Read Online Children Who Kill: Profiles of Pre-Teen and Teenage Killers by Carol Anne Davis - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Carol Anne Davis
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later admitted it, explaining that it had started when he was in a children’s home.
A third myth about the case is that the police were running an investigation for a serial arsonist called The Holocaust Man. There was no such investigation because the police weren’t looking for a serial arsonist. Most of the fires had been wrongly attributed to electric faults, dropped cigarettes and so on.
Former Detective Chief Superintendent Sagar was also able to refute a fourth story that went the rounds, namely that he found a singed piece of paper at the Hastie fire which contained the address of the Salvation Army Hostel where Bruce had been living, went there and found a can of petrol under his bed. These stories may have been invented by writers looking for a sensational angle or by amateur crime writers trying to fill in the gaps of Bruce Lee’s life and arrest.
Bruce himself lied to his prison doctor and his exaggerations may have led to some of the myths. For example, he told his doctor that he was spending £20 a day on alcohol. In the seventies, this was a formidable amount of cash to spend on drink – and Ron Sagar says it’s unlikely to be accurate. Bruce was more moderate when discussing his smoking, saying that he bought forty cigarettes a week.
Bruce also told the doctor that he’d been paid tostart some of the fires and was given between £300 and £500 for such arson attacks but he refused to elaborate on this. These allegations might have been true or could have been invented to boost his ego, but they weren’t brought about by organic brain dysfunction because an EEG showed that Bruce’s brain wave was only mildly abnormal. Instead, he was diagnosed as having a psychopathic personality disorder and written up as ‘a highly dangerous repetitive arsonist who derives pleasure from this behaviour.’
Asked by this author why there was occasionally a year between Bruce lighting a serious fire, Ron Sagar explained that it’s possible he started smaller fires which didn’t make the newspapers and which he subsequently forgot about. Or he might have set fires which failed to ignite.
Ron has maintained compassion for Bruce, though he’s aware that this isn’t a view shared by the general public. (This author has encountered the same attitude when delineating the horror of most killer’s childhoods . For some reason, the public doesn’t believe that it’s possible to have sympathy for the childhood yet hate the murderous actions that can spring from such a violent start.) Ron says that Bruce ‘still crosses my mind – with a touch of sympathy for him as a mere human being.’ At the time of his arrest, the youth clearly wanted to bond with someone for he befriended Ron Sagar and subsequently related to a female doctor who interviewed him as a motherly figure. When she asked how he got on with his birth mother he admitted he ‘never did – she did stick up for me sometimes. Shewas adapted (sic) to booze, an alcoholic.’ Bruce also bonded with his solicitor.
Asked if he’d met many offenders as disadvantaged as Bruce, Ron Sagar says ‘many people have had rough upbringings – but Bruce was disadvantaged in all three ways, mentally, physically and socially.’ This made him a particularly unfortunate case.
So does Bruce fit the profile of a typical arsonist? ‘Yes, he’s tending towards the classic profile. The arsonist is often a loner. Bruce fits the upbringing and personality type, the feeling of resentment towards his fellow human beings.’ So is this type of arson attack unique to developed countries like Britain and the USA? Ron Sagar says not, that ‘it could happen anywhere .’
Sadly, he knows of many other criminals who started offending as young as Bruce. ‘Eight or nine- year-olds were arrested with monotonous regularity in the early sixties and presumably in earlier decades, and paraded before the juvenile court.’ He goes on to paint a picture of unthinking adults and
A third myth about the case is that the police were running an investigation for a serial arsonist called The Holocaust Man. There was no such investigation because the police weren’t looking for a serial arsonist. Most of the fires had been wrongly attributed to electric faults, dropped cigarettes and so on.
Former Detective Chief Superintendent Sagar was also able to refute a fourth story that went the rounds, namely that he found a singed piece of paper at the Hastie fire which contained the address of the Salvation Army Hostel where Bruce had been living, went there and found a can of petrol under his bed. These stories may have been invented by writers looking for a sensational angle or by amateur crime writers trying to fill in the gaps of Bruce Lee’s life and arrest.
Bruce himself lied to his prison doctor and his exaggerations may have led to some of the myths. For example, he told his doctor that he was spending £20 a day on alcohol. In the seventies, this was a formidable amount of cash to spend on drink – and Ron Sagar says it’s unlikely to be accurate. Bruce was more moderate when discussing his smoking, saying that he bought forty cigarettes a week.
Bruce also told the doctor that he’d been paid tostart some of the fires and was given between £300 and £500 for such arson attacks but he refused to elaborate on this. These allegations might have been true or could have been invented to boost his ego, but they weren’t brought about by organic brain dysfunction because an EEG showed that Bruce’s brain wave was only mildly abnormal. Instead, he was diagnosed as having a psychopathic personality disorder and written up as ‘a highly dangerous repetitive arsonist who derives pleasure from this behaviour.’
Asked by this author why there was occasionally a year between Bruce lighting a serious fire, Ron Sagar explained that it’s possible he started smaller fires which didn’t make the newspapers and which he subsequently forgot about. Or he might have set fires which failed to ignite.
Ron has maintained compassion for Bruce, though he’s aware that this isn’t a view shared by the general public. (This author has encountered the same attitude when delineating the horror of most killer’s childhoods . For some reason, the public doesn’t believe that it’s possible to have sympathy for the childhood yet hate the murderous actions that can spring from such a violent start.) Ron says that Bruce ‘still crosses my mind – with a touch of sympathy for him as a mere human being.’ At the time of his arrest, the youth clearly wanted to bond with someone for he befriended Ron Sagar and subsequently related to a female doctor who interviewed him as a motherly figure. When she asked how he got on with his birth mother he admitted he ‘never did – she did stick up for me sometimes. Shewas adapted (sic) to booze, an alcoholic.’ Bruce also bonded with his solicitor.
Asked if he’d met many offenders as disadvantaged as Bruce, Ron Sagar says ‘many people have had rough upbringings – but Bruce was disadvantaged in all three ways, mentally, physically and socially.’ This made him a particularly unfortunate case.
So does Bruce fit the profile of a typical arsonist? ‘Yes, he’s tending towards the classic profile. The arsonist is often a loner. Bruce fits the upbringing and personality type, the feeling of resentment towards his fellow human beings.’ So is this type of arson attack unique to developed countries like Britain and the USA? Ron Sagar says not, that ‘it could happen anywhere .’
Sadly, he knows of many other criminals who started offending as young as Bruce. ‘Eight or nine- year-olds were arrested with monotonous regularity in the early sixties and presumably in earlier decades, and paraded before the juvenile court.’ He goes on to paint a picture of unthinking adults and
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