A serial killer from Kent who confessed to brutally murdering 11 people could be released from prison this year.

Patrick Mackay carried out his killing spree in the 1970s - brutally murdering elderly women in London and a priest in Shorne, before later admitting responsibility for eight other deaths.

Dubbed ‘Britain’s forgotten serial killer’, the 69-year-old - who grew up around Dartford and Gravesend - is the country's longest-serving prisoner, but is now set for a parole hearing as soon as September.

Having spent the first 27 years of his sentence in a top security Category A jail, he is now in an open prison.

Previous parole bids from Mackay - who now goes by the name of David Groves - have been unsuccessful but The Mirror reports the killer is optimistic about his chances this time around.

The Parole Board has confirmed his case has been referred, and is awaiting a date to be listed.

Back in 1975, Mackay was convicted of three manslaughters on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

He savagely killed elderly women in their homes in London and returned to Kent near to his old stomping ground and befriended a priest.

Father Anthony Crean was later hacked to death with an axe and left in his blood-filled bath in the village of Shorne.

Although he became eligible for release at the end of his minimum term in March 1995, Mackay has always been deemed too high risk to be safely managed in the community.

Now, the Parole Board will again examine a huge range of evidence including details of the crime, its impact on victims and any proof of behaviour change.

Having confessed to further murders while in jail, Mackay later retracted his confessions for all but four killings.

The other killings remain unsolved.