A MUM killed by her 14-year-old son in a Coronation Street copycat hammer
attack signed her own death warrant by covering up for him.
Daniel Bartlam, now 18, beat Jacqueline, 47, to death and set fire to her body
after watching Corrie serial killer John Stape bludgeon a woman in clips he
kept on his computer.
But psychologists are convinced the twisted teenager could have been stopped
if his mum had not hidden his behaviour.
Daniel’s school referred him for psychological help in 2011 after he
claimed he heard voices telling him to stab and hurt people.
But after a brief consultation psychologists decided he was simply “making up”
the commands.
And Jacqueline, in denial, kept quiet.
She said nothing about his obsession with violent games and horror films.
And she even remained silent about how he defecated on his favourite toys and
stole her underwear.
She tried to reassure herself by telling partner Simon Matters: “That’s just
what kids do.”
Top criminal psychologist Dr David Holmes, who has studied the case at
length, said: “Jacqueline was a barrier to Daniel getting treated.
“If she’d been firmer with him his fantasy world would not have grown.
“She covered up an awful lot.
“She hid much of what he was doing, his reclusiveness and his obsessive,
obstinate behaviour.
“She tended to tolerate his behaviour rather than oppose it.
“She was far more forgiving than most mothers.
“He might have been treated if it wasn’t for that.”
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He went on: “If I was dealing with somebody hearing voices, defecating around
a room and having massive fantasies, I’d be seriously concerned that they
were on the limits of personality disorder.
“But Jacqueline thought Daniel was a slightly stroppy teenager, upset by her
divorce and the changes in his life.
“She didn’t perceive the deeper problem.
“Most kids are seeking boundaries.
“They oppose you so you can set boundaries which make them feel safe and
secure.
“It’s ultimately what most kids need, but Daniel’s mother didn’t do that.
“It would have been a battle, but once limits were set, they’d have stayed
set.”
Jacqueline, from Arnold, Nottingham, separated from Daniel’s dad in 2005 and
saw the seven-year-old’s behaviour deteriorate.
She met partner Simon in May 2008.
Commercial manager Simon has also opened up about the killing — featured in
new CBS series Murderers and their Mothers.
And he recalls how Jacqueline was determined to brush the lads’ issues under
the carpet.
Simon said: “When Daniel came out of the last session with the psychologists,
Jacqui hugged him by the car as if to say, ‘Thank goodness that’s over. We
know you’re alright. There’s nothing to worry about now’.”
He also admitted he still fears what Daniel will do when he is released from
his 16-year sentence.
Simon said: “When he was found guilty, he sort of crossed his neck as if to
say to me, ‘You’re next’.
“I think about Daniel quite a lot. I worry about if he got out, would he do
it again?”
He also revealed that in February 2009, while helping clear Daniel’s room, he
found bags of Jacqueline’s underwear and Star Wars figures.
The toys had been mutilated and urinated on, as well as shelves of horror
films.
Forensic psychologist Prof Kevin Browne, who also appears in the programme,
said his disturbing behaviour was a cry for attention.
He explained: “Some people may interpret the fact he stole his mother’s
underwear as psychosexual which, given he was a growing young man, it might
have been.
“But I think he was deliberately being naughty to get his mother’s attention.
“He wanted her to tell him off.
“He just wanted any form of interaction, and interacting with your mum by
being naughty and getting told off is better than no attention at all.”
By 2010 the increasingly reclusive schoolboy was spending his time alone,
playing violent video games and writing shockingly graphic stories. Simon
said: “He almost took pride in what he had written. It disturbed me.
“One was about a young boy who was walking to school when two bullies chased
him.
“After a running battle, the boy ended up stabbing them.”
He went on: “There were a few incidents with Daniel that showed a bit of
erratic behaviour.
“On one occasion he trashed the garden shed, then he walked paint through the
house and he even destroyed some plants I put in the garden.
“Jacqui would shout ‘Daniel’ in an exasperated way but he wouldn’t listen.
“He had also started hitting his younger brother a bit too — giving him a sly
dig here and there.”
The same year, Daniel sparked a police hunt when he ran away from home.
Officers found him at 1am, walking towards the home in Redhill, Nottingham,
where he had lived with both parents.
His behaviour worsened.
And just months after he was discharged by psychologists, he began to
painstakingly plan his mother’s slaying.
The teen — who had previously downloaded a clip of Corrie killer John Stape
murdering Charlotte Hoyle with a hammer — searched the internet for “how to
get away with murder” and “sentences for manslaughter and murder”.
He also wrote a soap opera-style story about a character called Daniel Bartlam
killing a mother called Jackie.
At 1am on Easter Monday 2011, Daniel crept to the garden shed to get a
hammer. Realising he had got out of bed, Jacqueline went to the window.
Her son went into her room and killed her with seven blows to her head.
He then covered her body with newspapers and set it alight, starting a fierce
blaze.
Emerging from the flames to face police officers, he claimed an intruder had
killed her with a second hammer, which he planted at the scene.
But within 24 hours he was arrested.
And in April 2012 he was found guilty of murder.
Speaking at the time, Simon said: “During the trial Daniel didn’t even offer a
motive for what he did which may have provided some closure for the family.
“I just hope one day he realises that his mum loved him and didn’t deserve
what he did to her.”
— Murderers and their Mothers, CBS Reality, 10pm tonight.