conclusion:
Billy has a fully developed understanding of moral and ethical codes, but refers to them as: 'ritual devices for the subjugation of individual to tribal will,' from which I infer that his own morality is in conflict with social and legal definitions of right and wrong. He exhibits extraordinary self-control and gives no insight into his background or history. Billy Blake is almost certainly an alias, although questions about specific crimes elicit no reaction from him. He has a high IQ and it's difficult to assess his reasons for refusing to talk about his past. He has a morbid interest in hell and mortification, but poses more of a threat to himself than to the community. I can find no evidence of a dangerous mental disorder. He seems to have a clear rationale for his choice of lifestyle-I would describe it as a penitent's life-and I consider it far more likely that some private trauma, unrelated to any crime, motivates him.
He presents himself as a passive individual although I have noticed signs of agitation whenever he is pressed about where he was and what he was doing before he first came to police attention. I agree that there may be a crime in his past-he is quite singleminded enough to mutilate himself to achieve a purpose-but I think it unlikely. He quickly developed a strong resistance to my questions on the matter, and it is doubtful that further sessions will persuade him to be more forthcoming. It is my considered opinion, however, that he would benefit from therapy as I believe his 'exile' from society, involving as it does an almost fanatical desire to suffer through starvation and deprivation, will result in his unnecessary and premature death.
Transcript of taped interview with Billy Blake-12. 7. 91 (part only)
Irvine:
Are you saying that your personal code of ethics is of a higher order than the religious codes?
Blake: I'm saying it's different.
Irvine: In what way?
Blake: Absolute values have no place in my morality.
Irvine: Can you explain that?
Blake: Different circumstances demand different codes of ethics. For example, it isn't always sinful to steal. Were I a mother with hungry children, I would think it a greater sin to let them starve.
Irvine: That's too easy an example, Billy. Most people would agree with you. What about murder?
Blake: The same. I believe there are times and occasions when murder, premeditated or not, is appropriate. (Pause) But I don't think it's possible to live with the consequences of such a crime. The taboo against killing a member of our own species is very strong, and taboos are difficult to rationalize.
Irvine: Are you speaking from personal experience?
Blake: (Gave no answer)
Irvine: You seem to have inflicted severe punishment on yourself, particularly by burning your hands. As I'm sure you already know, the police suspect a deliberate attempt to obscure your fingerprints.
Blake: Only because they can conceive of no other reason why a man should want to express himself upon the only thing that truly belongs to him-namely his body.
Irvine: Self-mutilation is normally an indication of a disordered mind.
Blake: Would you say the same if I had disfigured myself with tattoos? The skin is a canvas for individual creativity. I see the same beauty in my hands as a woman sees when she paints her face in a mirror. (Pause) We assume we control our minds, when we don't. They're so easily manipulated. Make a man destitute and you make him envious. Make him wealthy and you make him proud. Saints and sinners are the only free-thinkers in a governed society.
Irvine: Which are you?
Blake: Neither. I'm incapable of free thought. My mind is bound.
Irvine: By what?
Blake: By the same thing as yours, Doctor. By intellect. You're too sensible to act against your own interests therefore your life lacks spontaneity. You will die in the chains you've made for yourself.
Irvine: You were arrested for stealing. Wasn't that acting against your own interests?
Blake: I was hungry.
Irvine: You think it's sensible to be in prison?
Blake: It's cold outside.
Irvine: Tell me about these chains I've made for myself.
Blake: They're in your mind. You conform to the patterns of behavior that others have prescribed for you. You will never do what you want because the tribe's will is stronger than yours.
Irvine: Yet you said your mind is as constrained as mine, and you're no conformist, Billy. If you were you wouldn't be in prison.
Blake: Prisoners are the most diligent of conformists, otherwise places like this would be in perpetual riot and rebellion.
Irvine: That's not what I meant. You appear to be an educated man, yet you live as a derelict. Is the loneliness of the streets preferable to the more conventional existence of home and family?
Blake: (Long pause) I need to understand the concept before I can answer the question. How do you define home and family, Doctor?
Irvine: Home is the bricks and mortar that keeps your family-wife and children-safe. It's a place most of us love because it contains the people we love.
