Jo Frost On Britain's Killer Kids

In 2011 Daniel Bartlam beat his mother Jacqui Bartlam to death with a hammer and then set fire to her body in their family home. Inspired by a soap opera plot, he had fantasised about killing her for months, even going so far as to script his own mum’s death. He was just 14 years old. In this episode Jo Frost speaks to Jacqui’s partner at the time, Simon Matters and hears from experts including criminologist Liz Yardley, neuroscientist Dr Francesca Happe and criminal justice expert Malcolm Stevens to find the answer to the most difficult of questions – what drives a son to kill his own mother?

In the early hours of Saturday March 29th 2014, the body of Jim Attfield was found lying in Colchester’s Castle Park. The father of five had been stabbed 102 times. Three months later, 31 year old Saudi Arabian student, Nahid Almanea was attacked in broad daylight on the Salary Brook Trail. Both victims suffered multiple wounds and were stabbed in the eyes. Nearly a year later another attack was thwarted. This time the police caught the suspected serial killer, only to discover it was a 15 year old boy called James Fairweather. In this episode, Jo Frost speaks to Jim Attfield’s mum Julie Finch, criminologist Liz Yardley, neuroscientist Dr Francesca Happe and criminal justice expert Malcolm Stevens to find out, what leads a teenage boy to start killing strangers?

On the 7th of June 1992, 18 year old hairdresser Katie Rackliff was found brutally stabbed to death in Farnborough, Hampshire. Police assumed the ferocity of the murder which had left her body mutilated must have been committed by a man. It would take four years for the police to discover the shocking truth. Katie’s killer had in fact been a 12 year old girl called Sharon Carr. More than two decades after this horrific crime, over 40 people contacted were still too scared and disturbed to speak about it on camera. To find out why, Jo Frost hears from crime reporter Paul Cheston and speaks to criminologist Liz Yardley, neuroscientist Dr Francesca Happe and criminal justice expert Malcolm Stevens in an attempt to understand how someone so young could become a sadistic killer.

Jo Frost looks at what motivated a 14-year-old boy to murder his schoolmate after luring him to his house with a faked letter from a teacher.