BRIAN LANE

The 20th century saw the rise of the motiveless murder and the serial killer, the development of forensic science and the use of DNA and psychological profiling as weapons against it. In this book, true crime expert Brian Lane examines year by year, from 1900 onward, every major murder case in the light of its investigative, forensic, social or legal significance. In over 200 cases listed there are not only landmark cases for criminologists but also grim highlights of popular mythology. The roll call includes Dr Crippen, Charles Manson, the Kray Twins, Bonnie and Clyde, the Moors Murderers, the Waco massacre and Beverley Allitt. Also here is the notable case of the last woman to be hanged in Britain, convicted murderer Ruth Ellis, whose execution hastened the abolition of the death penalty in the UK. More recent crimes include the shooting of Gianni Versace by a gay prostitute, the murder of Alberto Adriano in Germany by killers dressed as Neo-Nazis, and Britain's Sky-Diving case in which the sabotage of Steven Hilder's parachute caused him to fall to his death. This is a compelling catalogue of killers and society's desperate attempts to capture and comprehend them.

This is a remarkable, revelatory exploration of the world's most extreme cases of mass murder by two of the UK's most respected true-crime experts. From it, a significantly consistent pattern emerges of the person who commits multicide: almost always male, a loner lacking in social skills, not able to form stable relationships. Bearing a general grudge against society or blaming a particular individual, he determines to seek a fanatical revenge. Over 200 notorious cases include: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, two heavily armed students who opened fire at Columbine High School, Colorado, killing 13 Michael Ryan, perpetrator of the notorious 'Hungerford Massacre', in which 16 people were shot dead, including his own mother Brenda Spencer, a rare instance of a female mass murderer, who opened fire at a junior school, killing 11, 'Because,' she said, 'I don't like Mondays' Jeremy Bamber, the country boy found guilty of killing five members of his family Julio Gonzalez, who, after a row with his girlfriend, set fire to the Happy Land social club, killing 87 people The Supreme Truth Cult, who released nerve gas in subway trains in Tokyo, killing 12 people Timothy McVeigh, responsible for the deaths of 168 people in the Oklahoma bombing