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Morbid

Episode 619: Peter Bryan

Mon, 18 Nov 2024

Description

On April 25, 2004, Broadmoor Hospital inmate Peter Bryan attacked a killed fellow inmate Richard Loudwell, a man awaiting sentencing for the murder of an eighty-two-year-old woman. The fact that the murder occurred in England’s most famous and supposedly secure psychiatric hospital was shocking, but more shocking was that this was Bryan’s third murder, and the second in as many months. Indeed, just two months earlier, while he was under the care of doctors and social workers in an open in-patient mental health hospital, Bryan left the facility in February and a few hours later he’d killed, dismembered, and partially cannibalized forty-three-year-old Brian Cherry.Peter Bryan’s murders were highly sensationalized by the press, particularly the tabloids, who fueled the ongoing moral panic over the abysmal state of England’s mental health system. While the reporting did little more than exacerbate the public’s growing anger with the government, they nonetheless highlighted a very important question everyone wanted answered: How was a man with Bryan’s mental health and criminal history able to get released institutional care, and moreover, why was he not under surveillance when he murdered a third time—this time in heavily guarded psychiatric hospital?ReferencesBennetto, Jason. 2005. "Care in the community patient sought `buzz' from killing and eating his victims." The Independent, March 16.Bowcott, Owen. 2009. "Cannibal who killed three had seemed normal, NHS finds." The Guardian, September 3.Chelsea News. 1994. "Grudge ended in murder." Chelsea News, March 3: 1.Cheston, Paul. 2005. "Cannibal set free to kill in London." London Evening Standard, March 15.Feller, Grant. 1993. "Police hunt evil King's Road murderer." Chelsea News, March 24: 3.Garvey, Geoff, and Peter Dobbie. 1993. "Girl battered to death in King's Road." Evening Standard (London, England), March 19: 73.Mishcon, Jane, Tim Exworthy, Stuart Wix, and Mike Lindsay. 2009. Independent Inquiry into the Care and Treatment of Peter Bryan - Part I. Mental Health Treatment Review, London, England: National Health Service (NHS).Raif, Shenai, and Andrew Barrow. 2005. "Triple-killer 'cannibal' told: you'll never be freed." The Independent, March 14.Tendler, Stewart, and Laura Peek. 2004. "Cannibal fears after body found cut apart." The Times (London, England), February 19.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Audio
Transcription

Chapter 1: What happened in the attack on Nisha Sheth?

1055.937 - 1056.277 Unidentified Speaker (Brief Interjection)

Really?

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1057.437 - 1060.798 Unidentified Speaker (Brief Interjection)

I mean, yeah, the brother knows, too. It's just like, where is he?

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1060.918 - 1078.607 Elena

Yeah. About an hour after the attack in the store, Peter Bryan was seen dangling by his hands from a third-story balcony of an apartment building in the Battersea neighborhood area of London. What? He fell nearly 30 feet and severely broke both lower legs and ankles. Ooh, ouch.

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1078.767 - 1098.905 Elena

And later he explained that he had intended to kill himself by throwing himself off the building headfirst, but he had second thoughts on the way and clung to the building until he couldn't hold any longer and fell. When he got to the emergency department of St. Thomas Hospital, he was repeating a phone number over and over but wouldn't say what the number was for.

1098.925 - 1121.658 Elena

And when the admitting nurse gave the number to police, they found out that it was the number for Nisha's parents. And he was just saying it over and over. What the fuck? Like, why? Peter's injuries required him to have several surgeries. He had to get bilateral pins put into both of his legs, and he was placed in traction. Oof.

1121.858 - 1134.767 Elena

Although a police report filed several days claimed that he tested positive for opiates, the drug screening that was done at the hospital only showed weak traces of THC in his system. Consistent with someone who'd smoked marijuana a few days earlier.

1134.787 - 1135.167 Unidentified Speaker (Brief Interjection)

Yeah.

1135.728 - 1153.676 Elena

So the following day, March 20th, he was arrested for the murder of Nisha Sheth. To think that he, like, it doesn't sound like he was on anything. No. Like, what? No. And the news of the arrest made headlines, obviously, in all the London papers, and especially the tabloids, which at the time were, oof.

Chapter 2: What was Peter Bryan's childhood like?

2692.321 - 2693.762 Unidentified Speaker (Brief Interjection)

Oh, God.

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2693.842 - 2709.233 Elena

Assuming Peter to be the victim of the assault at first, because he was covered in blood, they asked if he was all right, and he said he was. And it was only after Peter explained that he didn't live there that one of the officers started searching around the department and found Brian Cherry's body in the living room.

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2709.933 - 2718.101 Elena

By then, Peter had removed Cherry's right leg, and it appears as though he had begun to remove the other leg and was interrupted by the police.

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2718.901 - 2719.822 Unidentified Speaker (Brief Interjection)

Oh my God.

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2719.962 - 2739.183 Elena

The constable also noted that Cherry's head and face were completely covered in blood and very damaged, presumably by the claw hammer, which was on the floor next to his body. Oh my God. Completely stunned. This is brutal. Yeah. The officers asked Peter whether he was the one who dismembered the body, and he replied that he had.

2740.024 - 2745.968 Elena

And when they asked if Brian Cherry had been alive when Peter arrived, he said, yes, he opened the door to me when I knocked.

2747.128 - 2748.109 Unidentified Speaker (Brief Interjection)

Just matter of a fact.

2748.129 - 2774.685 Elena

Yep. Peter also confirmed that he had killed Cherry, but didn't seem to know why he had done it. And after being placed in handcuffs, he watched as the other officer began walking towards the kitchen. And just as she reached the door, the officer, he called out to her with a big smirk on his face and said, I ate his brain with butter. It was very nice. Oh, he's like with a big smile on his face.

2775.145 - 2798.748 Elena

Yeah. Can you imagine being the police officer as you're walking into the kitchen? No. He's like, by the way, this is what you're going to find. And did they actually find his brain outside of his... In the kitchen, the officer discovered a horrifying scene. A plastic plate sat beside the stove with what appeared to be flesh with human hair coming from it. And on the stove was a frying pan...

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