Whatever his prompting or motivation, Bruce withdrew his confession. He now said that he didn’t like fire or watching fires. (But he’d been seen in the crowd watching one fire and was shooed away from the door of another house shortly before a fire started inside.) He also admitted that he’d changed his mind many times about everything, but that he now wanted to go to prison rather than stay in the special hospital. Bruce’s legal counsel explained that it was difficult to take instruction from the youth as he kept changing his mind.
Meanwhile a newspaper made allegations that Detective Superintendent Ron Sagar had influenced Bruce to confess to the fires in order that the police could clear their books. But this made no sense as most of the fires that Bruce had confessed to weren’t being treated as arson. Instead, they had been viewed as acts of negligence or as accidents.
That said, there have been many miscarriages of justice where educationally-subnormal or otherwise vulnerable youths have been questioned at length without a responsible adult or a solicitor present. (Two such cases are outlined in a later chapter, Watch Me Bleed.) But Ron Sagar had given Bruce tea and food and had spaced out the interviews. And Bruce would later write to Ron, wishing him well.
After a judgement about the case, the Lord Justice said that the police had behaved admirably and that certain sectors of the media owed Ron Sagar an apology. A full account is given in Ron Sagar’s own impressively detailed book Hull, Hell And Fire: The Extraordinary Story Of Bruce Lee. The book shows the full complexity of the case and also delineates the courage that Ron Sagar showed in taking on a powerful media in a determined effort to clear his name.
A fair cop
In March 2002 this author travelled to Yorkshire to interview Ron Sagar. The former Detective Chief Superintendent is a man with a lifetime’s worth of crime-fighting experience having spent thirty years as an operational detective in Britain before becoming a Criminal Investigation Adviser in Southern Africa. Though he and his wife have since returned to Yorkshire, they still make regular trips to Africa in their efforts to help the country’s poor.
Ron Sagar is equally aware of the poverty of Bruce Lee’s life. He interviewed the youth on at least twenty-eight occasions, both in police custody and in prison. Ron provided many of the details in this profile, details which aren’t readily available as so little truth – and so much fiction – has been written about this case.
Asked about his first impressions of Bruce, former Detective Chief Superintendent Sagar said that he was ‘insignificant – you wouldn’t notice him walking into a room.’ He could see that the young man was ‘an obvious loner’ yet he wasn’t totally reclusive as he was clearly searching for a friend. Ron Sagar quickly became a friendly figure to Bruce because of his non-macho approach to interviews. He simply refuses to engage in verbal battles. ‘I never fall out with offenders or potential offenders,’ he explains. This likeable manner would later work in his favour when he was libelled in a newspaper – many prisoners phoned up to say that he’d always treated them well and that they’d be happy to give him a reference.
Ron didn’t think that Bruce looked at all dangerous. His only previous conviction was for carrying an offensive weapon, but this could have been solely for self-protection as he was sometimes living rough on the streets. ‘It may even have been an appeal for attention,’ Ron says.
When Bruce first started to confess to fire after fire, Sagar wondered if the boy was simply fantasising. At one stage he even thought he’d caught the youth out in a lie. Bruce had said he’d poured a circle of paraffin through a letterbox – but later he’d mentioned that there was a net curtain over the inside of the door. Ron figured that the curtain would have made it impossible to pour the paraffin as neatly as Bruce described – but when policemen checked on the door they found that the curtain only covered the upper glass panel. Bruce was right once more.
Nevertheless, the police hoped that Bruce would plead not guilty to the crimes so that the entire story would have to be laid out in court. Instead, Bruce pleaded guilty to each charge of manslaughter. He was so calm and so clearly spoken when answering the charges that he appeared to have a very high IQ. He always seemed to be careful about his answers in a legal situation and remained alert
During my interview, Ron Sagar was able to squash many of the myths involved in the case. For starters, Bruce didn’t say that he was only happy when he could hear people roasting. (Though he did admit to getting a kick from some of the fires.) Instead, he seemed sad about some of the deaths, including the second major fire he’d started. He told a doctor that it ‘killed me, mate. I didn’t mean to do it’ then added ‘I don’t like speaking about that one.’
Another myth is that he could only orgasm if he started a fire. He did obtain sexual pleasure from some of the arson attacks and this was noted in a legal document. But it wasn’t his sole source of satisfaction – he had relationships with various men in public toilets. It’s clear that he wasn’t acting as a rent boy as at least one of the boys (Charles Hastie) had demanded money from him.
Bruce also told a female senior medical officer that he had had relationships with females but that he had no children because he used contraception. He said that he’d never cohabitated with a female because he liked ‘keeping by myself.’ But he’d had relationships with a few females and had two girlfriend’s names tattooed on him. He at first denied to her that he’d had any homosexual experiences, but later admitted it, explaining that it had started when he was in a children’s home.
A third myth about the case is that the police were running an investigation for a serial arsonist called The Holocaust Man. There was no such investigation because the police weren’t looking for a serial arsonist. Most of the fires had been wrongly attributed to electric faults, dropped cigarettes and so on.
