The Jigsaw Man (26 page)

‘All right, Paul, you know how he functions and how he got that way,’ I said, sitting back at my desk. ‘But what else do you know about him?’

Opening a foolscap notepad, I took a sip of coffee and scribbled, ‘The offender would be aged between twenty and thirty years.’

Most sexual attacks are committed by young men. This killer was well into the practising process, but probably early in the killing process. He had had time to develop one but not the other.

‘He would have poor heterosocial skills,’ I wrote, highlighting his inability to relate to women in ordinary conversation.

‘He would have a history of failed or unsatisfactory relationships, if any. And in addition to his sexual deviation, it would be likely that he suffers from some form of sexual dysfunction, like difficulty with erection or ejaculatory control.’

I knew this could have been an early contributor to his poor heterosocial skills and failed relationships. Perhaps an early attempt at sexual intercourse failed because he couldn’t get an erection or ejaculated prematurely and he suffered ridicule. If so, there was no reason to think that the dysfunction would have improved over time.

‘He would be attracted to some form of pornography which would play a role in his sexual fantasy life. Some of it would be violent and he would fantasize about similar experiences.’

Observations such as these aren’t pulled out of the air. For at least 120 years psychological experimentation has been carried out on an empirical basis so that by now there have been tens of thousands of studies dealing with every aspect of human functioning and motivation. This has become specialized into different areas, including mine, forensic and clinical psychology.

This vast database of knowledge, from around the world, is vital to my work, but the most important part is knowing where to look and knowing what is relevant. Rachel’s killer might not have murdered before, but he wasn’t the first man to slay a stranger in a park. Nor, sadly, will he be the last. As each of these killers is caught, more is learned about their backgrounds, motivation and pathology. A number of common denominators have been identified. For example, research shows that killers with higher intelligence tend to be better organized and more methodical. They plan their crimes in detail and exert greater control over their victims. In Rachel’s case the attack was brutal, frenzied and seemed chaotic, if you didn’t know the script.

I scribbled, ‘The offender would be of not more than average intelligence and education. If he is employed he will work in an unskilled or labouring occupation. He will be single and have a relatively isolated lifestyle, living at home with a parent or alone in a flat or bedsit.

‘He will have solitary hobbies and interests. These will be of an unusual nature and may include a low level interest in martial arts or photography.

‘He will live within easy walking distance of Wimbledon Common and will be thoroughly familiar with it. He is probably not currently a car user.’

All of these conclusions were drawn from what we know about men who kill women in this way.

Looking at the chain of events, I doubted that Rachel’s killer had murdered before. Generally, you find that repeat killers get more and more experienced as they go on; they refine their techniques and behaviour, leaving an ever-clearer signature.

Even if Rachel was the first, there was, however, a significant probability that her killer had a history of sexual offending - not necessarily previous convictions but he could have come to notice for minor offences like indecent exposure or stealing women’s underwear. I put the probability of this at 50 per cent - I didn’t want John Bassett relying on it, but nor should it be discounted.

It may seem like a huge physical and psychological leap from showing a naked penis to an unsuspecting woman to murdering someone, but this killer would have made that journey in his mind long before he did it in reality. He rehearsed it in his fantasies - not every detail because he didn’t have a precise victim or location in mind. Rachel was chosen by opportunity and killed because of the strength of his impulse on that day. There was no caution, no sign of self-preservation, no place prepared.

Afterwards, he would have been excited and agitated but this will have passed within a few days. Mercifully, the combination of the sexual buzz together with the shock and fear of discovery was likely to keep him quiet for a while, but eventually his urges would return and he would be drawn out again.

I scrawled a final point at the bottom of the page: ‘In my view it is almost inevitable that this person will kill another young woman at some point in the future as a result of the strong deviancy and aggressive fantasy urges as already described.’

It rained overnight and as I drove to work next morning, pools of water filled the ditches and raindrops clung to leaves. Passing through the village of Kibworth, I glanced at the local church that was famous for having two front doors, one on the east and one on the west.

In the old days there had been two separate villages, Kibworth Beauchamp and Kibworth Harcourt, and they shared the same church. I had been told that the leading family from each village had argued over who should get precedence and enter the service first so the problem was solved by having two front doors allowing both families to enter at the same time. If only all of life’s obstacles could be solved so simply.

In Leicester, the footpaths bustled with office workers who walked with their heads down, bent under umbrellas and dodging the spray from passing cars.

What more did I know about him? I asked myself, unable to get Rachel’s killer out of my mind. Bassett had spoken of having seventeen and a half million suspects. A psychological profile would help narrow the field, but there are practically thousands of lonely men with poor social skills, who are unattractive, isolated and unhappy. It doesn’t make them murderers.

Rachel’s killer was flesh and bone; he ate, drank and slept like any other man; he had a birthday and had a roof over his head. But just as Rachel Nickell was a real-world person, with an inner-life that determined her relationships and how she became who she was, her killer also had an inner-life.

During the day, I had to interview a twelve-year-old boy who was lighting fires in the Midlands. Sitting opposite him, I glanced down at the front sheet of his file and saw his name, age, address, marital status and nature of the offence. The details gave me only a brief portrait, they didn’t tell me what was inside the file or who the boy really was. I knew that he was much more than a few lines on a page, just as Rachel’s killer was far more than seventeen points in a psychological profile.

But who was he? What was it about this man that made him virtually unique?

An answer came to me over lunch at the Towers Hospital canteen. Unlike in mystery stories or thrillers, I didn’t see a face in the clouds or in the rain-streaked glass; the physical characteristics of an offender are normally irrelevant to me. Rachel’s killer could have been sitting opposite, borrowing my salt and pepper, and I wouldn’t know him or recognize him. It’s his mind that I look into, not his eyes.

