THE SADISTIC MURDERER

ROBERT
P. BRITTNN

his case also.

B . k , B.L. MA., M.B., Ch.B., U.B.. D.P.A.,

F.RC.Wlh., Consulmnf PsydGatrist, Douglas In&
Clinic fff Fan&
Ryehim. 8. Woodddt
ant, Glasgow, C.3; Hanaary L w m m

little idea of his abnormalities

CldY.

The sadistic murderer is almos

Fan& sadistic
ae

&*

THE SADISTIC MURDERER

~e is commonly introspective and rather

,,,ithdrawn. He has few asociaks and usually
no dose friends. His pursuits are solitary.
for example, in his spare time he reads or
listens to music alone or goes to the cinema
by him& (often to see horror hlms), rathex
than play football in a team or go drinking
in a group. He may appear as studious, pedantic, retiring, shy and even as an inadequate
persouality, with a lack of drive. Sometimes
he presents as a pseudo-intellectual. He is
described hy those who know him as quief
reserved. uncommunicative, withdrawn, we&
mannered, mild-natured, agreeable and, not
infrequently. as being timid and never showhg
temper. He does not retaliate to violence and
never did, even at school. In view of this it
can be hard to believe that be cwld be
capable of extreme, sexually motivated violence and he is thus easily discounted as a
He a n often b m e embarrassed,
even in ordinary social situations, and blushes
readily. Obsessional baits may be observed
and evidmce of these may s o m e h e s be noted
even at the scene of the criim. For example,
the victim's shoes may have been carefully
and neatly placed side hy side, perhaps in a
setting of general disorder. He may be known
to be a partidarly tidy person, sometime
meticulous in dress and appearance and very
clean.
He fecls different from others and thus is
different and isolated, knowing that he cannot
relate well with them, and so is insecure.
Not uncommonly he neither drinks nor
smokes and alcohol probably plays a much
smaller part in murders by such persons than
in most other categories of homicide. Sometimes he has experimented with drugs though
he is not in my experience, addicted to them.
He may fed himself 10 be an inferior being
except as regards his d e n a s The planning
or contemplation of these acts can make him
feel supen'or to other men, someone special or
even god-like. Others then befomc to him
inferior a'otures, without rights, to be used
in any way he wishes for his gratification.
He is particularly likely to offend at a time
when he has suffered a loss of self+steem
or if he feels that some event has challenged
or denied his masculinity. The sadist who
has been laughed at by a woman or mocked
by his acquaintances, particulariy in a sexual
context, or who has been demoted or ds-

199

charged f r m his employment is likely to be

at his most dangerous.
He can be prim, proper, even prudish,
avoiding profanities himself and condemning
obscenity, vulgarity or impropriety in others.
He condemns sexual conversation anddeplores
'' blue '. s t o r i s
I0 many axes the sadistic murderer is a
vain, narcissistic, egocentric individual who,
through his vanity, may be convinced that he
can commit murder and escape detection by
being more dever than the police He would
ratber be notorious than ignored and, although his life is a rather withdrawn one,
he may have ideas of himself going down in
history as a mapr criminal and, before
detection. read and comment on details of his
crime reported in the newspapers. He sometimes expresw very strong and punitive news
on what should be done. with the murderer
when he is caught. m e r e can be a peculiar
arrogance abwt h i
He can be hypechoodriacal and is commonly apprehensive of e v a the most minor
surgical procedure.

Beneath his retiring fawde then is deep

aggression which he cannot n o d y express.
Sometime, but by no means always, he is
rewgnised by acquaintances as being
strange ", "&-beat ",I twisted ", a " loner ",
" kinky '* or a " weudie."
His manoer may be considered effeminate
but this may show simply as what might be
called an over-politeness or over-refinement
for his social group. It can sometimes be to
the degree that the suspicion of homosexuality may arise. though he does not usually
p r e n t as beiig homosexual. Not infrequently
he has a history (though not usually a conviction) of some homosexual activity. though
this may have been of a minor nature add
known only to the participants. Some may
express great aversion to homosexuals. In
the case where the victim of sadistic murder
is a boy or a man, the murderer may be more
overtly homosexual.
He is typically a daydreamer with a very
rich, active fantasy life. He imagines sadistic
stem and these he acts out in his killings.
He dwells on atrocities such as w m committed by the Nazis and on others, more
extreme still, of his o w invention. The
extremes of cruelty and the ingenuity he can
show in this am almost inccmceivable until

