The Cutter

by Michael Litchfield

When Heather Barnett happily opened her front door to a caller one morning in November 2002, little did she know that she was about to come face to face with her killer. Tragically, her mutilated body was discovered by her son and daughter on their return home from school that day. The police quickly ascertained that the murder was premeditated and meticulously planned to the last macabre detail; the killer had not left a single DNA clue--even the bloody footprints made by a distinctive pair of trainers did not lead out of the house but ended in the front room, without further trace. As a bizarre and sickening calling card, the killer had placed a lock of someone else's hair in the victim's hand. Detectives were shocked by the savagery of the murder and baffled by the apparently sadistic ritualism of the killing. Many long months of enquiries followed and, eventually, a lead came from Interpol: the parents of a missing girl in Italy had been sent a lock of hair in the post. Could the two murders be linked and had the police just made the breakthrough they so desperately needed? In this in-depth and chilling book, acclaimed true crime writer Michael Litchfield investigates the full story of Danilo Restivo, the killer behind the murder of Heather Barnett.

Genres: True Crime

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

A journalist for many years, Michael Litchfield wrote for the Daily Mail and Sunday Express. He also worked for Time, as an investigative journalist exposing mafia corruption, which resulted in several contracts being taken out on his life. After changing his name and stowing away to the Bahamas, Michael returned to England and has been a parliamentary correspondent for many newspapers. Robert Hale also published his novels Bullet For An Encore, Last Bus to the Grave and Deadline.

Reviews

[Diane in Australia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about Danilo Restivo, a man who started out with a weird obsession of cutting bits of hair from women's heads ... total strangers to him, done on the sly ... and escalated to murder.

3 Stars = I liked the book. I'm glad I read it.

[Caroline Barker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was well written, detailed and an eye opener. I cannot say I enjoyed this book as it is based on a true crime (or crimes) and there were points that made me feel sick.

I still do not understand how a human being can carry out these awful, horrific acts. And, for the first time in my life, I had a nightmare after reading this book. I think it was knowing that the crime was premeditated in detail and that the killer followed women on a regular basis and knew the people he killed. These were not random victims but victims that he envisaged carrying out terrible acts on. This book, for that reason alone, is eerie to say the least. The killer was so prepared that he was aware of forensics and took as much care as he could to ensure that he left virtually no clues/DNA for detectives and scientists to use to find their killer quickly.

It is a huge relief knowing that this killer was caught and will not be allowed in the outside world again. Justice was done. But my heart still goes out to the families involved and the terrible ordeal/s that they had to go through.

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good read; a very fine example of the well-written succinct British true-crime story. Very interesting crimes, bizarre psychology, challenging investigation. It would have been a GREAT read if the advertising staff hadn't insisted on telling me the entire story on the back jacket before I'd even read the first page. My advice is don't look at the jacket or the photo section before you read this one; just plunge in.

[SouthWestZippy · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW that was an intense book. I am simply amazed how a person can have an obsession with cutting hair from Women's(Strangers) heads then escalating it into murder. This was not an easy case to solve because of lack of evidence left behind by the murder but once a lead came in everything began to unfold and revealed the killer.

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and well-written, though the author twice dropped unnecessary spoilers into the early text.