Latest / History Dark / Peter Moore_ the Sadistic Man in Black _ Serial Killer _ Murderers and Their Mothers

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Peter Moore_ the Sadistic Man in Black _ Serial Killer _ Murderers and Their Mothers · History Dark

0:01
Speaker 1: They are some of the world's most notorious killers.
0:05
Speaker 2: He enjoyed inflicting pain on people.
0:08
Speaker 1: But were these psychopaths born evil, or did their mothers
0:12
Speaker 1: make them into monsters? I'm Donald McIntyre, and I'm in
0:17
Speaker 1: a quest to explore how some of history's most notorious
0:20
Speaker 1: murderers were molded by their relationships with their mother.
0:24
Speaker 3: When you've got somebody who has been described as the
0:26
Speaker 3: mother from hell, that's not going to be an easy
0:28
Speaker 3: relationship for the child.
0:29
Speaker 1: And the parent. I'll be piecing together events from their
0:32
Speaker 1: childhood and talking to criminologists and psychologists to try and
0:36
Speaker 1: understand what motivated their monstrous crimes.
0:40
Speaker 4: 53 stab wounds is beyond what I've experienced in my career.
0:45
Speaker 1: In this episode... Cinema owner Peter Moore was a local
0:49
Speaker 1: hero in this sleepy North Wales community. But he hid
0:53
Speaker 1: a secret violent side. His mother worshipped him all her life.
0:57
Speaker 1: And when she died, he went on a killing spree,
1:00
Speaker 1: taking the lives of four men. Did his mother turn
1:04
Speaker 1: him into a serial killer? For the vast majority of us,
1:34
Speaker 1: the thought of taking another's life is simply unimaginable. And
1:38
Speaker 1: while some of us may understand, in part, murders driven
1:41
Speaker 1: by greed, rage or jealousy, the thought of someone just
1:45
Speaker 1: killing for fun is the stuff of nightmares. But there
1:48
Speaker 1: is a tiny handful of people who actually enjoy the
1:52
Speaker 1: act of killing. And Peter Moore was one of them.
1:59
Speaker 1: Nestling on the north coast of Wales, Across the bay
2:02
Speaker 1: from the popular resort of Rill is Kimmel Bay. It's
2:07
Speaker 1: a small, close-knit community whose inhabitants live a gentle, slow-paced life.
2:14
Speaker 1: But in the 1990s, a killer lived amongst them. Businessman
2:21
Speaker 1: Peter Moore was well-known locally as the successful owner of
2:25
Speaker 1: four cinemas. But behind his facade of respectability, he conducted
2:30
Speaker 1: a gruesome double life. Undetected for decades, Moore carried out
2:38
Speaker 1: brutal sexual attacks on dozens of men, culminating in four
2:45
Speaker 1: extremely savage murders.
2:48
Speaker 5: I've been a policeman for a long time, over 30 years,
2:51
Speaker 5: and I met a lot of bad people, a lot
2:53
Speaker 5: of mad people in my time. But I believe that
2:56
Speaker 5: Peter is the most dangerous man that I've ever.
3:00
Speaker 6: Met in my life.
3:04
Speaker 2: He actually enjoyed inflicting pain on people because at some
3:09
Speaker 2: level it made him feel powerful.
3:12
Speaker 7: He felt merciless in terms of his feelings towards the
3:16
Speaker 7: victim and totally callous and he had no conscience whatsoever.
3:24
Speaker 1: I've come to North Wales, where Peter Moore lived and
3:27
Speaker 1: where he murdered four men. I want to delve into
3:30
Speaker 1: his family background, his relationship with his parents, and in particular,
3:34
Speaker 1: his adoring mother, to find out exactly what it was
3:38
Speaker 1: that made him into a murderer. Peter Moore was born
3:44
Speaker 1: in St Helens, Cheshire, on the 19th of September, 1940.
3:50
Speaker 1: When still very young, he moved with his parents, Ernest
3:52
Speaker 1: and Edith, to Kimmel Bay. This is Darlington House, now
4:00
Speaker 1: an unremarkable looking bike shop. It was once the largest
4:04
Speaker 1: building in the area and the Moors lived a comfortable
4:07
Speaker 1: existence here above the hardware store they owned and operated.
4:11
Speaker 1: This bike showroom was the former flat where the Moore
4:16
Speaker 1: family grew up. And when Edith Moore fell pregnant, she'd
4:20
Speaker 1: all but given up any hope of having children. When
4:24
Speaker 1: young Peter was born, she called him her miracle baby.
4:28
Speaker 1: her son became the centre of her world and she
4:31
Speaker 1: was utterly devoted to him. Growing up, Peter always knew
4:35
Speaker 1: he had his mother's undivided attention. In her eyes, he
4:39
Speaker 1: could do no wrong, but he was just as infatuated
4:42
Speaker 1: with her as she was with him.
4:47
Speaker 7: Peter Moore's mother was someone who'd had miscarriages. She's someone
4:51
Speaker 7: who really had given up on having children and more
4:55
Speaker 7: or less never expected to bear a child. When Peter
4:59
Speaker 7: came along, however, she was absolutely delighted.
5:03
Speaker 1: Though Edith was overjoyed by the birth of her son,
5:06
Speaker 1: Moore was not born into a happy home.
5:10
Speaker 8: I think she was lonely.
5:11
Speaker 9: I mean, her husband never spent any time with her,
5:15
Speaker 9: as far as I could tell. I don't think that
5:20
Speaker 9: he would have shown a great deal of affection or tenderness.
5:26
Speaker 8: But once she had a son, that was what she needed.
5:32
Speaker 2: I think for only children, it can be very difficult
5:36
Speaker 2: for them to be out of the spotlight, if you like.
5:40
Speaker 2: And especially in this context where the household wasn't a
5:44
Speaker 2: happy household.
5:46
Speaker 9: I think when I first met Peter, he was different
5:52
Speaker 9: to other boys. He was always with his mum. He
5:56
Speaker 9: was very close to his mum. They used to always
5:58
Speaker 9: be doing the garden together.
6:01
Speaker 8: And if Mrs.
