Research says dads kill families in last-ditch bid for masculinity

Fathers who slaughter their families are making a “last-ditch” attempt to perform a masculine role, new research has said.

The study said a “crisis in masculinity” is the common factor in such killings.

The research, conducted by criminologists in Birmingham City University, said family break-up is the most common cause (66%) of “family annihilation”, followed by financial difficulties and honour killings.

The study, some details of which were reported in the Irish Examiner on Tuesday, is one of the first of its type. It identified 71 cases in the UK between 1980 and 2012.

Family annihilation is where a parent deliberately kills their child/children, may kill or attempt to kill their partner, and may attempt to take their own lives in one event.

It found that 59 (83%) of the killings were carried out by men and that the crime had increased, with more than half of all cases coming after 2000.

Half of the men were in their 30s and 10% were in their 20s. August was the most common month (20% of cases). Just over half were committed on weekends, especially Sundays.

“This is partly because the father had access to his children in the middle of the school holidays when he is not at work,” said co-author Professor David Wilson. “There may also be a symbolic factor as estranged fathers know that by the end of the weekend they will have to hand their children back to the mother.”

It found 81% of the men attempted suicide. It rejected the idea that killers were unhappy, with a long history of failure. It said 71% were employed and some were successful, including surgeons and executives.

It identified four types of annihilators:

* Self-righteous: The killer seeks to blame the mother for the crime, who he holds responsible for a breakdown of the family. For these men, their breadwinner status is central to their ideal family;

* Disappointed: This killer believes his family has let him down, undermined or destroyed his vision of ideal family life, including children who are not following his traditional religious or cultural customs;

* Anomic: The father sees family as the result of his economic success, allowing him to display his achievements. If he becomes an economic failure, he sees the family as no longer serving this function;

* Paranoid: Those who perceive an external threat to the family, often social services or the legal system, which the father fears will side against him and take away the children. Here, the murder is motivated by a twisted desire to protect the family.

The authors state: “In all of these cases masculinity and perceptions of power sets the background for the crimes. The family role of the father is central to their ideas of masculinity and the murders represent a last ditch attempt to perform a masculine role.”

They add: “The family is under immense pressure, and for some men in it the only hook upon which they hang their masculinity. When this hook can no longer take the strain, des-pair and revenge lead a small minority of men to engage in this chilling behaviour.”