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A man called George who has two older sisters; a mother named Margaret and has Asperger Syndrome. Hang about – doesn’t that sound a little bit familiar?
No, I'm not talking about my own family in the above paragraph, but I have written it in such a way to suggest that I might be doing just that. Any family member of mine would probably think that I was doing that, but I was referring to someone completely different...
Coincidences happen without invitation as seen on this page. They can ruin people's lives as well.
Above: The late Jill Dando actually personally signed this picture for me before she was murdered. Little did I know about the coincidence that was about to happen some 2 1/2 years later.
Comparison with TV-am
How can a coincidence be so controversial, I hear you ask? Well, I compare Barry George being diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome with the Margaret Thatcher supporting breakfast television company TV-am and an embarrassing incident that happened when the station on air in April 1984. Breakfast television is obviously transmitted before midday, which is relevant to an embarrassing incident that happened. Jack Howarth, the actor made famous for playing Albert Tatlock in Coronation Street happened to have died on Sunday, 1st April 1984 – otherwise known as April Fool’s Day. The story didn’t exactly make headline news that day, however a programme that had been recorded the day before and was transmitted on that Sunday morning was presented by Derek Jameson, who had made a reference about Libyan hit men being tasked with killing the actor – an appalling coincidence. The programme was transmitted causing full offence to many who realised that the man who was being lampooned had died only hours before. TV-am could do nothing but apologise. The then television regulator the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) complained about the programme, and insisted that TV-am did not revert back to a live show again. I might have guessed that Barry George had Asperger Syndrome long before the media had said so. After all, if you look at the Undiagnosed Celebrities page, you will find that I am very good at things like predicting whether or not a person may have the ‘Syndrome and some of them listed may prove me right one day. So I do think that what is written below is just like the 1984 TV-am incident.
What really happened?
The afternoon of Monday 2nd July 2001 was an afternoon that was going to change my life when I watched a news cable television station that same afternoon. I call it the "Controversial Coincidence" and you can find out why by reading on. Never has a news story affected me so much. You maybe interested to know about a man that I am sure you heard about in the news in 2001 that had a fascination with guns and was charged with murdering a television celebrity. Barry George had been to life imprisonment in July 2001 for murdering a television presenter called Jill Dando who had been shot behind her left ear with a shotgun and when I heard the news about the death I got very upset as Ms Dando had personally signed a photograph of herself for my collection only a couple of months before.
All through the murder enquiry I wanted the police to catch the man who murdered Ms Dando and I was sure that Hamish Campbell who was on the police force was doing his very best to do just that. She didn't deserve to die as she had done good to lots of people and millions of viewers like myself appreciated what she did on television. Months went by and police arrested a man called Barry Bulsara, who was George with a different surname. He had changed it to Bulsara after the real surname of Queen singer Freddie Mercury.
There were months of questioning and then the trail began. At 4.10 pm on Monday 2nd July 2001 Barry George was found guilty of Ms Dando's murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. I hated this man as he took the life of one of Britain's best-loved television presenters and I wanted to see Justice done. It wasn't until the same afternoon when I was watching the news bulletin - (BBC News 24 in fact as I have digital and get the service 24 hours a day), that a news reporter revealed that Barry George had also been suffering from Asperger Syndrome - an appalling coincidence.
Jill Dando had appeared on the front cover of the Radio Times on the week she had been murdered. She was promoting a new programme that she was presenting called Antiques’ Inspectors, taking over from Carol Vorderman who had to leave the series due to commitments on other television programmes. Ms Dando had been seen in a cat suit on the front cover next to an Aston Martin car. This copy of the magazine would have still been in newsagents and other shops on Monday 26th April, as the week’s new edition did not come out until Tuesdays. One can remedy the fact that the appearance in the cat suit would lead to bitter tastes and also insecurity to those who are uncomfortable. On the back page of the same issue was an advertisement for a brand of horror books with the tagline “couldn’t you just murder?” The Express newspaper picked this up a few weeks after the murder, probing whether or not this was the reason why Ms Dando was killed. They thought that after buying a copy of the magazine one person would have flipped it over and saw the chilling advertisement with the message that would be almost an individual being given messages to go out and strike. The “couldn’t you just murder?” phrase is usually one that can be taken too literally. As a person with Asperger Syndrome can take phrases like, “she bit my head off”, or “I’m going to kill you”, too literally as well. As literal phrases, the tagline seen on the back page advertisement would have been typical of a person with Asperger Syndrome to take as if one really wanted to follow the advice and proceed with what it was telling them. In this case what it was saying was “I bet you would want to murder someone, why don’t you go ahead with your desires?” Unfortunately in this instance the meaning was taken antisocially as we now know.