ROBERT P. BRITTAIN
sees, for example, his drawings of his
fantasies. Even as a chid he is likely to have
k e n withdrawn, living in part in his own
dream world. His fantasy life is in many ways
more important to him than is his ordinary
life, and in a sense more real, so diminishing
the value he puts on external life and on
other people. It is afmmt as if he w e n forced
by practical realities to emerge unwillingly
it. as
from fantasy at times but returns to
.~.
soon as he kin.
It seems possible that most sadists restrict
themselves to fantasy and that only a mioority act out their imaginings in criminal actp
and ever mmc to notie. If
view is
correct, it suggests a larger reservoir of
potential d e n d e n than is usually suspstod.
Tbue is no limitation by social group. He
is generally under the age of 35 yean. H e is
usually of high intelligence, which is probably
~ecessaryfor a rich, complicatcd fantasy life.
His high intellgencc is also important in that
it allows carefd planning of the offenceand
assists in Lhe avoidance of detection.
Emotionally he is flattened for the crudties
he fantasies and for the crimes he eommlt* U
be were not, he could not tolerate tbe thought
of them. It is as if, by long exposing himsdf
to his fantasies of extreme cruelty, be bad
become cynically and coldly indiBerent to thc
tragic and &e horrible, and entirely insensitive
to cruelty inflicted by himseIf-Umugh
wt
necessarily by others. He is thus without
remorse or conscience as regards his oifences,
no matter what the cruelty involved, He is
not concerned with the m o d implications of
his acts am3 treats them casually. He is
without pity for his victim. He will fnsoently
express regret if asked, but he d w not feel
i t or, if he does, his feeling is only transiently
sincere, is shallow and is quite insuf6cient to
pevent him from killing again. Such expressions of regret are, commonly to creak
what he hopes is the right impression and
one designed to achieve m e advantage for
himself. He can detach himself from 6is
killing, being aware of it but not emotionally
involved. He knows that he is responsible
for his offence but regret^ only its legal
OM

as regards his mal organs e m wheq

are, norm& as they commody, Lzx
invariably, arc This feeling of seaority as compared with other men m
-'
explain why many such persons f b d 9 I
to urioate or undrss when otttem,

-.

acbve hatred of all females. He may MY.

little or no experience of 1 1 o d ,%
to Dc planted at a very eariy a p '
careful history will often show dear
of some manifestations of his pc
even before puberty.
Surprising as it may seem, his p
interests and practices do not d m A
religion unacceptable to h i and 6
them is not only a declared iniuest

consequen4%s.

After his crime he will often behave

normally, returning home to eat and sleep hearing two voices, one
well The fact that deep remorse does not wicked +in% the other telliqg him
cloud his thinking and his judgment C ~ Qbe a On dose questioning thest voicg

