I am coming to the conclusion that the accepted method of profiling, whether it is the American or the British way, has kept the blinkers on when it comes to the Serial Killer. The FBI conducted a series of interviews with thirty six serial murders and rapists, asking about how and why they did their crimes, the MO they used, basically, everything to do with the crime. The British way is different, but I believe whatever method is used, the ultimate aim is to catch the perpetrator. Geographical Profiling is also used, in which all facts relating to the location of the crimes, says something about the unsub.
It has emerged that in the case of "The Night Stalker" the Police never considered that the violent and depraved sexual attacks and murders, were NOT the work of a serial killer. Richard Ramirez, the killer, did not fit the profile of a serial offender, as he used different methods of attack, breaking & entering, and what he put his victims through. Have people not come to a very real conclusion that killers do not have to stick to a particular MO? My belief that the "signature" in Ramirez`s crimes, was the sheer sexual violence he inflicted. I also do not believe in the adage that these killers have "an urge" to kill. My belief is that they have a "desire" which is completely different, and a desire is easier to control and conceal than an "urge" which could expose unsound actions and/or body language, leading to awkward questions. An example was an attack carried out by Sutcliffe, in Halifax, when he was with Trevor Birdsall. He asked him to stop the car so he could go for a piss. Whilst he was out of sight, he attacked a woman. Was this a man driven by rage, or an overwhelming urge to attack, or a man using an opportunity that presented itself. A lone woman walking and nobody around. Of course it was "The Voices" in his head, ordering him to carry out the attack!
A killer will not commit all his offences to a strict pattern. Some will use whatever means that come to them, and as in the case of Jessie Earl, a bra works as a convenient bond. Killers will use anything that comes to hand, but to say that certain aspects must fit a particular killer, otherwise he is not guilty,I feel, is absurd. Another example is the unsolved disappearance in 1969 of April Fabb, in Norfolk. She disappeared in a country lane and her bicycle lay on a grass verge, just off the road. This fitted the MO of notorious child killer Robert Black, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Genette Tate in 1978. It is difficult to place Black in Norfolk at that time, but that does NOT mean he is innocent. A lot more research into Black needs undertaking.
Friday, 26 October 2012
Sunday, 21 October 2012
Bringing Down The Krays
I had just acquired a new book (From a charity shop) about those heroes to the mentally deranged, The Krays. Written by three brothers who were associates of them, one of them claims that he was the one that "Brought them down". Bobby Teale states that he worked as an informer for Tommy Butler, after the George Cornell murder, because he felt they had gone too far and that "He was the man to bring them to book". Delusions of grandeur seem to be the immediate response to this claim. It seems that the barmaid who witnessed the shooting and pointed the finger at Ronnie Kray & John Barrie, was like a sideshow, and John Dickson, who drove them both to the Blind Beggar pub, to commit the crime, his evidence was merely secondary. It seems that Teale believes that the whole case was built upon him.
The murder of Jack McVitie that put Reggie away, the story does have a number of different versions. Ronnie is supposed to have held McVitie whilst his brother stabbed him. Dickson, in his memoirs said thathe heard that Reggie and Ronnie Hart had done it. Hart was a cousin of the Krays. Lennie Hamilton, a villain tortured by Ronnie Kray, states that he was told by Ronnie Bender, a driver who was present at the scene, that McVitie was held by Hart and Tony Lambrianou, and the window was broken in the struggle with these two. The murder of Frank Mitchell was carried out by Freddie Foreman & Alfie Gerrard, witnessed by Albert Donoghue. Foreman later confessed to the murder in print and television, and confirmed that the evidence of Donoghue in court was true. Despite the change to the Double Jeopardy Law in 1998, Foreman has never been arrested and charged over the Mitchell and Marks murders. As for other murders, "Frosty" Bill Frost, not David, was a driver, and supposedly murdered. Yet, he popped up alive and well some years ago and gave interviews for documentaries. As for "Mad " Teddy Smith, former storng man villain, Henry "Buller" Ward, claims he ran into Smith, some years after his alleged murder, in London. Ward says that it was not hard to get away from the Krays, if you wanted to.