I couldn't help the fact that Barry George had been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome. When Jill Dando was killed, I said that I wanted to see the moron who did it to be put away for life for the crime. I nearly choked on a cream cracker I was eating at the time when I was in my living room watching BBC News 24, where a reporter revealed that (Barry) George had been diagnosed with "the Syndrome". I thought bloody hell and did an ITN on the website. I had been interested in the case ever since Ms Dando was killed as I had a personally signed photograph, the first person in my collection to die, so when Asperger Syndrome was mentioned my interest in the news coverage multiplied by about 10,000 times. David Potter, who does publicity on behalf of the NAS had appeared on the ITN News Channel talking about another controversial subject recently - the MMR vaccine. Now he barred the website from the NAS links page (Potter's Bar, do you see?) because of the news on the website connecting the murder to Asperger Syndrome, so I thought that the equivalent of forgiving the man who killed Ms Dando was probably like giving Myra Hindley and Ian Brady an OBE for Their crimes, or making a convicted paedophile the patron of the NSPCC - you surely cannot forgive a man who has killed someone who wouldn't hurt a fly? Mind you, I gave Professor David Canter, a crime lecturer a piece of my mind in that week. If Canter was going to sue me over overruling what he said, I could always put the blame in another direction. Don't we live in an upside down world? I was angry and frustrated with David Potter for removing the website from the NAS links page. He has his job to do of course, but I felt as if I was being punished for a crime that I did not commit – not the same crime being raised on this page of course, but I was just observing a thing that had public interest and had been extremely relevant to myself. I am a public citizen and I feel that it can be my duty to make observations from time to time. I actually felt that the NAS wasn’t there to make people like myself frustrated and angry but to make my life better. Many people do make observations at whim and some of them have to live with it.
I had just happened to be watching at that particular time and now I curse myself for doing so. I thought to myself that if this were the lottery, then I would be a millionaire by now. I did an article for the website, which included a few choice words about Barry George. Well, I wasn't exactly going to say well done to him for murdering Ms Dando, but said that I hated him for what he did. The National Autistic Society in London, where my website was on their links page removed it for a short time, protesting that Asperger Syndrome did not make Barry George, or Mr George kill. The word Mr as in Mr Hitler, Mr Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, and of course Mr Bin-Laden, since the September 11th attacks. I am not a person to build hatred on people just for the sake of it, but I felt frustrated at the NAS for removing the website from their links page as I realised that it would reduce the number of visitors from coming to the website and as the NAS was British, even less people from where I live in the UK would visit the website as I get a lack of people from my own country visiting it. I don’t mind people from overseas visiting the website of course, but I designed the website for the average British visitor with information about British autistic society addresses and so on. Having an American webspace provider doesn’t really help as I don’t really get listed with the British search engines as they don’t recognise it as such even though it has British written all over it. I even nearly wanted to boycott the NAS, cancelling my yearly membership and having nothing to do with them. I didn’t of course, but wouldn’t you blame me if I did? The question is, how would I like it if I found a member of my family was murdered, only to find that the killer has Asperger Syndrome? I would hate the person as a murderer, not because of his mental state. I hope, however that it is something that will never happen to my family in my lifetime.
Even though I was frustrated with what the NAS had done to my website, just like I did to my sister when the two people with Asperger Syndrome didn't turn up for Christmas where I live, I decided to redirect my frustration towards someone else - in a crime psychologist who had written offensive comments in a newspaper about people with Asperger Syndrome; calling them people who have violent mood swings. The NAS had called Professor David Canter's comments, who was a criminal psychologist at Liverpool University in the UK as "irresponsible and speculative". Professor David Canter had written these comments in The Times newspaper in London and as I had difficulty understanding things what can be offensive to other people; it wasn't until I found the offensive side of the article when the NAS pointed it out to me article and then I emailed Professor Canter, using words like "Are you saying that I am violent and go about with a gun as well? I think that it's a bit of a stereotypical remark to say that people with Asperger Syndrome are violent. I suppose you think that I stalk and murder women as well as rob banks and mug people in the street, don't you?" The NAS released a statement that was emailed to me by one their staff about the Barry George situation from Professor Judith Gould. A case of good professor, bad professor, perhaps? This was what the statement read:
NAS Press Office
393 City Road, London
EC1V 1NG
Tel: 020 7903 3593
Fax: 020 7903 3596
E-mail: press@nas.org.uk
http://www.autism.co.uk
3 July 2001
POSITION STATEMENT
by Dr Judith Gould, Clinical Psychologist at
The Centre for Social and Communication Disorders
The National Autistic Society (NAS) does not comment on individual cases. However, the article in The Times today by David Canter is both irresponsible and speculative.
