First published in 1976, Psychopath is a study of Patrick Mackay who, in 1974 – with a string of muggings and killings behind him – was on trial for murder and was imprisoned in November 1975. John Penycate and Tim Clark – responsible for the controversial BBC Panorama programme on Patrick Mackay’s case – here take their investigation further and raise the important question of how the various responsible agencies which came into contact with him failed to see the danger and prevent these needless killings. Mackay passed through five mental institutions as well as approved schools, remand centres and homes. Twice he had been released from Moss Side Special Hospital – the North of England’s equivalent to Broadmoor – against the advice of his doctors. Penycate and Clark show that the signs were there for all to see. They give a detailed account of Patrick Mackay’s deterioration, from his turbulent childhood, through numerous suicide attempts, acts of violence and spells in mental and penal institutions, to his becoming London’s most notorious ‘mugger’ and a multiple killer, culminating in the final maniacal axing of his friend Father Crean, illustrated here with Mackay’s own words. This book will be of interest to students of criminology, psychology, penology, government, and media.

Samuel Wilson's research focuses on music and twentieth- and twenty-first-century modernity. He lectures in music aesthetics at Guildhall School of Music and Drama and interdisciplinary theory at London Contemporary Dance School. He is the editor of Music--Psychoanalysis--Musicology (Routledge, 2018).