Steven Hayes, a Connecticut man on death row for the horrific murder of a mother and two daughters, was caught out while attempting a bizarre suicide attempt. Hayes was attempting suicide, very slowly, hoping to use his allergic reaction to oysters.

Last year, Hayes wrote letters bragging about how he had killed 17 other victims and raped dozens of women. In a later interview with the Hartford Courant, the 49-year-old said he “made it all up”.

He revealed that his plan was to provide the police with information about his other fabricated crimes in the hope that they would reward him with food. He planned to trade new information about fake crimes for oysters, to which he is deathly allergic.

He told the newspaper, “I planned to eat them and have them find me dead in my cell the next morning.”

In 2010, Hayes was sentenced to death for his crimes against the Petit family. During a house raid Hayes raped and strangled Jennifer Hawke-Petit (48), before tying her daughters Hayley (17) and Michaela (11) to their beds and setting the house on fire.

The only person to survive the 2007 attack was the father, William Petit. He was beaten, tied up and taken to the basement. He managed to crawl across a yard to his neighbor’s house to get help.

In four letters (17 handwritten pages) confiscated by prison authorities, Hayes recounted other attacks and murders which he now claims were lies.

He wrote, “I have 17 kills throughout the Northeast United States. Perfect victims and well executed, controlled endeavors.”

He wrote about how his victims were between the ages of 14 and 25 and how he chose his victims. He said, “Like any great hunter, timing is critical.”

Now Hayes claims everything in the letters was a lie. His claims were brought up at his former accomplice, Joshua Komisarjevsky’s, trial last year.

The judge did not believe his claims. He said, “'If they are true he's one of the great serial killers in modern American history.”

New Haven State's Attorney Michael Dearington said that there is 'an open investigation’ into his claims.

Awaiting execution, Hayes says he will not end appeals to hasten his execution. He has said he expected to die as he and Komisarjevsky fled the burning house. He also tried to commit suicide by cop when the police were in pursuit of him after the house raid.

Since then he has had suicidal thoughts. Fox News reports that Hayes believes, “I survived because I am meant to live with the thoughts of what I did to that family.”