It appears that Barry George had a number of diagnoses and it would be difficult to disentangle which of these or which combination of these were responsible for his tragic behaviour.
There is no evidence to associate Asperger syndrome with violence. Most of those with the condition will be meticulous about following the rules and will be generally passive.
BACKGROUND BRIEFING NOTE ON ASPERGER SYNDROME
WHAT IS ASPERGER SYNDROME?
Key characteristics
Asperger syndrome is one sub group within the spectrum of autistic disorders. The key characteristics are:-
Difficulty with social relationships
Unlike people with 'classic' autism, who often appear withdrawn and uninterested in the world around them, many people with Asperger syndrome try hard to be sociable and do not dislike human contact. However, they still find it hard to understand non-verbal signals, including facial expressions and have difficulty in “reading between the lines” of subtle social interaction.
Difficulty with communication
People with Asperger syndrome may speak very fluently but they may not appear to take much notice of the reaction of people listening to them; they may talk on and on regardless of the listener's interest or may appear insensitive to their feelings.
Despite having good language skills, people with Asperger syndrome may sound over-precise or over-literal - jokes can cause problems as can exaggerated language and metaphors; for example, a person with Asperger syndrome may be confused or frightened by a statement like 'she bit my head off'.
Impaired imagination
While they often excel at learning facts and figures, people with Asperger syndrome find it hard to think in abstract ways. This can cause problems for children in school where they may have difficulty with certain subjects, such as literature or religious studies.
Special interests people with Asperger syndrome often develop all absorbing interest in a particular topic. This may be related to science, physics or computers or more obscure subjects e.g. railway timetables or radio masts.
How many people does it affect?
It is estimated that Asperger syndrome affects around 200,000 people in the UK..
How does it affect behaviour?
People with Asperger syndrome prefer routines and any unexpected change in this routine can be upsetting. Young children may impose their own routines, such as insisting on always walking the same route to school. At school, they may get upset by sudden changes, such as an alteration to the timetable. People with Asperger syndrome may also prefer to order their day according to a set pattern. If they work set hours then any unexpected delay, such as a traffic hold-up, can make them anxious or upset.
People with Asperger syndrome are often methodical and structured and recognise the difference between right and wrong and because of their preference for clear rules are often law-abiding in the extreme.
Is there a link to criminal offending?
There is no established link between Asperger syndrome and offending. There is no evidence to suggest that people with Asperger syndrome are more likely to break the law than anyone in the general population. There is concern that people with Asperger syndrome may themselves be more vulnerable to criminal acts against them by reason of their social difficulties.
This is a general statement relating to Asperger syndrome. It should not be split into parts nor should those parts be used in any individual case. This would inevitably misrepresent the true position.
The National Autistic Society is not prepared to discuss any individual cases as it has not been made aware of the facts.
Notes for Editors:
1. Autism (including Asperger syndrome) is a lifelong developmental disability. It is a spectrum disorder occurring in varying degrees of severity and affects more than an estimated 500,000 people in the UK. It is characterised [sic] by a triad of impairments, which involve difficulties forming social relationships, problems with verbal and non-verbal communication and problems with imagination.
2. The National Autistic Society (NAS) is the UK's leading charity for people with autistic spectrum disorders and their families. Spearheading national and international initiatives and providing a strong voice for autism, the Society provides a wide range of services to help people with autism and Asperger syndrome live their lives with as much independence as possible.
