With mounting pressure to find the offender and a five-thousand-dollar reward on offer for information, five days after the discovery of Simon's body police held a brainstorming conference at the CIB regarding the profile of the killer. Attended by high-ranking detectives, they sought the opinions of esteemed medical professor D.C. Maddison, who presented his views after seeing crime-scene photographs.
Newspaper reports that it could have been a female offender were 'tremendously unlikely', he told the assembly. It could have been a person with a criminal record. The offender was 'way out and insane'. Investigators shouldn't rule out a juvenile. A parent was the 'rarest of possibilities'. The normal pattern was that the offender would be likely to repeat but not usually in close proximity. He could turn up anywhere; Maddison could not predict what this person would do next. The killer was a freakish person with freakish tendencies that could be well hidden. It was very unlikely, in his opinion, that the person who committed this crime would mutilate a woman and then a boy. Almost certainly they were mad but perhaps hid that very well. They might never have had psychiatric treatment. 'I know of nothing like this before,' he concluded. 'In my opinion the type of person who would do this would be a person who would be mentally ill in a gross sense. It seems to me that if you have not been able to pick up the offender in five or six days then you are dealing with someone cunning and not obviously mad and perhaps even intelligent. Most sexual assaults on children are carried out by persons who know them. The popular fancy is that they are committed by strangers. In this case, the child is so young he may go with anyone. You are dealing with such gross madness that it cuts across all statistics.'
Police Commissioner Norm Allen also demanded answers to the crime. Accessing the resources of criminologists and health professionals, he canvassed their ideas to build a psychological profile of the killer. Psychiatrist Dr Norwood East warned that 'many offenders refuse psychological treatment because it might cure them of their need for these anti-social pleasures'. It was a sentiment echoed by New South Wales government forensic psychiatrist Dr John McGeorge, who had also aired his opinion regarding the Wanda Beach killer. 'People who molest children are rarely, if ever, cured,' he observed. 'Indeed, they are often born with this tendency and have no desire to be cured.' And Dr William Rowe, who described the killer as a 'sexual psychopath' unable to articulate what caused the urge to murder and mutilate a child, sounded a chilling caution: that there was a strong possibility that the person would strike again. 'Experience shows us that there is often a gap after the first such act and that they then do it with increasing frequency if they are not caught,' he warned. 'In this case, if he is not caught, he may well do it again in one or two years time, and we can then expect to see his crimes coming with increasing frequency.'
The police, in short, were looking for a serial killer.
In their 1992 book The Serial Killers, authors Colin Wilson and Donald Seaman used their privileged access to the world's first National Centre for the Analysis of Violent Crime in Virginia, USA, to write a definitive study into the psychology of serial killers and the complex reasoning that leads to their behaviour. They found that almost invariably serial killers had experienced environmental problems in their formative years; a home with a weak or absent father-figure and a dominant female. A defiance of authority, theft, lying, destruction, arson, and cruelty to animals were often tell-tale signs, accompanied by long periods of daydreaming or fantasising. They also noted that such people have no sympathy for their victims or those bereaved by their actions. Imprinted with a compulsion, like a drug addict's need for a fix, the serial killer suffers from a kind of tunnel vision, as though he remains trapped inside his own head and does not have the ability to connect with other people.
Just as frightening is the 'cooling-off' period between murders, the time between their last kill and the inevitable emotional depression and self-loathing that follows before fantasies again reach their peak, resulting in an overwhelming desire – sometimes referred to as an 'emotional sexual orgasm' – to murder again. There is no set pattern or rhythm – some serial killers have waited years between kills and will opportunistically take what they can if thwarted of the chance to murder their preferred choice of victim – but no question, either, that unless their murder intentions are sabotaged by imprisonment or death, they will strike again. For investigators, it is akin to waiting for the metaphorical time bomb, knowing that it is not a matter of if this predator, fuelled by relentless sexual fantasies, a desire to inflict pain and a catastrophic collision of luck and opportunity to find a victim, will murder again, but when.
