User:Trident13/PBritton
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Paul Britton (born in 1946 in Leicestershire), is an English criminal psychologist, often know as the The Real Cracker or The Jigsaw Man, in light of the title of his autbiography
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[edit] Rachel Nickell
On 30 October 2002 after a two-day hearing, the British Psychological Society disciplinary committee concluded Britton's work on the 1992 murder inquiry could not be properly investigated. The committee ruled he could not get a fair hearing[1]. Colin Stagg had attended the meeting on the Tuesday, but exited after a delay in the proceedings.
[edit] Input
- The autobiography of Paul Britton, one of the foremost offender profilers in the world. What he searches for at the scene of a crime are not fingerprints, fibres or blood stains, he looks for the "mind trace" left behind by those responsible, the psychological characteristics that can help the police to identify and understand the nature of the perpetrator. Over the past dozen years, Britton has assisted the police in over 100 cases involving murder, rape, arson, extortion and kidnapping. Among them were the murder of Jamie Bulger on a lonely railway line in Liverpool, the abduction of baby Abbie Humphries, the brutal slaying of Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common and the notorious "House of Horror" in Gloucester. He has helped to solve some of Britain's most baffling cases, and has also advised the FBI and the Russian Ministry of the Interior [2]
[edit] References
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2377235.stm
- ^ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jigsaw-Man-Paul-Britton/dp/0552144932
- ^ http://www.law-forensic.com/cfr_stagg_07.htm
- ^ http://www.offmsg.connectfree.co.uk/OffBEAT/britton.htm
[edit] External links
[edit] Rachell Nickell
In July 1992, Rachel Nickell, a 23-year-old model, was sexually assaulted and battered to death while walking her dog with her two-year-old son on Wimbledon Common. The case horrified the nation and police came under immense pressure to find the killer. Their prime suspect was man named Colin Stagg but they had little evidence. They turned to Britton, whose reputation was at its height, to draw up a profile of the killer. Then they went further, asking him to help design a covert operation - based on what he knew of the killer from the profile - aimed at testing whether the suspect would eliminate or implicate himself. An undercover policewoman known as Lizzie James - not her real name - began exchanging letters with Stagg. She won his confidence and drew out violent fantasies in the later correspondence, which he subsequently claimed were copied from adult magazines in response to the violent fantasies that she described in her correspondence to him.[1] He did not confess to the murder but detectives believed he had revealed details which could lead to his conviction. Stagg was arrested and charged. During the committal Britton was called on to explain the operation. He claimed it was designed to present the subject with a series of "ladders" he would have to climb rather than a "slippery slope" down which a vulnerable person would slide if pushed. The defence argued that Britton's evidence was speculative and supported only by his intuition.
When the case reached the Old Bailey the judge agreed. He said that the police had shown "excessive zeal" and had tried to incriminate a suspect by "deceptive conduct of the grossest kind". Britton's evidence was thrown out and the prosecution withdrew its case against Stagg and Stagg was acquitted. Another man - Robert Napper - has been charged with the murder and is currently awaiting trial.
[edit] Investigation and trial of Colin Stagg
The 33-year-old officer - who has been known only by her cover name of Lizzie James - has left the Metropolitan Police on health grounds following her "traumatic" role in the investigation of Miss Nickell's death.
