Documentary reveals chilling tale of teen who killed parents
THE horrific case of a teenager who murdered his parents after living a fantasy lifestyle has been told in a chilling TV documentary.
Brian Blackwell, 18, was a talented pupil at private school when he butchered his parents in a frenzied knife and hammer attack at their £350,000 bungalow in Melling.
He then calmly jetted off on a luxury holiday with his unsuspecting girlfriend.
In the programme, Teens Who Kill, shown on Sunday night the police officer who headed the investigation said that it was “the most shocking murder” he had ever been involved with.
The murder was the culmination of an elaborate web of lies the former Scarisbrick Hall School student built up to impress his girlfriend, Amal Saba.
Blackwell falsely made himself out to be a professional tennis player and lavished her with gifts and money, even though he did not have the funding to do so.
He boasted of owning a £450,000 luxury apartment in the same complex in Southport as England and Liverpool FC star Steven Gerrard.
He also lavished “expensive” jewellery on Ms Saba, although the gems later turned out to be cheap costume pieces.
On July 25, 2004 he attacked his frail father, Sydney, 72, a retired accountant with a heart condition, with a claw hammer before stabbing him 30 times with a carving knife.
He then turned on his mother, Jackie, 60, an antiques dealer, knocking her unconscious with the hammer before stabbing her 20 times.
After the killings, he burned his blood-soaked clothes in the garden before continuing with his lavish holiday plans, all funded by his father’s credit card.
In the immediate weeks after the brutal murders, Blackwell carried on his lavish and extravagant spending, running up a £30,000 bill.
On his return from a holiday in the US, Blackwell was arrested on suspicion of murder following the discovery of his parents’ decomposing bodies at their home in Sandy Lane, Melling, six weeks after they were killed.
Teens Who Kill featured a team of experts who have analysed the 2004 case, including former Merseyside police officer Det Ch Insp Mike Keogh, along with psychologists and those involved in the court case.
Mr Keogh, who headed the investigation into the deaths, told the documentary makers that it was “the most shocking murder” he had dealt with.
Speaking of Blackwell, he said: “This was a person who balanced the life of his parents against the fantasy that he created, and he chose the fantasy.”
Blackwell was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2005 after pleading guilty to two charges of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
During the court hearing, it emerged that Blackwell was suffering from an mental disorder that led him to create a fantasy life as a successful sports star able to lavish gifts on himself and his teenage lover.
Blackwell wept in the dock at Liverpool Crown Court as his lawyer read out a statement, which expressed his remorse.
In it, he said that he missed his parents “more than anything in the world”.
He added: “The guilt will punish and haunt me for 24 hours a day for the rest of my life.”
Blackwell grew up a quiet, bookish boy with a passion for science, who, his parents insisted, was destined to be “not just a doctor – but a surgeon”.
He attended the private Scarisbrick Hall school but was moved in 1998 to Liverpool College in Aigburth, south Liverpool – at the time a private school, costing £7,300 per year.
In the programme Stephen Riordan QC, who obtained the plea of guilty for manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, revealed the reasoning behind the plea because of the findings of the many psychiatrists who examined the teenager.
In the documentary psychologist Dr Becky Spelman analysed Blackwell’s behaviour both before and after the murders, and discussed his immature and childlike behaviour, while Dr Adam Lynes and Robert Giles analysed the teenager’s background, the murders and his behaviour in the immediate aftermath and months after the deaths of his parents, in the hope of determining his culpability and potential for rehabilitation.
Teens Who Kill was broadcast on Sunday at 10pm on CBS Reality.