‘Life’

The True Story of John Hirst

A Proposal by Mark Jenkins March 2006

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Table Of Contents

Page 3 Proposal

The Man
Page 5 John Hirst

Page 6 Understanding Asperger Syndrome

Page 8 Meeting John Hirst

The Film
Page 18 Premise

Page 19 Interpretation

The Writer
Page 23 Approach and Research

Page 25 Filmography

Page 26 Curriculum Vitae

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 Proposal

'Life' is the true story of John Hirst, a compelling personal story that tackles injustice,
raising issues about our care and education systems, the futile response of prison law and
order, and societies failure to give human rights and inclusion to all.

The film, 'Life', will cinematically depict an incredible journey that has, against all the odds,
given John Hirst a reason to be John Hirst. To be a person, not a number.

The proposal is in three parts; ‘The Man’, ‘The Film’ and ‘The Writer’.

3
The Man

4
 John Hirst

John Hirst is 55 years old, 5'6" and of slight frame. He has a strong Yorkshire accent and a
wry sense of humour. He has a condition known as Asperger Syndrome, a genetic
developmental disorder. He is highly intelligent, with an IQ of 155.

At the age of two he was placed into a care home, then during the next two and a half
years was fostered out four times, each time returning to the care home. He was
mislabelled as uncontrollable, due to the fact that Aspergers was not a recognised
condition at the time. As a teenager he was misunderstood, and so rebelled, finding
himself on the wrong side of the law. At the age of nineteen he was sentenced to two
years detention, and after that spent most of the next eight years in prison for burglary,
theft and arson. He spent very little time outside prison in between sentences. From care
home to foster home, then detention to prison, he became hardened, angry, sometimes
violent and subsequently a killer. In 1979, at the age of 29, he killed his landlady, and
spent the next 25 years in prison for manslaughter. It would be another fourteen years
before his condition was even commented on.

Yet against all odds, after a major turning point in his life, he has become the most prolific
prisoner litigant of modern times. Law books are littered with dozens of references to his
cases. He has given legal advice to prisoners and prison officers, solicitors and barristers,
and was consulted by the Prison Service on the formulation of 'Prison Rules 1999', which
explains the law and remedies available to prisoners. Last year, in a landmark case, he
defeated The State in the European Court of Law and won the right for prisoners to the
vote.

John now lives in a terraced house in Hull. He continues with his interest in law and has
high hopes of getting a job in a law firm or penal reform group. He also has ambitions for
his story to be told.

5
 Understanding Asperger Syndrome

It is a cliché, though often quite true, that a child with Aspergers', when asked “Do you
know what six times seven is?” is likely to answer “Yes”.

Asperger Syndrome attained it's name from a medical paper written in 1944 by Hans
Asperger. It is a genetic developmental disorder on the autistic spectrum, and is used as a
way to describe more able and verbal autistic people. Those with the condition are often
highly intellectual. Aspergers' affects approximately one in every thousand people, and
they will have problems with communication, social interaction and flexible thinking.
Though it was written about in 1944, it was not truly recognised in this country until 1981.
During the 80's and 90's awareness and research into the condition increased
dramatically.

It cannot be considered curable, but life can be made easier by educating the person to
decode social cues intellectually, rather than instinctively. This is a fairly lengthy and
frustrating process, because most people with the condition cannot easily verbalize what
they understand.

When normal infants are learning to read caregivers' moods through facial expressions,
Asperger children are not. When threats and dares are uttered on the playground, non-
autistic children might know when another child is bluffing, when to ask an adult to
intervene and when to stand up for themselves. Asperger children might miss all these
cues and get into unnecessary fights, or allow themselves to be cowed, marking them as
an easy target for bullies.

Processing of information differs from the non-autistic. It has been very well described as
not seeing the wood for the trees but seeing the trees in very great detail. They have an
ability to focus laser-like and be extremely competent in one subject, but at the same time
be unable to cope in another. This can cause a lot of problems at school.

Their lack of understanding has been coined as a lack of 'Theory of Mind' – the ability to
conceive of others as having different beliefs and information from oneself. Through
maturity, they can come to terms with this and learn to understand the differences. In
addition, Asperger children may have no concept of other peoples perception of them,
even though to others, their actions can seem very odd. This can be, and in the past was,
misconceived and misinterpreted. Life skills are particularly hard to master.

