63. No socks: Why do people confess their crimes?

Bad People

BBC

Society & Culture, True Crime, Unknown

4.4 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 21 April 2022

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1983 Kieran Patrick Kelly, who was living on the streets of London at the time, was brought into Clapham Police Station for attacking and stealing an old man’s watch and wedding ring. Kelly murdered his cell-mate during his first night in custody for snoring too loudly. While under questioning he went on to willingly confess to multiple other murders the police didn’t know about nor suspect him of – essentially he willingly confessed to being a serial killer. In this episode of Bad People Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen discuss risk perception, the limited research around spontaneous true confessions and why distinguishing fact from fiction is incredibly difficult in this case. Warning: This episode includes graphic descriptions of violence. This story was researched by RTÉ in Ireland and Third Ear in Denmark, the producers of the 2020 podcast, The Nobody Zone. All of the audio is from this podcast. CREDITS Presenters: Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producer: Simona Rata Music: Matt Chandler Editor: Rami Tzabar Academic Consultants for The Open University: Lara Frumkin and James Munro #BadPeople_BBC Commissioning Assistant Producer: Adam Eland Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Bad People is produced in partnership with The Open University and is a BBC Audio Science Production for BBC Sounds.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, let me ask you, sir, have you heard George's podcast?
0:06.1	Me and Ben Brick are back with a blast, this time with stories from Africa's past.
0:11.0	Not too distant, unsolved mysteries, unsung heroes from untold histories.
0:15.8	I'm trying to make sense of the present day, join me on this journey by pressing play.
0:23.8	Have you heard George's podcast, Chapter 4?
0:27.2	Listen on BBC Sound.
0:31.4	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.
0:35.2	Three, two, one.
0:36.8	If you had the police come knock on your door with, say, an unpaid ticket.
0:41.9	What could make you spontaneously confess to something else, something unrelated and illegal
0:46.5	that you did at some point in your life?
0:48.8	So you mean the police knock on my door and before they can say a word, I'm like,
0:52.3	I killed my jam teacher in 1999.
0:54.6	Exactly.
0:55.6	Well, I just feel like if it's a deep dark secret that's been haunted me for years,
0:59.2	I probably spend every day just waiting for someone to catch me,
1:02.1	and I'd probably end up confessing to the first person,
1:04.6	wearing a uniform who just looked at me weird.
1:11.6	On this episode, who spontaneously confesses to committing a crime?
1:15.9	This episode includes graphic descriptions of violence.
1:18.8	And as always, there may be some strong language.
1:21.2	I'm Dr. Julia Shaw, criminal psychologist.
	...

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