UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 15 AUGUST 2016
Leading criminologist Professor David Wilson interviews former bank robber Noel ‘Razor’ Smith in a new BBC show airing this week.
The pilot radio programme, ‘In the Criminologist’s Chair’, sees Professor Wilson quiz Smith on spending most of his life behind bars and his motivations on turning his life around to become an award-winning writer.
The former professional armed robber spent 33 years of his life serving numerous sentences in prisons across Britain, for crimes including over 200 bank robberies and acts of grievous bodily harm.
In a TV documentary aired last year, it was revealed that if Smith was officially assessed, he would be diagnosed as a psychopath.
“These were the questions that guided my thinking when I interviewed Noel ‘Razor’ Smith for ‘In the Criminologist’s Chair’. His answers took me to some dark places, but also left me with hope too.”
‘In The Criminologist’s Chair’ airs on BBC Radio 4 at 4pm on Tuesday 16 August.