Mick sits at home all day in his bedroom on the X-Box or the PS2. His floor is strewn with greying sports socks, jeans, tracky tops, dead trainers and rizla packets. He likes First Person Shooters a lot. Sometimes for a bit of variety he whacks a video into the PS2, something like SAW or The Evil Dead. His neighbours don’t even know that he exists because he is a shadow, grown beyond his mother’s immediate care. Still beneath her roof, she hears him coming out of his bedroom for food, sometimes. He goes out from home after dark on his bicycle, she doesn’t know where, he doesn’t say. He just comes back later, slipping quietly back into his room.
He keeps things simple, same clothes day after day, hair shaved to the bone. There is something about the shape of his head, something about how his eyes seem to be looking at the world from far, far away. He walks and moves like his bones don’t fit together properly. He isn’t like her other children. The Japanese have a word for boys like Mick, they call them the Hikkikomori. Japan has good words for a lot of dark things but Mick is not Japanese, Mick lives in my town. Growing up, he never had friends his own age, always younger, then not at all. Mum wonders if he might be gay, never a girlfreind but never a boyfreind either and she doesn’t care to open the box. Mick has passed through education and into worklessness leaving barely a ripple on the surface of the world.
In the early hours of one morning, cold and still, first proper morning of winter, Mick cycles past his first known victim. She is walking home from her job, a small woman about to loose a measure of her self confidence. Mick does not waste time with small talk, the grope is over before she can see his face then he is away again. He leaves no discernible DNA.
A month later, a young girl walking home from a party in a quiet part of town. She is slightly built. Mick cycles past, he cycles back and he takes more time. You can make up the rest for yourself but it isn’t good. He leaves fibers that will be matched when we catch him but again no discernible DNA.
On a month again, another young girl, early evening, still dark. She fights him off. He leaves no discernible DNA. She will later pick him out on a VIPER but it will be 3 months before she can go out alone again.
Then for Mick, things go quiet. In the cops, we haven’t linked these first three properly yet. That will come but we will get no further than a photo-fit picture and some appeals for witnesses that get nowhere. Its three months on and I wish now that I knew what he was doing then. Something else grabbed his attention. He wont ever tell me what it was though. I have spoken to him about it and he isn’t telling.
Whatever he was doing, his appetites have been building and after three blank months he strikes twice on successive nights in the same area of town. He is more aggresive, more threatening, much more dangerous. DNA is a definite possibility, very good detailed descriptions, young lone female victims, well planned offences, careful, chosen. Looking to throw a double six, we deploy for night three in plain clothes on the area. The local press are there when I arrive on plot. Great. I fire them off, and the photographer of the team gets just a little bit sneery with me “Oh officer, surely you don’t really think he’ll come back again do you.” Well I thought, not if you and your mate with the note book keep stalking round. He leaves to have his laugh at the desperate, stupid cops.
After two hours waiting, I was cold, bored and then previously unknown to the Police Mick came down the path with his DNA, his picture perfect description, his clothes full of matching fibers and a gag and tie up cords in his pockets. He didn’t run, didn’t fight, didn’t argue, didn’t even speak much, he just quietly let me cuff him and climbed passively into the back of the van. In the custody office afterwards, the only question asked after he is walked to his cell is “Do you think it’s him?”
The rest is connect the dots for me and the other detectives. That’s what we do.
On the prison production, the only spark of life is the smile he can’t quite surpress when I have to go into details of the further allegations. I fear that all I did was to replenish his fantasy bank. I wish the Prison Service much luck and many years with him.
Nothing To See Here
VIPER = Video Identifiaction Parade
Sounds like most dangerous kind of person. At least most of the thieves and general scum are doing it for something other than amusement…Nothing to lose, no social circle or conscience to rein him in.
Stepping into the murky realm of psychology NJ – what would you pin him as? From what you’ve said he doesn’t fit into most of the common boxes…
At a guess -
Dissocial personality disorder
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissocial_personality_disorder
Callous unconcern for the feelings of others and lack of the capacity for empathy.
Gross and persistent attitude of irresponsibility and disregard for social norms, rules, and obligations.
Incapacity to maintain enduring relationships.
Very low tolerance to frustration and a low threshold for discharge of aggression, including violence.
Incapacity to experience guilt and to profit from experience, particularly punishment.
Marked proneness to blame others or to offer plausible rationalizations for the behavior bringing the subject into conflict.
Persistent irritability.
Note that not all hikkikomori will fall into this category since the main cause appears to be depression, whereas the individual in NJ’s story is clearly a sociopath. A continuing danger to society with no likelihood of reform. As a relatively liberal individual I find the question of how society should deal with people like this difficult. I oppose the death penalty for moral reasons and believe that there is always the possibility of redemption, but sociopaths of this sort are scary. And MOPs like me are (or at least should be) grateful that the likes of NJ stand watch to protect us from the likes of Mick.
Mick sounds absolutely chilling.
Can’t have been a pleasant experience being shut in the interview room with him…
Good job you got him when you did – his offence progression is not dissimilar to that of the Boston Strangler (among others).
Had the same thing myself, some years ago, with a rapist attacking early-morning workers going to work and travelling through the huge and impersonal labyrinth that is a South London housing estate. An odd man, who hunted at 4-5am, using walkways an lifts to sneak up, strike and escape. Kept souvenirs at his mum’s previous flat on the same estate. He lived on the estate – had done for years, yet none of his victims recognised him and no witnesses saw him. Now in Broadmoor. But for how long?
I am a prison officer and i have met more than my fair share of this type of young man.
Unlike MOP @2, i do believe in the death penalty. There are just some people who are too dangerous to be left unsupervised in society, and there are also people who simply do not deserve to live.