Teale may have been an informer for the Yard, but they already had a man on the inside. This was Alan Bruce Cooper, an American, who it later emerged, was an agent for John Du Rose, head of the Murder Squad. Lennie Hamilton admits to giving Read statements. Billy Webb, another villain says that he made statements to the Police. One woman, whose evidence was very minimal in the McVitie case, says that Reggie Kray threatened to kill her children. (Cues cries from the fan club "Good ole Reg would never do that") After they went down, Albert Donoghue never went into hiding. He stayed with his family in Bow. And why would Teale deem to think that by coming back to this country, the Police would be waiting for him at Heathrow Airport? The Krays went down in 1969, and he was talking about the last couple of years! Did he seriously think that he was SO important, and that they would be there saying, "Cor blimey, Bob, we`ve got you now, for skipping our protection"? After forty years? Don`t you think that the Police have more pressing Law & Order issues to deal with, than a guy still concerned over events in the sixties?
As for the continued "They were too powerful" claims, what about the time they were told to get out of Manchester by the Police? What about their trip to Liverpool and where Reg had a gun put under his chin by a DI and told to leave and not come back? What about the family in the East End that they never bothered? The Tibbs family? What about the time, just before their arrest, when thay attempted to muscle in on the rackets being run by the Dixon Brothers and their boys? The Dixon mob stood up to them apparently, so it seems logical that they would have been mysteriously arrested by East End cops with immaculate information, shortly afterwards. Everybody knows that "Ole Ron & Reg never grassed anybody". Of course you can believe that. If you want to.
The murder of Jack McVitie that put Reggie away, the story does have a number of different versions. Ronnie is supposed to have held McVitie whilst his brother stabbed him. Dickson, in his memoirs said thathe heard that Reggie and Ronnie Hart had done it. Hart was a cousin of the Krays. Lennie Hamilton, a villain tortured by Ronnie Kray, states that he was told by Ronnie Bender, a driver who was present at the scene, that McVitie was held by Hart and Tony Lambrianou, and the window was broken in the struggle with these two. The murder of Frank Mitchell was carried out by Freddie Foreman & Alfie Gerrard, witnessed by Albert Donoghue. Foreman later confessed to the murder in print and television, and confirmed that the evidence of Donoghue in court was true. Despite the change to the Double Jeopardy Law in 1998, Foreman has never been arrested and charged over the Mitchell and Marks murders. As for other murders, "Frosty" Bill Frost, not David, was a driver, and supposedly murdered. Yet, he popped up alive and well some years ago and gave interviews for documentaries. As for "Mad " Teddy Smith, former storng man villain, Henry "Buller" Ward, claims he ran into Smith, some years after his alleged murder, in London. Ward says that it was not hard to get away from the Krays, if you wanted to.
Teale may have been an informer for the Yard, but they already had a man on the inside. This was Alan Bruce Cooper, an American, who it later emerged, was an agent for John Du Rose, head of the Murder Squad. Lennie Hamilton admits to giving Read statements. Billy Webb, another villain says that he made statements to the Police. One woman, whose evidence was very minimal in the McVitie case, says that Reggie Kray threatened to kill her children. (Cues cries from the fan club "Good ole Reg would never do that") After they went down, Albert Donoghue never went into hiding. He stayed with his family in Bow. And why would Teale deem to think that by coming back to this country, the Police would be waiting for him at Heathrow Airport? The Krays went down in 1969, and he was talking about the last couple of years! Did he seriously think that he was SO important, and that they would be there saying, "Cor blimey, Bob, we`ve got you now, for skipping our protection"? After forty years? Don`t you think that the Police have more pressing Law & Order issues to deal with, than a guy still concerned over events in the sixties?
As for the continued "They were too powerful" claims, what about the time they were told to get out of Manchester by the Police? What about their trip to Liverpool and where Reg had a gun put under his chin by a DI and told to leave and not come back? What about the family in the East End that they never bothered? The Tibbs family? What about the time, just before their arrest, when thay attempted to muscle in on the rackets being run by the Dixon Brothers and their boys? The Dixon mob stood up to them apparently, so it seems logical that they would have been mysteriously arrested by East End cops with immaculate information, shortly afterwards. Everybody knows that "Ole Ron & Reg never grassed anybody". Of course you can believe that. If you want to.
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Peter Tobin
The subject today is that of Scottish serial killer Peter Tobin, killer of three known victims. The question being asked by Professor David Wilson, criminologist at Birmingham University, is that have serial killers committed more murders than they have been convicted for. Prof. Wilson has written a book about his conviction that the unsolved Glasgow murders attributed to "Bible John" were in fact, committed by a young Tobin.
