Dr Ian Gargan treats our most violent offenders but a 13-year-old was among the scariest

As a leading criminal psychologist, Dr Ian Gargan has worked with some of Ireland’s most violent offenders, writes Áilín Quinlan

Ian Gargan has spent much of his career as a criminal psychologists studying some of Ireland’s most violent and sadistic criminals — yet one of the scariest people he has ever met was a 13-year-old boy.

The child, whose psychopathic tendencies emerged as young as the age of five, tortured animals, tormented young schoolmates, and set dangerous fires, was contained in a secure detention centre by his teens, recalls Gargan, a leading forensic psychologist who has just published a book about criminal behaviour.