One person with the condition said “it's not necessarily true that every person with
Aspergers' is a train spotter, but you can bet that every train spotter has Aspergers'”. A
distinctive feature is the presence of obsessions or special interests that will often involve
collecting objects or facts on a particular topic, and these are sources of great pleasure
and delight for them. They can seem bizarre to non-autistic people.

There is a real need for routine and a reliance on things being predictable, that events take
place as they are told they will happen. Surprises, even perceived pleasurable ones, can
be extremely stressful.

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It is very common for Aspergers' people to avoid eye contact. They can find it
uncomfortable and are unable to use it to send and receive social signals. This can often
be mistaken for lying or not wanting to face the truth. There is often a clumsiness or
awkwardness prevalent, and hand flapping, rocking or pacing may also occur.

Almost all Aspergers' people have sensory anomalies which can be thought of as a
volume knob on the senses. These may include sensory hyper-sensitivities; the volume is
turned too high so a light touch may be overwhelming, hypo-sensitivities; the volume is
turned too low so that pain does not register, and processing problems; not being able to
filter out background stimuli resulting in the inability to follow a stimulus or instruction.
These anomalies can differ for each person and can include different kinds of touch or
sounds.

Those with the condition are often said by researchers to be lacking empathy, but this is
sometimes misread as lacking sympathy. Empathy is used in a precise way to mean the
ability to read other peoples emotions and work out what they are thinking. They're not
very good at realising the impacts of their actions on others. It is not the same as lacking
sympathy. They do care.

Diagnosed early enough and managed properly means that an Aspergers' person can
lead a full and interactive life. And some can reach quite amazing heights. Hans Asperger
wrote:

“Able autistic individuals can rise to eminent positions and perform with such outstanding
success that one may even conclude that only such people are capable of certain
achievements. The unswerving determination and penetrating intellectual powers... can be
immensely valuable and can lead to outstanding achievements in their chosen areas”.

World famous autistic or Asperger individuals include mathematical physicist Albert

Einstein, artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol, philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein and
composer Glenn Gould.

The problems arise not so much from the condition itself but from a social world which isn't
designed for people with the condition. Society has to strive to adapt social conditions to
incorporate these people, and gain from the valuable contribution that they can give back
to society.

7
 Meeting John Hirst

I first met John Hirst on 19th Jan 2006. Just a week earlier I had listened to a condensed
version of his life story on a Radio 4 programme. The impact it had on me was profound. I
contacted an ex wing mate who now writes for the Guardian, asking him to pass on my
details and outlining my intentions to write a screenplay. That very same night, John called
me. For forty minutes we chatted, then made arrangements to meet at his home in Hull.

As I turn the corner into the cul-de-sac within a cul-de-sac, I'm reminded of a defensive
fort. John had secured the back garden so the only way in was through the front door. A
security camera peers down at me. This behaviour was a remnant of prison times, where
he'd backed himself into a corner and retreated into himself.

I approach the terraced house with trepidation, not quite believing I'd got to this point. It
wasn't that he was a hero of mine, but it certainly gave me a similar feeling. I was in awe,
perhaps a little scared. I was after all, about to meet a killer, an ex lifer who had spent
twenty five years in prison.

When John answers the door I'm slightly taken aback. He's small, in height and frame, and
ashen faced, like he needs looking after. It feels like he doesn't really want me there, but
then I remember about the Aspergers.

Asperger Syndrome is a developmental disorder. People with the condition have difficulty
with social interactions and understanding unspoken social cues. As children they often
get into more trouble at school, exasperate teachers and are the subject of bullying. Often
highly intelligent and highly verbal, their ability to focus like a laser on very intricate topics
make them extremely well-suited to certain fields of endeavour.

'Often highly intelligent'. Later, I'm with John watching a Channel 4 news item about him.
The narrator mentions John's IQ of 145. John complains jokingly; "Bastards have knocked
me down ten points". I am sitting in front of a genius.

The living room has simple furnishings, possibly donated, comfortable but not overly
extravagant. A lively labrador cross called Rocky watches John's every move. As we talk,
Rocky will often seek attention and John always gives it, no matter what point the
conversation is at.

Our talk is general at first, if somewhat stilted on my part, as I talk mostly about myself and
my intentions. But it very soon moves towards the main topic, the man that is John Hirst,
and for the next seven hours, that is all we talk about.