Tobin is alleged to have told his prison psychiatrist that he had committed forty eight murders during his life. Whether this is true or not, would require a massive amount of detailed research by the Police into the life of Peter Tobin. I believe that Tobin has committed many more serious offences than is credited to him. He has a very serious issue with women standing up to him. Plus, his violence and sadism has no boundaries.
Prof. Wilson had highlighted the case of Jessie Earl, a Brighton girl who vanished in 1980, and whose skeleton was found, purely by chance, in 1989. The body was found deep in a copse. Prof. Wilson established through his own investigation, that Tobin was living in the area at the the time Jessie disappeared. She also fitted the criteria of what Tobins` later victims were, in looks and physical shape. She had her hands bound with her brasserie. Yet, astonishingly, this was not labelled a homicide by the Brighton Police, at the time. It was only years later that it was reopened, but all the evidence had been destroyed. God knows what people must think when they find a corpse, bound, and carefully hidden in a copse. Obviously, it was a case of suicide or a natural death!!!
Prof. Wilson presented his findings to his students, and one who was not convinced was a serving Police Officer. He believed that the MO did not fit Tobin, in that the killer used a bra as a bind, and the body was not buried. He did not consider that a bra can be a very handy tourniquet or bind, and that although the body was not buried, it was not discovered for NINE years, and only then, it was by sheer luck. In that respect, it was as good as burial, and in retrospect, it remained hidden longer than the victims that Tobin buried in his Margate garden.
Tobin is alleged to have told his prison psychiatrist that he had committed forty eight murders during his life. Whether this is true or not, would require a massive amount of detailed research by the Police into the life of Peter Tobin. I believe that Tobin has committed many more serious offences than is credited to him. He has a very serious issue with women standing up to him. Plus, his violence and sadism has no boundaries.
Prof. Wilson had highlighted the case of Jessie Earl, a Brighton girl who vanished in 1980, and whose skeleton was found, purely by chance, in 1989. The body was found deep in a copse. Prof. Wilson established through his own investigation, that Tobin was living in the area at the the time Jessie disappeared. She also fitted the criteria of what Tobins` later victims were, in looks and physical shape. She had her hands bound with her brasserie. Yet, astonishingly, this was not labelled a homicide by the Brighton Police, at the time. It was only years later that it was reopened, but all the evidence had been destroyed. God knows what people must think when they find a corpse, bound, and carefully hidden in a copse. Obviously, it was a case of suicide or a natural death!!!
Prof. Wilson presented his findings to his students, and one who was not convinced was a serving Police Officer. He believed that the MO did not fit Tobin, in that the killer used a bra as a bind, and the body was not buried. He did not consider that a bra can be a very handy tourniquet or bind, and that although the body was not buried, it was not discovered for NINE years, and only then, it was by sheer luck. In that respect, it was as good as burial, and in retrospect, it remained hidden longer than the victims that Tobin buried in his Margate garden.
Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Criminal Minds
How many of you tune to the TV show Criminal Minds? This fast paced show provides an insight into the world of profiling. How they whip up an uncannily accurate profile so quickly, provide breakthroughs in the case that the slow, thick and moronic local cops simply cannot do. Then the ultimate solving of the case. Great!
The reality is much, much slower, the case is solved by the local cops, and the BAU do not take active part in the hunt, they are only in an advisory role. There are so many factors to be taken into consideration; the autopsy report, the crime scene, the geography of the scene, evidence at the crime scene, etc, etc. All different details need to be taken into consideration, and I also believe a lot of common sense comes into it. All this takes time, and as top men like John Douglas, Robert Ressler, Roy Hazelwood and Marl Safarik have pointed out, these profiles are only another tool in the detectives bag. They are not proof of anything. An example being that of The Green River Killer. Douglas provided a profile and it perfectly fitted a man who was at first, the prime suspect. This man was Melvyn Foster, a taxi driver, who seemed to put himself right into the investigation, an action that a number of killers seem unable to resist. Many years later, DNA revealed the killer to be a truck sprayer called Gary Ridgway, who pleaded guilty to forty eight murders.
