A notorious double killer who beat two helpless disabled alcoholics to death during a drug-fuelled robbery is preaching at churches across Northern Ireland, sparking concern among the congregations.
Benny Wiggins - who served 24 years in prison for the horrific killings of Andrew Thomas and Martin Reilly - told Sunday Life his crimes are in the past and he is 100% convinced he will get into heaven.
"God has forgiven me, and absolutely my place in heaven is assured," he said.
The 50-year-old has been preaching at church services across the country and gave a recent sermon at Brookeborough Elim in Co Fermanagh which was watched by hundreds of worshippers and introduced by Pastor Nathan Johnston who issued the invite.
Brookeborough Elim Pentecostal Church - Credit: Google Streetview
During the 45-minute talk Lisnaskea-born Wiggins, described as a "compulsive liar" by a judge, glossed over how he battered one of his victim's with an iron bar and dropped a television on the other's head.
He delivered a similar sermon at Kilkeel Baptist Tabernacle, and is a regular on the streets of Portadown, where he is a member of the local Elim Church, handing out religious tracts to unsuspecting members of the public.
Other members of the Elim Church in the town include UVF serial killer Alan Oliver, who is a suspect in 14 sectarian murders, and psychopath Anthony Conlon who fatally stabbed his ex-wife Fiona and then raped her as she was dying.
Referring to his Christian conversion Wiggins told this newspaper: "I still can't believe it, at times I tell myself 'wow'.
"I can't go into the details of the crimes which I was convicted of, other than to say my head was all over the place at the time.
"They will always hang over me, I understand that, I do get that I will never get away from it.
"What I did was wrong, but I know God has forgiven me, and absolutely my place in heaven is assured."
But sources who tipped off Sunday Life about Wiggins' religious fervour believe it is to mask his dark past.
"Wiggins sounds the part when he is up preaching about God, but scratch the surface and he is still that violent maniac who beat two helpless men to death," said a prison officer who has known the double murderer for more than a decade.
"He was given a life sentence with a minimum 15-year tariff, but ended up spending 24 years in jail. That tells you about how unrepentant he was and how he behaved in jail.
"Ask anyone at Maghaberry, prison officers or inmates, and they will tell you Wiggins is a dangerous and volatile criminal."
Robbery
Wiggins was 21 years old when he beat Andrew Thomas (54) and Martin Reilly (32) to death in a drug-fuelled robbery at a vacant London squat house in September 1991.
The pair, who were both disabled and crippled, had been living on the floor below him. Thinking that they had £2,000 stashed away Wiggins broke into their flat to steal cash, a television and video recorder.
He attacked Andrew first, smashing his head repeatedly with an iron bar before returning upstairs. Wiggins went back a short time later, this time beating Martin who was in bed with the same iron bar and then finishing him off by dropping a TV on his head.
The double killer escaped with stolen electrical goods which he sold prior to being arrested four days later.
While in custody Wiggins shamefully tried to justify murdering Andrew by claiming that his first victim had made sexual advances - an allegation that was never proven.
A post mortem revealed he had been hit across the head 21 times with an iron bar and suffered a fractured skull and brain haemorrhage. Martin Reilly endured similar injuries caused by 19 blows to the head.
Wiggins was jailed for life the following year, with a judge at his trial branding him a "compulsive liar" and danger to the public.
In 1994 he was moved from a jail in England to the high-security Maghaberry Prison.
He was eventually freed on licence three years ago, having been thrown off earlier pre-release schemes for drug taking.
Wiggins touched on this in his address to Brookeborough Elim church, saying: "I couldn't cope with the outside world. Things had changed so much, I was institutionalised.
"I got put back in prison and did another two years in Maghaberry.
"When I got back out again I was in a working out unit and hostels, but I still could not cope. All I wanted was to go back to my cell and go back to Maghaberry."
The double killer claims he found God in April 2016 after attending behind-bars meetings of the Prison Fellowship and said that he now wants "to get back to Fermanagh to preach".
He added: "I told the Lord how sorry I was about the people I hurt in my life - my family, my victims and my friends. I told him how sorry I was and I wanted to change my ways."
Referring to his time in London in the months before he murdered Andrew Thomas and Martin Reilly, Wiggins said: "I lived in squats and was on the streets, and was in cardboard boxes.
"I was taking drink and I was taking drugs. My life was upside down, back to front and inside out. My life was very, very dark."
At no point during his sermon does Wiggins mention he was convicted of a double murder, preferring to tell Brookeborough Elim worshippers that he "ended up taking somebody's life and getting a life sentence in prison".
This is at odds with other claims he makes during the broadcast, recorded on November 1, when he talks about his street preaching in Portadown and how some people are unable to handle the truth.
Wiggins said: "People don't like to hear the truth, they get angry when they hear the truth, but yet the truth sets you free."