6:03
Speaker 9: Moore came out to talk to my mum or dad,
6:07
Speaker 9: Peter would always be at her side, which always seemed.
6:12
Speaker 8: A little bit unusual.
6:14
Speaker 1: As Moore grew into adolescence, those that knew him described
6:18
Speaker 1: him as rather effeminate. His father, a hard-drinking traditional former
6:23
Speaker 1: military man, was not impressed.
6:29
Speaker 8: He didn't approve of Peter's flimsiness.
6:34
Speaker 9: He wanted him to be a man, but Peter wasn't
6:39
Speaker 9: the type of man His dad wanted him to be.
6:42
Speaker 6: Mr.
6:43
Speaker 8: Moore liked to drink. He would have a drink during
6:46
Speaker 8: the day.
6:47
Speaker 9: My dad warned me not to spend time with Peter
6:50
Speaker 9: Moore's dad alone.
6:57
Speaker 5: Peter did tell me that his father had been violent
6:59
Speaker 5: towards him as a child. He didn't go into any detail,
7:04
Speaker 5: but it was quite apparent that him and his father
7:06
Speaker 5: had a violent relationship. I think his mother was the.
7:10
Speaker 9: Sort of.
7:11
Speaker 6: protection between the two men.
7:16
Speaker 7: The fact that his mother doted on Peter and that
7:20
Speaker 7: Peter doted on his mother would have probably further aggravated
7:24
Speaker 7: his father. I think their relationship to some degree was
7:27
Speaker 7: doomed from the start.
7:30
Speaker 1: Despite this difficult relationship with his father, Moore knew he
7:34
Speaker 1: was at the centre of his mother's universe and that
7:37
Speaker 1: made him feel special. he was growing up in one
7:42
Speaker 1: of the largest homes in Kimmel Bay, where the income
7:45
Speaker 1: from the shop meant the family were more affluent than
7:48
Speaker 1: most others in the community. This added to Moore's growing
7:53
Speaker 1: sense that he was unique and perhaps better than other people.
8:00
Speaker 9: Mrs Moore Edith felt that she was Lady of the Manor,
8:05
Speaker 9: Lady of Kimmel Bay. Because they had the big house,
8:10
Speaker 9: she was very proud of that.
8:14
Speaker 1: Early on in his upbringing, Peter Moore became fascinated with
8:17
Speaker 1: films and filmmaking. And since his parents were quite well off,
8:21
Speaker 1: they bought him a cine camera. And as he moved
8:24
Speaker 1: from childhood to adolescence, he started to document his family
8:28
Speaker 1: life through the lens of an 8mm camera. Right from
8:32
Speaker 1: the very start, there was no doubting who was the
8:34
Speaker 1: leading lady and central star of his home movies. Edith's
8:39
Speaker 1: miracle child repaid the love he received from her by
8:42
Speaker 1: making her the heroine in a string of home movies.
8:46
Speaker 1: If his mother was the star, Peter Moore was the
8:49
Speaker 1: movie mogul calling the shots. It was an early indication
8:53
Speaker 1: that he seemed to think that the story of his life,
8:56
Speaker 1: including his terrible crimes, should be projected onto the silver screen.
9:02
Speaker 7: Peter Moore was very much obsessed with making films. It
9:05
Speaker 7: was a privilege in a way because not many families
9:08
Speaker 7: had cine cameras. he enjoyed the idea of being theatrical.
9:13
Speaker 7: He enjoyed this kind of constructing of an imaginary world.
9:16
Speaker 7: It allowed him to escape the rather grim world that
9:20
Speaker 7: his father imposed on him, and it allowed him to
9:23
Speaker 7: fantasise a little.
9:27
Speaker 1: These never-before-seen home movies, shot by a young Moore, find
9:32
Speaker 1: him documenting his neighbours and his local community in the 1960s.
9:46
Speaker 8: Filming gives you control over the narrative.
9:49
Speaker 2: You've got lots more power to make it the way
9:53
Speaker 2: you want to make it. You colour it in for yourself.
10:01
Speaker 1: Moore's childhood relationship with his mother was close to complete infatuation.
10:07
Speaker 1: She was devoted to him and he worshipped her. But
10:10
Speaker 1: was Edith Moore already turning her son into a monster?
10:20
Speaker 1: To try and find out what part she played, I'm
10:23
Speaker 1: meeting criminologist Dr Elizabeth Yardley. How significant was it that
10:30
Speaker 1: Peter Moore's mother was having trouble conceiving and then she
10:34
Speaker 1: had after a great deal of work, Peter?
10:37
Speaker 3: I think this was really significant because she'd been trying
10:40
Speaker 3: to have a child for some time. I think she'd
10:43
Speaker 3: almost kind of resigned herself to the fact that it
10:45
Speaker 3: was something that wasn't going to happen. He feels incredibly privileged.
10:49
Speaker 3: His mother is always telling him that he is her
10:52
Speaker 3: little miracle. So he's got that sense in which he
10:55
Speaker 3: feels incredibly entitled from quite a young age.
10:57
Speaker 1: And we see the sense of entitlement. He gets a
10:59
Speaker 1: cine camera in his early childhood. And you think back
11:05
Speaker 1: in those days, a cine camera, it's so out of
11:07
Speaker 1: place in that community.
11:08
Speaker 3: This is really significant, isn't it? This is quite an
11:11
Speaker 3: expensive piece of technology, quite an advanced thing to have
11:14
Speaker 3: at the time. But then again, you know, he's Peter.
11:18
Speaker 3: He's entitled to have the things that he wants because
11:21
Speaker 3: he's special, because he's the only child, because they waited
11:24
Speaker 3: so long to have him. But it's not just the
11:26
Speaker 3: fact he has this piece of technology, it's what he
11:28
Speaker 3: does with it as well. So he makes a lot
11:30
Speaker 3: of home movies and the star of these home movies is,
11:32
Speaker 3: of course, his mother.
11:34
Speaker 1: As we go on the journey with Peter Moore and
11:36
Speaker 1: his mother, we know the seeds of their relationship and
11:39
Speaker 1: the seeds of that pathology, what made him into a murderer,
11:44
Speaker 1: started from day one.
11:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's a really important thing in this
11:48
Speaker 3: case because Peter already feels quite special within his own
11:52
Speaker 3: family because he's the only child. So I think that
11:55
Speaker 3: does kind of sow the seeds for a little bit
11:58
Speaker 3: of a kind of narcissistic element to his personality. We're
12:01
Speaker 3: seeing somebody who's had a lot of attention heaped on
12:04
Speaker 3: him by his mother, somebody who sees himself as above others.
12:08
Speaker 3: And I think those are some of those ingredients that
12:10
Speaker 3: we often see when we look back at serial killers'
12:14
Speaker 3: early childhoods.
12:20
Speaker 1: In the 1990s, Peter Moore brutally murdered four men. An
12:33
Speaker 1: only child, he had an unnaturally close relationship with his mother,
12:37
Speaker 1: but despised his overbearing father. He caught a distinctive, somewhat
12:43
Speaker 1: odd figure in the small, church-going community of Kimmel Bay
12:47
Speaker 1: in North Wales.
12:48
Speaker 10: I wouldn't say he was different, but there was something
12:51
Speaker 10: about Peter, the way he used to dress when I
12:56
Speaker 10: used to see him out as a teenager.
12:59
Speaker 11: He would be always dressed in black.
13:02
Speaker 9: I think it was because he wanted to stand out,
13:07
Speaker 9: wanted to be noticed.
13:15
Speaker 1: This used to be Peter Moore's room. And growing up,
13:18
Speaker 1: he was at the center of his mother's universe. Even
13:21
Speaker 1: in adolescence, they spent most of their time together. But
13:24
Speaker 1: Moore's relationship with his own father was very different. Moore's
13:28
Speaker 1: father resented the fact that Peter wasn't like other boys.
13:32
Speaker 1: He was a bit of a wimp.
13:34
Speaker 6: He was effeminate. He was a mommy's boy.
13:37
Speaker 1: Worst of all, in his eyes, he suspected that the
13:40
Speaker 1: young Peter might be gay. In 1950s Britain, being gay
13:47
Speaker 1: was still against the law. So it wouldn't have been
13:50
Speaker 1: just his father he needed to conceal his sexual identity from.
13:54
Speaker 7: At the time when Peter Moore was a child, homosexuality
13:58
Speaker 7: was illegal and very much frowned on and very much
14:01
Speaker 7: confined to gents' toilets and hidden places. In terms of
14:08
Speaker 7: hiding this from the general public, Peter wasn't that bothered,
14:13
Speaker 7: providing it didn't get back to his mother.
14:16
Speaker 5: My opinion would be that if she was aware that
14:19
Speaker 5: he was gay, it was something that was probably never
14:22
Speaker 5: discussed within the family environment.
14:23
Speaker 6: It was something that was... Probably the elephant in the
14:27
Speaker 6: room that was never discussed, if you know what I mean.
14:29
Speaker 4: The need for Peter Moore to keep his sexuality hidden
14:32
Speaker 4: and a secret was because there was such a stigma
14:36
Speaker 4: and such an awareness on his part that in order
14:41
Speaker 4: to function as best he could within his family and
14:44
Speaker 4: in the community, this part of his identity disappeared. had
14:49
Speaker 4: to be completely disguised.
14:51
Speaker 1: While his mother was still alive and because he lived
14:53
Speaker 1: in a conservative and close-knit community, he decided to keep
14:56
Speaker 1: his sexuality a closely guarded secret. But as the years
15:00
Speaker 1: went by, he found sinister and peculiar ways of satisfying
15:04
Speaker 1: his sexual appetite. With gay sex still illegal, it wasn't
15:10
Speaker 1: unusual for homosexual men like Moore to cruise for partners
15:14
Speaker 1: at night. What was unusual was that he began a
15:19
Speaker 1: series of vicious assaults on the men he stalked. Moore
15:23
Speaker 1: was always dressed in his trademark dark clothing that later
15:27
Speaker 1: saw him dubbed the Man in Black.
15:33
Speaker 5: Generally, the majority attacks were low mail. I'd been to
15:37
Speaker 5: the local pub for a beer and walking back home.
15:41
Speaker 5: He would drive ahead, parker. and then hide himself in
15:44
Speaker 5: the bushes. As the male walked past, he would jump
15:47
Speaker 5: out of the bushes, normally with a rubber truncheon, and
15:52
Speaker 5: attack the males from behind, and then there would be
15:55
Speaker 5: some form of a sexual assault take place thereafter.
16:03
Speaker 1: Moore would later admit that these attacks had continued undetected
16:07
Speaker 1: for 20 years, and that he derived sexual pleasure from
16:11
Speaker 1: the violence. Each attack ended with Moore urinating and masturbating
16:21
Speaker 1: on his victims.
16:24
Speaker 4: Urinating and masturbating on his victims gives him a sense
16:28
Speaker 4: of sadistic power over them, which is a reversal of
16:33
Speaker 4: his early experience at the hands of his father, who
16:35
Speaker 4: had sadistic power over him, where he was the victim
16:39
Speaker 4: and felt humiliated.
16:43
Speaker 1: Though Moore was viewed as an oddball by many in
16:46
Speaker 1: the community, No one who knew him imagined he could
16:49
Speaker 1: be capable of such vicious attacks.
16:53
Speaker 9: I don't remember seeing anything at all that would have
16:56
Speaker 9: made me suspicious.
16:59
Speaker 8: Of Peter.
17:00
Speaker 11: I would always have a chat with him, but I
17:02
Speaker 11: was never aware of him being violent, and I don't
17:04
Speaker 11: remember anybody ever saying he'd been violent or they knew
17:09
Speaker 11: of any violence involving Peter. No, I can't think of
17:13
Speaker 11: anything like that.
17:15
Speaker 1: When he was 33... His domineering father died and Moore
17:19
Speaker 1: took over the running of the family hardware shop.
17:21
Speaker 9: Well, I think Peter's dad's death affected Peter in a
17:28
Speaker 9: way that made Peter become more forceful, stronger, stronger-willed. I
17:35
Speaker 9: think it took away his dependence.
17:40
Speaker 8: On his dad.
17:41
Speaker 9: He took over the shop and his confidence grew.