I dont care how liberal you are, try looking into the eyes of a 16 year old sociopath who has repeatedly raped a 9 year old and tell me you think he has a right to live a normal life, or live at all. His victim’s life will be changed for ever, and maybe effectively over.
At least you guys caught him before he went on to slot someone, with that kind of advanced progression he could have almost certainly have got that far if let to it. Did you ever get to speak to the reporter again to give him the metaphorical “fuck you” ??
Angry Dave, couldn’t agree with you more. £150k a year to house someone in a maximum security prison for a good 20 or so years – or a reusable £50 piece of rope. Not a difficult decision in my eyes, considering everything the victims have to go through for the rest of their lives.
@ Those in favour of the death penalty. This is the single class of criminal that David Davis is in favour of executing. I always find it amusing to see morons criticise DD for being in favour of the death penalty while being favour of civil liberties. I see no inherent contradiction in that. Civil liberties affect us all, the death penalty is about the philosophical desirability of levying such a sanction on an individual found guilty.
Studies in the US find little difference in cost between lifelong incarceration and death penalty since all the appeals, the special wings etc cost a vast amount. Some people are in favour of swifter justice, but given the US courts proclivity to convict and sentence the poor, mad, and non-whites to the death penalty, I kind of prefer lots of appeals. On the other hand, if one could create a system that swiftly and accurately found people guilty and then executed them, this would remove a major practical set of issues.
I remain at odds with the David Davis, Angry Dave and MCMs on this point. Mainly because I doubt our philosophical right to execute others and the perhaps rather optimistic (some would say religious) belief in the possibility of redemption. It is interesting to note that this particular class of criminal will not be deterred by executions (deterrence being a favoured and wrong argument for the death penalty), but I can see where you are all coming from: Some crimes are just too heinous and the probability of reform so low, they should hang.
Good job getting him NJ, always good to hear someone like this is off the streets.
For what it is worth, I feel in cases like this, the death penalty is acceptable. He will never become safe to let out. there is no treatment available that would even begin to set him right. Wasting money trying, is the same as giving money to the worthless drunks in our town. It all ends in the drain, and someone has to clean the mess.
I have to say I feel very sorry for his Mother, poor lady must be absolutely devastated.
Personally, I believe the death penalty has its place. However, I understand that one of the reasons it was suspended (sorry) in the 1960s then abolished was the concern that juries in the liberal 1960s were becoming increasingly resistant to convicting someone if they might suffer the long drop. This reservation must be considerably more acute now that society is even more fractured and elements are so anti-establishment that they wouldn’t convict Peter Sutcliffe or the 7/7 bombers (had they lived) if they faced the gallows. So what do we do? Diplock courts for capital cases?
@West Country JP. It is possible that juries would be resistant in some cases, but ensuring juries are able to consider such decisions (eg that jurors were not philosophically opposed) would be one way of dealing with the problem. I would not have supported the 7/7 bombers execution if they had survived since the possibility of redemption exists and would be most strongly against such executions. These people have a sense of morality, just one with very different values. The point about dangerous sociopaths is that they represent one of the groups for whom the long drop can be most easily defended. Sutcliffe probably falls into this category. Even here my philosophical problem with the death penalty remains.
West Country JP, as you pointed out juries can be extremely reluctant to find someone guilty knowing that they might hang, in cases like that then I believe a panel of judges (at least 5 of whom at least 3 should be specialists in criminal law with the remainder from other disciplines to prevent case hardening) should be used where the death penalty is likely. At least a group of experienced judges are considerably less likely to be swayed by court room theatrics, from either side, and focus purely on the evidence.
Its a lost cause folks.
Did anyone hear the shadow Justice Minister on 5 Live yesterday being interviewed about youth crime and the increase in knife crime? Peter Allen in the first few seconds demanded to know where the stats. came from and as the Minister tried to explain that they came from the Government the bold Mr Allen stated that no one had checked the increase in injuries was not caused by kitchen accidents. The minister expressed shock at this attitude that an 18% increase in knife crime could be caused by accident in the house. Mr Allen persisted and challenged him to prove the increase was not caused by accident and not a cynical Tory ploy to increase hype about the crime rate. He then went on to say that all the knife murders were comitted in the big cities and that huge swathes of the country were knife free. The Minister tried to say that this was true but no comfort to the parents of the murdered children. He was cut off in mid sentence.
This is the root of the attitude which prevails our media . It is not about crime at all, just posturing and getting one over for the interviewers point of view. Unfortunatly millions listen to this guy.
A bit off track I know. sorry.
I am opposed to the death penalty full stop because I am not a perfect investigator and I know it. Even the un-treatable sociopath may be subject to a miscarriage of justice. On that basis only, against the possibility of innocence, I am against the death penalty. I am in favour of whole life tariffs on a public protection basis though.
I’m running a bit late tonight so probably not posting until the morning. I am mostly thinking about curfew breaches and the increasing worthlessness of tags.
hmm -
You mean they were worth something once NJ? >Skeptical.
Would you rather have 100 guilty men walk so that one innocent man is not locked up.
B********
Try getting any sort of job past CPS – once you have done that it’s not about guilty or innocent it’s about how damn guilty.
We very rarely arrest an innocent person – and I know a lot of jobs are NFA’d but that is the fine sifting process called the CPS for you.
Personally we need to return to a darker age, we need the crims to go to that bad place where they know fear not the innocent mops.
A guy like this – once he’s had his day in court ( which is expensive but Justice must be seen to be done etc) then bang bang good night. Next.
It won’t stop all crime, it’s not there to prevent but it sure as hell stops the same crim doing it again and again and again.
Angry
It’s OK, NJ, I’ll pull the lever.