The Mammoth Book of Bizarre Crimes (42 page)

Moore was put on trial for murder at Mold Crown Court in
November 1996. He denied all the charges and claimed that the killings had been carried out by a man he called Jason who was a character in the horror film, “Friday the Thirteenth”.

A sadistic homosexual who killed four men in the space of three months in 1995, Moore was believed to have carried out around fifty assaults over a period of twenty years. What started as domination and humiliation escalated into violence and murder, possibly triggered by the loss of his mother. Following his arrest he was asked if killing gave him pleasure. “Yes,” he replied, “there was a certain enjoyment from it . . . it was a job well done.”

When he sat in the dock Moore wore a black shirt. This was commented on by the prosecutor. “Black was his uniform and he was the man in black, with black thoughts and the blackest of deeds,” he said.

Peter Moore was found guilty on all four counts of murder. Mr Justice Kay told him that, “not one of the victims had done you the slightest bit of harm. It was killing for killing’s sake.” He reminded him of his admission to police officers that he did it for fun. He had shown no remorse and in passing sentence, the judge said, “I consider you to be as dangerous a man as it is possible to find.” He sentenced Moore to four life sentences.

Hollywood Role Model

David Gonzalez sought fame by emulating the crimes of a fictional character. During the course of three days in September 2004, twenty-five-year-old Gonzalez committed four murders and attempted two other killings in the UK. On 15 September, he murdered a man in Worthing, Sussex and, two days later, killed a couple in Highgate, north London, in a savage knife attack. On the same day he killed a pub landlord, also in north London.

Gonzalez’s attacks were fuelled by drugs and his desire to become a famous serial killer. His role model was Freddy Krueger who played the part of an undead serial killer in the Hollywood horror film, “Nightmare on Elm Street”. On
screen, Krueger was depicted as a demonic figure with a disfigured face who slaughtered for pleasure.

Gonzalez confessed to the killings and said, “I just want to get locked up.” He had a history of mental health problems but had not previously threatened violence. After his arrest, he was referred to Broadmoor maximum security psychiatric hospital where he attempted to commit suicide by biting himself to death.

Sent for trial at the Old Bailey in March 2006, Gonzalez was described by the prosecution as a cold, callous individual. It was suggested that he was manipulative and had tried to convince psychiatrists that he heard voices that commanded him to kill. The case argued by the prosecution was that he was a psychopathic individual whose inhibitions were reduced by drugs and alcohol.

The defence case was that Gonzalez was guilty of manslaughter and not murder. The contention was that he was driven to kill at random because of mental illness. The jury rejected this proposition and found him guilty of murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

“Burn, Baby, Burn”

Jean Powell, Glyn Powell and Bernadette McNeilly – a gang led by a woman who called herself “Chucky”, after the evil doll in the film, “Child’s Play
”
, held a sixteen-year-old girl captive for six days. During that time, they subjected her to humiliation and torture before setting fire to her and leaving her for dead in woodlands near Stockport, Lancashire in the UK.

Powell and McNeilly lived in Moston, Manchester, in a rundown community that was riven with theft and drugs. The two women, known locally as “The Witches”, were interested in the occult and they drew young people into a world of sex, drugs and crime.

Suzanne Capper, aged sixteen, did not like school. She came to know the Powell family and looked after their children. It was said of Jean Powell that she could manipulate anyone and Suzanne was scared of her. Crisis point was reached when
Suzanne was supposed to have stolen a coat from one of the women and tried to arrange a sex session with a wealthy Arab. The two “Witches” decided to exact revenge on the teenager.

In December 1992 Suzanne was taken captive and held in two different houses for six days. She was gagged and blindfolded, stripped and beaten. Her hair was cut off, she was injected with drugs and scrubbed savagely with disinfectant. Music, with the words, “I’m Chucky, wanna play?” was played continuously to Suzanne through headphones.