17:45
Speaker 1: Throughout the 1980s, Moore managed to keep the family hardware
17:48
Speaker 1: business afloat, and all the while, he lived here with
17:52
Speaker 1: his mother in Darlington House. And locals would note that
17:55
Speaker 1: although he was now an adult, Edith, his mother, would
17:58
Speaker 1: continue to dote on him as if he was still
18:01
Speaker 1: a little boy.
18:02
Speaker 5: Every one of us, when we attended at the shop premises,
18:05
Speaker 5: would have to go to the private living quarters at
18:07
Speaker 5: the back of the shop and meet his mother and
18:09
Speaker 5: have a chat with her, and sometimes a cup of tea,
18:12
Speaker 5: just to sort of pass the time of day and
18:13
Speaker 5: let her know what was going on There was folks
18:15
Speaker 5: in the living area of Peter in his school uniform,
18:18
Speaker 5: in his short trousers and school caps, and she spoke
18:20
Speaker 5: to him as if he was still the schoolboy, and
18:23
Speaker 5: he would just sort of laugh it off, but you
18:25
Speaker 5: could see he wasn't embarrassed by it, he just knew
18:27
Speaker 5: that was his mother's way and.
18:28
Speaker 6: He was happy.
18:29
Speaker 9: He was the child that she never thought she would have,
18:34
Speaker 9: and I think she wanted him to remain her child forever.
18:39
Speaker 1: Despised by his late father, Moore seemed to have taken
18:43
Speaker 1: refuge in his mother's love. though it didn't stop him
18:46
Speaker 1: conducting his violent double life by night.
18:49
Speaker 2: His mother provided all of that adoration that he felt
18:54
Speaker 2: he was entitled to. He's getting everything from it. He's
18:58
Speaker 2: getting love and adoration and protection, and he doesn't seem
19:04
Speaker 2: to be... worried about that he doesn't he doesn't feel claustrophobic.
19:09
Speaker 4: Psychologically in his mind he's continuing in this very enmeshed
19:15
Speaker 4: relationship with his mother who but it's important whilst he
19:20
Speaker 4: continues to be in this enmeshed relationship with his mother
19:23
Speaker 4: that he has control over father it's a fantasy control
19:27
Speaker 4: over father and it's revenge against father in the activities
19:33
Speaker 4: where he then starts to abuse other men.
19:38
Speaker 1: In 1990, while still operating the hardware store, Moore decided
19:48
Speaker 1: to embark on a new venture. that would incorporate his
19:51
Speaker 1: love of film. He decided to renovate an old cinema
19:54
Speaker 1: in a nearby town. It was to be the first
19:56
Speaker 1: of four cinemas that he would own and operate, the
19:59
Speaker 1: final one being this one here behind me in Holyhead.
20:02
Speaker 1: He was considered a hero, with the local news hailing
20:05
Speaker 1: him as the saviour of North Wales cinemas. It earned
20:09
Speaker 1: him a great deal of kudos and respect.
20:12
Speaker 5: When I met him, and in the two or three
20:13
Speaker 5: years I had dealings with him while the shop was open,
20:16
Speaker 5: I think he was struggling to make ends meet. He
20:18
Speaker 5: was trying different things, trying different ventures. He had the
20:22
Speaker 5: video library upstairs.
20:23
Speaker 6: For a while.
20:24
Speaker 9: The shop went down and down, his business went down.
20:28
Speaker 9: Then he took over the cinemas, and he was busy
20:33
Speaker 9: doing those up.
20:35
Speaker 8: And his mother was proud of that business.
20:37
Speaker 1: As boss of his own cinemas, Moore often chose to
20:40
Speaker 1: screen violent horror films, Friday the 13th starring the evil
20:44
Speaker 1: Jason being one of his favourites. His audiences had no
20:49
Speaker 1: idea that Moore's own nocturnal secret life was far more
20:52
Speaker 1: terrifying and savage than anything up on the screen. Moore
20:57
Speaker 1: was the sadist who enjoyed inflicting pain on other men
21:00
Speaker 1: for his own sexual gratification. After hours at a cinemas,
21:03
Speaker 1: he started to put on live S & M shows
21:06
Speaker 1: for a small, select audience. All the while, he kept
21:09
Speaker 1: his own sexuality hidden from public view, and most importantly,
21:13
Speaker 1: from his doting mother, Edith.
21:20
Speaker 9: He seemed to be leading a normal life daytime, but
21:25
Speaker 9: he started to go out at night, much in the
21:28
Speaker 9: same way that his dad used to do.
21:31
Speaker 8: He'd go off at night.
21:32
Speaker 9: And nobody would know where he was, what he was
21:37
Speaker 9: up to.
21:38
Speaker 7: Peter Moore never really established any kind of real adult relationships.
21:45
Speaker 7: He discovered bit by bit that he was sexually sadistic.
21:50
Speaker 7: He had to inflict pain and suffering in order to
21:54
Speaker 7: gain any sexual arousal. And this he would either organise
22:00
Speaker 7: with other men or he would actually go out there.
22:04
Speaker 1: Increasingly, Did Moore's parents and the need to hide his
22:19
Speaker 1: sexuality influence his increasingly deviant behavior? I've come to meet
22:24
Speaker 1: criminologist Dr. Elizabeth Yardley to find out. I suspect very
22:29
Speaker 1: early on his mother would have recognized that he was gay.
22:32
Speaker 1: and that would have intensified their relationship.
22:35
Speaker 3: I think potentially she would have felt even more protective
22:38
Speaker 3: towards him, because here is this wonderful son who she
22:41
Speaker 3: waited so many years for, and it turns out that
22:45
Speaker 3: he is gay. And that's something else that makes him special,
22:48
Speaker 3: something else that makes him unique, perhaps. It's something that's hidden,
22:52
Speaker 3: and I think that's a theme that continues throughout Peter
22:54
Speaker 3: Moore's life.
22:55
Speaker 1: But the primary force, I'm suspecting, in the marriage and
22:58
Speaker 1: the family is now it's the mother and Peter... and
23:03
Speaker 1: that closeting and that affection and uber attention rather than
23:07
Speaker 1: the ridicule and abuse he was getting from the father.
