Don’t hold Pickton book against me, says patron

California businessman Michael Chilldres had no idea who Robert ( Willie) Pickton was — or what kind of maelstrom he was wading into — when he arranged to have the serial killer’s scrawled autobiography published.

“If I had to do it all over again, I would say no,” said Chilldres by phone from his home just outside of Los Angeles.

“I didn’t think this book was going to be as big of a deal as it is; I just thought it would be a little deal.”

Chilldres’ name features on the front cover of Pickton: In His Own Words, a recently published 144- page memoir in which the convicted mass murderer proclaims his innocence and says he was framed.

“I am at a loss for words,” B. C. Premier Christy Clark told reporters on Monday.

Families of Pickton’s victims have denounced the book’s sale, and by Monday afternoon it was no longer available on Amazon.

“In the interest of common decency, I hope people simply ignore this work and decline to give this man a soapbox,” said former Vancouver Police officer Lori Shenher, who helped bring Pickton to justice.

Although the murderer’s contact with the outside world is closely monitored by Correctional Service Canada, Pickton was able to give the manuscript to a cellmate who in turn sent it to Chilldres.

“I’m not sure how he did it, but I got it in the mail,” said Chilldres, a private pilot and the retired owner of a glass repair shop.

The book arrived as a package of photocopies of letter-sized paper covered in Pickton’s writing.

Chilldres had a friend type it, then sent the copy to Outskirts Press, a Coloradobased self-publisher.

The whole process took about one year and $ 2,500, which Chilldres covered.

“I just published a book!” Chilldres told friends in a Sunday Facebook post.

The Californian had no publishing e x peri e nce, but he said he took on the project as a “favour” to his friend, who had met Pickton at B.C.’s Kent Institution and is currently incarcerated in a Saskatchewan penitentiary for sexually assaulting a child.

The two met when Chilldres and his two sons took their motorhome to Vancouver in 1994.

At the time, Pickton still had eight more years of cruising t he Downtown Eastside for murder victims, and Chilldres happened to strike up a conversation with a Texas- born guest staying at the same hotel.

“He was in construction, I was in construction, and we just kicked back and had fun and let the kids play,” said Chilldres, who remained in touch with the man by phone even after his conviction.

Although Pickton is one of Canada’s most infamous serial killers and is serving a life sentence for the murders of six women, Chilldres said his personal introduction to the case was reading Pickton’s spelling- error- ridden account.

“I got on Wikipedia and looked up his arrest record and stuff, and he was kind of creepy,” he said.

Still, Chilldres suggested that authorities might have gotten it wrong.

“If Pickton did it, then he needs to rot in hell and I feel real sorry for the victims and the families, but if he didn’t do it, then who did do it?” he said.

Chilldres added that he hoped that the families of Pickton’s victims would not “hold it against me and sorry I had to bring it up.”

Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Nova Scotia all restrict an offender’s ability to profit from their crimes, although no such law exists in British Columbia. The premier said she will consider copying the other provinces’ legislation.

“It is not right that a person who has caused so much harm and hurt so many people could profit from his behaviour,” added B. C. Solicitor General Mike Morris in announcing he had asked Amazon to stop selling the book.

Nevertheless, Chilldres said that Pickton will not profit from it.

The killer surrendered all publishing rights when he gave the manuscript to Chilldres’ friend, although he asked that the book be a direct reprint of his handwritten notes and that 10 per cent of the proceeds be donated to charity.

Chilldres said Outskirts Press rejected the first request.

He added “we haven’t figured out” which charity to support, although his friend favours a charity that litigates for the wrongly convicted.

All profits beyond the 10 per cent will pass to Chilldres and his friend, who is reportedly raising money to mount an appeal.

Although sales figures are not yet known, Chilldres said there are plans to translate the book into French and Spanish.

“If I get my $ 2,500 back, then I’ ll be happy, and if we make a couple dollars extra, then that’ll be good.”