THE SADISnC MURDERER

201

and do not seem to be h e hallucin360nz

They are not grossly psychotic and not inthan myself, exexting an influence over m* sane within the McNaughton Rules, for k y
and quality of their acts aml
Often there is no prior criminal history know the ~ t u r e
that they are wrong. They would hx
but sometimes there is and it is then ~ m know
monly of a sexual offence. This may be of commit the murda, not only if there x m a
a non-violent character and without obvious policeman standing by, but even if they
thought at the lime that there were an)- d
relationship to sadistic murder-ffences
such as stealing female underclothing from possibility of their Wig caught. OcCasioaaCy,
s
to
clothes lines, peeping Tom activities, obscene however, a cast is seen which s ~ m clirse
telephone calls, etc. (It does not follow that psychosis of a schizophrenic type but thtje
all who commit such acts are poteotially appear to occur among tho% who show
sexual murderers and many may only be the g e n d symptomatology of the s y o d r w r
in
social nuisances; it docs follow, however, that but who have not acted out their fansuch offenders should be examined most killing.
A person with the syndrome being d m i
orefully because a proportion, however
small, are potentially very dangerous.) Some occasionally presents as a patient with an
anxiety state and I have now also seen thrac
have a history of braising.
Again commonly there is no personal and who had aepresdve illnesses, but none of
oiten no family history of mental illness. He these have committed murder. It may be that
does not normally seek psychiavic advice for the anxiety or depression is a result of &he has DO doubt as to his o m sanity, does ante to murQrous drives
The work m r d of such men may be poor
not always recognise the degree or significance
*
.
of his abnormality, is probably afraid that and their occupations may vary a
he would meet with a lack of undentanding or Sometimes they show their inclinations b
even condemnation and may fear also that getting employment where their desire for
his sou~ce of gratification would be taken power and control o v a people or aDimalr
from him by treatment without being replaced can be exprrasd or where they can act out
by an equally poknt source of pleasurc. If their desire for violence, though thch
he has come to the notice of a psychiatrist personalities can restrict the possibilities opea
at a l l it is probably as a result of a prior
to them. A snrprising number have worked
sexual ofience such as those mentioned. He as butchen and if the choice of emplo)-mcut
is mentally a very abnormal person, as will lay between that or being a slaughta-boun
become even more clear as his characteristics worker on the one hand, or an officeworker
are more fully outlined, but this abnormality on the other, there is no doubt as to vhich
will not necessarily be obvious at any ordin- they would prefer. An ocwional one a)-l
ary interview and he may talk and behave in he would like to be a dress designer. blg
a perfectly ordinary fashion. If the character- these have only been among those who
istics of the group arc known, and thus the show the general symptomatology of the g r w p
proper questions asked, the position may be and I have not yet seen this among those
clarified.
who have committed murder. A history o!
It is the active fantasy life, the emotional a suspects prior occupations is thus r o n b
flattening (though here it is a l d i s e d one) eliciting. It would also be possible to s u m
and the introversion, I think, which make other o~lpationswhich might attract the
doctors sometimes wonder if such a person potential d s t j c murderer or, at least ahich
is, or will become, schizophrenic. I have it would not be surprising if such a murserer
known one such case have a brief schm- bad chosen
phrenic episode and two others each had a
Not infrequently there is an inordinatr
brother who was reported to have suffered interest in weapons, guns, knives, etc.. and hc
from schizophrenia. Most sadistic murders, may have a large collection of them, but MI believe, are not schizophrenic and do not have an attraction for him far beyond vhat
become so. Sometimes !hey talk of hearing they have for an ordinary collector and hc
voices, perhaps of a dead relative. These are may love them, handling, and in the u s e
not usually directly related to their offences of 6rearms, dismantling them and cleaniw
pseudo-hallucinations Sometimes he talks of

wing possessed, something inside me, other

found thcrc What some of these materiala a&

will be mentioned as their commoner devia.'.
.*lions are discussed
_=.
Many dress up in female clothing at tima'
Such transvesting does not necessarily mean
that they are homosexual. (This is
pitfall for the inexperienced because
about one transvestist in three is homoswPal
in his practices and m e are married 4.
may have children.) Unlike certain other
transvastish, they d o not yually wish to be'
sen by others when dressed as women ard'
no one may know that they do this wben
they start the practice they most
use clothing belonging to their
sometimes to sisters. Later they may
it by theft from clothes lines or by o
it by post from mail-order busin
kind of female clothing, outer wear nr
wear, may be found, as may wiw
breasts, sanitary towel& etc. There may kxj
large mirror in which they can wa
selves transvested, while they indulge
sexual fantasias and they may even
own reflection. one. man who &OVA
m@i:
of the features of the syndrome was an adrift'
homosexual paederast He admitted W&'
sexually with small boys and bad a
to kill them. hut had not dore so;
asked if he transvested he denied it, but w h d ;
asked if he had ever stolen clothing bc &&
that be had-boys' clothing-and had
up in i t
%-.%g
They are sometimes known to be i n d
in photography and at least a few photograph themselves when transvested and sow
take pornographic photographs of othcla. :~.
Their sadism is manifested in various ways
They are excited by cruelty whether in b0ol;r
or in films in fact or in fantasy. There b
sometimes a history of extreme cruelty to
animals. Paradoxically they can also be P a y
fond of animals Such cruelty is particuI8rIY
significant when it relates to cats, dog% birds
and farm animals, though it can also be
directed towards lower forms of animal life,
and the only animal which y e m s to be^&
is one belonging to the sadin h i d Stabbing or hanging is perhaps the corn+
expression of such cruelty, but it can go even
far beyond this There may be clear evi
of it in childhood, even before puberty.
For these men, cruelty may not be a
tive except in idation to their perversio

fa^^:

