Why did Lucy Letby kill?

A thread with other serial killers I worked with at some length.

As mentioned, I post regularly on the Critical Psychiatry Network – a group of some 350 psychiatrists around the world, and plan to repeat what I put there, here on my Substack page.

This post refers to one of the more horrific crimes of recent years. So far, psychiatry hasn’t a clue. But since I worked for 5 years in Parkhurst Prison, UK, with serial killers, I thought I’d give it a run.

Not sure what sort of reception it’ll receive – but that’s partly what is so terribly wrong with psychiatry today.

See what you think - - - -

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 Why did Lucy Letby kill?

Lucy Letby, the serial-baby-killer, poses an especially disconcerting question to contemporary psychiatry – whether socio-, bio-, Freudian, or plain DSM-psychiatry – none of which has the least notion of an answer that even begins to come close. Now I know that my views upset some readers of this list – so to those I would say – please, take my advice and read no further. I am confident that there are those who do like to know what I found in my clinical explorations, and who might find the insight I garnered helpful, if faced with an otherwise insoluble psychiatric puzzle, such as Letby, or any other serial killer. But you can’t take everyone with you – and the last thing I want is to do is cause distress. So please, if this sort of discussion unnerves you – look away now.

So on the basis that we might agree to let 1000 flowers bloom, let me start by citing my favourite serial-killer, who I call Alec. He arrived in Parkhurst Prison aged 24, having killed in prison, and declared himself dead-set on killing again every two years while in prison, without relent.

Line 194.  Alec: . . . “but like I said, I said since I've been in prison, that, yes, I'll kill again, I know I’ll kill again.   And a part of me wants to kill again.  And as long as that part wants to, then I will let it.”

Is he an alien? Have his genes gone AWOL? Where does this freely expressed murderousness come from? Genes? Chemicals? Unconsciousness? Archetypes? Or simply Unknown ?

So Doctor, what’s your diagnosis? Is it psychosis? Personality Disorder? Behaviour Disorder? Brain disease? Well? Which? Bear in mind I was the psychiatrist in charge of his mental health, and here he is spouting this verbal challenge from the video screen – I was able to video every one of his sessions with me.

Obviously not psychosis – he is far too coherent, he knows what he’s doing, he is meticulous in his planning – ultra-realistic, not living in some make-believe world. In UK law, he has just gone from possible manslaughter, to murder – ‘intent’ reeks out of his frank admission – no question.

So what to do? Well, I hadn’t gone to work in Parkhurst Prison unequipped. I took with me the concept of the long-term effects of child abuse, and I soon discovered that contrary to all forensic conventions, murderers didn’t know why they killed. They gave you lots of reasons – but none of them added up – I call it guff. They simply find themselves killing, as Letby did, or Alec threatened to – but the reason why, which is what you need for a watertight medical diagnosis, is absent. It just isn’t there. You could spend years going round the houses looking for orthodox clinical answers, while Alec (or Letby) continue with their deadly affliction.

I’ve just been advised to read The Demon Lover: The Roots of Terrorism by Robin Morgan, since it relates to the same topic as my recent book on war. What I found was that she makes the same elementary mistake, that too many forensic psychiatrists do – they assume that the perpetrator knows not only what they’re doing, but WHY. But if you ask 50 murderers, as I did, then you come to the inescapable conclusion that they don’t. Why they do it, is kept obscure – deliberately so. Alec had no idea why part of him wanted to kill – he didn’t ask why, he just ‘let it’.

So these patients are victims of Speechlessness. Whichever way you cut it – there’s no way round that. I can guarantee that if you ask Letby why she killed, she’ll give you nothing you can make sense of, only guff.

This is not an anomaly, it’s the very heart of the disease. Indeed, if you press too hard for an ‘explanation’ of why they killed, then they are liable to kill you, as Alec threatened to do, me.

No, you need an unorthodox medical approach, one which can incur drastic castigations from more orthodox colleagues – so be warned. I’ve published several books as to how Alec fared – here I close with what I label the Trauma Tetrad.

Ø  (1) Was Alec’s father wrong to throw his mother downstairs (aged 4)? YES.

Ø  (2) Could Alec tell his father this (aged 24)? NO.

Ø  (3) Should he have been able to? YES. And

Ø  (4) Did he know that all his symptoms of serial-killing came from his inability to tell his father this? NO. But when he did, they went.

Point (2) sticks in many throats, and as for the optimism in (4), well I leave that to your imagination. BUT, since I did record every word that Alec said to me – I also recorded his account of a visit by his mother, some 2 years later (also transcribed in my books). She freely confirms that his cognition has now changed, in effect his Speechlessness has evaporated. You may find this hard to swallow – but Lord Ramsbotham, a former Chief Inspector of Prisons, later enthusiastically confirmed my claim to have saved over a dozen prison lives, by coaxing Alec to speak. . . . .

You’ve got to admit, it does sound rather attractive.

Rock on

Bob