The best hope police had of finding Simon Brook's killer was by tracing the razor blade with its manufacturers identifying imprint, L4, that was left behind at the scene. Carelessness, perhaps; cocky arrogance, maybe: the hallmark of a man who might have killed before and gotten away with it or possibly – like Jack the Ripper, who murdered and mutilated five prostitutes in the dank, gas-lit streets of Victorian London despite the very real risks of being caught – he was spooked by an interruption and fled the scene. Police recognised that there were frightening parallels with the Ripper murders. The modus operandi – abduction, followed by the kill – was the means to an end. It could change, either to suit the crime scene or perhaps to confuse investigators. But the postmortem mutilation, rehearsed time and again in the killer's fantasy before he finally put it into action, was the ritualistic, sexually sadistic signature that both Brook's killer and the Ripper left behind, the disturbed artistry that told profilers 'I have been here.'
The Ripper's choice of locale was the Whitechapel area of London, a seedy area of flea-infested doss-houses inhabited by whores, pimps and drunkards, which offered endless opportunity for him to randomly choose victims – all prostitutes – and he knew how to negotiate his way in and out quickly, without detection. The murders were all sexually motivated and while he was disturbed during one murder, thus not enabling him time to carry out post-mortem mutilation on his victim, Elizabeth Stride, all his other victims were ritualistically mutilated. Some were disembowelled. Some had body parts – entrails, uterus, kidneys, breasts – removed and symbolically placed on their bodies. The hapless constable who found victim Catherine Eddowes' body in the light of his bulls-eye lantern, with her intestines tucked neatly between her body and left arm, gibbered that she resembled 'the slaughter of a pig in market' – words uncannily similar to the horrified reaction of Lampasona to the Brook crime scene. Eddowes' throat was cut from ear to ear and the jugular vein and carotid artery on her left side were ripped open.
Perhaps in revenge for being disturbed at one murder scene, the Ripper lingered long with his last victim, Mary Jane Kelly, the only woman murdered in her own room. By the light of the fire in the grate he virtually decapitated her, later cutting off her nose and breasts and removing her liver and uterus, placing the liver between her feet. Finishing his terrible night's work he concluded with a flourish, placing one of her hands inside her belly before quietly, casually, walking out into the night, unnoticed.
Had Brook's killer, who, like the Ripper, engaged in high-risk activity to satisfy his fantasies, read details of the Whitechapel killer's modus operandi? What was not in question was that they shared a clamorous urge that overruled all else during the murders, including their own personal safety.
No local shopkeepers stocked razors with the imprint L4 and police extended their quest to the Gillette Razor Blade Company. It paid dividends: according to the manager, the blade with that particular code was dispatched from their Melbourne factory in January 1967, five months before Simon's murder. The company had used the wrapper that was found discarded near his body to encase packs of three blades and the New South Wales government stores had bought these blades just two weeks prior to Simon's death. But narrowing down where they had been distributed was a huge task: as well as government schools and the Australian Defence Force – army, navy and air force – all mental institutions in Sydn
ey had also bought them. The Royleston Boys' Home, too.
Microbiologist Joy Kuhl was assigned to check forensic crime scene evidence, including clothing and the newspapers – the Daily Mirror and Sydney Sun – found at the scene. Though her name was not well known in 1968, that was to change dramatically when the world heard of Lindy Chamberlain's cry, 'A dingo has got my baby!' at Ayers Rock in 1980. Kuhl, a short, enthusiastic scientist tasked with checking forensic evidence in the Chamberlains' car, reported that she had found human foetal haemoglobin, present only in young babies, inside on surfaces including the camera case, scissors and a towel. While Lindy was already damned by public opinion, Kuhl's findings became one of the linchpins on which she was convicted of murder in 1982. But Kuhl was wrong, as it later transpired; the 'human foetal blood' was, in fact, vehicle rust inhibitor. In 1988, Lindy Chamberlain was acquitted of murder and her husband, too, cleared of all blame.
Kuhl, who had taken comparative hair samples from Simon's dog, concluded that most of the fifteen hair samples found at Simon Brook's crime scene were either of canine or equine origin and she could find nothing useful for human identification. While Simon's blood group – AB – was known, blood on the newspaper wads in his throat offered no specific blood grouping. La'Brooy's presumption that there were no spermatozoa on the rectal swab proved correct. But, Kuhl noted, it did show a strong presumptive test for seminal plasma, the second composition, next to sperm, of a male's ejaculatory fluid.
