Robert Black: The True Story of a Child Rapist and Serial Killer from the United Kingdom (Homicide True Crime Cases Book 1) by C.L. Swinney

Author:C.L. Swinney [Swinney, C.L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: RJ Parker Publishing
Published: 2015-10-25T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Unfortunately in law enforcement, “instinct” and your “gut feeling” are not enough to get a conviction. Investigate certain crimes long enough and a second-sense develops, but evidence and probable cause are required to charge someone with a crime. When it comes to murder, every possible lead and piece of evidence is crucial. Some investigators are more open about their ability to “know” their suspect. George Oldfield, the man who led the Yorkshire Ripper investigation, mused that if he were in a room full of people and one of them his suspect, he’d be able to point out the suspect. However, the Yorkshire Ripper case, and hundreds of similar cases, have clearly demonstrated how dangerous it is to assume you know someone. For example, Peter Sutcliffe, interviewed nine times in five years, did not get identified as the ruthless killer.

Hoping to extract some useful or incriminating information regarding the cases of Sarah, Susan, and Caroline, the police felt interviewing Robert again would be the best course of action. They hoped, since a life sentence already hung over his head, he might consider talking with detectives thinking he had nothing to lose.

Officers went to Scotland to interview Robert. In a six-hour interview, he spoke openly about offences for which he had previously been convicted. Robert spoke about a variety of topics, including his one true girlfriend, his strong attraction to young girls, the fact he’d been sexually abused as a child, the fantasies that ran through his mind, and his disturbing masturbation routines. His statements were, at a minimum, shocking to the officers.

Hearing that Robert answered their questions at will, they pressed on and asked him about working for Poster Dispatch and Storage (PDS). Before he could answer, they also asked about his whereabouts when Caroline Hogg had been abducted. Robert abruptly went silent. Police waited a few minutes and asked him about Susan and Sarah. Again, Robert remained silent. Somewhere inside his head, a switch had been flipped. Seeing that Robert had shut down, the officers terminated the rest of their questioning. This investigative technique, really the only thing the police had going for them at the time, proved futile.

Law enforcement, then, would need to build their cases, assuming Robert as the suspect, from scratch. It would require chronicling Robert’s life, every moment of every day, in an effort to pinpoint his whereabouts when Sarah, Caroline, and Susan were taken. If they could demonstrate his presence in these locations, they’d have their work cut out to convince a jury that he also took the girls. If they could reasonably do that, they’d have to also demonstrate that Robert killed them. Investigators dug into the last nine years of his life hoping to find clues as to who he really had become. Although it seemed nearly impossible, the investigation teams had no other options.

They knew Robert drove a white van as a delivery driver, and they already knew his work routes were close to the areas where Susan, Sarah, and Caroline had been kidnapped.

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