B.C. pleads with Amazon to stop selling serial killer Robert Pickton’s self-published book
Robert William Pickton, 52, shown here in an undated picture taken from TV.
pickton
Ernie Crey , the brother of Dawn Crey, who's DNA was found on the Pickton property, in a 2010 photo.
METRO VANCOUVER — Please don’t read it.
That was the reaction from family members of the victims of Robert Pickton to news the serial killer has just released a book. A police officer involved in bringing the murder to justice had the same message for any would-be readers.
The 144-page book, available in paperback and ebook, is called Pickton: In His Own Words. It was published on Jan. 29 by Outskirts Press, a Colorado-based company that helps would-be authors self-publish, and is for sale on Amazon.ca for $20.71.
Ernie Crey, whose sister Dawn Crey’s DNA was found at Pickton’s Port Coquitlam pig farm, said the book is just one more slap on the face to people who lost a family member to Pickton. “I am deeply troubled by it and so are the other families who had a loved one a victim of Robert Pickton.”
The provincial government is appealing to Amazon to halt sales of the book.
“We are taking this very seriously and investigating every means available to ensure that the families involved are protected from further harm and that Robert Pickton will not profit in any way from this book,” Mike Morris, the minister of public safety, said in a statement. “It is not right that a person who caused so much harm and hurt so many people could profit from his behaviour.”
According to CTV News, Pickton wrote the book in his maximum security cell at Agassiz’s Kent Institution. Then, because his correspondence is monitored closely, he passed the manuscript onto another prisoner, who sent it to a friend in California named Michael Chilldres, who published it with his name on the cover.
Amazon was under attack Sunday on its own website from people condemning it for listing the book.
Pickton was charged in 2007 with killing 26 women from a list of 69 who went missing, though he bragged about killing 49. He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years for the murders of six women between 1997 and 2001.
In the book — which references biblical passages, is full of spelling mistakes and has transcripts of his interviews with police — Pickton says he is innocent the RCMP made him the fall guy for the deaths.
Crey said he doesn’t even like talking about the book.
“He has had a pretrial hearing and a trial, and his conviction was upheld on appeal,” Crey said. “We know his story and we’re not interested in reading a book where he looks for sympathy.
“I have no interest in buying or reading the book and hope no one else buys it and reads it. ”
Former Vancouver police officer Lori Shenher helped bring Pickton to justice and then wrote her own book on the botched police handling of the case.
“My initial inclination when I first heard of this book was not to dignify its existence with a response,” she wrote on her blog. “However, I’ve been asked for my reaction several times, so here it is: Someone needs to speak in defence of the victims’ loved ones.”
“I haven’t read any of this book, nor do I intend to in the interest of my own mental health. …I do know that in the fewer than 24 hours I have been aware of it, family members of this man’s victims have reached out to me and in the media expressing deep pain and hurt. … These are anguished people who have bee through absolute hell for so many years.
“In the interest of common decency, I hope people simply ignore this work and decline to give this man a soapbox.”
my feels: i think this is crazy and that this shouldn't be published
That was the reaction from family members of the victims of Robert Pickton to news the serial killer has just released a book. A police officer involved in bringing the murder to justice had the same message for any would-be readers.
The 144-page book, available in paperback and ebook, is called Pickton: In His Own Words. It was published on Jan. 29 by Outskirts Press, a Colorado-based company that helps would-be authors self-publish, and is for sale on Amazon.ca for $20.71.
Ernie Crey, whose sister Dawn Crey’s DNA was found at Pickton’s Port Coquitlam pig farm, said the book is just one more slap on the face to people who lost a family member to Pickton. “I am deeply troubled by it and so are the other families who had a loved one a victim of Robert Pickton.”
The provincial government is appealing to Amazon to halt sales of the book.
“We are taking this very seriously and investigating every means available to ensure that the families involved are protected from further harm and that Robert Pickton will not profit in any way from this book,” Mike Morris, the minister of public safety, said in a statement. “It is not right that a person who caused so much harm and hurt so many people could profit from his behaviour.”
According to CTV News, Pickton wrote the book in his maximum security cell at Agassiz’s Kent Institution. Then, because his correspondence is monitored closely, he passed the manuscript onto another prisoner, who sent it to a friend in California named Michael Chilldres, who published it with his name on the cover.
Amazon was under attack Sunday on its own website from people condemning it for listing the book.
Pickton was charged in 2007 with killing 26 women from a list of 69 who went missing, though he bragged about killing 49. He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years for the murders of six women between 1997 and 2001.
In the book — which references biblical passages, is full of spelling mistakes and has transcripts of his interviews with police — Pickton says he is innocent the RCMP made him the fall guy for the deaths.
Crey said he doesn’t even like talking about the book.
“He has had a pretrial hearing and a trial, and his conviction was upheld on appeal,” Crey said. “We know his story and we’re not interested in reading a book where he looks for sympathy.
“I have no interest in buying or reading the book and hope no one else buys it and reads it. ”
Former Vancouver police officer Lori Shenher helped bring Pickton to justice and then wrote her own book on the botched police handling of the case.
“My initial inclination when I first heard of this book was not to dignify its existence with a response,” she wrote on her blog. “However, I’ve been asked for my reaction several times, so here it is: Someone needs to speak in defence of the victims’ loved ones.”
“I haven’t read any of this book, nor do I intend to in the interest of my own mental health. …I do know that in the fewer than 24 hours I have been aware of it, family members of this man’s victims have reached out to me and in the media expressing deep pain and hurt. … These are anguished people who have bee through absolute hell for so many years.
“In the interest of common decency, I hope people simply ignore this work and decline to give this man a soapbox.”
my feels: i think this is crazy and that this shouldn't be published