The post-mortem mutilation concerned police more than any other aspect of Simon's murder. Whoever abducted the child was driven to it. The razor blade, thin as a rollie paper and sharp on both sides was, unlike the newspaper, taken to the scene. It was the killer's prop, a tool he could slip easily into his pocket and carry unnoticed. But killing the child was not enough; it was the mutilation that excited him most. Police could find no comparisons of similar crimes. The mutilation of women and girls was common but there was no literature anywhere in the world to show an identical parallel to this murder in the mutilation of men or boys.
21
A day after Percy's arrest for Yvonne Tuohy's murder, New South Wales Detective Sergeant Jack Whelan received information from Victorian Homicide detectives regarding the Brook case. Copies of Percy's fantasy writings were forwarded to him and within hours he was elevated to the dubious position of prime suspect on a case that was thirteen months old. Detectives were tasked with tracking Percy's movements around May 1968, when Simon was murdered, until the time of his arrest. Privately, the feeling was that he was good for more than just one more unsolved child abduction or murder. The one murder for which Percy was indisputably responsible – Yvonne Tuohy – occurred at the beach. At or near the beach was the same locale from where other children and adolescents had been abducted or murdered: the Wanda Beach victims, the Beaumonts and now Brook, close to water; places that offer a ready opportunity for children playing, scantily dressed and off guard.
On 24 July, Victorian police Inspector Ford received a note from New South Wales detectives, complete with crossed-out typewritten errors, enquiring as to who told Newcastle police to see Percy's parents and to search the house at Newcastle. There was more than a hint of professional chagrin in the query. 'Police attended at the PERCY home only to find that the parents are on their way to Melbourne re Derek Percy and [Detective Sergeant Barry] Reynolds presumes that they will enquire at Russell St re their son. If and when they do arrive would the situation of their absence from their home and the urgency of the police to search Derek's personal belongings and his room be explained to them, and if they are agreeable to get something in writing giving the police permission to search these things and room in the presence of the younger son, who is still residing there. Barry Reynolds stated that members of the Sydney CIB branch would be conducting the search personally for anything that they consider may help in enquiries. Would you please ring him as soon as possible re the result.'
Barry Reynolds wrote to Victorian detective Dick Knight soon after: 'Dick, as you are no doubt aware, Derek Percy's home at Jesmond was searched on 1st August, 1969 in relation to your inquiry. Nothing was found that would assist; however, we did take possession of the (attached) examination paper in case you wanted to compare the handwriting with the notes he made.' This was taken, he continued, in case Percy denied the notes that police found were his. Elaine Percy had admitted that the examination paper was in his handwriting and therefore they could compare the two. 'On the 13th August we again searched Percy's home looking for a diary concerning his movements in 1968, however with negative results. Det. Insp Bradstreet who interviewed Percy in Melbourne on the 11th also came with us and with his information we closely questioned Mrs Percy. It was apparent that when we interviewed her on 1st instant she was not very truthfull [sic] as we later ascertained on the second visit that she had prior knowledge of her son interfering with young girls . . .'
I read that passage again. 'It was apparent that when we interviewed her on 1st instant she was not very truthful as we later ascertained on the second visit that she had prior knowledge of her son interfering with young girls . . .' Derek told arresting police that there were more of his writings at his parents' home, so why couldn't police find them? If he had not got rid of them, who had?
'We did ascertain,' Reynolds continued in his note to Ford, 'that as a result of the occurrence at Khancoban, Mrs Percy made arrangements for the boy to be examined by a Dr Daryl Webb who was the town doctor. Mrs Percy claims she does not know the result of this examination; perhaps it might be she does not want to tell us. I would appreciate if you or one of your team could see the doctor and ascertain if he has any recollection of the examination of Derek at Khancoban. I might add that the matter was never reported to the police, apparently the parents of the girl were satisfied with Percy being examined by the local doctor.'
