Children Who Kill: Profiles of Pre-Teen and Teenage Killers by Carol Anne Davis Read Free Book Online Page B

the house was burnt to a shell. The grandmother assumed the five-year-old had been playing with matches, though his parents later explained they didn’t keep matches in the house. This fire too was seen as an unfortunate accident rather than an arson-related death.

Cause for concern
    No one knew about Peter’s arson attacks but they could see that his behaviour was deteriorating rapidly. That year, 1976, the local authority sent him for psychiatric tests suspecting increasing mental illness. But the analysis showed that his disturbance was a result of his dreadful childhood and his physical handicap. In other words, he had behavioural problems rather than mental ones.
    Peter had by now been physically and emotionally abused for sixteen years and was increasingly out of control. He’d been told what to do so often in his formative years that he couldn’t stand authority. He’d quarrel with anyone who tried to direct him in any way.

The sixth murder
    On 2nd January 1977 Peter entered a house by the back door. He knew the woman and her children who livedthere, and he had fallen out with the children’s father. The man had struck him and now Peter was intent on revenge. He started a fire beside the couch, having seen a cot in the room. Peter fled as soon as the flames took hold, burning a six-month-old baby girl to death in the inferno. Unusually, he was seen with other onlookers watching this particular fire. He would later say that he was sorry about this death as he liked babies – but he clearly wasn’t sorry enough to stop his arson attacks.

Eleven men die
    Three days after killing the baby, Peter killed again. By sheer chance, his next eleven victims were at the other end of the age scale, ranging from seventy-two to nine ty -five. They had survived the rigours of war and illness , only to die at a teenager’s whim.
    Peter felt the familiar tingle in his hands that said it was time to commit arson. Putting his paraffin bottle and his matches under his coat, he hurried into the night. He stole a bicycle and cycled along till he saw a large building. Unknown to him, it was an old folks home.
    He broke a window, climbed into the home, found some kindling and soon had the huge house ablaze. Once again he felt powerful. Eleven men died and several of the rescuers were burnt. Peter allegedly heard some of them shouting ‘God help me’ – but no one saved them from the flames.

A foster mother
    By now he’d been sent to stay with one of the area’s best foster mothers. She found him to be a very quiet teenager who had no friends. She had no idea that he was walking the streets looking for buildings full of victims that he could burn. Peter was happier with her than he’d been for a long time – but it was too little, too late.
    Though still physically weak, he fantasised about being important and strong. He started to watch Kung Fu films over and over. He was particularly impressed with Bruce Lee, who could defeat several opponents effortlessly. In real life, Peter was called a cripple by his mother and mocked by some of the local children for his epilepsy, but in his dreams he had a sweet revenge. He lay there night after night imagining whose house he would torch next, how strongly the fire would burn – and how shocked his victims would be when their happy family dwellings went up in flames.
    He began to take long walks along the old railway lines, thinking about his crimes. He soon felt depressed again and started to read a Bible that he found at his foster mother’s house. It said that ‘man cannot serve two masters’ so he decided that his master would be fire.

Two more deaths
    Three months later, in April 1977, he set light to a family home, killing a girl of thirteen and a boy of seven.It’s believed that he killed such victims because they represented family happiness, something the rejected boy could never have. Ironically, the seven-year-old boy had reached a window and definite safety – but he