Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
A MEMOIR BELIEVED to have been written by a serial killer has sparked outrage in Canada.
Robert Pickton, a former pig farmer, was convicted of murdering six women in 2007.
The book, entitled Pickton: In His Own Words, was withdrawn from sale hours after it appeared online.
The 144-page memoir briefly topped the bestsellers list on Amazon, where it was being sold for $20 (about €13).
Christy Clark, premier of British Columbia (BC), told CTV she was “at a loss for words” upon hearing about the book.
The government is doing everything we can to try and stop him from profiting from this at the very least.
Only four provinces in Canada have a rule that prevents killers profiting from recounting their crimes, but the public safety minister Mike Morris said BC will soon have a law of its own.
CTV reported that Pickton gave the book to another inmate who sent it to a friend.
The publisher, Outskirts Press, apologised to the families of Pickton’s vitims for “any additional heartache” the release of the book may have caused.
A Change.org petition calling for the book to be removed from Amazon had, at the time of publication, received over 54,000 signatures.
The trial
The so called “missing women case” became Canada’s largest police investigation, after dozens of women vanished over a 25-year period. Pickton was arrested in 2002.
During his 18-month trial the court heard gruesome evidence of how police found the heads and hands of some women stored in buckets on his farm, and the DNA and personal items of the six women in his home.
He was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Georgina Papin, Marnie Frey and Brenda Wolfe.
All of the victims in the case were sex workers linked with drug addiction.
In 2010 the Supreme Court of Canada denied him a retrial.
Pickton did not face trial for the murders of another 20 women because prosecutors said they would proceed with the other murders only if Pickton’s conviction on the first six cases was overturned.
- with reporting from © AFP 2016
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
They’re a private company so can choose not to stock it f they wish.
To me however, it’s simply a form of censorship and the precedent it sets is dangerous. What else do they find unpalatable and wish not to stock?
Should we remove mein kampf, or Charles Manson book too and many others as people may not like it? Lots of killers have written books.
How about, don’t buy tit if you don;t want to read it, but don;t decide for everyone else whether they can read it or not. Why is that too much to ask?
Tesco don’t stock the brand of wine I want I should be outraged cos it’s censorship etc.
It’s not about censorship. It’s about stopping a mass mudering psychopath profiting from his crimes.
I agree with you but I’m sure in this case it’s about stopping a convicted criminal from making money. Part of being locked up and punished is to be denied not only your physical freedom but also freedom to participate in society in general. It’s not censorship but part of a criminals punishment.
I tend to agree like. While the book is no doubt horribly distasteful removing it now is nothing more than censorship. It will be restocked elsewhere
Joanna. If you think that’s a logical response to my point you need to go away and learn how to think for yourself.
Nobody owes anyone a platform.
Any interview you’ve seen of murderers or documentaries on them in the US for example, were all paid an appearance fee. They too profited in that sense.
Likewise any guest that has appeared on the Late late show in Ireland in all these years has been paid an appearance fee of between 2k and 5k of licence fee payers money. That’s for every guest regardless.
Plenty of people get paid and profit off crimes in the public eye. Not much you can do about it
This is a dangerous precedent however. If they are so concerned he’ll profit form it, then let them pass laws to change it in Canada as they suggested , rather than censoring it.
People’s “outrage” as Joanna sys, has stopped the publication of the book through the worlds largest book supplier and that is not a healthy precedent on the basis of a pitiful 54k signatures in an online petition.
I think a law against criminals profiting from their crimes in this way is reasonable and doesn’t qualify as censorship.
the issue is should he profit from it? maybe the profits should go to the victims of violence, or some charity that helps such victims or bereved familys etc. would that be a good idea?
mein kampf is on my list of books to read, its probably rubbish. but im curious about it, i believe its a huge seller in the islamic world.
Give the money to the family’s he has destroyed?
@Valentine Lynam yea..they might not want ot touch it..imagine..being it that position and then being offered money that the perp made off the deaths of your family or partner etc…its a difficult one….
No, I don’t think that would be a good idea. There’s something fundamentally wrong with idea of the story of someone’s brutal murder being turned into a profit-making venture
Ok Luke, but criminals should not benifit from their crimes, any profit should go to an organisation that fights/helps drug addicts for example, but the people who should be included in this would be the family of the girls he murdered, I would not imagine it would be nice for the mothers of these girls to know the details of her daughters death is now in the form of a book.but you are correct, it’s a diffucult call.
What in God’s names are you trying to say. Maybe you should lay off the cheap wine
Stupid censorship is right. As you say don’t buy it if you don’t. People actually believe books like these give others ideas! One search of him or any serial killer brings up crime scene pictures etc. Don’t buy or google this sort of thing if you don’t want to but others are interested in real crime. It doesn’t make us weird or want to copy them! I have an interest in serial killers minds and always have. I wanted to buy this now I can’t as morons now have just pushed the price through the roof for the printed ones or made them totally unavailable to people who are interested in real crime.
Plus Charles Manson never killed anyone. People should research things before they comment!
Yet we still have to put up with Ronan Keating and Joe Duffy releasing books
Now i really want to read that!!!
Ok, it’s probably best if no one replies directly to Deirdre
Kidding Deirdre.
“…it was being sold for $20 (about €13).” – how do you come up with that figure?? At today’s exchange, 20 US dollars is just above 18 euro.
Canada does not use USD…. They have their own currency, Canadian Dollar..
have your say