THE SADISTIC MURDERER

they can be quite tender-hearted in other ways

and vociferously condemn cruelty in others
without appaxntly seeing any incongruity in
this. To some at least, cruelty may be not so
much the end they are seeking as the means
whereby they arouse extreme sexual emotion
in themselves and it is the relief of sexual
tensions which is their true aim.
Some are devotees of chambers of
horrors in waxworks and have paid many
visits to such places.
A feature very frequently to be found in
sadistic murderers in a consuming interest in
Nazism and, in particular, in Nazi concentration camps. A number have fantasies of
working in concentration camps and wiU
descnbe the tortures they would use. They
can express strong anti-semitic feelings and
marked prejudices against coloured people.
Some collect badges, daggers, uniforms or
medals, particularly those related to Nazism
and may dress up in these. A I w usual, but
not rare, finding is an inordinate interest in,
and even practice of, black magic. They may
have stuck pins into photographs of people
whom they wished to injure, or even have
tried to invoke evil spirits. These interests in
Nazism and black magic Seem to arise because
in both there is to be found the desired
admixture of cruelty, sex and power over
others. They feel Nazism and black magic
grant them personal authorily to commit
forbidden acts of extreme cruelty and absolve
them from guilt and responsibility.
Another bizarre finding, also by no means
rare. is an interest in monsters. These may
be prehistoric monsters such as the dinosaur.
They may be fictional ones of the King Kong
type. They may be those of folklore, such
as the werewolf or the vampire, and the man
with this syndrome may say that he would
like to be one of these. Finally they may
be purely imaginary, half-human, half-animal
creatures, or horrific, twisted, perverted
parcdies of the human form, grotesque,
horrible. ugly and evil. They may make drawings or models of thew, or have pictures of
them.
A few write poetry which reflects their
abnormalities.
Thac people read, study and collect books
which relate in some way to their perversion
and it would be easy to give a list of those
commonly found. Some are fiction, some are

203

not It is sufficient, however, to say that they

commonly relate to some of the following:
De Sade and his works, sadism, torture,
cruelty, Nazism, Hitler, Goering, Eicbmann
and other Nazi leaders, concentration camps,
prisoner-of-war camps, atrocities, brutalities,
black magic, sexual perversions, obscenities,
erotica generally-xcidental and oriental, guns
and othw weapons, or uniforms. Less oftea
there are hooks on war, crime and criminals,
murders and murderers, psychology, psyChiatry, forensk medicine, toXicology or
escapology or the tying of knots. As yet
they do not Seem to have discovered the
Writhgs of Machiavelli or Nietzsche (though
Leopold, of the Leopold and Loeb case in
America, is said to bave been a student of
Nielzsches writings), but it would not be
surprising if these were to be found in such a
case.
There may be evidence of great interest
in pornography, particularly heterosexual,
sadistic pornography as found in certai0
magazines (mastly American in origin). For
some of these there seems to be an almost
unvarying formula, even for the coloured
frontcovers which show soldiers in uniform,
usually Germans; swastikas; a scene of
violence; firearms; scantily clad young females
in danger M distress; words such as sin, lust
sex, nude, death, virile, vice, Salan, devil, etc.
The sadistic man may have ma& additions
to the pictures, for example, manacles may
be drawn on the wrists. Pornographic photog r a p h may be found. Sometimes pornographic and sadistic scenes are drawn by the
man himself, and very masculine women are
not infrequently depicted. While such a drawing is of a woman, with a feminine hair style
and wearing a skirt, part of her dress is oflen
a uniform, perhaps with a neck-tie, epaulettes,
Sam Browne belt, and sometimes with Nazi
insignia. Scenes of violence may be drawn,
and sometimes red ink or even blood may
be used in such drawings.
Sadism and masochism are commonly
associated and there may be evidence of
masochistic practices There may be ropes for
self-tying or seu-hanging, straps, chains or
handcutls (which may be homemade).
whip or other instruments of punishment o r
torture may also be present Sometimes the
murdw victim is tied up with ropes.
Evidence of fetishism may also be shown.