23:10
Speaker 8: Well, I think it's a combination of the two.
23:12
Speaker 3: So within the same household, you've got all of this
23:14
Speaker 3: love and affection and support from your mother, yet at
23:17
Speaker 3: the same time, your father really can't stand the sight
23:19
Speaker 3: of you because you are not living up to the
23:21
Speaker 3: expectations of what he wanted you to be.
23:24
Speaker 1: But where is this fantasy, this need to dominate....
23:30
Speaker 6: His sexual partners. Where has that come from?
23:33
Speaker 1: I mean, I feel that it's coming from his mother,
23:36
Speaker 1: and I'm just wondering just how is that expressed?
23:38
Speaker 6: How do you explain it?
23:40
Speaker 3: Well, if you look at what he's trying to achieve,
23:42
Speaker 3: he's trying to achieve power, he's trying to achieve control,
23:45
Speaker 3: and where does that come from? I think that comes
23:47
Speaker 3: from a sense of entitlement, that kind of narcissistic characteristic
23:51
Speaker 3: that's often laid in motion in somebody's very early years.
24:03
Speaker 1: Peter Moore was the sadistic sexual killer of four men
24:06
Speaker 1: in the 1990s, viciously assaulting and humiliating dozens more. After
24:25
Speaker 1: the death of his father, he continued to live with
24:28
Speaker 1: his doting mother, Edith. But that year, saw a cataclysmic
24:32
Speaker 1: change in Moore's life. In May 1994, Edith, Moore's mother,
24:35
Speaker 1: passed away, leaving him all alone here.
24:38
Speaker 6: At Darlington House.
24:40
Speaker 1: Her death left him heartbroken and he became increasingly introverted.
24:45
Speaker 9: He'd lost the person that was probably the most important
24:48
Speaker 9: person in his life. And gradually he became more and
24:52
Speaker 9: more reclusive. And then people would, you sort of, He
24:58
Speaker 9: had conversations, I don't know what Peter's up to, you know.
25:01
Speaker 8: He doesn't seem to be the same, it's a shame.
25:04
Speaker 1: The effect of this bereavement on Moore was profound.
25:08
Speaker 2: I think that the death of his mother took away
25:13
Speaker 2: the only thing that could potentially have kept this under control.
25:19
Speaker 8: And I only say potentially.
25:21
Speaker 2: She was what, in criminological terms, we call an intimate handler.
25:26
Speaker 2: And that just means somebody there to stop you when.
25:30
Speaker 8: It goes too far.
25:31
Speaker 7: When Peter Moore's mother died, the level of control, that
25:36
Speaker 7: genteel control, and that fundamentally adoring relationship between them ended.
25:46
Speaker 7: He wanted to do things, he had motivations, and all
25:49
Speaker 7: of a sudden there was absolutely no reason why he
25:53
Speaker 7: shouldn't just get on with it.
25:55
Speaker 1: With his mother gone, Moore became less guarded about his sexuality.
26:01
Speaker 1: He would regularly bring men back to Darlington House for
26:04
Speaker 1: sadomasochistic sex sessions, where he'd dress up in black leathers
26:09
Speaker 1: and beat his sexual partners.
26:13
Speaker 9: When his mother died, he just became more reclusive. There
26:17
Speaker 9: was a lot of comings and goings at Darlington House
26:22
Speaker 9: in the early hours of the morning.
26:26
Speaker 1: To make matters worse, Moore's cinema businesses were struggling financially
26:31
Speaker 1: and his personal life began to spiral out of control.
26:36
Speaker 1: He later described to police how the desire to kill
26:39
Speaker 1: would grow within him.
26:41
Speaker 5: He would describe to me that when he was feeling
26:43
Speaker 5: the urge to kill, the need to commit a murder,
26:45
Speaker 5: he would go into a zone and he would describe
26:47
Speaker 5: how he would be looking through what he describes as
26:52
Speaker 5: zigzags either side of his peripheral vision. So everything he
26:55
Speaker 5: was just focused on what he was looking at and
26:57
Speaker 5: everything else was like yellow and black stripes.
26:59
Speaker 1: In September 1995, Moore was working to restore one of
27:03
Speaker 1: his cinemas in Hollyhead. While travelling between work and home,
27:08
Speaker 1: he continued to look for men to attack. One night,
27:12
Speaker 1: his search for ever more violent sexual gratification came to
27:16
Speaker 1: a murderous climax. Henry Roberts was a quiet 56-year-old man
27:23
Speaker 1: who lived in this house here on the island of Anglesey,
27:26
Speaker 1: about an hour's drive from Kimmel Bay.
27:28
Speaker 5: Peter would drive back from the cinema in Hollyhead, back
27:31
Speaker 5: to his home in Kimmel Bay, late at night, along
27:35
Speaker 5: the A5 road, the old A5 road as it was then,
27:37
Speaker 5: and he would see Henry walking from the public house
27:40
Speaker 5: back towards his home address. And he told me that
27:43
Speaker 5: the idea of killing somebody was sort of in his head,
27:46
Speaker 5: and he decided that Henry would be a good, likely
27:49
Speaker 5: candidate really to be his first victim.
27:51
Speaker 1: Robert, like Moore, was gay and had a penchant for
27:55
Speaker 1: Nazi memorabilia. On the 23rd of September, Moore drove to
28:00
Speaker 1: Henry Robert's house. It's not clear if it was a
28:03
Speaker 1: pre-arranged meeting, but we do know that on the night
28:06
Speaker 1: in question, Moore arrived armed with a knife.
28:23
Speaker 5: He was stabbed numerous times across his back and across
28:26
Speaker 5: his back of his legs. And following his death, his
28:30
Speaker 5: trousers were lowered and he was stabbed post-mortem twice in
28:35
Speaker 5: his buttock.
28:36
Speaker 1: Moore stabbed Henry Roberts 47 times. It was beyond brutal.
28:44
Speaker 1: Roberts had been a regular at his local pub. When
28:48
Speaker 1: he didn't show up for three days, friends took a
28:50
Speaker 1: walk up to his house... where they found his body.
28:54
Speaker 1: He'd been dead for two days.
