ESCAPE FROM BROADMOOR

Softcover. SIGNED. John Thomas Straffen - Britain's longest-serving prisoner - was the first patient to escape from Broadmoor Hospital and be prosecuted for a crime committed on the run. He killed within hours. Prior to this, at his home in Bath, he was dismissed as a loner, an imbecile, a 'child trapped in an adult's body'. On the afternoon of Sunday 15 July 1951, John Straffen strangled 8yr old Brenda Goddard as she picked flowers. Three weeks later, he committed a similar murder before inadvertently confessing to the police. Faced with a serial killer with a mental age of 10, whose motive apparently was nothing more than to annoy the police, the court sent Straffen to Broadmoor Institute, as it was known then, for the criminally insane. But on 29 April 1952, having spent only 6 months at the Institute, he escaped in a carefully planned bid for freedom that should have been impossible. During these 4 hours on the run, Straffen instead murdered 5yr old Linda Bowyer. Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his beleaguered government intervened to prevent Straffen walking free again. But was Straffen insane? Using previously unpublished documents, including government classified papers, the author paints a vivid picture of a man who shocked the nation and confused the court with his crimes. John Straffen died in the medical wing of Frankland Prison, County Durham on November 19, 2007, by which time he'd spent 55yrs in prison. He never admitted to the murder of Linda Bowyer and had told his solicitor that he felt terrible about the first 2 murders, and wanted to be released from prison to live somewhere quiet. Illus. + Bibliog. and Index. 187pp. trade size New softcover. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR.