The worst crimes in history

1981: Pope John Paul II assassination attempt - On May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II was struck by four bullets by as he was entering St Peter's Square in Vatican City.

1966: Richard Speck - On July 14, 1966, Richard Speck murdered eight student nurses from South Chicago Community Hospital.

2009: Bernie Madoff - Disgraced financier Bernie Madoff is responsible for the largest Ponzi scheme in the world, and the largest financial fraud in US history.

1947: The Black Dahlia - Aspiring actress Elizabeth Short was found murdered in Los Angeles on January 15, 1947. She had been horribly mutilated.

1963: The Great Train Robbery - On August 8, 1963, a Royal Mail train heading from Glasgow to London was halted by a criminal gang in Buckinghamshire, England.

1974: The Patty Hearst Kidnapping - On February 4, 1974, heiress Patty Hearst was kidnapped by terrorists. She then joined her abductors and took part in a bank robbery.

1991: Jeffrey Dahmer - Dahmer, dubbed the "Milwaukee Monster," killed 17 men and boys from 1978 to 1991 before being caught.

1989: Avianca Flight 203 - The crimes committed by Colombian drug dealer Pablo Escobar during his life are numerous.

1996: The Unabomber - In 1978, Ted Kaczynski began a bombing campaign that would continue until 1995, and which killed three people and injured dozens more.

1992: Andrei Chikatilo - By the time he was executed in February 1994, Soviet serial killer Andrei Chikatilo had confessed to 56 murders.

1997: The Notorious B.I.G. - At first considered a suspect in the Tupac Shakur killing, friend and rival Biggie Smalls was himself murdered on March 9, 1997.

1981: Ronald Reagan assassination attempt - US President Ronald Reagan narrowly escaped with his life during an assassination attempt on March 30, 1981.

2000: Enschede fireworks disaster - On May 13, 2000, an enormous explosion effectively flattened the suburb of Roombeek in the Dutch city of Enschede.

2005: Banco Central burglary - One of the world's largest heists was carried out at Banco Central in Fortaleza, Brazil, on August 6, 2005.

1995: Selena murder - Singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez was 23 years old when she was gunned down by Yolanda Saldívar, the president of her fan club.

1999: Jill Dando murder - One of Britain's best-loved journalists and broadcasters, Jill Dando was shot and killed on the doorstep of her London home on April 26, 1999.