29:01
Speaker 2: In Peter Moore's first murder, the word overkill is probably
29:07
Speaker 2: a very good description. And the final two stabs, in fact,
29:11
Speaker 2: were post-mortem. So, are far more symbolic. So, perhaps moved
29:18
Speaker 2: beyond The frenzy and the rage and the final symbolic
29:22
Speaker 2: act of stabbing this victim in the buttocks, taking his
29:27
Speaker 2: trousers down, another humiliation, was perhaps more to do with
29:31
Speaker 2: his gay feelings.
29:36
Speaker 7: Peter Moore's approach to killing his victims... was one of
29:41
Speaker 7: a sexual sadist, gaining satisfaction primarily. Killing the victim was
29:49
Speaker 7: almost incidental, part, if you like, of the process. Primarily,
29:55
Speaker 7: he was gaining sexual satisfaction from inflicting the most ultimate
30:00
Speaker 7: harm that you can on another human being.
30:09
Speaker 1: Despite committing this gruesome murder, Moore keeps up the appearance
30:12
Speaker 1: of being a successful businessman and pillar of the community.
30:17
Speaker 1: He is seen as usual around town, always dressed in
30:20
Speaker 1: his signature all-black outfit. No-one suspected a thing.
30:27
Speaker 4: Peter Moore clearly demonstrated significant psychopathic tendencies. The psychopathic tendencies
30:34
Speaker 4: are demonstrated clearly by the fact that his total disregard
30:40
Speaker 4: for the consequences of his actions and the experience of
30:44
Speaker 4: his victims, they were merely individuals that he was going
30:48
Speaker 4: to be using to further his own narcissistic aims.
31:02
Speaker 1: Moore had now developed a taste for murder. And just
31:06
Speaker 1: a few weeks later, he struck again. His victim was
31:10
Speaker 1: 49-year-old security guard Keith Randalls, who was living in a
31:14
Speaker 1: caravan on a construction site in Anglesey. This time, he
31:19
Speaker 1: decided to kill Keith for his own amusement.
31:23
Speaker 5: He told me that, once again, he was driving from
31:26
Speaker 5: the cinema in Holyhead back to Oskinwood Bay, It has
31:29
Speaker 5: been now a month since he'd killed Henry, and obviously
31:32
Speaker 5: he had been sort of interviewed or arrested for it,
31:35
Speaker 5: and he was feeling the need to kill again. So
31:39
Speaker 5: he told me that on the way home he decided
31:41
Speaker 5: to drive around a bit and see if there was
31:44
Speaker 5: any likely candidates.
31:47
Speaker 1: According to Moore's later testimony, he knocked on the door
31:51
Speaker 1: of Randall's caravan and was ready with a knife in
31:54
Speaker 1: hand as he answered.
31:59
Speaker 5: Peter told me they just stabbed him once straight into
32:01
Speaker 5: the stomach region. Keith came out of the caravan and
32:06
Speaker 5: a big struggling shoot. It was quite a massive struggle
32:11
Speaker 5: and Keith was certainly fighting for his life. Peter told
32:16
Speaker 5: me that at some stage of the fight, Keith turned
32:19
Speaker 5: to Peter and sort of begged for his life for
32:21
Speaker 5: the sake of his grandchildren, but that had no effect.
32:23
Speaker 5: And Keith said to him, why are you doing this
32:25
Speaker 5: to me? And he turned around and replied to him,
32:27
Speaker 5: I'm doing it for fun.
32:29
Speaker 7: He wanted to portray something. He wanted to be the
32:31
Speaker 7: centre of attention. And I think saying, just for fun,
32:37
Speaker 7: would actually push him into the kind of legion of
32:44
Speaker 7: serial killers and the kind of phrases they come out
32:47
Speaker 7: with because it sounds like something that would happen in
32:51
Speaker 7: a film.
32:53
Speaker 1: After the murder, Moore calmly drove home where he realised
32:56
Speaker 1: that in the struggle he'd lost a black clip-on tie.
33:00
Speaker 1: He returned immediately to the scene of the crime, retrieved
33:03
Speaker 1: the tie and stole a video recorder from the caravan.
33:11
Speaker 1: Released from the need to answer to his beloved mother,
33:14
Speaker 1: Moore's lustful desire to kill appeared to be in overdrive.
33:19
Speaker 1: I want to ask criminologist Dr Elizabeth Yardley how far
33:22
Speaker 1: Edith may have restrained her son's murderous urges. the death
33:27
Speaker 1: of Edith, Peter Moore's mother, was seismic. Is that the
33:31
Speaker 1: trigger for his move from being a sexual predator to
33:36
Speaker 1: being a serial killer?
33:38
Speaker 3: It had a massive impact on him because she is
33:42
Speaker 3: his number one fan. She's always been the person there
33:44
Speaker 3: in the background who's providing him with reassurance and basically
33:48
Speaker 3: stroking the developing ego that he was. And for her
33:52
Speaker 3: not to be there, he's now lost that. And I
33:55
Speaker 3: think that's an important part of somebody's identity when they
33:58
Speaker 3: are quite narcissistic. That person who stands there and reinforces
34:03
Speaker 3: them and pats them on the head and says, aren't
34:05
Speaker 3: you fantastic? When that person's removed from the equation, that can.
34:09
Speaker 8: Get quite interesting.
34:11
Speaker 1: And his first victim was Henry Roberts. He tells us
34:15
Speaker 1: this was nearly an opportunistic act. And yet I'm not convinced, Liz.
34:21
Speaker 3: I think what we're looking at here is access and opportunity.
34:25
Speaker 3: I think Peter Moore is somebody who had been stalking
34:28
Speaker 3: people for quite some time, because you'll often find with
34:31
Speaker 3: killers like Moore that they won't just go straight into killing,
34:34
Speaker 3: that they'll often do test runs, they'll practice, they'll try
34:37
Speaker 3: things out. We've always got to be so cautious about
34:39
Speaker 3: the stories that serial killers tell us about their crimes,
34:42
Speaker 3: because they will always want to present these stories in
34:45
Speaker 3: a particular way. And I do think this wasn't completely opportunistic.
