CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The copy I had written was definitely risky.
I had checked with my editor when I got home from Waxy’s and explained broadly what I intended to say. He questioned me for some time and finally agreed if I didn’t go too far he would run it in the next day’s edition. There was a host of other hot news about so the next day’s publication was going to be seriously heavy. Nevertheless, he relented and said he would find me space further inside the paper than normally.
I could not argue because the front and early pages of the paper would undoubtedly be filled with the latest news allied to the ongoing battle for the liberation of Libya. Gaddafi’s rule was certainly finished even if he himself had not been found. But that was not the main story. The stop the presses front page headlines would blast the previous British government and both the internal and external security branches MI5 and MI6. Secret documents found in the rubble of the shattered buildings in Tripoli, including the abandoned British Embassy, clearly showed that the previous government and the security agencies had been for years helping to prop up the Gaddafi dictatorship. The information contained in the documents was a shameful catalogue of deception towards the public. When reading in the clear light of day the general public would not only feel let down, they would feel dirty, ashamed, horrified.
Then there was the war itself that for weeks had been said to be nearing its conclusion. The end was still some way off, and battles in the capital itself as well as various key towns raged on. The number of deaths civilian and non-civilian continued to mount.
In the aftermath of the recent riots in London and elsewhere strong critical comments continued. The latest outspoken views came from the Justice Secretary who levelled the blame squarely on what he termed was the broken penal system. Most of those involved in the havoc were not ordinary citizens who had suddenly felt compelled to break their normal habits but hardened criminals who had failed to learn from previous punishments that the courts had dealt. That, he said, was the legacy of a broken penal system.
The economic troubles that some might have thought were easing took a turn for the worse and the bears swarmed over the markets once more.
There were also more arrests in the newspaper phone hacking scandal.
So there was a bonanza of news for the media. A series of major headaches for the government. And a relegation to the bowels of the paper for my column. But I did have some space. So there I was burning the midnight oil literally.
What I had agreed with Detective Maguire just hours before was going to be extremely awkward to put into words that would form my column. I needed to be very cautious indeed. The serial killer story that had been high profile with all the other media outlets had in the last couple of days been moved inside. With no new developments there was little to keep it on the front pages or in the lead with the radio and television stations. What I was going to do was light the fire again, controversially, and put it and the police back in the limelight. There was a lot at stake.
Opening line.
The “monster” serial killer who has butchered four women so far is still at large.
Second line.
The police know this to be a fact.
Third line.
And they fear the murderer will strike again.
So far so good. On the money. Risky? A lot at stake? Absolutely.
I read the lines again. Jesus, I thought, this is really going to scare an awful lot of people, including my editor, and put the cat among the pigeons in authority, not least the police themselves.
From this point on there was no turning back.
Kay Roberts.
Maxine Hughes.
Ginnie Hughes.
Grazyna Litavincuk.
Remember these women’s names. They will go down in the annals of criminal history in Britain.
They are all the victims of this country’s most vicious serial killer on record.
Others have murdered more. But this monster – and it was a government minister no less who used this description – is different.
This writer has learned just how horrific the injuries were that these four women suffered. They are too sickening to describe in minute detail in this column but each victim was made to suffer agony over a period, perhaps days.
This serial killer does not fit the mould of the “normal” serial killer.
The generally accepted psychological profile of a serial killer is first that there is no relationship between the victim and the killer. They are strangers, and in the present case it appears there was no relationship between the four women so nothing specific ties them to the murderer either.
Serial killers are mostly white males in their twenties or thirties. Most operate in specific locations or areas. Virtually all have dysfunctional backgrounds involving sexual or physical abuse. Drugs and alcohol sometimes play a part as well.
What is surprisingly the case for a large majority of serial killers is that they are intelligent with a higher than average IQ. But it remains a mystery whether their actions are due to psychological or environmental influences.
The serial killer now at large on the streets of London and perhaps even in other locations fits some of these profiles.
He is probably a Caucasian in his twenties or thirties.
He is undoubtedly clever.
He is a random killer, random in the sense of who his victims are.
But there is one aspect that sets him apart.
His brutality.
And even this brutality appears to be random in nature.
This is because each of his victims had parts of their body missing.
Two had multiple body parts missing such as fingers, toes and ears. One had a toe and one breast cut off. A lung had been cut from the fourth.
Compassion was clearly not on the mind of the killer as he was mutilating those four women. Yet, oddly there were clear indications that he had at some point attempted to treat the injuries he had caused.
Police are baffled by this.
Baffled they may be, but certain they are now that the serial killer is still at large.
Yet personal traits the experts believe they do know are:
He is, despite the injuries he inflicts, a weak personality.
He as a youngster wet the bed, and most probably still does as an adult.
He might have a high intelligence quotient, but essentially he is an ignorant person.
Above all, he is a coward who experienced psychologists unanimously believe does not even have the courage to show his face to his victims.
He hides his own shame.
Rumours that a man now in custody charged with another murder is to be charged with the murder of these four women also are false. He has nothing to do with them.
And the police have no other suspects.
The so-called “monster” is at large still.
The reason or reasons for the killings are a mystery.
His profile suggests, strongly suggests, that he will kill again.
And again.
And again.
Until he is caught.
I thought I could add a few more paragraphs but elected instead to end it on that note.
I had written what I had intended. I was confident Detective Maguire would read the column and not disagree. I was also certain that others in authority would scream bloody murder.