Crime has always exerted a fascination over us and it continues to do so: witness the often lurid headlines which can be found in every newspaper, or the plethora of detective stories and radio or television programmes, both factual and fictional, that we avidly devour.
A Pattern emerges if we study murder throughout history. Perhaps up until the seventeenth century slayings were frequently politically motivated or arose from religious differences. No doubt private poisonings took place but guilt would have been hard to prove in the days before food hygiene became an issue ad accidents could easily be arranged in dimly-lit dwellings with winding steep staircases and slippery stone steps.