The two “Witches” were strong personalities and they drew in others to engage in their sadistic activities, including seventeen-year-old Anthony Dudson. On 14 December, Suzanne was put in the boot of a car and driven fifteen miles to Compsall near Stockport. She was pushed down a slope from the roadside into woodland, doused with petrol and set alight.

Her attackers confidently expected Suzanne to die quickly. On the way home, they stopped to buy soft drinks and on reaching home went to bed with McNeilly singing, “Burn, baby, burn”. Despite suffering burns covering seventy-five per cent of her body, Suzanne managed to stagger back to the road where she encountered some workmen who called for help. She was taken to hospital and before she lapsed into a coma was able to give detectives the names of her attackers. Suzanne Capper died on 18 December.

When the police visited Powell and McNeilly they laughed and joked as they were arrested. All those involved denied everything, but Anthony Dudson had pangs of conscience and began to talk. Slowly the whole sordid story emerged and police found the torture room where Suzanne had been held in McNeilly’s house.

At Manchester Crown Court in December 1993 six people were tried for various offences, ranging from murder to false imprisonment and committing grievous bodily harm. During the twenty-two days of the trial, jurors wept as they heard the details of Suzanne Capper’s horrifying ordeal. The jury deliberated for ten hours before giving their verdicts. Mr Justice Potts said, “This was as appalling a murder as it is possible to imagine.”

He sentenced Jean Powell, aged twenty-six, her husband, Glyn Powell, aged twenty-nine, and Bernadette McNeilly, aged twenty-four, to life imprisonment. Anthony Dudson was ordered to be detained during Her Majesty’s Pleasure. Two other men received custodial sentences.

A sordid footnote to a tale of unbelievable horror was that demand for the film, “Child’s Play”, described as an adult black comedy, were boosted.

Wired For Sound

Possibly the first live broadcast of a murder trial took place in Canada in the 1890s when a young Englishman was on trial for his life.

Two young men, Frederick Benwell and Reginald Birchall, left Liverpool in February 1890 on board the liner
Britannic
heading for New York. The two men discussed a scheme whereby they would enter into a partnership to run a stock farm in Ontario, Canada. Benwell handed over £500 for his share of the deal.

On 21 February, two farmers discovered a body in a swampy field near Princeton, Ontario. The frozen corpse was identified as Frederick Benwell by Birchall who saw his photograph in a newspaper report. Benwell had died from a gunshot wound in the head.

Enquiries revealed that Birchall had been running a moneymaking scheme which involved selling shares in nonexistent Canadian farms. One of his clients was another passenger who had travelled on the
Britannic
, Douglas Pelly, a British emigrant embarking on a farm-pupil scheme operated to encourage colonization.

It appeared that while Birchall and Benwell went off together to look at a prospective farm, Pelly stayed behind at Niagara Falls. Birchall returned alone, explaining that the farm was no good and Benwell had opted out of the arrangement. According to Pelly’s account, Birchall made an attempt on his life by pushing him on a narrow bridge over the Niagara River.

Birchall was arrested and charged with Benwell’s murder. The case created great public interest not least because of the adverse publicity felt by many Canadians that immigrants were being lured to their country and exploited by money-grabbing go-betweens.

With Birchall in custody awaiting trial, a storm of unprecedented press activity began to brew. Birchall’s character was blackened and he was characterized as a diabolical schemer preying on vulnerable young people wanting to create new lives for themselves. Local entrepreneurs of a different kind cashed in on Birchall’s notoriety by staging waxwork representations of the murder scene for public consumption. Meanwhile, the man awaiting trial put pen to paper and wrote an autobiography.

Reginald Birchall was tried at Woodstock and the proceedings attracted an almost manic response from the press. Reporters descended on the cour t in great numbers and leading newspapers went to extraordinary lengths to gather news. London newspapers telegraphed reports to England by transAtlantic cable, the details arriving in London minutes after the event in Canada. To satisfy local demand, the courtroom was wired for sound so that members of the public could make a telephone call and listen in on the trial as it progressed.