3. For further information on autism and the NAS please contact:
NAS PR & Media Team
Tel – 020 7903 3593
Fax – 020 7903 3596
Email – press@nas.org.uk
Outside Office Hours - 07787 124792
So that was the statement that the NAS had to say about Barry George. Despite George having Asperger Syndrome, the National Autistic Society was not mentioned in any news reports, yet the charities HAFAD (Hammersmith and Fulham Action for the Disabled) and SANE had been mentioned. Autismconnect (yes, one word) also published a quick summery of the statement on their website, which was a shortened variation of the above statement:
3 July 2001
NAS CALLS TIMES ARTICLE ON DANDO KILLER 'IRRESPONSIBLE AND SPECULATIVE'
LONDON, UK: Britain's National Autistic Society (NAS) has described as "both irresponsible and speculative" an article in the July 3, 2001, edition of The Times devoted to Barry George, the man jailed for life on July 2 for the murder of the BBC television presenter, Jill Dando. Dando was shot dead on the doorstep of her London home on April 26, 1999.
The article, by Dr David Canter, professor of psychology at the University of Liverpool, where he directs the Centre for Investigative Psychology, was entitled "Action man or autistic?"
In a statement, Dr Judith Gould, a clinical psychologist at the NAS' Centre for Social and Communication Disorders, said: "It appears that Barry George had a number of diagnoses, and it would be difficult to disentangle which of these or which combination of these were responsible for his tragic behaviour. There is no evidence to associate Asperger syndrome with violence. Most of those with the condition will be meticulous about following the rules and will be generally passive.
"Asperger syndrome is one sub-group within the spectrum of autistic disorders. The key characteristics are: Difficulty with social relationships - Unlike people with 'classic' autism, who often appear withdrawn and uninterested in the world around them, many people with Asperger syndrome try hard to be sociable and do not dislike human contact. However, they still find it hard to understand non-verbal signals, including facial expressions and have difficulty in "reading between the lines" of subtle social interaction.
"Difficulty with communication - People with Asperger syndrome may speak very fluently but they may not appear to take much notice of the reaction of people listening to them; they may talk on and on, regardless of the listener's interest or may appear insensitive to their feelings. Despite having good language skills, people with Asperger syndrome may sound over-precise or over-literal - jokes can cause problems as can exaggerated language and metaphors; for example, a person with Asperger syndrome may be confused or frightened by a statement like 'she bit my head off'.
"Impaired imagination - While they often excel at learning facts and figures, people with Asperger syndrome find it hard to think in abstract ways. This can cause problems for children in school where they may have difficulty with certain subjects, such as literature or religious studies.
"Special interests - People with Asperger syndrome often develop all absorbing interest in a particular topic. This may be related to science, physics or computers or more obscure subjects (for example, railway timetables or radio masts)."
Dr Gould said it was estimated that Asperger syndrome affects around 200,000 people in the UK.
"People with Asperger syndrome prefer routines, and any unexpected change in this routine can be upsetting," she noted. "Young children may impose their own routines, such as insisting on always walking the same route to school. At school, they may get upset by sudden changes, such as an alteration to the timetable. People with Asperger syndrome may also prefer to order their day according to a set pattern. If they work set hours, then any unexpected delay, such as a traffic hold-up, can make them anxious or upset.
"People with Asperger syndrome are often methodical and structured and recognise the difference between right and wrong, and because of their preference for clear rules are often law-abiding in the extreme.
"There is no established link between Asperger syndrome and offending. There is no evidence to suggest that people with Asperger syndrome are more likely to break the law than anyone in the general population. There is concern that people with Asperger syndrome may themselves be more vulnerable to criminal acts against them by reason of their social difficulties."
(Source: The National Autistic Society, UK)
I challenged Professor Canter to reply to my email. If he didn’t reply (and if the NAS had not reinstated the link) I would have closed this website down by removing links to different pages of the website, so the visitor would only see one webpage with no other links available on it, just like when I started this website on June 5th 2000, so the only way out was to click on the back button on their browsers. Only when matters were resolved would the links be reinstated and things would go (more or less) back to normal. This would be done in protest and, closing the website down to the Internet public would be like, shall we say, going on strike and putting up the picket lines, which seems to be fashionable when it comes to the fire brigade or the railways in this day and age. Thankfully the professor replied in time and no “industrial” action was taken. The difference was there is no trade union to support here like there is when other people go on strike. TV-am had a similar problem in 1987 when Bruce Gyngell refused to have his workers represented by a trade union – this eventually ended up with 234 staff of the television sacked the following year. Professor Canter had his share of appearances on television a year later in 2002 when he was seen on Sky News, talking about the Washington Sniper attacks, which terrorised the Washington area of America, making hundreds of Americans fearful to go out until they were caught. Obviously he was giving his views on criminals and crime. Channel 5, now just known as “Five” had also given David Canter a Friday night series to run for a few weeks in October 2002 called Mapping Murder, where he investigated criminals of the past and present, ranging from people like Fred and Rosemary West, The Yorkshire Ripper to people like – yes, you’ve guess it Jill Dando’s killer Barry George. An episode was given up especially for the Dando-George case, although I didn’t see it. Perhaps this webpage would be 100-pages long if I did? Anyway, I suppose it was for my own good that I didn’t watch the series as political correctness can get to someone like myself too much. But he was just doing his job, wasn’t he?
