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Dedicated to Patrick Dee 1917-2005
Born Killers came about after Christopher Berry-Dee was invited to appear on the 2005 Sky TV series Born To Kill? The TV series raised and discussed many issues and it seemed only logical to expand them further to create a book. A TV series can often be a here-today-and-gone-tomorrow phenomenon, whereas books last. The aim of this book is to be something that anyone interested in the subject can return to again and again in an effort to understand the mind of the serial killer.
As with any book, the authors are delighted to give due credit and acknowledge those who have contributed to the project, and we start by thanking those who have supplied valuable information, and who have appeared throughout the TV series.
Ivan Milat: Paul Kidd, author Australian Serial Killers; Mark Whittaker, co-author Sins of the Brother; Mark Tedeschi, Crown Prosecutor; Peter Cantarella; George Milat; Don Borthwick; Jacquie and Ian Clarke; Commander Clive Small; Dr Rod Milton; Neil Mercer, The Sunday Telegraph; Terry Martin, Milat’s defence lawyer.
Fred West: Dr David Holmes; Jean Ritchie; Brian Masters, author She Must Have Known; Dave Newman; Anthony Daniels, author So Little to be Done – The Testament of a Serial Killer; Leo Goatley, Fred West’s solicitor; Hugh Worsnip; Caroline Owens; Professor Bernard Knight, pathologist.
Jeffrey Dahmer: Patrick Kennedy, Milwaukee PD; Colonel Robert Ressler, FBI; Michael McCann, District Attorney; Gerald Boyle, Dahmer’s attorney; Tony Timer; Nico Claux, convicted murderer and cannibal; Sopaxliba Princewill, Dahmer’s landlord; Dr David Holmes; Roy Ratcliffe.
Myra Hindley: Dr David Holmes; Jean Ritchie, author Mind of a Murderess; Geoff Knupfer, former Chief Superintendent Greater Manchester Police; Marie Cheffings; Elizabeth Cummings, former acquaintance of Myra Hindley; Laurence Jordon; Danny Kilbride, brother of victim John Kilbride; Winnie Johnson, victim Keith Bennett’s mother; Tony Brooks of the Manchester Express; Andrew McCooey, solicitor for Hindley, circa 1982; Linda Malvern.
The Washington Snipers: Sergeant Roger Thomson, Montgomery County Police; Jon Ward, The Washington Times; Dr Dewy Cornell, attorney for John Mills; Sonia Wells; Chrissy Greenawalt; Detective Ralph Daigneau, Prince William County Police; Dr Evan Nelson; Vickie Snider; Roger Holmes, long-time friend of John Muhammad.
Dr Harold Shipman: Dr David Holmes; Bernard Postles, Detective Superintendent Greater Manchester Police; Mikaela Sitford, author Addicted to Murder; John Pollard, Chief Coroner; Brian Whittle, author Prescription for Murder; Ann Alexander, solicitor for families in the Shipman enquiry; Bob Studholme; Mike Heath; Dr Michael Grieve; Colin Shotbolt; Tony Fleming.
Much appreciation goes to TV series producer Charlotte Wheeler (Charlottski), and researchers Jon McKnight and George Hughes. Also to Jane Geran and Jason Langley, along with all those at TwoFour Productions who made the TV series possible. And, of course, John Blake and Lucian Randall at John Blake Publishing.
The authors’ personal thanks go out to Kirstie McCallum and Nancy Holloway for supporting us, also specifically to warm-hearted Elaine Anstess, Tatiana, Sasha, Zoe and Joanna Dee and all of the team at The New Criminologist, www.newcriminologist.co.uk. Thanks also to Nick Morris, Marilyn and Scott Dorrall.
CONTENTS
Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1: Nature v. Nurture by Christopher Berry-Dee
Chapter 2: Ivan Milat
Chapter 3: Fred and Rose West
Chapter 4: Jeffrey Dahmer
Chapter 5: Myra Hindley and Ian Brady: the Moors Murderers
Chapter 6: John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo: the Washington Snipers
Chapter 7: Dr Harold Shipman
Chapter 8: Dean Arnold Corll: the Candy Man
Chapter 9: John Wayne Gacy: the Killing Clown
Copyright
‘It looked like I would never be punished by God or Satan, and when we died our lives just flickered out. The sooner a person understands that there’s no punishment after death and allows their own impulses to take over, the sooner they become an unstoppable serial killer. That’s the point I’d reached. It was scary, but it was exciting too.’
Keith Hunter Jesperson, the ‘Happy Face Killer’,
from The Creation of a Serial Killer by Jack Olsen
THIS BOOK ASKS – and tries to answer – the fascinating question: ‘Are we born to kill?’ Within that, many more equally compelling questions are raised: if we are born to kill, does this mean that some of us are destined to be killers and that there is nothing society can do about it? Or can something be done? On the other hand, if it is a case of nurture rather than nature, how are serial killers ‘made’? Do they all follow the same path of development or do different circumstances create different types of serial killer?
When TwoFour Productions put together the idea for the six-part TV documentary series Born to Kill? the original concept was for myself and my co-author Steve Morris to write a book to accompany the series. However, it quickly became clear that any book we wrote could go beyond the scope of the series and really pose some interesting questions about the nature of serial killers. Together with Jason Langley, the Commercial Director at TwoFour Productions, and our publisher John Blake, Steve and I began to discuss putting together what we now believe to be one of the most important books of its kind available today.
The authors’ brief was to follow the format of the TV series, thus we have included the principal characters to form the backbone of the text: Frederick and Rose West, Dr Harold Shipman, John Muhammad and Lee Malvo, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, and Ivan Milat. However, myself and Steve – with his immense knowledge on the subject of sexual serial homicide – soon realised that also including the histories of several other serial murderers in this book would add far greater socio-criminological value, especially when weighed alongside the more recent scientific studies concerning the Nature v Nurture debate.
Wherever you stand on this debate, the one thing to bear in mind is that it is an issue that concerns every one of us, especially anyone with children. We would even go so far as to say that every parent should read Born Killers? because it is a wake-up call and its findings could change the way we look at what makes a killer. It is, we conclude, not a case of Nature v Nurture but Nature and Nurture.
Unusually for a true-crime book, we have set out to devote more space to the offenders’ early histories and less space to their actual crimes. After all, we reasoned, the question really being asked here is: how do these monsters develop into killing machines in the first place? Are they born to kill, bred to kill, taught to kill or trained to kill? Is there really a ‘demon seed’ within some of us that ensures we are pre-programmed to commit serial homicide from conception?
Despite the undoubted wickedness of the killers featured throughout this book, we have shown them some compassion where we feel it is appropriate. In my travels around the world, especially in the US, I have always been mindful of how law enforcement officers, attorneys, the judiciary and even the next-of-kin of the victims often refer to these murderers