LEWES

COURT PROCEEDINGS: Frederick Clegg Interview Analysis

Analysis by Psychologist and Investigator Andrew Carter

Analysis of Subjects words and behavior

Clegg is very self-interested. He carries a lot of what is classically known as duping
delight; he thoroughly enjoys the fact that for such a long time, he committed
terrible crimes while deceiving everyone around him. To date, he has not yet
revealed all of the information he knows about the women he took. He
simultaneously takes responsibility for his actions and denies responsibility for his
actions.

He states that his childhood had no influence on his actions (taking responsibility)
and that anyone with time and money would have done what he did (denying
responsibility), but also that others would have done what he did quite as perfectly
(taking responsibility). Considering Cleggs childhood, it is almost unthinkable to
say that it had no impact on his adult character. By denying its influence, Clegg is
asking for credit where he believes credit is due; he thinks a lot of himself and
enjoys showing off. Unconsciously, however, he sees moral issues with his actions,
leading him to shrug off responsibility and blame money instead. In classical terms,
Cleggs Id is battling with his Superego over who or what takes responsibility for his
actions.

Clegg also speaks about his mistakes, or lack thereof. He brags about how
perfectly he executed his kidnapping of women without any sign of remorse or
understanding that his mental state is not typical. He barely admits to one mistake
(being caught) before brushing it off as an opportunity instead. In this interview
alone, Clegg presents enough behavioral information for me to highly suspect him as
being a psychopath. He avoids eye contact with Officer Parker consistently; he
exhibits antisocial behavior. He has a diminished sense of remorse, boldly speaks
about his disturbing behavior for longer than is necessarily required to answer each
question, and displays signs of narcissism throughout, including his reluctance to
admit having mistakes. This being said, I believe Clegg told the truth for the
duration of the interview. His tone matches that of his journal, and his pride for his
actions outweighs the benefits of lying about them. Although he refused to plead
insanity at his trial earlier this year, I have no doubt that such an argument could
have been persuasive to a jury.

Clegg also, though perhaps unintentionally, fleshes out his journey of progressing
from the nice guy role with Miranda to the captor role as he kidnaps more and
more women. He says that Mirandas ungratefulness taught him to be less of an
accommodating host, while I would posit that it was his time in a position of
almost absolute power over her that led to this progression. He does realize that he
should preserve his victims after being unable to stand looking at Mirandas corpse,
but this is a lesson he taught himself, not one she taught him. This progression into
darker and darker moral territory is not uncommon among serial killers. While I,

along with Lewes other investigators, found the remains of Miranda and Marian and
the preserved Molly, Mables body is missing, along with the many others Clegg took
and preserved. As Clegg found that his victims were best killed and preserved soon
after he took them so that their appearances did not change, his rate of killing must
have increased logistically. Over the five-year period between Mirandas
kidnapping and Cleggs capture, I would estimate that Clegg killed approximately
twenty-five to thirty young women. Although this series of interview was accepted
to Clegg upon his understanding that if he was helpful his life sentence might be
reduced, I highly suggest that he be given no such privilege. His responses clearly
show that he plans to kill again if he were to leave prison, at least at this point in
time.

While he is asked outright how many prisoners he kept, Clegg never answers the
question; he evades it. He speaks about Miranda, Marian, and Molly and then
mentions six more, whose names he claims he doesnt know. I believe Clegg is
telling the truth as well in this instance, as his progression into deeper and darker
acts follows his progression in dehumanizing his victims through acts such as
preserving them. Such dehumanization would likely be facilitated by a lack of caring
for names; fairly early on, he throws away his role as Ferdinand.

Cleggs comments earlier this year at his trial concerning the remains of his cousin
Mabel left much unknown; the court knew Mabel was crippled and Clegg believed
she should be killed, but we did not know that she and her mother had been too
much of an inconvenience for Clegg, and that this inconvenience was what
prompted him to murder them. The fact that Clegg did not preserve them because
they were not perfect is an interesting new piece of information that further adds to
the idea of Clegg as a psychopath who dehumanized his victims. To him, not only
did Mabel and her mother not deserve to live, but they also did not even deserve to
be kept by him. Still, we do not know how many he killed after Mabel and her
mother, and, for now, Clegg seems to enjoy feeling duping delight more than the
shock he will inevitably see on Parkers face when he reveals this information. I use
words such as will and when because I believe that, with further interview, Clegg
will certainly talk about his other victims, and I urge Officer Parker to continue to
pull the story out of him, as it could prove very useful in analyzing other cases.