UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 29 OCTOBER 2015
Criminologists at Birmingham City University have produced a ‘Murder Scale’ to determine which British killers should be considered as the worst.
Professor David Wilson and Professor Elizabeth Yardley of the University’s Centre for Applied Criminology used several parameters to ascertain the outcome, looking at the modus operandi of the killers and how vulnerable their victims were.
Other factors identified by the criminologists that should be used to determine Britain’s worst killer, include whether the killer attacked multiple victims and whether the killings were motivated by paraphilia.
Using the Murder Scale, Professor Wilson will call upon a panel of criminologists, forensic psychologists, journalists and police experts to evaluate and rank 20 of Britain's most notorious living killers in a new television series to be aired on Crime + Investigation (CI) next month.
Starting on Sunday 1 November and hosted by Professor Wilson, the three-part Measuring Evil: Britain's Worst Killers series will seek to explore, evaluate and rank criminal minds.
"By employing the Murder Scale, I believe we have found a way of answering this question more criminologically, showing how the killers featured in the programme are different from the vast majority of offenders who kill," added Professor Wilson.
Announcing the new show, Koulla Anastasi said: "Measuring Evil: Britain’s Worst Killers is a ground-breaking new series and we are delighted to be working with Professor Wilson again, whose insight into the criminal mind is unparalleled."
Measuring Evil: Britain's Worst Killers begins on Sunday 1 November at 9pm on Crime + Investigation (CI).