Lancashire Fusiliers of Interest
Famous

(or infamous)

Lancashire Fusiliers

The Making of a Monster

Joe has the book in his locker its called "The Knick-Knack Man."
WILLIAM "THE MUTILATOR" MACDONALD
The serial killer who would become known as the Mutilator was born Allan Ginsberg, the middle of three children, in Liverpool, England, in 1924. He proved to be an unusual child prone to taking long walks at night by himself and on many occasions his mother had to call the police to go and search for him. He never sought company and remained friendless all of his life. Psychiatrists diagnosed the young Ginsberg as being schizophrenic.

In 1943 at the age of 19, he joined the army and was transferred to the Lancashire Fusiliers where he was raped in an air-raid shelter by a corporal who threatened him with death if he told anyone.
At first young private Ginsberg felt bad about what had happened, but as time went by he realized he had enjoyed the physical experience and believed this was the start of his life as a homosexual, a life that would bring him nothing but misery and humiliation in those conservative times.

Being raped by the despised corporal would be constantly on Allan Ginsberg's mind throughout his life and would play an important part in creating the horrific events ahead of him.

When he came out of the army in 1947 psychiatrists again diagnosed him as schizophrenic and his brother had him committed to a mental asylum in Scotland that was straight out of the dark ages. The cells were crammed full of raving lunatics and it was freezing cold. He received shock treatment every day. After six months his mother got him out and took him home.

As he grew older, Ginsberg became an active homosexual, openly soliciting men in public toilets and bars. His obvious homosexuality made life difficult in those conservative days and he moved from job to job as the taunts and ridicule became too much for him to cope with. He was also starting to worry about his sanity.

Allan Ginsberg consulted a psychiatrist in 1947 about his mental condition, complaining that the persecution was causing illusions and strange noises in his head. At the psychiatrist's recommendation he spent the next three months in a mental institution, but it changed nothing.

Disillusioned and convinced that his surroundings were to blame for his unstable mental condition, Ginsberg emigrated to Canada in 1949 and then to Australia in 1955 where he decided to start a new life completely and changed his name to William MacDonald.

But, new name or not, old habits die hard and shortly after his arrival, he was charged with indecent assault when he touched a detective on the penis in a public toilet in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. MacDonald was placed on a two-year good behavior bond.

He moved to Ballarat in the neighboring state of Victoria but his life always seemed to be dogged with trouble. While he was working on a construction site, his workmates gave him a beating for being a homosexual. He retaliated by buying a very sharp knife and slashing the tires of their bicycles.

MacDonald held jobs only until the taunts became so strong that he had to move on from state to state when all of the time the urge to kill his tormentors was building up inside him. Fact or paranoia, it seemed that no matter where he went, people would talk about him and make fun of him behind his back. And the corporal who raped him and in MacDonald's view made him the source of their amusement was never far from his mind.

for the rest of the story click on the link below
http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/weird/Macdonald/monster_2.HTML
or
contact Joe for the loan of the book