Karl Bluestone

Karl Bluestone was a Kent Police officer who murdered his pregnant wife and two of his children then hanged himself. The incident became notorious as an example of police failures when dealing with domestic violence.

The murders

On 28 August 2001, after drinking with colleagues, Bluestone returned to his home in Gravesend and watched police soap opera 'The Bill'. He then argued with his pregnant wife Jill, and used a claw hammer to kill her and their infant sons Henry and Chandler, who were in their pyjamas. He also attacked his two other children, Jack and Jessica, before hanging himself. [ Policeman 'killed family then himself' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1515135.stm]

Domestic violence

The incident was reported under headlines such as 'Bloodbath bobby' ["Bloodbath bobby" headlines http://www.jeanettewinterson.com/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=149] and 'Policeman's brutal hammer frenzy'. Bluestone had been arrested at least twice for domestic violence, and had been demoted from detective constable after swallowing a bottle of pills in the back of a police car. Though they had four children the couple were both having extramarital affairs, and Bluestone had bugged the family Shogun. [ Inquiry into killer PC's home history http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1519798.stm]

Despite his paranoid, violent and suicidal tendencies the officer had represented Kent Police in a local newspaper the previous month, being pictured with children. After the murders the police were criticised for their management failures and failure to act effectively in cases of domestic violence.

Following incident

Another officer from the same Windmill Street station went berserk in Gravesend two weeks later, on September 11. Steven Tagg attacked his colleagues using a bayonet as a home-made spear, after being reported as a sex pest by a former girlfriend. He was not jailed, and was only charged with assault and making death threats to police officers, rather than assault with a deadly weapon. [ "Bluestone Pal Goes Berserk" http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/misc/print.php?artid=160583]

References