I recall what a retired psychologist once told me: 'Never be surprised by what people will do. A mother will do anything, anything at all, to protect her children.' Did Elaine, in her shock and irritation with police, in her desire to get the whole sordid business finished with, in her desire to obliterate what her son had done, deliberately dispose of Derek's writings? And if so, why did she? What was in them? Did they contain evidence of other child crimes?
On 11 August 1969, New South Wales Detectives Bradstreet and Whelan travelled to Melbourne to interview Percy. Running sheets and interview records dated from this time prove that the interview took place, but recent subsequent attempts by police officers to find the actual record of interview have drawn a blank. In Sydney, duty rosters and meal vouchers for the HMAS Melbourne, on which Percy was based, and HMAS Kuttabul, where he lived, were searched. These, too, drew a blank: the weekend rosters the previous year had been destroyed. Percy told detectives that on the weekend of Brook's murder he was either sailing or visiting his parents at Newcastle. The latter was quickly proven to be a lie: his parents confirmed that Derek had not been home for Christmas since December 1967. In fact, his father said, he had made only one visit home to Newcastle in the entire time he was in the navy. Sailors who worked with or shared a cabin with Percy were equally adamant that they did not mix socially with him and therefore could not confirm they knew his movements that weekend.
By mid August, Detective Rod Lynch from the New South Wales Breaking Squad, known as the 'Breakers' – a tough squad staffed with tough investigators – drafted a note to Detective Sergeant Whelan concerning Percy's whereabouts on the day Simon Brook was murdered. Lynch, a lateral thinker renowned for his tenacity in a lengthy investigation, would go on to become second-in-command in the Ivan Milat serial backpacker murder investigation. 'When interviewed on 11/8/69 at Melbourne by Det. Insp. Bradstreet and Det. Sgt. Whelan, Percy stated that a navy friend of his, Henry Belmont Fletcher, may be able to recall his whereabouts on the 18/5/68. Could you have Fletcher interviewed and advise us of result.'
Henry Fletcher, when police located him, filled in some gaps about
Percy. Fletcher was, he says, Percy's only particular friend on board and no one could ever talk Percy into going ashore. Percy favoured conservative clothes: a cord coat, dark shirts, blue trousers or jeans and Fletcher never noticed anything unusual about him, except that he did a lot of writing and kept a diary. 'I assumed he was writing to his parents,' he added. 'I never saw what he was writing.' When Percy was left alone over the weekend, he told Fletcher that he planned to look around Sydney or go to see a movie. Sometimes they would discuss what movies they had seen, like The Graduate. They didn't ever discuss sex. They didn't share yarns. 'Derek,' he told police, glumly, 'didn't have any.' He didn't dance and very rarely drank.
In late March 1968 Derek had stayed overnight in Yagoona, at the home of a family friend, Mary Taylor. Shortly after, he invited her daughter, Janet, to the Moscow Circus at Wentworth Park. Janet declined the offer, she told detectives when they interviewed her on 16 August, but their interest was not in Percy's social life. Wentworth Park is close to Jubilee Park, where Simon lived.
All sailors who served with Percy during that time were located, a massive task given their movements. Telegrams conveyed news back to Homicide if detectives could not get back in person. 'Attn Det Lynch Stop Cole located and interviewed Stop unable to assist with your enquiry Stop claims he was not a close friend of Percy but shared a cabin with him with another seaman named M. E. Bennett Stop Cole claimed that O.C.O. Bennett was a close friend of Percy Stop and would know more about him Stop.'
None of the sailors could help. Percy – the Spook, the Ghost, the Phantom – eluded them. They had no idea of his movements.
I come upon it, tucked in-between mountains of pages, just a few seemingly innocuous sentences that could so easily be overlooked. Deposition from long ago; the observations of Derek Percy's paternal uncle, Frank, when interviewed by Detective Lynch. 'Mr Percy (uncle) stated that when Mr and Mrs Ernie Percy's second child was born, Derek was neglected and badly ill treated for a period but in later years it seems a normal relationship has grown between Derek and his mother.'
Lambs to the Slaughter Page 12