cannibal killer

This documentary examines the case of British cannibal David Harker, who killed Darlington woman Julie Paterson and ate her flesh. The film explores the trail of human devastation in the wake of Harker’s crime, which was to claim two more lives.

In 1999, 26-year-old David Harker was jailed for killing and mutilating the body of mother-of-four Julie Paterson. Police were alerted to the murder when they found Paterson’s remains dumped in a sack in a secluded lane; yet the victim’s head and limbs were never found and the killer has never expressed remorse for his actions.

In the wake of the murder, Paterson’s boyfriend, Alan Taylor, became obsessed with finding the rest of her body, and took to digging holes all over Darlington. Taylor turned to drink and in 2006 murdered his friend John Morrison by strangling him with a belt. Taylor claimed that he wanted to be sent to the same prison as Harker in order to exact revenge on his girlfriend’s killer. Three months after being sentenced to life in jail, Taylor committed suicide.

This film combines interviews conducted in 2000 with new insights from witnesses, police detectives and local reporters to unpick the story of Julie Paterson’s murder and its tragic consequences.