After the NAS released the statement and after the absent without leave of the ASFTHM website from the NAS links page, I went one better. I decided to drop Professor Canter a line via email. Perhaps I can win the NAS over again if I did this, I thought. After a search on Google, one of the most powerful search engines on the Internet I typed Canter’s name and his university name on the website and a couple of seconds later, I soon found his email address and then I began to write to him:
Dear Professor Canter
On Tuesday 3rd July you wrote an article in The Times newspaper about the killer of Jill Dando, Barry George being a sufferer of Asperger Syndrome, entitled Action Man or Autistic? While reading the article I have received a statement from the National Autistic Society saying that your article was both irresponsible and speculative. After receiving the statement I read the bit of the article where Asperger Syndrome is mentioned and I had noticed that you put these following words:
"These autistic (Asperger Syndrome) people who are also violent from time to time, have large mood swings, but do not inhabit as separate and private a world as the severely autistic, are defined as suffering from Asperger's".
Let me point it out that I have Asperger Syndrome myself. I was diagnosed in 1996 and I am one of the 200,000 people in the United Kingdom who have it. Are you saying that I am violent and go about with a gun as well? I think that it's a bit of a stereotypical remark to say that people with Asperger Syndrome are violent. I suppose you think that I stalk and murder women as well as rob banks and mug people in the street, don't you? Most people with Asperger Syndrome may have the traits of autism, but they have intelligence to go with it, and many of these people have landed very good jobs thanks to their intelligence. Barry George may not have been one of those people who are like most people, but it is wrong to say that all people like Barry George are the same as him. You may think that people like myself are violent. It's people like myself who hates violence, especially in public and on television, but it seems that you haven't done enough research into the subject.
I have a website about Asperger Syndrome, and the website address is http://www.webspawner.com/users/asperger if you wish to visit it. I have passed on a copy of this email to the National Autistic Society, who I believe did not agree with your article.
Yours sincerely
Mr George Handley
What a Canter-mime! Or could it be D. Canter and crystal glasses? Enough of the puns, I let my anger flood out from the NAS’ battleaxes and wrote that very email. Professor Canter replied personally apologising and said that he was briefly summarising what was going on in court, or something like that:
I was trying to summarise, breifly [sic] what was said in court. I think all forms of labelling of psychologically related problem are counter-productive. I am sorry about any offence the article may have cause you, but all you saw was a very brief mention of the way Aperger's [sic] is being used in criminal cases all over the world. If you read all of my article you will see that I do not think any such labelling is helpful.
_____________________________________
Centre for Investigative Psychology Web Site:
http://www.i-psy.com
_____________________________________
Professor David Canter
Centre for Investigative Psychology
Department of Psychology
The University of Liverpool
Liverpool L69 7ZA UK
So there was the proof of the pudding. From the horse’s mouth, as most people say about the title of this website. Let’s hope he doesn’t make any of those Royal Institution Christmas Lectures that are on television at Christmas time, as the Broadcasting Standards Commission would probably have their work cut out. But according to the NAS Canter had broken every rule in the book. After about 48 hours the website was back on the NAS links page after I agreed to remove the article. Come to think of it, since the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, Nottingham people like myself have never got on with people from Liverpool. I was thinking about washing my hands of the NAS and never being a member again if they didn’t put me back on their links page. Up to that point I had always had a good relationship with the NAS – this was the first time that I had fallen out with them – all because of a news story about someone having Asperger Syndrome and was almost in the same boat as myself, except that I am not a murderer.
