What makes killers kill - and why the victims matter

The Makings Of A Murderer comes from David Swindle, the Scottish detective responsible for bringing serial killer Peter Tobin to justice. With more than 34 years as a senior detective David will share his insight into the minds of the murderers. He will be talking about some of the most notorious British serial killers of all time including Tobin, Jack the Ripper, Harold Shipman, Peter Sutcliffe and killer couples Fred and Rose West and The Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. He will be talking about what makes a serial killer tick, the tell-tale signs and what really goes on behind the scenes. David – whose ground-breaking Operation Anagram uncovered the activities of Tobin – paints an often-dark picture of how these monsters came to be.

David said: “Serial Killers are cunning, conniving, controlling, careful and – I hate to say it – clever. They live apparently normal lives and get away with their crimes for years until eventually detected.”

Now-retired, David worked on hundreds of murders and complex high-profile UK-wide investigations during his 34 years in the police including management of the Glasgow Airport terrorist attack investigations. He promises “This show will delve into the criminal mind and provide a fascinating insight.” But he stresses: “One of the most important things I point out, though, is that for every killer there is a victim – at least one victim. And I point out that we should focus on the victims as well. It's a question of getting the balance. As far as I'm concerned it's all about the victim and everybody should be thinking about those victims. There is the odd thing on TV that is exclusively about the killers and people really are fascinated with the idea of crime and why killers kill. There's a lot on social media about that and there's a very big focus on true crime but one of the things that I always say is that we should never forget the victim in all this. And I always bear in mind that there might be someone in the audience who has been a victim themselves. I encourage people to contact me on social media about anything that they might find disturbing. But I did have an instance a couple of weeks ago when someone came up to me after the show and said ‘Thank you, you have really changed my perspective on Fred West and Rose West. I'm now really thinking about the victims.

“Really with the show what I want to do is to use the skills that I developed in my 34 years in the police to help people to understand and to offer a different perspective on true crime, the idea of what makes killers kill. I just feel that I've got something to give and it feels good when I'm speaking in front of a big audience. With killers I guess you're thinking about nature or nurture, whether something happened in their childhood but I do think that there are people that are born evil. Some people definitely are but at the end of the day I do think, certainly with serial killers, it is all about power and about control and as I say that's why so many of them are conniving and cunning and clever. And that’s how they get away without being caught for so long.”

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​