Chapter One – The Mind Hack

McQueen pulled on the headphones and moved the microphone a little closer. He was sitting in an impressive, sound-dampened professional recording studio and was slightly awed by the expensive feel of the place. This was clearly the big league, and he momentarily wondered if he was up to it. It was only a fleeting hint of self-doubt that he easily managed to quash. Of course, he was up to it. It was only an interview.

While he’d been waiting in the reception area, buried deep in the hug of a sofa, a young assistant had handed him a mug of coffee. Amazingly, given his usual clumsiness around hot drinks, when ushered into the studio moments later, he had somehow managed to struggle from the furniture’s embrace without spilling a drop. Inside the quiet cocoon of the studio, he laid out his notebook on the big round table in front of him but was concentrating harder on not knocking over the mug than on drinking the coffee.

Emma Cullen was a well-respected journalist, commentator, and television presenter, and her true-crime podcast, The Cullen Report, had a huge following in the UK and many more fans across the world. Guesting on it was a great opportunity for McQueen to increase his media profile and, if nothing else, it was free advertising for his private detective business. Emma also fronted a television show on which she talked about infamous serial killers from the past. It featured some re-enactments of their gruesome crimes along with insightful comments and opinions from professionals. McQueen was hoping to be included on one of those shows as a criminology expert but first he needed this podcast to go well. It felt like a test, and perhaps that accounted for his uncharacteristic nervousness.

The topic under discussion today was predatory grooming, and Emma started the show with a strong introduction delivered with her usual bluntness. From his seat facing her across the table, McQueen watched with interest as the true media professional did her thing.

Watch and learn, he thought.

‘Just a few short years ago,’ she began, ‘if I had mentioned the word “grooming” to you, it would have conjured images of nothing more sinister than beautifully manicured dogs.’ Here, she paused, as if waiting for the chuckle from her digital audience and subtly encouraging her listeners to indulge in a little comforting nostalgia. ‘Not anymore,’ she continued, as her voice hardened. ‘Now, it’s a word steeped in evil. In case you aren’t quite sure what I’m talking about, here’s a definition.’ She glanced down at her notes and her voice took on a different timbre to indicate to the listeners that she was reading something important. ‘Grooming is the predatory act of manoeuvring another individual into a position that makes them more isolated, more dependent, more likely to trust and more vulnerable to abusive behaviour’. Then in a softer voice, she added, ‘Wow.’ She smiled across the desk at McQueen so he knew he was about to be called into action.

‘My guest today is a celebrated Doctor of Criminology. He also has a master’s degree in forensic psychology, but many of you will know him from his more newsworthy work as a successful private investigator. Recently, he has been on the front page of many of our papers due to his success on some high-profile criminal cases, but it’s in his capacity as an academic that he joins us today as we delve into the twisted psychology that lies behind predatory grooming.’

She lifted her eyes from the words printed on her script and looked right at him. It struck McQueen that Emma had the classic good-for-television face, meaning it was attractive and smooth and virtually expressionless. It was a beautiful blank canvas viewers could invest with their own emotions.

Probably some Botox involved there, thought McQueen, looking at her lineless forehead, above which her layered blonde fringe never moved, even when she shook her head. Television close-ups tend to exaggerate any small facial movements. They’re amplified so even slight gestures can make your features seem as if they’re jumping around, especially on a fifty-inch HD screen. Although McQueen sported a nice covering of thick, grey hair, as he had done since his twenties, his own brow was far from smooth. “Deeply furrowed” would have been a better description. He had a good-for-podcast face, as a friend had joked.

‘Dr McQueen, first of all, could you just explain for our listeners very briefly the difference between criminology and forensic psychology?’

‘Sure, Emma.’ He was trying to keep it light and he certainly didn’t want his credentials to intimidate or alienate any of the listeners.

‘Put simply, criminology is about trying to answer the questions around why people commit crimes, whereas forensic psychology is the use of psychology in the criminal justice system. Forensic psychology can involve everyone from victims to prisoners.’

‘Okay, thanks. So I suppose what we are more concerned with here today is criminology. At its heart, grooming starts slowly with everyday language and friendly words, often in the form of innocent-sounding texts or emails. Is that why it’s so easy for people to become embroiled before they realise what’s actually going on?’

This was it. Finally, it was McQueen’s moment to shine. Years before, he’d had the opportunity to start a lucrative career as a TV psychology expert but had ruined it due to his excessive drinking and resultant unreliability. Thankfully, those drunken days were behind him now, and his newfound tabloid fame seemed to be reopening some slammed doors.

Fortunately, even with all the attention now focused on his reply, his voice didn’t desert him or creakily give away his nerves. The show wasn’t going out live, and he knew there would be a chance to make edits if anything sounded odd, but still his pride wanted it to be right the first time. And although he didn’t like to admit it to himself, he also wanted to impress Emma.