I had watched the programme that BBC 1 had about the Jill Dando murder that was scheduled at 7 pm that same evening, with its regular scheduled programmes of Danger: Celeb at Work and Watchdog Healthcheck postponed until the following Monday. Ratrap was postponed so I also had the pleasure of watching an ITV1 special of Tonight With Trevor McDonald where Clive Mantle, Mike Barratt from the BBC series Casualty played Michael Mansfield QC, the barrister and an actor that I had never heard before until that evening called John Duttine who played the part of Barry George himself and admittedly in character he played did look like someone who used to attend an Asperger Syndrome support group, that is he looked like someone I knew who had Asperger Syndrome – whether that was a coincidence or not, we’ll never know. The scene was in the courtroom and represented the court case itself and featured several witnesses in the trial played by different actors.
As I felt concern over the case and after the NAS episode I decided to write to BBC Information, which might have given an insight into Asperger Syndrome and the murder inquiry, but perhaps never the twain shall meet was too much of an illusion? In the original letter that I wrote, I more or less put the reason that I was concerned about the Barry George case, especially as I had learnt that he had been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome. Was it the reason why he murdered? Here was what the BBC, Ms Dando’s (and Barry George’s for a while) employers had to say over the matter:
BBC Information
PO Box 1922
Glasgow
G2 5WT
Scotland
Telephone 08700 100 222
Fax 0141 307 5770
Email info@bbc.co.uk
Wednesday July 18th 2001
Our Ref 5043067
Dear Mr Handley
Thank you for your letter regarding BBC News coverage of Jill Dando's murder.
I am sorry to note your concern regarding the reports about Barry George and the association of Asperger Syndrome to this crime.
Following the conviction, there have been a range of reports on BBC programme detailing Barry George's psychological profile which is believed to be vital in understanding his crime. However, there has never been a suggestion that actions of this nature can be attributed to anyone else suffering from the conditions mentioned. When taken within the context of the report, facts about Barry George clearly relate only to that individual, his circumstances and character.
Thank you, nevertheless for contacting the BBC to express your own views on this subject.
Yours sincerely
Douglas Martin
BBC Information
That was the BBC’s side of things. Let’s face it, they did research into the George case – they are journalists; it’s part of their job.
Clare Sainsbury, who had Asperger Syndrome herself and was no relation to the supermarket of the same name had written a book about Asperger Syndrome and her experiences after being diagnosed with it had written to The Times in response to Professor Canter's article and in The Observer, another mention was made about Barry George having Asperger Syndrome:
http://www.observer.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,518531,00.html. Exactly 100
days after Barry George was sentenced some links were added to the news page of the website where news articles of Barry George having Asperger Syndrome were mentioned. Instead of labelling these links about the news item in question, I renamed them "the Controversial Coincidence", that I have used ever since. What was also a coincidence between Barry George and myself was not just that we had Asperger Syndrome.
You've heard of the coincidences between the American presidents John F Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln? You know that Kennedy had a secretary called Lincoln and Lincoln had a secretary called Kennedy. And that one was shot in a warehouse and his killer hid in a theatre and the other was shot in a theatre and hid in a warehouse. Both presidents were elected in a year ending in ’60. Lincoln in 1860 and Kennedy in 1960. Both presidents had vice presidents called Johnson who succeeded them on their death. Andrew Johnson in 1865 and Lyndon B Johnson in 1963. And of course, the names Kennedy, Lincoln and Johnson all have seven letters in them and two N’s in them as well. It was thanks to John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald that these coincidences became apparent. I am a person who works out the coincidences that life throws at me. Not long after the news results of the George case broke out, I put my brain into gear and thought of some coincidences that have occurred. I counted over half a dozen of them and they all concerned myself. Have I gone stark raving bonkers, I hear you ask? Well, try these coincidences for size:
1) George was my first name and his last name.
2) Michael was my middle name and his middle name.
3) I am an only brother with two older sisters and he was an only brother with two older sisters.
4) Both of us have been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome.
5) Both us lived on our own and had not fathered any children.
6) My mother's name was Margaret and his mother's name was Margaret.
7) He had a fascination with celebrities and I had a collection of signed photographs of various celebrities, although the fascination was certainly not the same as Barry George's - and I had one in my collection of Jill Dando - his murder victim.