204

ROBERT P. BIU'ITAIN

Rubber or plastic materials may be found or

thur can be pietuns of fetishistic objects.
The murder itself may be carefully planned
in advance and preparations made for it even
days or weeks ahead. He may, for example,
carry ligatures with him to use on an as yct
unsdected victim or he may follow his chosen
victim over a considerable period. He can
think it all out very clearly and wait until
he fmds a suitable time, place and subject
and manipulate circumstances to achieve this
Such careful planning by an intelligent man,
and where there is little to associate the victim
with the murderer, the victim being selected
by chance or for some reason not apparent
to others, can make the murderer's detection
Particularly di5cult. This di5culty can be
enhanced by the fact that he is commonly a
plausible liar and presents a front which
can be mask-like, or one of injured innocence,
and which is dacult to break. Even in the
lm common case where the sadistic murderer
is of low iutelligeace, be can show a surprising
degree of cunning.
At the time of the crime inelf he becomes
very excited and usually llses more force than
is required merely to kill, though this is truc
of many other murderers also. He is now
transformed into a very different person from
tbe shy, timid, withdrawn individual he so
o h appears to his aquaintanm. His reason
is dulled and his sexual drive and his desire
for power take over control of his actions.
Ths sight of suEering can excite him
further and his brutality can be increased by
the helplessness and fear of his victim. During
the act the ecstasy he experiences seems to
make him frenzied and insensible to everything else. yet if something occurs which
threatens his safety he can take appropriate
action. Excitement seems to be greatest during
the process of k d h g and the death itself may
be an anticlimax.
The method of killing, except when gross
and mutilating violence or multiple stabbing
is used-the less common f o r m s i s almost
always asphyxial, and a gag may occasionally
be employed. This could be explained as
being due to the positions of the murderer
and his victim in a sexual attack beiig such
as to make manual strangulation, or some
times strangulation by a ligature, an easy and
convenient way. It could also be explained
as being associated with preventing the victim

from cry& out. ?hen is no doubt that thcr

is tmth in both of these explanations but thi
is not the complete story. Such men wi
sometimes explain that shooting, for exampli
is too sudden a way of killing the victim, fc
their pleasure would be ended too quickl]
They will explain that in asphyxia, by i n m a
ing or decreasing the pressure, they have i
in their power to give their victim tbei
lives or to take their lives from them. Ihe
can fed this as a god-like power, and the
can play with their victims like a cat wit
a mouse.
This desire to have power over omen i
an essential part of their abnormality aa
if the victim resists they bccome the mor
determined and brutal. If the subjection a
the victim to their power is more importan
to them than the idction of pain, this ma
help us to understand why they do not f e
cruel, for they may be aware that cruelty i
not their primary objective but only ttx
means wbareby they achieve their end
Other injuries, whether found in associatiol
with asphyxia or not, are most co?nmonly 01
the breasts, on the genitalia, or in the rectum
If there is gros, mutilating violence it is wig
to &ect the. abdomen also, or there may b
the finding of very many stab wounds Bit
marks may be found and arc most commonl:
on the breasts or neck of the victim but the:
are not restricted to these sites They m
vary from being minor to being very severc
They can occur in homosexual as weU a
heterosexual sadistic murders.
Although these are essentially s e d
motivated crimes, sexual intercourse or evu
orgasm does not always occur. Sometimes Q
murderer masturbates beside his victim
Sometimes also a phallus-substitute is u w
and a piece of wood, a cylindrical dectrit
torch or other W a r object may be inSerta
-and this can be with grat force-into Q
vagina or rectum of the victim.
Ibe victim is commonly found in th
position in which tbe criminal assault tool
place, without any attempt, for example, tr
arrange the limbs but rather as if left in thi
way as a final degradation. It is as if them
were a deliberate attempt to offend modety
After the a i m e has been completed th
murderer may, as he describes, feel relax=
and experience a great relief of tension. Some
times there is a feeling of disappointment a:

THE SADISTIC MURDERER

he may find he has not achieved the d e g m
of pleasure, excitement and thrill which he
had anticipated, nor yet a solution to his
problems Therefore he can commit murder
again in further attempts to gain relief of a
tension which is essentially sexual and recurring. If he does commit further crima, as is
likely if he is not apprehended, he tends to
be reasonably faithful to the methods h e has

