A History Of British Crime

• How can one angry man enter a school then shoot innocent children to settle a grudge?

• What makes a person capable of killing dozens of strangers?

• Why would a young man go on a stabbing rampage over a weekend leaving four people dead?

• How could someone contaminate babyfood with poison and place it back on supermarket shelves?

• Why would someone kill their partner, parents and even their own children?

Mass Murderers and Spree Killers commit unspeakable explosive acts of violence against other people - often strangers, but sometimes their own family. Such killers use a range of weapons to achieve their goals. Mass shootings are rare in the UK but they have a massive impact, often leaving dozens of innocent people dead or injured.

Professor Jackson has studied Mass Murder cases for nearly 15 years and his encyclopaedic case knowledge explores if mass killings are caused by personality types, narcissistic thoughts, sexual frustration, loneliness, military fantasies, or a desire to be infamous and known for such cruelty.

In this show he conducts Psychological Autopsies on the mass killers responsible for the Hungerford & Dunblane shootings and the infamous Rothbury manhunt, along with cases including the Heinz babyfood poisoner, the Tesco bomber, and numerous attacks by ‘deranged’ spree killers.

Some ‘forgotten’ mass killer cases and other ‘near-misses’ are used, and audiences will be struck by how close many would-be mass killers come to executing their deadly attacks.

Professor Jackson reveals that despite the UK’s tough firearms laws, mass killers are very unpredictable and often almost impossible to stop, and he looks at what can be done to make sure future mass murders are prevented.