They were just seven coincidences. Now as time passes, I hope that I can be able to forget the coincidence that July 2nd 2001 had for me and start afresh in a brand new year called 2002. I just wanted to forget that first week in July 2001 – it was the worst week in the year for me. Of course Barry George isn’t the only person to be diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome to murder someone. In February 2001 Bristol Crown Court heard about a 12-year-old boy who had been diagnosed had cut his baby brother’s hand off with a knife. When asked why he committed the crime, the boy replied that he wanted to be with his mother. This obviously seems like the boy wanting more attention then he really gets, or perhaps as there is a younger baby in the house so the chances are that he doesn’t get enough attention? There was also a young man who was jailed in December 2000 for the theft of bones from a mortuary. He too had been diagnosed, but from a BBC report it incorrectly stated that people who have Asperger Syndrome have a fascination with death, which certainly is not the case and is almost as misleading as Professor Canter’s comments are. I keep asking myself over and over again why are some people with Asperger Syndrome letting other people who are like it down? The newshounds just give a bad name for people with the autistic condition. Journalists from news organisations that report these news stories are not doctors or psychologists are not people who diagnose people with Asperger Syndrome, neither are they meant to know a lot about the subject. However one does come across an event that Asperger Syndrome plays a big part in like this one and it does pay to learn some knowledge about the subject. I am not a journalist myself, so I can’t be blamed for all these news stories that maybe false or misleading, but on the other hand at least I can speak from experience as I have been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome myself. As they say, you can’t beat personal experience.
I wrote to Jill Dando just before Christmas 1998 and she sent me a personally signed photograph for my collection, so that’s probably why I hate Barry George a little bit. Logical, to say the least. After hearing her murder I took the picture off the wall as a mark of respect and I have kept it in a box where it has been there ever since. I recently got out the signed photograph of Jill Dando and I almost burst into tears with emotion. Why did it have to be her? Just like my other signed photographs it had been on the four walls of the same room that I am writing this from. Another coincidence, but nothing to do with Barry George was the fact that the police as part of their enquiry was tracing emails and letters and when I read from a Ceefax page in September 1999 the police were tracing the letters that she received in the months up to her death. I felt guilty – was my letter being investigated if it was kept? What did I do to obtain a signed photograph of Ms Dando? I wrote to her of course and I was getting worried that my letter could have been found and taken as evidence – who knows? I rang BBC television centre but they assured me that the chances that my letter would be one of those that the police were tracing would be extremely remote. I felt relieved at that; her killer was presumed to have lived in London. At that point I had not visited London since 1993 and only in September 2000 to a visit a friend who lived in London did I ever visit the capital city again. What seemed to be another extraordinary coincidence was when I asked a friend called Andy Hayes to scan and save Jill Dando’s picture on disc. I wasn’t planning to use the picture on the website at the time of scanning in June 2001 so this coincidence was obviously when the news broke the following month. This was when I felt that it was appropriate to put the picture on the website with the news about Barry George being sentenced. An article needs a good illustration, what do you think? And so I had one, without even planning for it!
I always think that having Asperger Syndrome is like being a member of the Conservative Party; they both have left and right wingers, not to mention that at least two Conservative Memmebrs of Parliament, Angela Browning and Julie Kirkbride who have children with Asperger Syndrome or autism themselves. I would certainly vote for Ms Browning if I lived on her patch. There are also the Jeffrey Archer's, Jonathan Aitken's and Neil Hamilton's in the group that sometimes give the good people a bad name. Coincidently the Barry George not only shares Jeffrey Archer's birthday of April 15th but both men were sentenced in the same month - July 2001, where Archer was sentenced for purjery from the Daily Star newspaper after it alledged that he slept with a prostitute. Both men had been sent to Belmarsh prison, although Archer was transferred to another prison in Lincolnshire later on in 2001. Meanwhile my own birthday, August 30th, is the same as the former Conservative MP and TV-am shareholder Jonathan Aitken - he's done porridge as well for purjery just like Archer, but that doesn't mean that I'm like him of course. Unlike politics, we cannot escape from disability if we have been diagnosed with it. I feel like a Conservative supporter, as I am too concerned about what is happening around me. I can also relate Asperger Syndrome more with the Conservatives rather than Labour or the Liberal Democrats. Ask Sara Keays and she would connect Asperger Syndrome with former Conservative frontbencher Cecil Parkinson, where an affair with the politician in the early 1980’s and as a result, produced a young girl who grew up to be diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome herself. “They’ll put all your taxes up”, say the Labour supporters that I know, and there are a lot of them, but I feel that there are more important things in life rather than taxes. I feel that quality and service should come first. I voted Conservative at the 2001 General Election, so perhaps I was in a bad mood that day? Yes, I maybe called a silly prat by the die-hard Labour voters for voting Conservative in 2001; they may not be fully left wing, but I would never go along with the far-right parties like the British National Party or the National Front – that would be asking for trouble. What is interesting however is the fact that the Times and the Daily Telegraph, which are both regarded as two Conservative supporting newspapers had both mentioned Asperger Syndrome during their news reports in the aftermath of the murder case on Tuesday 3rd July 2001, whereas the Labour supporting Guardian and other newspapers had not do that, although in the Sunday 8th July edition of the Observer Asperger Syndrome by Nick Cohen was briefly mentioned. Whether it proves that those newspapers respond well to Asperger Syndrome or whether it was just mentioned in relation to the case would probably have its own conclusions by their readers. Come back Michael Knowles (who was a Conservative MP in Nottingham East where I live until Mr Knowles lost the 1992 General Election). All is forgiven!