In court he can be self-po-,

calm and
unperturbed, listening to the evidence of his
actions with indiereand, indeed, something close to boredom.
It seems possible, the motivation and actions
of such people being so little
concerned in the legal
by
procgding$
the
is ,,ften
that more of his abnormalities are not elicited
in court and exposed to consideration. He
may thus accept more readily and without
question the evidence which is produced.
When h e admits to his crime. or talks of it
after being found guilty, any expression of
regret for what he has done carria little
conviction. A few will never talk of their
crime at any time and may appear uninterested, contemptuous or evasive, but many will,
and talk freely and f a y and without embarrassment or feeiig for their victims and often
with bland unconcern. They can remember the
circumstances and, if they will, can relate
them c l e a r l ~and with a wealth of detail.
They often give an honest account and do not
seem to be very suggestible.

any part of their story is doubted and irritated.

relatively unimportant part of their IIaRatiVe

i
s misunderstood. They seem exasperated at
the questioners shlpidity. They will make
great play with some trivial mitigating fact
and become indignant if they think some
injustice is being done to them,no matter how
slight it may be, seeing no incongruity in this
when. a t about the same time, they are relating some particularly monstrous actions of

their own. They can even then appear selfrighteous.

In prison or hospital they are not O d Y
disliked by other prisoners or patienu who
know of their offences but may be at risk
from them. and the added fact that they tend
to be withdrawn in their relations with others
means that they mix poorly with the p p d a tion of the institution. The greater
are. very well behaved whether in prison or
in hospital. Herein lies another pitfall, for
Years Of Such good behaviour, as a model
prisoner or patient, can lead the unwary at
a later date to use this as a principal criterion
when considering transfer to a les
institution or even discharge. Much more solid
evidence of a fundamental change is required
than g o d conduct, even over a long period,
in an environment where there is neither

~ ~ t a , p n a ~ w ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ t h ~ m
. . . in the first place.
instltuhon
Occasionally such a man may be, and
remain at times, very violent and dangerous
within the institution where he is detained.
Their continuing
may be
to
shown by their desire to learn
get books or magazines of the kind h t they
fomeriy read or collected dealing with
Nazim,
or sexual perversion$ or by
the pictures
draw-not
of
scenes where warships, tanks and
bear swastika marbngf
somerealise that they remain dangerous
and are indeed relieved to find themdvcs in
a secure institution where they are protected

H~ is likely to recognise

othen around him

does not usually make close or continuing

friendships with them. If there is any rumour
of transfer or of discharge of such another
from the institution he will sometimes express
his disapproval if he considers it safe for
him to d o so.
Thus far the description given has rested
essentially on personal knowledge of sadistic
murders and murderers. Theory derived from

206

ROBERT P. BRI'ITAIN

such knowledge would suggest that cenain

other elements could also be present. Prophesy
is a dangerous business, better avoided, but
it may be worth taking the risk of setting
down certain elements which it seems possible
might be found in such a case. The justification for doing this is that if they were not
mentioned, their significance, if they did
occur, might not be. fully appreciated or they
might seem particularly puuling features.
The most that should be said, perhaps, is
that i t should cause no surprise if one or
other is found in a particular case.
In a place which is private to him there
could be a hood, possibly of the Ku Klux
Klan type, or a mask, oriental-typs clothing,
a child's doll, a life-sized model of a woman,
a rubber diving suit, a scarf or towel, a semenimpregoated handkerchief, a cylindrical object
of some kind, anaesthetics, carbon tetrachloride, petrol, glue or other volatile
substances a bed-frame 01 some similar
construction or, finally, the place itself might
be made to represent an execution chamber.
There might be a history of an inordinate
interest in under-water swimming or of the
prauice of sceing for how long the suspect
could hold his breath under water, or of
running through the deserted countryside
wearing only a rubber mackintosh, w of
offences in churches, or d-tion
of vaults
or of graves or graveyards. There might be
a daire to use explosives to blow up, for
example, public buildings, dockyards or penal
institutions.
All these elements do a u t in certain
sexual deviates and there is some reason to
think that those in whom they are found
have similatities to the sadistic murderer.
Thus bizarre though some of them are, the
theoretical element is not whether tbey OCCUT,
but only whether they will be. found to occur
in the cases being considered.
In conclusion it should be said that to
write of such material in our present state of
knowledge except for those legitimately concerned and in a medical, legal or criminological
journal would be to render society a disservice. It would be as irresponsible as to
draw facile, but entirely false, conclusions
from what has been written. It would be
easy, but wrong, for example, to deduce that
butchers or under-water swimmers are particularly prone to commit murder. It would
~