Former Detective Chief Superintendent Sagar was also able to refute a fourth story that went the rounds, namely that he found a singed piece of paper at the Hastie fire which contained the address of the Salvation Army Hostel where Bruce had been living, went there and found a can of petrol under his bed. These stories may have been invented by writers looking for a sensational angle or by amateur crime writers trying to fill in the gaps of Bruce Lee’s life and arrest.
Bruce himself lied to his prison doctor and his exaggerations may have led to some of the myths. For example, he told his doctor that he was spending £20 a day on alcohol. In the seventies, this was a formidable amount of cash to spend on drink – and Ron Sagar says it’s unlikely to be accurate. Bruce was more moderate when discussing his smoking, saying that he bought forty cigarettes a week.
Bruce also told the doctor that he’d been paid to start some of the fires and was given between £300 and £500 for such arson attacks but he refused to elaborate on this. These allegations might have been true or could have been invented to boost his ego, but they weren’t brought about by organic brain dysfunction because an EEG showed that Bruce’s brain wave was only mildly abnormal. Instead, he was diagnosed as having a psychopathic personality disorder and written up as ‘a highly dangerous repetitive arsonist who derives pleasure from this behaviour.’
Asked by this author why there was occasionally a year between Bruce lighting a serious fire, Ron Sagar explained that it’s possible he started smaller fires which didn’t make the newspapers and which he subsequently forgot about. Or he might have set fires which failed to ignite.
Ron has maintained compassion for Bruce, though he’s aware that this isn’t a view shared by the general public. (This author has encountered the same attitude when delineating the horror of most killer’s childhoods. For some reason, the public doesn’t believe that it’s possible to have sympathy for the childhood yet hate the murderous actions that can spring from such a violent start.) Ron says that Bruce ‘still crosses my mind – with a touch of sympathy for him as a mere human being.’ At the time of his arrest, the youth clearly wanted to bond with someone for he befriended Ron Sagar and subsequently related
to a female doctor who interviewed him as a motherly figure. When she asked how he got on with his birth mother he admitted he ‘never did – she did stick up for me sometimes. She was adapted (sic) to booze, an alcoholic.’ Bruce also bonded with his solicitor.
Asked if he’d met many offenders as disadvantaged as Bruce, Ron Sagar says ‘many people have had rough upbringings – but Bruce was disadvantaged in all three ways, mentally, physically and socially.’ This made him a particularly unfortunate case.
So does Bruce fit the profile of a typical arsonist? ‘Yes, he’s tending towards the classic profile. The arsonist is often a loner. Bruce fits the upbringing and personality type, the feeling of resentment towards his fellow human beings.’ So is this type of arson attack unique to developed countries like Britain and the USA? Ron Sagar says not, that ‘it could happen anywhere.’
Sadly, he knows of many other criminals who started offending as young as Bruce. ‘Eight or nine-year-olds were arrested with monotonous regularity in the early sixties and presumably in earlier decades, and paraded before the juvenile court.’ He goes on to paint a picture of unthinking adults and traumatised children that many of us are very familiar with.
‘These children would be described as difficult – but no one seemed interested in looking into their background to find out why they were difficult. They were thrown into approved schools and didn’t see a relative for many months. Nobody thought that the poor little devils would be homesick.’ These kids would try to toughen up in order to survive – and as a result they’d probably end up in borstal. An adult prison would be next.
Bruce’s life was as hopeless as many of these kids. Indeed, he’d had so little encouragement from society that he simply couldn’t envisage his future. His prison doctor would write ‘Asked about future plans, he has none.’
That said, Ron was pleased at how much better nourished and cared for Bruce looked when he visited him in prison after his arrest. For the first time he had the security of a roof over his head and three meals a day. He was later moved to the secure hospital in Liverpool where he still resides. ‘He’s better off since his arrival there than at any time in his life,’ Ron says.
Bruce also has friends of sorts for the first time. Ron says that the former arsonist ‘enjoys his reputation and likes rubbing shoulders with the more notorious inmates.’ Some of these inmates leave, of course, so he has to make other friends. He sometimes talks about his ‘defence team’, a term he seems to have picked up from another offender or from television. In truth, there isn’t one.
He still resents being told what to do (who doesn’t?) and acted strangely when first imprisoned, having shouting spells for no apparent reason. But he seems calmer now and has access to a snooker table and a TV.
Ron has understandably chosen not to keep in touch with Bruce, preferring to maintain a professional distance. But he was pleased to get a letter from him in 1990 via his solicitor. Bruce had heard that Ron was going to Africa to work and told him to take care.
It’s interesting that a boy as brutalised as Bruce Lee would worry about a detective, albeit a caring and insightful one. But it seems that Bruce could be two very different personalities at different times, an uncaring arsonist who wanted to seek revenge on society and a desperately uncared for child who simply wanted love.
Bruce once told Ron Sagar of his earliest memory, possibly stemming from an age before he could walk. ‘I was crawling about floor (sic) looking for anything left in beer bottles and cans at me home once. My mum always had men in for a drink and that and I used to get the slops they left. I was only little then.’
