FREAKY TRIGGER TOP 25 SCARIEST THINGS
7: Living With A Murderer
Odd one this. Can be looked at in a number of ways. If you live with a murderer you are statistically more likely to be murdered. That is idiot point number one. But this fear is goes far beyond that, becaue there is an assumption that if you live with someone that they may well also be your nearest and dearest. They may even be your partner. In which case this is not just the fear of being murdered (now statistically really high) but rather the fear of being a lousy judge of character too.
What would you do if you suspected you partner of being a murderer. If they go shifty when it comes up on crimewatch? Have you ever sat in the room with someone when a photofit popped up on television and looked exactly like them? If so did you suggest they get plastic surgery? More importantly how much evidence would you need to convince you that they were guilty, and would you give them an alibi, would you hide it for them?
These are are scary questions because we genuinely do not know what we would do. The Maxine Carr case seemed to me to be grossly unfair, she was being blamed for providing her boyfriend with an alibi: this is exactly what soap operas tell us to do every day. We need to show loyalty, not trust the police. But can we trust someone who lies to us. We did not get involved with a murderer, and when we find out is it such a strong character trait that it washes away all their other good ones. Do we become complicit?
If you become complicit of course the ball is back in the murderers court. Not caught, they only person who is a liability is you, who gave them an alibi. And if you have killed once…
Certainly a worse fear than accusing someone of being a murderer and it turning out they aren’t. Look at Inspector Morse after all, he had not fear of that. But living with a murderer can get you killed, and can seriously frazzle your morality