The prosecution set out to prove that Birchall had been in Princeton and produced witnesses who claimed to have seen him there and had heard the sound of gunfire. The evidence against him was entirely circumstantial and his defence counsel made an impassioned plea on his behalf. This failed to sway the jury, which delivered a guilty verdict and sentence of death was pronounced by the judge. He was hanged on 14 November 1890 in a bungled execution whereby he was strangled because the executioner decided to use an unorthodox noose, which failed to dislocate the neck.

Such was the interest in the case that a Toronto publisher quickly brought out an account of the Benwell murder, entitled
Swamp of Death
, promising a full description of Birchall’s last days and execution. Thus was the public’s interest catered for at a cost of 30 cents a copy.

Media Mania

Lyle and Erik Menendez, sons of a wealthy Beverly Hills family, were accused of killing their parents in order to acquire their fortune. After many twists and turns, which captivated the American public for several months, the brothers were eventually found guilty, after twice being tried for murder.

On 20 August 1989, death stalked the home of Jose and Kitty Menendez at Elm Drive, Beverly Hills, California. While they were watching television, two men armed with twelve-gauge shotguns entered the house and killed them both. Jose was hit five times and Kitty received ten shotgun wounds. The killers picked up the expended cartridge cases and left as they came, unseen.

The dead couple’s sons, Lyle and Erik, had been out for the evening and returned home just before midnight. They found the driveway gate open and the front door unlocked and then discovered their murdered parents. Lyle made a 911 call sobbing, “Somebody shot and killed my parents.”

Forty-five-year-old Jose Menendez had made a successful career in the video entertainment business and was thought to be worth around $14 million. There were suggestions that he and his wife had been killed by the Mafia, but then suspicion began to focus on his two sons. The police noted that the young men seemed to show little concern about the search for their parents’ killers.

Little by little, the brothers’ alibi began to unravel and Lyle indulged in a spending spree. They denied any knowledge of the killings but in March 1990 were arrested and charged with murder. No murder weapons were recovered and the evidence against them was circumstantial. They were held in custody at Los Angeles County Jail to await trial.

Speculation about the brothers was rife. One theory was that they knew the identity of the murderers but were too afraid to tell. Another angle was that Erik had made a confession recorded on tape by a therapist he had consulted. Erik had also apparently written a film script in which the leading character discovered that he stood to inherit a large sum of money from his parents, so he murdered them.

What the media called “Menendez Mania” gripped America in October 1993 when the two brothers were put on trial. The proceedings were broadcast live on Court TV and people camped overnight outside the courtroom in the hope of getting a seat in the public gallery. While the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office received calls offering advice that would secure convictions, Lyle Menendez enjoyed letters of love and sympathy.

A month before the trial began, the defence strategy became known. It would be based on a notion of self-defence in that the brothers shot their parents after their father threatened to kill them because of his fear that they would expose the years of sexual abuse they had experienced at his hands. A few days before the trial began, a legal ruling admitted the evidence of the tape-recording made of Erik Menendez’s hitherto confidential session with a therapist. After months of denial came an admission that the brothers had indeed killed their parents. The argument offered was that they shot their mother to prevent her suffering any further from their father’s infidelity. There was no mention of sexual abuse or of fear for their own lives.

Public opinion was polarized and this was reflected in the outcome of the trial. Separate juries considered the case against each brother and, in proceedings that had lasted six months, both juries were deadlocked.

The second trial began in October 1995. The judge ruled out live television broadcasts and the proceedings were heard by only one jury. The defence pleaded the sexual abuse argument and contended that the brothers killed out of fear. The prosecution maintained that they shot their parents in order to gain their father’s fortune.

The jury’s verdict was that Lyle and Erik Menendez were guilty of murder. The verdict noted special circumstances that potentially carried the death penalty. A sentencing hearing in April 1996 rejected the death penalty argument and the brothers were sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

The verdict came six and a half years after the murders and
the irony was that José Menendez’s fortune was consumed by the legal fees incurred in the defence of his sons.

“I Am Going To Be Famous”