http://www.fishpond.com.au/Books/Deviant-Paul-Harrison/9781904091929
"Penned by crime writer and former police officer Paul Harrison, Deviant is the only book on the subject written by someone in attendance at the 1986 trial of Jeremy Bamber, accused of murdering five members of his family in the dead of night at White House Farm in Essex.A culmination of three decades of research, in the course of this work the author has interviewed all the key investigative police officers and lawyers, and communicated with the convicted murderer and a number of his associates.The investigation has taken the author around the globe arousing a great deal of publicity and, in the process, antagonised the small band of fanatical supporters of the killer resulting in a number of death threats. The author has also incurred the displeasure of Essex Police, highlighting incompetence and internal subterfuge, issues which clearly hampered the prosecution of the crime.With startling evidence never before seen and a dramatic conclusion this, for the first time in print, is the real story of what happened the night three adults and two children were bludgeoned and shot to death at White House Farm."
About the Author
"A police officer covering three decades, Paul Harrison operated in a number of investigative roles and was for a time an undercover officer.He was one of the first in the UK to work closely with the FBI on psychological profiling and, as a result of further research, he has interviewed many serial killers and mass murderers across the globe, collating crime profiles on each one. Since retiring from the police he has become a crime writer and historian, a field in which he is highly regarded and through which he has become a popular speaker at police and crime writing conferences. He also acts as a media crime consultant working with authors and writers in creating police and crime storylines and is credited with creating professional personalities of some of the best known detectives on television.He has a number of books to his name including Dancing with the Devil, the story of Glasgow serial killer Bible John, and is currently working on a book covering the lives and psychology of killers he has interviewed and another featuring some of the worst inmates of Wakefield's notorious prison.Away from a life of police and crime, he is an ardent football supporter and suffers the travails of his hometown club, Leeds United."
Talking about Wakefield prison reminded me of the above highlighted in red. As far as I can see PH has no relevant qualifications to undertake professional assessment of prisoners? I've no idea what the rules are with authors in this regard? Can anyone turn up at a high security prison on the basis they want to interview and write about prisoners? When David James Smith, journalist, interviewed JB for The Times he had to jump through many hoops:
"It has taken months to reach this moment, and I have jumped through many hoops to make it happen, layer after layer of permissions have been necessary, up through the highest echelons of government".
http://davidjamessmith.net/pdf_articles/DJS_bamber.pdfI guess PH might not necessarily be referring to face-to-face interviews but interviews conducted via letters?
PH often refers to the psychological profiling of criminals eg above and in the Scottish Express article:
"He added: "Having studied and worked within psychological and criminal profiling since the late 1980s, I know how the criminal mind works".
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/524489/Mass-killer-Jeremy-Bamber-s-threat-to-Scots-author-HarrisonAccording to PH's book, which I described as a sort of auto-biography, he was a Detective Sergeant in 1989 and left the police force around 1997 circa 38 yoa. Something about this doesn't quite ring true:
1. Profiling involves a lot of statistical work and by PH's own admission his maths is very poor failing his maths CSE exam and the police entrance exams (father who was a serving officer pulled a few strings and he was given the answers).
2. I'm not sure what PH was doing during his last circa 8 years of service ie whether he was promoted but if his rank remained at Detective Sergeant I'm surprised he was one of the first to be picked to work with the FBI on criminal profiling?
3. He appears to have been invalided out of the police force with a small lump sum payment. This was on the basis that he no longer fulfilled the criteria for being an active police officer as he was unable to kneel, bend or rely on his knees to support him. But if he had a desk based job working with the FBI on criminal profiling would physical fitness be a necessary requirement?
I really couldn't give a flying fig what anyone writes about JB whether they be posters, authors, journalists or anyone. Everyone has right to express his/her opinion/views as far as I'm concerned but what I don't like is BS.
On a separate note PH states in his book he despised wrongdoing and corruption in the police force and yet he seems to fail to note the irony in that his entrance into the police force was based on wrongdoing and corruption
Perhaps Reader on Blue hit the nail on the head from the off when he picked up on one of PH's posts where PH stated he hated deliberate lies and Reader pointed out that all lies are by definition deliberate