‘You’re absolutely right, Emma,’ he answered, in a clear, authoritative tone, the tone of an expert who has all the answers. ‘It is easy to miss the red flags, but we are often talking about very clever psychopaths here.’ He paused to let the statement land. ‘They’re not just playing a harmless game. They learn the words and phrases that work best, then they use them like verbal keys to unlock a person’s deepest fears and desires. First they find vulnerable victims and then they manipulate them to get exactly what they want.’

Emma said nothing. She was letting him run.

‘And what they want,’ continued McQueen, adding another pause for effect, ‘often turns out to be devastating or even fatal for their unfortunate victims.’ He felt himself growing into this podcast game. ‘And remember, Emma, we’re not only talking about sexual groomers. Yes, they’re the ones who make the tabloid headlines, but the term covers a wide range of criminal activity.’

‘Yes, could you expand on that, Dr McQueen?’

One of the advantages of the long-form podcast format was that it allowed a real conversation to develop rather than the series of trimmed sound bites required in other media interviews where brevity triumphs over clarity.

‘Well,’ said McQueen, relaxing as his nervousness abated and he began to relish his place in the spotlight. ‘Predatory groomers operate on so many levels in our society. Obviously, as we’ve said, there are the sexual predators. But think about the financial scammers who gain trust in order to fleece investors of their savings. Or the romance scammers who use grooming to cultivate a relationship before asking for money. Another example would be street gangs who use grooming techniques to recruit new members before introducing them to an inescapable life of crime. And think how powerful the force of grooming is for terrorists. They can convince victims they’ve never even met to commit appalling crimes.’

Emma nodded vigorously and then said, ‘It sounds like modern communications technology, such as the internet, plays a key role in all this.’ She was offering the easy-option technology scapegoat, but McQueen wasn’t ready to take the bait.

‘Yes, but remember, this isn’t a new phenomenon, Emma. The internet is just the latest very efficient mass-reach delivery method, but religious cults have been involved in the process of grooming for centuries. And all these grooming strategies, whether it’s Charles Manson indoctrinating young hippies into a killing spree or the American pastor Jim Jones convincing his followers to drink poisoned Kool-Aid, they all have certain key very basic human factors in common.’

‘Okay. Well, both those terrible cases you’ve mentioned have been covered before on this show, and so the listeners will be very well acquainted with them. So, Dr McQueen, can you outline some of those common grooming traits for us?’

‘Of course. As I said, it starts with vulnerable victims, often damaged people searching for something, people who are missing something in their lives, people who need something. The groomers are exploiters who are experts at spotting the giveaway signs and targeting their weak spots. Then they ingratiate themselves, using nothing more than words to persuade their targets to do unspeakable things.’

‘And when you talk about vulnerable victims here, you’re not necessarily talking about gullible fools, are you?’

‘No, far from it, Emma. Often, they are highly intelligent people who are plagued by their own desires. If you want to use a technology analogy, then you can say their minds are hacked and turned against them by clever programmers. We all know how much damage a computer hacker can do, how much they can steal. Well, these people are mind hackers. All they have to do is get a victim to believe, and once a person truly wants to believe something, then they start to do the groomer’s work for them.’

‘How do you mean?’ The seasoned host already knew the answers to these questions, but her role was to anticipate what an average listener might want to hear, bury her own ego and ask the things they would ask as if she didn’t have a clue.

‘Okay, let’s take a typical scenario. A lonely man gets an unexpected email from a woman which includes a stunningly attractive picture. She’s his dream woman. He may look at that picture and his mind builds his perfect fantasy woman. She’s being friendly to him, and maybe he doesn’t get that anywhere else in his life. He wants to believe in that woman so much he doesn’t even see the holes in her story. He ignores her unrealistic reasons for contacting him. He doesn’t want to believe the message has actually been sent by a man, a criminal who is after his money. He fills in any gaps in the logic himself with his desperate need for it to be true.’

‘Okay, and you mentioned groomers are very good at looking for telltale signs. What might those be?’

‘Well, as a particularly disturbing example, men who groom young teenagers for the sex trade will often start by noticing the young person who’s apart from the crowd, doesn’t have the latest trainers or the latest mobile phone. All signs that this might be a person who is starved of attention. Online, they’ll hang out in chat rooms and start conversations with kids who are having a hard time at home. And let’s face it, how many teenagers aren’t having some kind of parent issues?’

‘Right, well, that sets the scene, but what we’d all like to know is, What is really going on in the twisted minds of these groomers?’ McQueen smiled. He was on home turf now and he could feel that it was all going to be fine.