Members of my family are indeed Labour supporters and in conversation with a strong Labour Party supporter I asked why she would never vote Conservative. She said to me that not only do they put your taxes up, but they would also stop your disability benefits, Disability Living Allowance and all that. She said that the taxes would go sky high; I would be up to my debt, thrown out of my house and into another that would be almost like a cave that only the Romans have lived in. Now, when I was at school I didn’t dare say that I was a Labour supporter in the school playground in case I would be a vulnerable target for being a far-left woolly socialist, or a miser who thinks that 10p is my entire life savings, but then the 1980’s were a decade that socialism forgot. OK, in those days I would have been too young to vote, but the comment of being thrown out of my house and having my benefits stopped during the Thatcher and Major years made me think. There are two sitting Conservative MP’s in the Commons who are parents of autistic children. Now let’s say that the 2001 General Election has just happened. Angela Browning has just won her seat in Devon with a majority. She has a son with Asperger Syndrome of course and here I am going to test what that Labour supporter has just said. Ms Browning could hardly say to her son, “Well Robin, your mother’s just won herself a seat on the back benches in Westminster for the next four of five years, but of course I’m just there to make money out of myself and my peers. You maybe my son with special needs, but as a Conservative MP I have to take all your disability benefits away and you will not have a leg to stand on. Sorry, but Asperger Syndrome and autism does not fit into the schedule of a Conservative MP. You maybe my son but you’ll have to suffer and you may end up in care just because of my job”. Of course a parent of an autistic child would never do that and I have only written this because of what a strong Labour supporter has told me if the Conservatives get back in power again. I have just translated what I have been told into a situation that overlaps disability with Conservatism. I wanted to say that as a family I was a Labour supporter when I wrote to Ms Browning in 2001, but let’s face it I didn’t want to be rude and insulting to her.
Brian Cathcart’s book about Jill Dando’s life and death and Barry George’s life and his case was published in 2001. I had bought a copy of the book from my local branch of Waterstones on Sunday, 30th September – so much for Sunday shopping! Although it did not mention Asperger Syndrome, and perhaps from some people’s views it may have been best not to, the book gave an interesting insight into a person with Asperger Syndrome, whether he would have been a criminal or not. The book seems to be split into three parts: the first being the life of Ms Dando; the second being the murder itself and part of the case and the third of the life of Barry George and the court case, right up to the point where he was sentenced to life imprisonment. A very interesting book if I do say so myself. John McVicar's book, Dead on Time, which I bought from a Stoke-on-Trent bookshop in April 2002 almost mirror-imaged Cathcart's version of events.
December 2001 and Barry George’s appeal comes through. At this late stage I doubt that his appeal will be successful but as from the coincidences on these pages prove anything possible can happen. I think that the chances of the appeal being successful would be one in 100,000 at least. Now I think good luck to him, even though he doesn’t really deserve it. Looking back Crimewatch presenter and Ms Dando’s colleague on the programme Nick Ross said on Monday 2nd July that he felt sorry for him in many ways and wished him a fulfilling life. It is a bit difficult to be positive in situations like this, although Nick Ross did a good job of it. Could it have been the Asperger Syndrome side of Barry George that he felt sorry for?
I just hope there will never be another one like Barry George as long as I live. Meanwhile, following Professor Canter's controversial comments, I am going off to be violent from time-to-time and have large mood swings. I might even change my name by deed poll to Bulsara Handley in the process as well!
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