It’s unlikely that any psychiatrist will risk setting such a confirmed arsonist free in the future, especially now that Bruce has spent almost his entire forty-two years in some form of institution – that is, in orphanages and then a secure hospital. It’s a sad indictment of society, but this special hospital has provided Bruce with the closest he’s ever had to a secure home.
5 Dare to be Different
Luke Woodham
Luke was born on 5th February 1981 to John and Mary Anne Woodham who lived in Pearl, Mississippi. John was an accountant and Mary Anne a kindergarten teacher. The couple already had a son, John junior, who was eight years old. Mary Anne was thirty-four and John senior was forty-two by the time baby Luke came on the scene but she was able to take him to work with her, which made it easier to cope.
It also suited Mary Anne as she was an over-protective mum obsessed with her sons’ diet, neatness and bath times. She was also very protective towards the children she taught at her work, constantly asking them if anything was wrong at home. Ironically she didn’t seem to notice that her older son resented the sudden arrival of his baby brother and often nipped Luke as he lay in his crib.
Mary Anne also seemed not to notice when her husband started to work longer and longer hours. When he did come home he’d find her still obsessing over the children. There seemed no place for him in her very full life. He pointed out that the house was a mess and she retorted that she’d been busy working and shopping. Their voices rose until the neighbours could hear and decided to keep their own children away. Little Luke listened to these increasingly common screaming matches and was terrified.
Mary Anne was religious and took both children to the Baptist church but it’s not known how the increasingly timid Luke fared at Sunday school. He did his best to please his mother at home though, saying his prayers at meal times and last thing at night.
Luke became very clumsy and Mary Anne frequently shouted at him for knocking over her ornaments or his teacup. Perhaps realising that she needed some space, she tried taking him to a friend’s house but he’d been so used to an aggressive atmosphere that he immediately managed to create one, breaking the other children’s toys.
By now his dad was staying away more and more often and Luke doubtless blamed himself for his absence. His older brother was able to visit schoolmates to escape from his mother’s nagging but Luke had nowhere to go because he was too young to be independent and hadn’t any friends. So the pre-school Luke adopted various pets and made them into his confidantes instead. He’d go out into the yard and speak to his cats and dogs in order to keep out of his angry and over-critical mother’s way.
Not that his mum was always so negative. At other times she was very loving towards Luke and gave the impression that he was all that mattered. But it wasn’t the healthiest type of love – friends thought that she acted as if she owned the little boy.
By the time Luke was four or five, his mother had had enough of simply being a wife and mum. She decided she wanted more fun in her life and started going out with her friends most evenings. This meant that John junior, now in his early teens, was left to babysit Luke. Unfortunately John still had no feelings for his brother and tended to trip him over or tease him mercilessly.
School days
Unsurprisingly, Luke was school-phobic by his first day at school. He’d had so few good experiences of life that he suspected everyone was out to get him. And as his older mother had given him an old fashioned haircut he really did stand out in a negative way from the crowd. Mary Anne also insisted that Luke wear shorts all year round so he was teased in winter when the other boys wore trousers to school. Before long the trendier boys were pushing and shoving him and calling him names.
Luke hadn’t been in junior school for long when his father got the sack. Now his dad was at home all day and his parent’s fights intensified. Mary Anne insisted on bringing both children into the room to hear these arguments, telling them to listen to what their father had done now. Sometimes Luke’s dad would take him out to the park but at other times he hid away in his study for the entire day. Luke did what he could to cheer up both parents but by now the marriage had crumbled irrecoverably.
When Luke was seven his father finally walked out. Luke had loved his dad and he was devastated. He turned even more to his animals for succour as they didn’t let him down in the way
that other people did. Mary Anne was also thrown by the desertion and began to party even more determinedly. She also worried about how she’d pay the bills. John junior understandably stayed at a friend’s house as often as he could because he hated the tension in the household. This meant that Luke was left on his own most evenings with his pets.
Even when Mary Anne was home, the evenings were not a success. She wanted Luke – still only eight or nine – to talk to her like an adult. But Luke was so tired of her criticism that he preferred to keep his feelings to himself. He possibly also resented the fact that he could only see his mother when she felt like it – he was clearly second best to her friends. So he’d answer in monosyllables and she’d shout at him some more and further alienate him. He’d end up watching TV with her in complete silence or escaping to the privacy of his room.
Not that his room was as private as he’d have liked it to be. His mother often checked up on him and took away some of his pocket money if his bedroom wasn’t immaculate. If she found one of his toys or games out of place she’d throw it out and refuse to let him fetch it from the trash.
Desperately lonely and bored, Luke often took a large packet of crisps up to his room with him. It was one of his few pleasures, given that he knew he’d be picked on again by his schoolmates the following day. At other times his mother gave him fattening snacks to cheer him up then criticised his expanding girth. As his size increased he became even more clumsy. His eyesight was also worsening and his mother got him heavy-rimmed glasses which further contributed to his already old fashioned look.
Children Who Kill: Profiles of Pre-Teen and Teenage Killers Page 6