14. Piggy's Palace 2: Are serial killers intelligent?

Explicit content warning

12/03/20 • 27 min

An excavation reveals horrific truths about Robert Pickton.

The bodies of dozens of women are unearthed on a pig farm, many of whom are sex workers and indigenous. Pickton’s defence team argues that he has a low IQ and was used as a pawn.

On this episode of Bad People, presenters Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen discuss how Canadian police failed indigenous women and talk to Professor Stephen Hart who worked with the prosecution in the Pickton case to discover what we can really know about one of Canada’s most notorious serial killers. This case is broken into two episodes. This is part two. We highly recommend you listen to part one before tuning into this episode.

Warning: This episode contains strong language and references to sexual violence and murder.

Archive credits: This episode includes audio from East Van Production’s documentary, The Pig Farm.

Reference: Sentencing decision: R v Robert William Pickton [2007] BCSC 2039

Presenters: Dr. Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producer: Caroline Steel Assistant Producer: Simona Rata Music: Matt Chandler Series Editor: Rami Tzabar

Commissioning Producer: Hannah Rose Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Commissioning Editor: Jason Phipps

Bad People is a BBC Audio Science Production for BBC Sounds

#BadPeople_BBC

An excavation reveals horrific truths about Robert Pickton.

The bodies of dozens of women are unearthed on a pig farm, many of whom are sex workers and indigenous. Pickton’s defence team argues that he has a low IQ and was used as a pawn.

Warning: This episode contains strong language and references to sexual violence and murder.

Archive credits: This episode includes audio from East Van Production’s documentary, The Pig Farm.

Reference: Sentencing decision: R v Robert William Pickton [2007] BCSC 2039

Presenters: Dr. Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producer: Caroline Steel Assistant Producer: Simona Rata Music: Matt Chandler Series Editor: Rami Tzabar

Commissioning Producer: Hannah Rose Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Commissioning Editor: Jason Phipps

Bad People is a BBC Audio Science Production for BBC Sounds

#BadPeople_BBC

Previous Episode

13. Piggy's Palace 1: Why are witnesses reluctant?

Over 60 sex workers go missing in Vancouver. Robert Pickton is a pig farmer. There are stories of bloodied women's clothes on his farm and even a dead body hanging in a barn. But this isn’t enough for the police to search his property. Could he be to blame?

On this episode of Bad People, presenters Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen discuss research on why people don’t always tell the truth and often retract police statements.

This case is broken into two episodes. This is part one.

Warning: This episode contains strong language and references to sexual violence and murder.

Presenters: Dr. Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producers: Paula McGrath and Caroline Steel Assistant Producer: Simona Rata Music: Matt Chandler Series Editor: Rami Tzabar

Commissioning Producer: Hannah Rose Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Commissioning Editor: Jason Phipps

Bad People is a BBC Audio Science Production for BBC Sounds

#BadPeople_BBC

Next Episode

15. "Insanity": Can schizophrenia cause violence?

There were signs that the former polo player Alexander Lewis Ranwell was unravelling in early 2019. He’d lost his job and his girlfriend, was living in a caravan and was no longer taking medication to treat his delusions or hallucinations. He’d been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and had a history of substance abuse.

He was arrested after letting loose animals and attacking a farmer and later released by the police, despite his bizarre behaviour. A short walk from the train he took to Exeter he came across a house where the elderly resident had a note on his door: he was looking for accommodation for himself and his cat.

Suffering from delusions, Lewis Ranwell believed himself to be a policeman, hunting down paedophiles, and that a missing girl was being held prisoner in homes he randomly selected. In the two houses he visited three elderly men were found dead.

No one at Exeter Crown Court could remember the defence of insanity being used in a case before – so how difficult is it to prove?

In this episode of Bad People, presenters Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen explore the reality of paranoid schizophrenia, exposing some of the myths which exist in popular culture and stigmatise mental illness.

Warning: This episode contains strong language and references to murder and violence.

Presenters: Dr. Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producer: Paula McGrath Assistant Producer: Simona Rata Music: Matt Chandler Series Editor: Rami Tzabar

Commissioning Producer: Hannah Rose Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Commissioning Editor: Jason Phipps

Bad People is a BBC Audio Science Production for BBC Sounds

#BadPeople_BBC