34:50
Speaker 1: The murder of Keith Randalls, this occurence, according to Peter
34:54
Speaker 1: Moore himself, was just for kicks, just for fun. And
34:59
Speaker 1: I don't accept that.
35:00
Speaker 3: He's creating a character here of this ruthless killer who
35:04
Speaker 3: kind of gets off on killing and has fun doing it.
35:08
Speaker 3: And I think we've always got to be really skeptical
35:10
Speaker 3: of any claims that he makes in relation to his killing.
35:12
Speaker 1: To my mind, there's still a sexual motive for all
35:16
Speaker 1: these murders.
35:17
Speaker 3: When you think about what sex represents, it represents power,
35:19
Speaker 3: it represents control, all of the things that Peter Moore wants.
35:24
Speaker 1: Serial killer Peter Moore, dubbed the Man in Black, spent
35:29
Speaker 1: two decades carrying out vicious assaults on men for his
35:33
Speaker 1: own sexual gratification. But when his adored mother died, he
35:39
Speaker 1: escalated to sexually sadistic murder, stabbing his victims in a
35:43
Speaker 1: frenzy before defiling their bodies. After killing and getting away
35:51
Speaker 1: with it, he was getting bolder. And a week before
35:54
Speaker 1: Christmas in 1995, he struck again. On this occasion, his
36:01
Speaker 1: victim was 35-year-old father of two, Tony Davies. Davies, on
36:05
Speaker 1: the 18th of December, travelled seven miles from his home
36:08
Speaker 1: in Conway Bay to visit his mother in Abergele. After
36:11
Speaker 1: spending some time with her there, he told her he
36:14
Speaker 1: was just going to pop out for a while. He
36:16
Speaker 1: never returned. The next day, his body was found here
36:20
Speaker 1: on Pensarn Beach. He'd been stabbed to death. The murder
36:26
Speaker 1: was committed at a well-known cottaging spot close to Moore's
36:29
Speaker 1: home at Darlington House.
36:32
Speaker 5: I think ultimately the fact that he was becoming blasé
36:36
Speaker 5: was one of the two things.
36:38
Speaker 6: He either wanted to be caught or was becoming so confident.
36:41
Speaker 5: In his ability to kill that he could actually kill
36:45
Speaker 5: on his own doorstep and get away with it.
36:47
Speaker 1: This recklessness was to be Moore's undoing.
36:50
Speaker 5: A hotline had been set up asking the gay community
36:54
Speaker 5: to sort of offer some information in relation to what
36:57
Speaker 5: happens on Pennsylvania Beach and might help us in the investigation.
36:59
Speaker 5: I received an action late in the evening from somebody
37:04
Speaker 5: that called in on the hotline and described that this
37:08
Speaker 5: male had met a man on Pennsylvania Beach and been
37:10
Speaker 5: taken to an address in Kimball Bay where he'd been
37:13
Speaker 5: attacked and he described himself as being lucky to get
37:15
Speaker 5: away with his life. He gave a very sort of
37:18
Speaker 5: loose description of the property and this location. I immediately
37:22
Speaker 5: recognised the house to be Darlington House. I knew the
37:25
Speaker 5: Darlington house was owned and still owned by Peter Moore.
37:29
Speaker 5: And I knew that obviously Peter was a gay man.
37:33
Speaker 1: The man described in the tip-off was dressed head to
37:36
Speaker 1: toe in black.
37:38
Speaker 5: And I remembered that previously I had seen him dressed
37:41
Speaker 5: in a black leather jacket and black leather trousers.
37:44
Speaker 6: So I formed the impression that Peter was a good suspect.
37:56
Speaker 1: Convinced that Peter Moore was the murderer the police were
37:59
Speaker 1: looking for, D.C. David Morris led two teams of officers
38:04
Speaker 1: to his home at Darlington House. But as they approached,
38:08
Speaker 1: they saw Moore driving away in the opposite direction. They
38:13
Speaker 1: tailed him for almost five miles before he pulled into
38:16
Speaker 1: a housing estate. As soon as Moore stepped out of
38:20
Speaker 1: the car, police arrested him. He was taken to Llandudno
38:25
Speaker 1: Police Station for questioning.
38:27
Speaker 6: I think when I arrested him, I think Peter did
38:30
Speaker 6: know who I was.
38:31
Speaker 5: It was only when I went into the interview room
38:33
Speaker 5: that I introduced myself and mentioned the fact that I'd
38:37
Speaker 5: met him before and met his mother. And I think
38:39
Speaker 5: he was quite pleased that I remembered him.
38:42
Speaker 1: With Moore under arrest, police were sent to search Darlington House.
38:47
Speaker 1: There they discovered Tony Davies' coat and the video recorder
38:51
Speaker 1: belonging to Keith Randalls. Peter Moore was charged with the
38:55
Speaker 1: murder of Tony Davies and arrested on suspicion of the
38:58
Speaker 1: murder of Keith Randalls. Late that night, DC David Morris
39:02
Speaker 1: was called at home and was asked urgently to go
39:05
Speaker 1: to the police station.
39:05
Speaker 5: I received a phone call about 2, 2.30 in the
39:11
Speaker 5: morning from the custody suite in Llandudna saying that Peter
39:14
Speaker 5: had come back from the court and requested a further interview.
39:18
Speaker 5: So I made my way back to Llandudno and I'm
39:19
Speaker 5: going to say, you've asked for an interview, what do
39:21
Speaker 5: you want to tell us?
39:23
Speaker 1: It was then that Moore dropped a bombshell.
39:30
Speaker 5: So we made our way into the interview room and
39:31
Speaker 5: landed at about 4, 4.30 in the morning, myself, my colleague,
39:35
Speaker 5: Peter and his solicitor. And during the course of that interview,
39:39
Speaker 5: he admitted to us four murders, the three murders that
39:42
Speaker 5: we were aware of in North Wales from September through
39:44
Speaker 5: to Christmas of 1995, a murder that we were unaware of,
39:47
Speaker 5: the murder of Edward Carthy.
39:49
Speaker 1: Moore had picked up 28-year-old Edward Carthy at a gay
39:52
Speaker 1: club in Liverpool and offered him a lift home.
