Antisocial Personality Disorder:
Malcolm Webster
An antisocial personality disorder (henceforth: APD) is a mental condition that impacts human perceptions, thinking, feeling, and relationships with others. People suffering from the disorder portray impulsive activities that often lead to crime. They can easily manipulate others through deceit disregarding the consequences and have little care of breaking the law. It is now common to hear or read sad and terrible stories about sociopaths and their criminal activities in most countries. The story of Malcolm Webster is rather a sad but interesting story of a complete psychopath. This essay gives an insight into his life to reveal the dreadful effects of APD.
The infamous Webster is a Briton that has faced a myriad of convictions connected to murder and theft in various European and Asian countries he has lived. He has become an ill-famed household name in most countries because of various serial movies founded on his criminal history. Webster’s ill character began to show in his childhood whereby he could normally isolate himself from other kids. He had an immense predilection for fire and often faked passing out in public. His antisocial behavior resulted in halting his education as a teenager, at 15years. However, to earn a living, Webster embarked on various odd jobs including as driver and office clerk until he opted to be a nurse. As if he knew that nursing would come in handy in doing his crimes, he allegedly used it in various murder cases whereby his victims were suspected to have died from intoxicating drug injections (Lavery, 2015).
According to The Telegraph’s Cramb (2011), Webster has an immense appetite for money that he could lure women to love him and later plot their killing to get their money. He was cunning, genial, and flawlessly polite that nobody would even have a notion that he was behind his crimes. His first crime involves her late wife Claire Morris whom he killed just after 8 months of marriage. In a calculated move, Webster is said to have used a not-so-busy road whereby he intentionally crashed his car, drugged his unconscious wife inside, and set the car ablaze. His motive all-thorough was to gain from insurance money whereby he claimed over £208,000 as cover after the accident. Webster tried the same mission with Felicity Drumm 5 years later but failed after police investigations on his past. The plot to kill Ms. Drum was to reap from over £750,000 of insurance money compensation. Another instance involved Simone Banarjee whom he lied that he had Leukemia to benefit from her will, but failed. However, he was convicted in 2011 of various crimes including murder, fraud, and bigamy committed between 1994 and 2008 (Cramb, 2011).
Going with the character portrayed by Webster over the years, his behaviors match those portrayed by a person with APD. APD reveals manipulations or right violations coupled with a lacking concern of what others feel about distress subjected to them. This is prevalent in Webster’s crime history where he manipulates women and kills them for his personal gain. Characters including an inability to sustain long-term relationships and lack of remorse are commonly portrayed in Webster story hence a sign of APD. He also repetitively breaks the law while evading with deceit. Repetitive law-breaking is a common symptom of APD. Fortunately for him, Webster has not been diagnosed with APD amid all suspicions over the years leading to his conviction in 2011. Therefore, Webster’s story reveals all information needed to confirm the APD diagnosis. However, one would always wonder why he would be so reckless to disregard his safety and those of his victims as evidenced by intentional car crashes he was involved in.
APD should not lead people to panic in their lives. It is not always a life-long illness since it can be reduced or eliminated with proper management or treatment. There is evidence that therapy helps alleviate effects of APD.
References
Cramb, A. (2011). Malcolm Webster: polite charmer who lured women then plotted their deaths. [online] Telegraph.co.uk. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8525234/Malcolm-Webster-polite-charmer-who-lured-women-then-plotted-their-deaths.html [Accessed 5 Dec. 2017].
Lavery, C. (2015). The Black Widower: The life and crimes of a sociopathic killer. Mainstream Digital. 109-113.