The reality is much, much slower, the case is solved by the local cops, and the BAU do not take active part in the hunt, they are only in an advisory role. There are so many factors to be taken into consideration; the autopsy report, the crime scene, the geography of the scene, evidence at the crime scene, etc, etc. All different details need to be taken into consideration, and I also believe a lot of common sense comes into it. All this takes time, and as top men like John Douglas, Robert Ressler, Roy Hazelwood and Marl Safarik have pointed out, these profiles are only another tool in the detectives bag. They are not proof of anything. An example being that of The Green River Killer. Douglas provided a profile and it perfectly fitted a man who was at first, the prime suspect. This man was Melvyn Foster, a taxi driver, who seemed to put himself right into the investigation, an action that a number of killers seem unable to resist. Many years later, DNA revealed the killer to be a truck sprayer called Gary Ridgway, who pleaded guilty to forty eight murders.
The Water Street Job
The Water Street Job was a unique crime in the annals of British criminal history. It was the tunneling into and gaining entry to the bank vault, escaping with a reputed £140,000. This crime took place over the Bank Holiday weekend in August 1969. Why have I put this on? simple. There was an issue very close to home. My father received a visit from Police officers whom had received an anonymous tip that my father owned a thermal lance. The villains burned their way into the bank vault with such apparatus.
My father opened his shed and showed them his cutting gear; An oxyacetylene torch, just you find in any garage or workshop. "Where`s your lance?" was the first question upon entering the shed. Dad explained that this was the only gear he had and how had they come up with this ridiculous scenario. They said it was an anonymous tip. Dad pointed to the next door neighbors ` house saying, "that`s the bastard who phoned you. He`s only done that because I would n t do a welding job on his car". This guy was a petty thief, always braking into peoples` sheds and garages. Dad told the Police whom he bought his cutting gear off, a prominent local businessman and off they went to see him. Dad phoned him to warn him, to which he thought Dad was trying to take the piss. Eventually, he convinced him, and soon a return call came. The guy said he told everything to the plods and then they wanted to know if Dad was a villain, or mixed with heavy villains. Dad said he should have told them that Ronnie & Reggie were regular visitors!
The truth was that the villains who did pull the job, were all apprehended and jailed. The mastermind was said to have been Tommy Comerford, who received ten years. He was also said to have been Britain's first drugs baron, again receiving a substantial jail sentence later on.
My father opened his shed and showed them his cutting gear; An oxyacetylene torch, just you find in any garage or workshop. "Where`s your lance?" was the first question upon entering the shed. Dad explained that this was the only gear he had and how had they come up with this ridiculous scenario. They said it was an anonymous tip. Dad pointed to the next door neighbors ` house saying, "that`s the bastard who phoned you. He`s only done that because I would n t do a welding job on his car". This guy was a petty thief, always braking into peoples` sheds and garages. Dad told the Police whom he bought his cutting gear off, a prominent local businessman and off they went to see him. Dad phoned him to warn him, to which he thought Dad was trying to take the piss. Eventually, he convinced him, and soon a return call came. The guy said he told everything to the plods and then they wanted to know if Dad was a villain, or mixed with heavy villains. Dad said he should have told them that Ronnie & Reggie were regular visitors!
The truth was that the villains who did pull the job, were all apprehended and jailed. The mastermind was said to have been Tommy Comerford, who received ten years. He was also said to have been Britain's first drugs baron, again receiving a substantial jail sentence later on.
Monday, 8 October 2012
More Undercover stories
If anybody follows what I write, it is all a bit haphazard. I simply write about whatever I feel on different criminal subjects. So it does not follow any pattern. In my last piece, I wrote about some undercover stories that have hit the big time. There is one story that I came across on the Crime & Investigation Network, on satellite. This involved an amazing U/C agent in the States. He was getting the confidence of major drug pushers and was getting them sent down for very heavy sentences. The Judge that the defendants appeared in front of, was a "Maximum John" style of Judge, in which he handed down the maximum sentence he was allowed to do by state or federal law. People with small amounts of drugs were receiving sentences of twenty and thirty years plus. But all this came tumbling down, when it was discovered that the people being sent to prison were barely scratching a living. One aging man was living in a ramshackle house, yet he was portrayed as the "Local Mr Big" living in squalor to fool the authorities!
An investigation was launched and it was soon established that these people were poor people and that they had been set-up by the U/C agent. He was passing drugs to them, only small amounts, but it was enough for him to claim that these were major criminals in the area, and they were soon being arrested and sent to jail for a very long time. His excuse for his actions was that he wanted to show his bosses, "just how good he was!"
