Perceptions of murder-suicide Colette Alexandra Limbrick This thesis is submitted in candidature for the degree of Doctor of Social Work March 2013 School of Social Sciences Cardiff University I Summary The thesis is an exploration of discourse on a particular type of familial child homicide referred to as ‘murder-suicide’ and often appearing to occur ‘out of the blue’. The purpose of the research is to contribute to social work understanding of the cultural context of murder- suicide through description and exploration of how murder-suicide is perceived and constructed in five specific cases. The empirical basis includes a narrative analysis of selected newspaper reports, semi-structured interviews with social workers using vignettes and semi-structured interviews with relevant professionals who had post-incident involvement in the cases. The structure of the thesis follows the format of an introductory chapter; a review of the literature relevant to murder-suicide, family ideology, childhood and the role of professional social work and the influence of the media on the creation of discourse; followed by a discussion of the research methods; and three empirical chapters concerned with narrative analysis of newspaper reports and interviews of social workers and relevant professionals. The thesis concludes with a chapter on the relevance to social work. The key theoretical perspectives are a focus on the social construction of social problems and the existence of multiple discourses. The thesis concludes that a single interpretation of murder-suicide is insufficient. Social workers in particular identify a range of social and individual factors, intertwined and difficult to disconnect from each other, that contribute to the actions of the individual in committing murder of their own children. Familiar discourses are identified within which the phenomenon of murder-suicide is described and made sense of, including gender roles, domestic abuse, power and control and mental health. The thesis concludes that for murder-suicide, like other forms of child abuse, social workers must give up ideas of omnipotence and accept the fallibility of social work in protecting all children. II DECLARATION This work has not been submitted in substance for any other degree or award at this or any other university or place of learning, nor is being submitted concurrently in candidature for any degree or other award. Signed ……………(candidate) Date …18.09.2013 ……… STATEMENT 1 This thesis is being submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of DSW………………………(insert MCh, MD, MPhil, PhD etc, as appropriate) Signed …………… (candidate) Date 18.09.2013 …… STATEMENT 2 This thesis is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by explicit references. The views expressed are my own. Signed ………… (candidate) Date 18.09.2013 ………… STATEMENT 3 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed …………(candidate) Date 18.09.2013 ………… STATEMENT 4: PREVIOUSLY APPROVED BAR ON ACCESS I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loans after expiry of a bar on access previously approved by the Academic Standards & Quality Committee. Signed ………(candidate) Date 18.09.2013 …………… III Contents Section Subject Page Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1 Purpose of the research 1 1.1 Origins of the research 1 1.2 Familial homicide of children 2 1.3 Constructions of belief and knowledge 4 1.4 Discourse on murder-suicide 6 1.5 Research questions 6 Chapter 2 A review of the literature on murder -suicide 9 2 The literature review 9 2.1 Defining murder-suicide 10 2.2 Summary of the research evidence on underlying characteristics of 12 protagonists 2.2.1 Domestic violence 13 2.2.2 Discordant adult relationships 15 2.2.3 Gender ideology 16 2.2.4 Mental illness 17 2.2.5 Types of familicidal killer 18 2.3 Child murder within the context of family ideology 18 2.4 The social construction of childhood 19 2.5 Risk and childhood 21 2.6 The influence of the media in public and professional discourse 21 2.6.1 Media influence on child protection discourse 22 2.6.2 The influence of social work as a profession on media stories 24 Chapter 3 A framework for researching perceptions 26 3 My biography and the research 26 3.1 Preparation 28 3.2 Methodological considerations 29 3.3 Research design 29 3.4 Methods of data generation 31 3.4.1 Interviews with non social work professionals involved in cases of 32 IV murder-suicide 3.4.2 Interviews with social workers using case vignettes 33 3.4.3 Analysis of Coroner records 34 3.4.4 Newspaper reports 34 3.4.5 Sourcing of cases 35 3.4.6 Sampling for cases and interviews with non social work professionals 35 Table 1 Professionals contacted for each of the twenty -one cases 36 Table 2 Responses from