By the same token, if he came into my consulting room and I learned all of the details of his sexuality, I would know immediately that he was likely to have killed Rachel Nickell, without him mentioning it.

What set this man apart was the deviant sexual fantasy that drove him. This is what made him different. Back at my desk, I wrote a single page analysis of the killer’s fantasies, hoping it might help the police understand him. I’d never done this for an investigation before, but it seemed logical and a positive step forward.

After examination of the source material, I am of the opinion that the offender has a sexually deviant-based personality disturbance, detailed characteristics of which would be extremely uncommon in the general population and would represent a very small sub-group within those men who suffer from general sexual deviation.

I would also expect the offender’s sexual fantasies to contain at least some of the following elements:

1) adult woman

2) the woman would be used as a sexual object for the gratification of the offender

3) there would be little evidence of intimate relationship building

4) there would be sadistic content, it would involve a knife or knives, physical control and verbal abuse

5) submission of female participant

6) it would involve anal and vaginal assault

7) it would involve the female participant exhibiting fear

8) I would expect the elements of sexual frenzy which would culminate in the killing of the female participant

I should emphasize that I would expect his fantasies to include some of the above points but not necessarily all of them and there is no point to expect that his masturbatory fantasies would be confined solely to those points.

The police received more than 2,500 calls within the first month of Rachel’s murder. The enormous publicity continued but it was double-edged. Almost everyone who was anywhere near Wimbledon Common on 15 July came forward but the result was that police found themselves drowning in paperwork and no closer to identifying the killer.

So far as I was concerned my involvement had ended after the offender profile and fantasy analysis were faxed to Wimbledon but I read that more than a dozen suspects had been detained for questioning and then released without charge.

The lack of success was particularly hard on John Bassett, who was due to retire in November. About once a week, he would return to the Common, parking his car in the spot where Rachel left her Volvo and standing in silence in the woodland glade. For the former Flying Squad officer it was one of the saddest murder inquiries of his career. He took it personally. ‘I’ve got to hold myself responsible for nobody being arrested and charged,’ he told a journalist. ‘I have to be realistic and know that as each day passes my chances of catching this man are diminishing. I think it reflects on me when I cannot arrest someone and charge them with this atrocious crime.’

It reminded me of a famous case during the 1950s, the Witchcraft Murder at Meon Hill outside Stratford, one of only two killings that Fabian of the Yard had been unable to resolve in his career. He would visit the scene every year afterwards, hoping for the inspiration to crack the case.

The breakthrough for Bassett came on Thursday, 17 September, when Crimewatch UK broadcast a reconstruction of the crime and released two videofit pictures of men police wanted to question. One related to the man who had been seen washing his hands in the stream. He was described as being in his twenties or thirties, about five feet ten inches tall, with short brown hair. He was dressed distinctively with a belt over his white shirt and was carrying a bag.

The second videofit was of a man seen running towards a council estate in nearby Norstead Place, Wandsworth.

He was described as six foot, skinny with shoulder-length grey or blond streaked hair tucked behind his ears. He was wearing grey or petrol-blue boxer shorts.

Although I’d been asked in the past whether details of my work could be referred to publicly, I had always said no. This time I agreed to let my psychological profile form part of the programme because of the particularly high risk of reoffence. The day beforehand, I spoke to Nick Ross of Crimewatch and explained exactly how the material should be used. A brief outline was eventually given on the programme.

Within four hours more than 300 calls were received and twenty were given top priority. One name in particular came up four times - Colin Stagg, an unemployed bachelor, living alone in a housing estate less than a mile from Wimbledon Common.

Stagg had been interviewed once before. He was stopped by a police constable at about 12.30 p.m. on the day of the murder as he walked towards the common with his dog. When told that the park had been sealed off, Stagg mentioned having been on the common between 8.15 and 8.50 that morning. He said that he’d walked his dog by the Curling Pond and then returned home. The officer jotted his name and address in his notebook.

The twenty-nine-year-old had lived on the Alton Estate for years and was a well-known face to local residents. He had shared a flat with his father, who died of cancer in 1986, and later lived alone. Lillian Avid, who also lived on the estate, recalled seeing Stagg in the street a few hours after the murder and said he looked strangely excited. He was wearing a white t-shirt, white shorts and his hair had just been washed. Colin told her that he’d been on the common just ten minutes before Rachel died and explained that he used to stand at a spot that overlooked where it happened. Mrs Avid asked herself how he could possibly know where the murder took place, the common had been sealed off.

Hours after Crimewatch UK broadcast the videofits, detectives arrested Stagg at his flat on the Alton Estate in Ibsley Gardens, Roehampton. The media was quick to mention that the front door had a painted pair of ice blue eyes and a sign warning, ‘Christians keep away, a pagan dwells here’. Inside there were various pornographic magazines and books on the occult.

The clock began ticking. Detectives had three days to interview their suspect before they had to either charge him or set him free.

Back at my desk in Leicester, I thought little more about the Rachel Nickell investigation because I assumed my role was over. In the meantime, there was still the question of where Michael Sams had hidden the ransom money after releasing Stephanie Slater. More than Ł155,000 in various denominations had not been recovered.

The initial police search had come across an empty hole in a field near Sams’ cottage at Sutton-on-Trent. At the same time, traces of soil were found on a red metal box in his workshop, suggesting that the money had been buried at some stage.

Sams was such a games player that my first reaction was to say, ‘Keep digging in the same hole.’ One of his ploys had always been to rely upon people making assumptions and perhaps he wanted the police to assume he’d moved the money when in fact he’d simply buried it deeper.