One former U/C agent who has shunned anonymity is Peter Bleksey, a man who did go after major villains and did get them. He has not shirked from showing his face to anybody and has featured in numerous TV documentaries and radio interviews. He went after villains with intent to get real solid evidence to ensure the convicted stayed convicted.
An investigation was launched and it was soon established that these people were poor people and that they had been set-up by the U/C agent. He was passing drugs to them, only small amounts, but it was enough for him to claim that these were major criminals in the area, and they were soon being arrested and sent to jail for a very long time. His excuse for his actions was that he wanted to show his bosses, "just how good he was!"
One former U/C agent who has shunned anonymity is Peter Bleksey, a man who did go after major villains and did get them. He has not shirked from showing his face to anybody and has featured in numerous TV documentaries and radio interviews. He went after villains with intent to get real solid evidence to ensure the convicted stayed convicted.
Sunday, 7 October 2012
Undercover Operatives
One area of Police work I have never touched upon and that is the role of the undercover cop. These have operated for decades in the USA, but only over the last forty years or more in this country. In this country, the cases I want to write about are the Colin Stagg saga and the case of a woman who"solicited" a murder.
As this case was been extensively covered, I will be brief. The Police used a woman agent to ensnare Stagg into confessing he murdered Rachel Nickell. The judge threw it out, calling it "Entrapment of the most reprehensible kind" This was not "Establishing his innocence or guilt" as the Police claimed but their attempt to get Stagg to say "I did it" no matter what. Some years later, the real murderer, Robert Napper was convicted, and it transpired that they had evidence that would have made him a strong suspect. Since his conviction, there had been silence from the Police and Paul Britton, the Psychologist who drew up the profile and helped with briefing the undercover agent, named "Lizzie James".
Next, comes the woman who was lucky not to be arrested and charged with Conspiracy to Murder. The truth was, she never solicited a murder. This was a set-up by a Police informer. The woman said something that thousands of women over the last 40 or 50 years, in violent and abusive marriages and relationships have said. That she would have her husband killed if she could get away with it. This was said to a taxi driver, who was the said informer. Astonishingly, he went to the Police who set up a sting with an undercover operative. HE went back to the woman stating, "Remember what you said about getting rid of your husband? I can get you a hitman!" She NEVER asked for a killer. HE brought it up. Amazingly, the agent, in his memoirs said that they were trained not to entrap people. Then what was this case? The murder plot was set in motion by the informer! The agent met with the woman who, not surprisingly, dithered. The agent was pushing for an answer. She said no, but could quite easily have said yes, but having no intention of going through with it. All the Police wanted to hear was "Yes". As I said, the informer, not the woman, set this in motion. Be warned!
As this case was been extensively covered, I will be brief. The Police used a woman agent to ensnare Stagg into confessing he murdered Rachel Nickell. The judge threw it out, calling it "Entrapment of the most reprehensible kind" This was not "Establishing his innocence or guilt" as the Police claimed but their attempt to get Stagg to say "I did it" no matter what. Some years later, the real murderer, Robert Napper was convicted, and it transpired that they had evidence that would have made him a strong suspect. Since his conviction, there had been silence from the Police and Paul Britton, the Psychologist who drew up the profile and helped with briefing the undercover agent, named "Lizzie James".
Next, comes the woman who was lucky not to be arrested and charged with Conspiracy to Murder. The truth was, she never solicited a murder. This was a set-up by a Police informer. The woman said something that thousands of women over the last 40 or 50 years, in violent and abusive marriages and relationships have said. That she would have her husband killed if she could get away with it. This was said to a taxi driver, who was the said informer. Astonishingly, he went to the Police who set up a sting with an undercover operative. HE went back to the woman stating, "Remember what you said about getting rid of your husband? I can get you a hitman!" She NEVER asked for a killer. HE brought it up. Amazingly, the agent, in his memoirs said that they were trained not to entrap people. Then what was this case? The murder plot was set in motion by the informer! The agent met with the woman who, not surprisingly, dithered. The agent was pushing for an answer. She said no, but could quite easily have said yes, but having no intention of going through with it. All the Police wanted to hear was "Yes". As I said, the informer, not the woman, set this in motion. Be warned!
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