39:55
Speaker 5: He told me that as he drove through the Birkenhead
39:57
Speaker 5: Tunnel from Liverpool back towards Birkenhead, Edward had fallen asleep
40:00
Speaker 5: in the cabin of the Ford Santa and that's when
40:02
Speaker 5: he formed the impression that Edward was somebody that he
40:04
Speaker 5: could kill and that he was going to kill him.
40:07
Speaker 5: So as Edward slept, he drove him to North Wales
40:11
Speaker 5: and to the woods where he got him out of
40:13
Speaker 5: the vehicle and stabbed him to death.
40:20
Speaker 1: Moore even drew a map which enabled the police to
40:23
Speaker 1: find Carthy's body. A seemingly unrepentant Moore appeared to draw
40:34
Speaker 1: satisfaction from revealing the grisly details of his murders. He
40:39
Speaker 1: was finally the star in his own film, and people
40:43
Speaker 1: were watching.
40:45
Speaker 4: The fact that his.
40:48
Speaker 4: His starring role was coming to an end. On the
40:54
Speaker 4: one hand, it would have been a relief, but paradoxically,
40:57
Speaker 4: it would have even enhanced his sense that he was
41:02
Speaker 4: now firmly in the public eye and he really was
41:05
Speaker 4: a star.
41:08
Speaker 1: But then, in a bizarre twist, while on remand in prison,
41:12
Speaker 1: Moore recanted his confession and claimed the murders were committed
41:15
Speaker 1: by a friend of his named Jason.
41:19
Speaker 5: So we came into the interview room and picked up
41:21
Speaker 5: the interviews again. And it was during that sort of
41:23
Speaker 5: week in custody in Walden Prison that he had this
41:26
Speaker 5: sort of change of heart and decided to tell us
41:29
Speaker 5: that he wasn't the murderer in actual fact. It was
41:32
Speaker 5: his friend who he nicknamed Jason.
41:36
Speaker 4: I was interested about his use of Jason. I've seen
41:40
Speaker 4: it before with other serial killers or mass killers. And
41:45
Speaker 4: that is that they.
41:49
Speaker 4: They get their sort of narrative reference from fictitional characters.
41:57
Speaker 1: At his trial, Moore angered and upset the families of
42:00
Speaker 1: his victims by playing up to the cameras and appearing
42:04
Speaker 1: to enjoy himself.
42:05
Speaker 2: The way that he behaved in front of the press
42:08
Speaker 2: was like he was a rock star serial killing. This
42:13
Speaker 2: is probably how he wanted to be remembered.
42:17
Speaker 6: The reason that he.
42:19
Speaker 4: performs to the cameras is one of the clearest indicators
42:25
Speaker 4: that he is still defending against the reality and very
42:31
Speaker 4: firmly entrenched in a world of fantasy that he continues
42:36
Speaker 4: to be the star it's a defensive a dynamic against
42:42
Speaker 4: accepting the reality of his.
42:45
Speaker 1: Life Throughout the proceedings, Moore maintained his innocence and continued
42:50
Speaker 1: to blame the mysterious Jason.
42:54
Speaker 7: This was a case of too weird, too late and
42:58
Speaker 7: not credible. He didn't fool anybody, police, judge, jury, anyone.
43:06
Speaker 7: Peter Moore, in fact, was clearly Jason.
43:10
Speaker 1: Moore was found guilty on all four counts of murder
43:13
Speaker 1: and sentenced to life in prison.
43:16
Speaker 9: I still find it hard to believe that he turned
43:22
Speaker 9: into a murderer. I find it hard to believe that
43:26
Speaker 9: he could be that person.
43:31
Speaker 1: Moore was finally the star of his own grisly show.
43:35
Speaker 1: Is it possible that a doting mother's love could be
43:38
Speaker 1: at the root of his crimes? What kind of mother
43:43
Speaker 1: do you think Edith Moore was.
43:46
Speaker 3: I think for me, what Edith is, is an uber mother.
43:50
Speaker 3: She's an exaggerated performance of the role of the mother.
43:53
Speaker 3: She's concentrating her efforts on one child. It's a child
43:57
Speaker 3: that she's waited a long time for. So her mothering
44:01
Speaker 3: is such a central part of her identity. But I
44:04
Speaker 3: think increasingly now, what we're starting to see when we
44:06
Speaker 3: look at some cases of murder... is that the mother
44:11
Speaker 3: in the background is this figure who is, you know,
44:15
Speaker 3: over kind of attached, somebody who really does kind of
44:20
Speaker 3: overperform the role of the mother rather than underperform it.
44:23
Speaker 3: So I think too much mothering is just as bad
44:26
Speaker 3: as too little mothering.
44:27
Speaker 1: I think it's not trite to say, but I think
44:30
Speaker 1: when it comes to the making of murderers, mothers matter more.
44:35
Speaker 1: She was the star in his movies. He was the
44:38
Speaker 1: star in his movies. They both were playing roles. And
44:41
Speaker 1: to what extent do you sense that he was living
44:43
Speaker 1: out a performance, that he set himself out to be
44:46
Speaker 1: the star ultimately in his own courtroom drama?
44:49
Speaker 3: I think that's very much the case. And cinema and
44:52
Speaker 3: performance were always something that was very important for Peter Moore.
44:55
Speaker 3: He's always performing a role and he's always anticipating an audience.
45:00
Speaker 3: And he gets that audience when he's charged with these murders.
45:03
Speaker 8: And he ends up in court. and he's almost really
45:06
Speaker 8: lavishing in the attention.
45:07
Speaker 3: It's this idea of the serial killer as celebrity, and
45:11
Speaker 3: I think that's something that we see very much performed
45:14
Speaker 3: by Peter Moore.
45:23
Speaker 1: Peter Moore's crimes were those of a sadistic killer. He
45:27
Speaker 1: enjoyed inflicting physical pain on others for his own sexual gratification.
45:32
Speaker 1: For over 20 years, he sexually assaulted dozens of men
45:36
Speaker 1: who he knew would be too ashamed to report the attacks.
45:40
Speaker 1: And when this no longer sated his sexual appetite, he
45:43
Speaker 1: decided to break the ultimate taboo. Murder.