professionals contacted 37 Table 3 Final case selection and available sources of data per case 38 Table 4 The twenty one cases and their social context 39 Table 5 Summary of similarities across the twenty one cases in respect of 41 gender of perpetrator and social context Table 6 Percentage of variables featuring in the overall sample of twenty 42 one cases compared to the total male sample of five cases, with rank ordering 3.4.7 Sampling for social worker interviews 43 Table 7 Number of interviews per case for participating local authorities 44 3.5 Access issues 44 3.6 Field relations 47 3.7 Procedures of data generation 48 3.7.1 Interviews with non social work professionals involved in cases of 48 murder-suicide 3.7.2 Interviews with social workers using case vignettes 51 3.7.3 Analysis of Coroner records 52 3.7.4 Newspaper reports 53 Table 8 Newspaper sources and number of articles analysed per source 54 3.8 Ethics 54 3.9 Validity 56 3.10 Reflexivity 57 Chapter 4 The cases and their construction in newspaper reports 61 4 Argument 61 4.1 The construction of stories in newspapers 62 4.2 Narrative analysis 63 4.3 The cases 66 V 4.4 Analysis of the sequential structure of newspaper reports on the five 69 cases 4.4.1 Narrative structure 69 Table 9 Narrative sequence of five cases across newspapers 70 4.4.2 Chronological sequencing of narrative across the five newspaper types 80 for each case Table 15 Preferred chronological sequencing of na rrative elements for each 82 case 4.4.3 Chronological sequencing of narrative across the five cases for each 83 newspaper type Table 21 Preferred chronological sequencing of narrative elements for each 84 newspaper 4.5 Analysis of detail within the component elements of newspaper report 85 narrative analysis Table 22 Narrative analysis of newspaper story content 89 4.6 Construction of characters through the use of characteristics and 95 attributes 4.7 Motive 98 4.8 Roles assigned to others and their function in the narrative 101 4.9 The existence of a proto-narrative 102 4.10 Discussion 102 Chapter 5 Interview accounts of five cases of murder -suicide 10 5 5 Introduction 105 5.1 Interview processes 105 5.2 Analytical approach to the interviews 106 5.3 Conceptualisation of gendered familial role 108 5.4 Overview of non-social work professionals 108 5.5 Overview of social work professionals 110 5.6 Thematic constructions from interviews 110 5.6.1 The protagonist as a father 110 5.6.2 The protagonist as villain and victim 111 5.6.3 The role of other family members 115 5.6.4 The gendered dimension of social role 118 VI 5.6.5 Mental health 120 5.6.6 Domestic abuse 122 5.6.7 Power and control 124 5.7 Method of murder 125 5.8 Motive for murder 126 5.9 Interviewees being influenced by others 129 5.10 Discussion and conclusion 129 5.10.1 Conceptualisation of the protagonist 130 5.10.2 The protagonist and his family circumstances 131 5.10.3 The professional construction of blameworthiness 131 5.10.4 Reflexivity and the exercise of moral judgement 132 Chapter 6 The relationship of social work to the phenomenon of murder - 13 5 suicide 6 The context of contemporary social work 135 6.1 From philanthropy to the certainty of technical management of social 135 problems 6.2 From the certainty of technical management to the uncertainty of 136 reflexive modernism 6.3 Current social work practice 136 6.4 The notion of risk within families 138 6.5 Risk factors 138 6.5.1 Financial circumstances 139 6.5.2 Marital disharmony 140 6.5.3 Mental health and depression 140 6.5.4 The difficulty in identifying families at risk of murder-suicide 141 6.6 Prioritisation of resources 143 6.7 A role for social work and/or other professionals? 144 6.8 Processes for multi-agency learning 145 6.9 Social work’s contribution to discourse on murder-suicide 145 6.9.1 Social work’s relationship with the media 146 6.10 Discussion and conclusion 150 Chapter 7 Conclusion 15 3 VII Bibliography 16 1 Appendix A Letter of invite and information sheet to non social work professionals 183 Appendix B Letter of invite and information sheet to social work professionals 187 Appendix C Interview schedule for non social work professionals 190 Appendices Case Vignettes A - U 194 D - H Appendix I Interview schedule for social work professionals 205 Appendix J Coroner file recording framework 207 Appendix K Table 10 – 14 - Chronological sequencing of story elements across the 208 five newspapers for each case Appendix L Tables 16 – 20 - preferred chronological sequencing of elements across 210 the five cases for each newspaper VIII Acknowledgements Firstly, my thanks goes to the social workers, police officers, fire fighters, coroner and domestic abuse expert for giving their time and sharing their reflections on the subject of murder-suicide.