also discourage men with

this syndr

seeking medical help and make at

treat them more diflicult still.
It samed important that this sy
should be described so that it can be
professionally.
di5cult in these cases, b
is impossibte unless they
what tbey are. They

mate1

Qum
[ion
the It
from
wbkh
b m
Tie
11 ma
some
tan=
psycq.
thaf L
are m:
diaie
win m;

disci&
It is
of the
practic
such c

limited
partiCUl
any f l
the ma
is so El
in the
W Y .
researct
so in
0ffelIC-S

sional

turn to

who have not, at least as yet, co

o5ence. The psychiatrist who
respnsibility for them on an outis in an unenviable pasition.
Generally we cannot treat, except
ally, what we do not understand

knowledge people are cruelly murdered, t31

relatives s&w, and the mnrderm
burden to society and to themselves. :
This paper only attempts
dercription of the sadistic
facts drawn from a large,

field an
cornpara
them an
paper a1

commen
must ov
perhaw

un

7 l i E SADISTIC MURDERER

material accumulated over many years.

Quantification of the findings, a fuller description and discussion of each of the demenu,
the logical deductions which can be made
from the facts and a comprehensive hypothesis
which offers an explanation of the incredibly
bizarre picture found are all now possible.
'lime alone is required for their formulation.
It may then be that the h d i n g s will throw
some light on other areas of forensic importance and also on certain aspects of general
psychiatry. I think this is so. I also think
that, in the field of forensic psychiatry, there
are many other neglected problems of immediate importance which, when understood,
will make significant contributions to the wider
discipline.
It is hoped that the description here given
of the sadistic murderer may be of some
practical value t o those having to d o with
such cases, even though the value be still a
limited one, for they are cases which can be
particularly difficult of solution and in which
any guidance may be welcome. In any event,
the matter is so little understood, and there
is so little which is authoritative to be found
in the literature, that it seemed worth an
essay. There is still a need for descriptive
research in forensic psychiatry and especially
so in relation to the less common major
offences. Having set down my own professional experience it also seemed proper to
turn to others specially knowledgeable in the
field and ask them if their experiences were
comparable. I have done this by showing
them an w l i z r and incomplete draft of this
paper and I am greatly indebted to them for
comments and criticisms. While what is valid
must owe much to them, any defects, due
perhaps to disregarding some of their

criticisms (not normally because I doubted

their validity but only because I could not
fuUy confirm them from my own experience),
or to my own subwquent additions to the
paper. are my responsibility alone.
If yet others can,from their own experience,
amplify or modify the descn'ption given
here I, and I believe alI who have to deal
with these case$ whether as forensic
psychiatrists or as police oEicers, WiU be
greatly in their d e b t The problem is not an
academic one.
SUMhURY

An attempt is made to describe the sadistic

murderer. The description rests on the
examination of many men of lhis kind near
the time of the crime and on continuing
observation of them over periods of years. It
rests also on examination of victims and of
scenes of such crimes In addition, account
has been taken of others who show the
feature of the syndrome and who fantasy
committing similar murders although they
have not done so.

Acknowledgmctll is gratefully made to: Dr. M. I.

Harfst, W. M. Home. Esq., M.B.E.. Dn. 1. M.
L o u g h . P. G. McGmth. K. R. H. Wardroo and
P. B. P&fmare.
I am a h grafefvl to a number of colleagues, at
home and abroad, w h o have asked me for adon
such
and who have generously made their oy
material available to me.

REFEamcm
BRITIAIN.R. P. (1968). "The Sexual Asphyxias." in
Grodvohl'r Lrgoi Medicine. 2nd ed. Wiled by
F. E. Camps. p. 549. Bristol: Wright.