“I think it’s important to show the evil that lies within these killers, what one man can do to another man.“

Retired murder squad detective Trevor Marriott brings his latest audiovisual show, The World’s Worst Serial Killers, to the Harlow Playhouse, in which he describes the murders committed by 20 such murderers, as well as highlighting the pain and suffering experienced by the victims and, subsequently, of their families.

“A lot of the killers I discuss aren’t well-known,“ explains Trevor. “I’ve included a cross-section of serial killers – male and female, the way they carried out their crimes, the victims they picked, how they picked them, how they were caught.“

Trevor used his background as a murder detective to carry out extensive research into his subject and as a result the show features all the details of the crimes, more than 200 photographs of not only the victims and their killers but also some from the original crime scenes, as well as video clips of some of the killers and some of the families talking about the loved ones they have lost. It’s definitely not for the faint-hearted.

“It’s quite an emotional show,“ Trevor admits. "As well as focusing on the killers and their victims, Trevor also goes into some detail about the ‘errors and bad judgement calls’ made by law enforcement officers investigating the crimes, which allowed some of the murderers to go free and kill again before finally being captured and imprisoned.

“In the ‘60s and ‘70s, of course, they didn’t have the benefits of today’s technology and DNA,“ says Trevor. “Nowadays we don’t really have as many serial killers as we had years ago, simply because the killers are usually caught before they get to serial killer status.“
 

Harlow Playhouse, Friday April 25. Details: 01279 431945, playhouseharlow.com