ARE ANY KILLERS IN OUR JAILS GUILTY?

Rumblings about Lucy Letby’s ‘innocence’ are getting louder - though, for what it’s worth (not much) this true-crime aficionado reckons she’s guilty. It should always be remembered, virtually every high-profile killer in prison has a legion of followers proclaiming their innocence. I’m reminded of Red’s joke that he’s the ‘only guilty man in Shawshank.’

The most famous example of this wrong-headed approach is James Hanratty, one of the last men hanged in England. The conventional wisdom was once that this marked a terrible miscarriage of justice; it was certainly instrumental in the repeal of the death penalty. And his trial maybe was a travesty. Yet recent forensic evidence shows he was definitely guilty! In other words, he shouldn’t have been hanged - his guilt wasn’t proved beyond reasonable doubt - but he in fact did it. An odd conundrum.

A case that’s now making headlines again is that of Timothy Evans and 10 Rillington Place, thanks to a new book by Kate Summerscale. That superb film with Richard Attenborough and John Hurt has cemented the image of Evans as a Welsh halfwit, bleating that ‘Christie dun it’ before tragically facing Pierrepoint. But there are some who believe Evans was in fact the co-killer of his wife. He was certainly a violent drunk who beat the poor lady, and the evidence against him isn’t as flimsy as the film (based on Ludovic Kennedy’s book) maintains - nor did he have the mental age of a child.

One thing’s not disputed. The horrific but comical John ‘Just a whiff of gas’ Christie was a serial killer. A kitchen wall cavity stuffed with corpses meant any pleas of innocence wouldn’t have convinced even that buffoon Lord Longford.

This article by Summerscale How England became a nation of psychopaths discusses one of our last remaining world-leading activities. I’ve no idea what her personal take is on Evans’ guilt, but the article is good - although it misses the wider point, on our national genius for producing psychopaths in high places.

Because it’s clear we now have a Prime Minister who’s a 24-carat example, although some claim he’s more of a sociopath or a narcissist. Whichever, a second’s exposure to an interview with this excuse for a man confirms that he’s deeply disturbing and shouldn’t be in power. He lies, grasps and showboats, yet seems completely unaware how ridiculous his performance appears, getting robotically scary when anyone dares question his sanctimony.

I love the joke: ‘I’ve never met anyone who likes Keir Starmer - and I’ve met his wife.’

But then our PM himself doesn’t seem to have met her! Metaphorically, his Covent Garden penthouse kitchen is full of bodies - and the smell from their decomposition is getting worse - however much lavender Lord Alli sprays.