We like to believe that our neighborhoods, our cities, our world is much safer than it ever was before. Unfortunately, that’s still not the case. We live in an uncertain world, and even in the most civilized of places, danger can lurk around every corner.
As a culture, as human beings, it’s up to all of us to keep an eye on one another. That’s precisely what the public-spirited dog walker in our story did one May morning…
Found Him
The paramedics found him bleeding in the park. Try as they might, their arrival had come too late and they could do nothing to save him. It was later determined that he had sustained over 102 separate stab wounds. Who this poor man was, and who could have attacked him so violently, remained a mystery: at least for the time being.
Wandering
The man’s name was James. He was a 33-year-old father-of-five who suffered from mild brain damage following a rather bad car accident. He had been passing through castle park when he was attacked and had been, as far as anyone who had seen him that day was concerned, minding his own business. But James’ murder was only the beginning of the chaos to come…
Broad Daylight
The next attack happened several weeks later. It was June a 21-year-old Nahid, was walking alone along the Salary Brook nature trail. She was traveling by herself in broad daylight when someone ran up to her and knocked her sunglasses off. Before she could react, he stabbed her through the eyes and then the stomach.
Fourteen Months
This second murder in only a matter of weeks was something that the police officers of Colchester, Essex were wholly unprepared for. They had never had a string of violent killings like that before. For the next 14 months, people in the area lived in fear that there was some sadistic killer running amok, and the police didn’t know how to stop them…
No Leads
Local police continued to investigate the murders, but no new leads meant that trail was growing ever-colder with each passing day. They questioned hundreds of people and tracked down dozens of possible leads, but nothing seemed to stick. Even after questioning 70 locals with a history of knife crime, they were still no closer to finding the culprit.
Hate Crime
In addition to a distinct lack of evidence and suspects, rumors began to circulate that perhaps the crime was race related. Nahid Alamanda was an Afghan woman, and the nature of her death was different enough from James Attfield’s that it was possible the police were looking for two different killers…
Revenge
Eventually, though, the police learned that both victims had indeed been killed by the same assailant, but both appeared to have been chosen at random. Still, once the word “Hate Crime” was bandied about, groups such as ISIL began to threaten revenge attacks in retaliation. The police needed to get to the bottom of all this.
Suspicious Teen
Unfortunately for them, the case would not come to any conclusion for over another year. It came out of nowhere, the assailant having apparently stopped his killing spree with those two targets. On May 27th, a concerned dog walker made a call to the police. They were worried that a suspicious teenager was loitering in their area, looking threatening…
Who Was He?
Arriving on the scene, police discovered 15-year-old James Fairweather standing right where the dog walker had said he’d be and looking maliciously at passers-by. James was the type of boy who was bullied often. He had large, prominent ears, and this made him a perfect target for bullies. Those incidents would drive him towards his own violent pursuits.
Turn Out Your Pockets
They approached the young man and told him to turn out his pockets. Oddly enough, the young man didn’t put up any fight. On the contrary, he actually cooperated with the officers. On his person, they found a pair of rubber gloves and a knife. The dog walker had been right, this particular teen was indeed “up to something…”
Just in Time
They had caught Fairweather in the nick of time. No sooner had they gotten him back to the station than he confessed to having been out searching for his next victim. When asked why he would do that he replied, “They said we need another sacrifice and I was going to get my third victim but there was no one about.”
History of Violence
He also had a history of violence attached to his record. In January of 2014, he had been convicted of knifepoint robbery and sentenced to a year’s supervision. A year before that, he was convicted of criminal damage to a house. There was much more to James Fairweather than meets the eye, however, as the detectives would soon find out…
Growing Obsession
The police soon discovered that James Fairweather had an obsession with serial killers. He even had a favorite, Ted Bundy. This was a shock to the police of course, but it came as no surprise to those who knew him. Fairweather had always been a troubled young man, but his obsession was growing into sexual sadism as he grew.
Posturing
James Fairweather had always struggled in school. Not only academically, but socially as well. Teachers always seemed worried about him. For example, when asked to explain his future career, he replied with “murderer.” His classmates thought he was just posturing to seem more threatening: they had no idea he actually was…
Dark Thoughts
The police also discovered that following the murders of James Attfield and Nahid Almanea, Fairweather would obsessively look up press coverage to read what was being said. The press coverage both fueled his desire for notoriety and was also what kept him from overdoing it. He also told the officers that he was hearing voices that told him to “burn babies and maim prostitutes.”
Madness
When his case finally made it to court, Fairweather testified that it was these voices who ultimately told him which victims to choose. He added that the voices had laughed as he stabbed them and that he’d taken out Nahid’s eyes so that, as he put it, “she could not see evil.” Things were getting into the paranormal realm…
The Devil Made Me Do It
Fairweather claimed that he had been possessed by the devil and that this was why he felt he needed to be a murderer. His behavior may have been linked to a possible genetic predisposition to mental illness. After all, Fairweather’s father suffered mental health problems when he was younger too. He too thought he heard voices.
Agreement
The defense was claiming that Fairweather suffered from psychosis and was therefore not responsible for his actions. The court-appointed psychiatrist did not find this, but all four psychiatrists called by the defense testified that at the very least, Fairweather was on the autism spectrum. That doesn’t make one a killer though…
Sentencing
Even if Attfield believed the Devil had made him do it, and even if that devil was indeed real, it didn’t mean that he wasn’t guilty of the crimes. In the end, the jury agreed. Fairweather was found guilty and sentenced to 27 years in prison. It would be a long time before he was released back into the world.
Just Desserts
It was a good thing they caught him when they did too, as he had no plans of stopping anytime soon. When the conviction was announced, the victim’s families came out in support of the verdict. James Attfield’s mother Julie called Fairweather a “monster” and condemned him for his cruelty in killing her handicapped son.
