Making a Monster

This episode looks at a man who took the lives of at least eight victims and became the last person to receive the death penalty in Connecticut.

Aileen Wuornos was an American serial killer who murdered seven men in Florida in 1989 and 1990. Wuornos claimed that her victims had either raped or attempted to rape her while she was a sex worker, and that all of the homicides were committed in self-defence. She was convicted and sentenced to death for six of the murders and was executed by lethal injection on October 9, 2002.This episode features, Professor Jethro Toomer, who spent more than 35 years practising forensic and clinical psychology. Having specialised in death row cases, he interviewed a number of high-profile serial killers including Ted Bundy and Aileen Wuornos. He carried out the psychological assessment of Wuornos before her trial where she discussed her troubled life and transition to serial killing in unprecedented detail.

Scottish serial killer and paedophile, Robert Black was convicted of the kidnap, rape, sexual assault and murder of four girls aged between 5 and 11 in a series of killings committed between 1981 and 1986. Having spent many hours interviewing Black, Forensic psychologist Dr Adrian Needs offers unprecedented insight into his dark mind.

He took the lives of three men while serving a life sentence for killing the fourth. His rationale? Avenging his own abusive childhood experiences.