The Coronation Street Killer
Daniel Bartlam was fascinated by fictional violence and gore. He enjoyed adult-rated video games and movies, including Nightmare on Elm Street and Evil Dead. Just a year after Daniel developed this fixation, his parents divorced. He and his brother went to live with Jacqueline, and due to financial difficulties, Daniel was moved from a private, fee-paying school into a local comprehensive.
Whilst Daniel’s interest in adult-rated material was an early indication of the murderer he would become, his parents’ divorce undoubtedly contributed to his disturbed mind. As well as being a fan of Saw and Halloween, he also started watching soap operas. He often tuned in to Emmerdale and Coronation Street and particularly enjoyed the murder-centred storylines. Indeed, Daniel became obsessed with John Stape, a villain from Coronation Street who killed another character with a hammer.
Jacqueline’s partner — Simon Matters — raised his concerns about her son’s strange behaviour including discovering soiled towels in the teenager’s room, as well as a huge stack of secret 18-rated horror movies. To his disgust, he also discovered some of Jacqueline’s underwear stashed in a briefcase and that Daniel had been urinating on toys given to him by his mother. Daniel’s abnormality was also noticed at school. In May 2010, he was referred to a school counsellor following a violent outburst. And during his counselling sessions, he said he was hearing voices in his head telling him to hurt people.
Just six weeks before the murder, Daniel went for an assessment at a nearby mental health unit in Nottinghamshire. He was found to have no mental illnesses and was judged to be of little or no risk to himself or others.
On the 24th of April 2011, Daniel spent the evening re-watching one of the Saw movies. Then, in the early hours of the following morning, he put his plan into action. After retrieving a claw hammer and a can of petrol he’d hidden in the garden shed, he walked through the house and entered his mother’s bedroom. Daniel observed his mother sleeping before approaching the bed. He then raised the hammer and attacked, striking Jacqueline multiple times across the head and face.
When the deed was done, Daniel dropped a second hammer near the window and wiped the real murder weapon with cleaning fluid before hiding it in his bedroom. After returning to the scene of the crime, Daniel rolled his mother onto the floor and surrounded her with scraps of newspaper. He then poured petrol over the body and set it alight. Immediately, Daniel told his younger brother about the fire, scooped up the family dog, and ran out of the house. Even before the police arrived, Daniel started lying to those around him. He told several neighbours that he’d seen a masked intruder leaving his mother’s bedroom via the window. Later that day, Simon — who was away on a business trip — saw a news report about a fire in Nottinghamshire. As soon as the report mentioned the street in which the fire had occurred, he knew it was Daniel.
The police soon discovered the truth despite Daniel’s best efforts. Though the house had been damaged by the fire, investigators managed to recover the teenager’s computer. What they found left them in no doubt about who was guilty. Daniel’s internet history revealed his obsession with fictional murderers. His hard drive also contained video clips of John Stape, the villain from Coronation Street who had killed someone with a hammer. When this detail was made public, the press started referring to Daniel as ‘The Coronation Street Killer’. Worst of all, the investigators found a story written by Daniel which depicted a fictional version of himself killing his mother with a hammer. This sadistic story had been more than a fantasy; it was a plan for him to follow during the night of the murder.
Daniel’s two-week trial took place in February 2012 at Nottingham Crown Court. Given the abundance of evidence, Daniel knew there was no point denying what he’d done. Instead, he claimed that he’d been driven to murder due to his mother’s physical and verbal abuse. But this wasn’t a particularly effective defence. No witnesses had ever seen Jacqueline attack either of her children and she was known to be a very kind-natured woman.
The jury rejected Daniel’s defence and found him guilty of murder. He was then sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of sixteen years.
