepted that. As a police officer, you deal with him professionally, but as a human being to human being, you've got complete disgust, you've got almost hatred. 

'I don't think I'll ever understand the motivation he had for the attacks he carried out.'

After sentencing Fairley to six life sentences, following his trial at St Albans Crown Court in February 1985, Mr Justice Caulfield said: 'There are degrees of wickedness beyond condemnatory description. 

'Your crimes fall within this category. You desecrated and defiled men and women in their own homes.'

On February 27, 1985, the Daily Mail revealed Fairley's mugshot and declared: 'The Fox - evil beyond words.'

Fairley admitted 13 offences - three rapes, an indecent assault on a man and another on a 74-year-old woman, five burglaries and three aggravated burglaries with intent to rape while carrying a firearm.

He also asked for 68 other crimes, mostly burglaries, to be considered. 

An 18-year-old girl who was among his victim said in the Daily Mail after he was convicted: 'I felt as if there was no one I could turn to and began crying and screaming.

'Memories of that night were always with me, yet no one seemed to realise what was happening inside my head. 

'Eventually I could take no more and completely cracked up.' 

In a three-hour ordeal, Fairley tried to force the young woman - who he had raped - to carry out sex acts with her 21-year-old boyfriend and 17-year-old brother.

Chris Hackett, the series producer and director the new documentary, said: 'This was one of the last big police manhunts before the introduction of DNA analysis. 

'Officers were relying on old-fashioned detective work - boots on the ground, human intelligence, witnesses and fingerprints. 

'We wanted to tell the story of the police officers desperate to find this man while also fearing for their own families.'

Dan Louw, commissioning editor at Channel 5, said: 'There's something primal about our fear that there's someone lurking in our homes - in our place of safety. 

'This film is a real-life horror movie, and a tribute to the brave victims who survived Fairley's terror and the diligent cops who beat the odds to track him down.'

The Intruder: He's Watching You From Within airs on Channel 5 tonight at 10pm.