Friday 17 February 2012

As Serial Killer Obsessions Go…

…getting obsessed with a ‘Coronation Street’ example may be the most pathetic one ever!
When the teenager raised his hand to strike a woman over the head with a claw hammer several times, his fantasy life had finally become reality.

He had already written a story in which he played the main character – someone who got away with rape and murder. In the story, he described the character murdering a woman with a hammer, and then setting the house on fire.

And in real life he, too, set the body of his victim alight in her bedroom.
It’s a disturbing case, for all sorts of reasons:
The boy, who cannot be named, was found guilty of murder at Nottingham Crown Court yesterday.
Can’t be named. Sound familiar? It seems that nor can the victim, referred to in all reports as ‘the woman’.

I suspect, however, that she might have been a relative. No weeping mother has been interviewed, so perhaps the young master should have picked old Norm to idolise instead?
forensic examinations of his computer also found footage of violent scenes from Trial and Retribution, EastEnders, Hollyoaks, and Coronation Street – the latter including the scene where the character John Stape kills a woman with a hammer.
Now, that’s just pathetic.

As, indeed, appears to have been the state’s response to the level of threat he posed:
The social worker wrote: "The voice tells him to hurt people and instead he hurts himself or inanimate objects."

After their conversations, the boy went for a mental health assessment six weeks before the killing.

The assessment concluded that he showed no signs of being mentally ill and it was recommended he be supported through the established counselling relationship.

The social worker spoke to the boy about his thoughts and feelings up to ten days before the alleged murder.

In a statement she described him as articulate, in touch with his feelings and a good communicator.
Boy, is her face red! Or maybe not…
"We think he thought he could commit the perfect murder and get away with it," said DCI Meynell. "I think it's a horrific crime both as a police officer and personally. It's shocking.

"The level of violence, the degree of planning and the extent of his lies is not only shocking but it's also chilling that a boy could do this.

"I've never dealt with something like this and I'm not aware of any other case in this country."
Really? It’s rare, yes, but that would, surely, make it more memorable, you’d think…

I’m not quite sure who thought of approaching the TV companies for a statement, or why, but of course, they felt compelled to give one:
An ITV spokesperson said: "ITV takes careful steps to ensure that pre-watershed drama is appropriate for a family audience, and the Stape murder scenes in Coronation Street were fully compliant. "With regards to Trial and Retribution, this is a matter for parents as it is a post-watershed programme and aimed at an adult audience."
No-one’s blaming you. Well, no-one who doesn’t want to deflect blame from themselves, anyway…

6 comments:

Quiet_Man said...

If I remember, Peter Sutcliffe also killed his victimes with a hammer too.

Anonymous said...

Have the Guardian scooped him as a columnist yet?

They're always looking to add to the collection :
www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/sep/09/prison-blogging

Anonymous said...

The social worker, a supposed expert with in-depth knowledge of the 'boy', with constant contact for evaluation, etc. let's him wander around to murder someone. What a surprise!

I've had extensive contact with a wide range of social workers, both professionally and unfortunately personally, and have yet to meet one who had anything other than the wish to further her, and her professions, ideological aims, screw the people they are supposed to be helping and protecting.

"is her face red! Or maybe not…"

Not, guaranteed! and after a trite 'apology' she'll be.. promoted, just you wait and see.

dfordoom said...

He was in touch with his feelings? That's the kind of comment that makes one want to do bad things to social workers.

JuliaM said...

"If I remember, Peter Sutcliffe also killed his victimes with a hammer too."

He did indeed.

"Have the Guardian scooped him as a columnist yet?"

If he's been educated in the school system, he'll probably need a full-time editor for...

*looks at Grauniad*

....never mind.

"...and after a trite 'apology' she'll be.. promoted, just you wait and see."

I'm betting you aren't wrong.

"That's the kind of comment that makes one want to do bad things to social workers."

Indeed!

Nonwatcher said...

'Trail and retribution' is an interesting take on this from the TV companies.

The soap will show a murderous act (because they are in the business of the cheapjack amusing of the unwashed), but what's to say someone watching the crime will be glued to the set in several weeks time to see the outcome of justice being done?

The answer is none. Anyway, with YouTube, etc, all 'favourite' scenes can be cherry-picked and watched in isolation.

There's even the point that we all know even the most heinous of crimes in reality only carry a mandatory wrist-slap to keep perps out of jail, which somehow TV drama never shows.