John served twenty five years for the killing. Prior to that he had spent most of a total ten
years either in detention or prison. Institutionalised, a career prisoner. But in 1989, ten
years into his life sentence, he took a life changing decision and threw himself into the
study of law. He has since proved to be the most prolific prisoner litigant of modern times.
His successful cases include the right of prisoners on segregation punishment to keep
their beds in their cells during the day, and overturning the blanket ban on prisoners
communicating with the media. And in October 2005, he defeated the State in the
European Court of Human Rights on the issue of voting rights for convicted prisoners.

8
But where did this extraordinary journey begin? What follows was not told in a continuous
stream. Some was told over the course of the day, the rest in subsequent e-mail
correspondence and telephone conversations. Some tales are left dangling in mid air,
perhaps to tantalise me. Others don't make sense, only later corroboration make things
clearer. One thing is for sure, this story isn't closed yet.

John was born in Bradford in 1950. A year later, his mother gave birth to his brother and
soon afterwards his father, a drunkard, left home. A year after that, unable to cope with
four children, his mother handed him and his younger brother into the care of a Dr
Barnardo's home in South Yorkshire. It was a case of last in first out. John has a
photograph of him and his brother standing with suitcases in hand, a strong visual image,
an innocent child at the start of an incredible journey. By the time he was four and a half,
he and his brother were in their fourth foster parent placement and John had a history of
bed wetting and soiling. "We were all over the place," he says. "The bed wetting never
stopped until I went to prison."

John recalls what was probably his earliest form of defiance towards authority. His foster
father was chasing him around the kitchen, leather strap in hand, when John grabbed a
carving knife and threatened him back. He won this small personal battle, but there would
be many more to come.

His behaviour caused his foster parents to send him back to the institution, but he would
return intermittently for holidays. When he was ten, a primary school teacher described
him as "vulnerable, easily hurt, a good sense of humour, never bored or fed up, willing,
with a nice social manner, very loving to animals". Though highly intelligent, John was
innumerate, and so he failed his 11+ exam.

His succession of offending began at the age of eleven when he stole a bicycle while
running away from the Barnado's home. A brief period of happiness followed when he was
adopted, but it wasn't enough to curb his errant behaviour. By the time he was thirteen, his
adopted mother reported her concerns about his temperament. "John gets furious easily,
I'm afraid of what he might do". Incidences of pilfering and general bad behaviour
continued to be reported. Asperger Syndrome wasn't recognised at the time, a crucial
factor to his later suffering and actions.

He left secondary school at the age of fifteen with no qualifications and got a job as a bell
boy in a city hotel. Two months later he was dismissed for "extreme impudence" after
arguing about the sugar allocation for the porters. Afterwards, he embarked on a life of
casual work and petty crime; burglary, car theft and arson.

His first three month sentence was for theft. The detention centre was like an army camp
with inmates being ordered to march. John wasn't coordinated. On the day I met him this
was apparent, bumping into a door frame and dropping things, and is another trait of the
Aspergers' condition. In detention he caught the eye of one of the commanding officers, a
sergeant-major like brute who would pick on him. He would scream at John - "I'm a
bastard, what am I?" Either a yes or no would result in the same punishment, a fist into the
back of the head. Perhaps the short, sharp, shock treatment was intended to rehabilitate.

9
In detention he had become acquainted with burglars and car thieves and, upon release,
he became an adept burglar. A lack of money and support and the fact that he now had a
criminal record meant that John only lasted three weeks before committing his next crime.
A series of prison terms, ranging from fifteen months to five years followed. He spent more
time inside than outside and began to become institutionalised, finding security and safety
in the regimen of detention and prison life. Three times he was sent for psychiatric
assessment for admission to Broadmoor prison hospital, but each time doctors decided it
was a discipline problem.

In 1978, aged 28, John was released from Durham prison and the authorities found him a
room in a halfway house in Reading. It was run by an extremely religious couple and once
again he found it difficult to fit in. Even though he was working all day, he was expected to
do equal chores as the other lodgers. If he didn't wash up, he would find his food on a dirty
plate. John would reply by turning over the plate, the food ending up on the table.

His rebellious nature meant he was thrown out and the authorities found him a room with
live-in landlady Bronia Burton. John found her very difficult and he was expected to look
after her and the house. But he was in no fit state to be somebody elses carer, he needed
caring for himself. Prison life had affected John's mind and he was getting regular 'flashes'
in his head. One time, while working for a construction firm, a foreman was 'on his case'.
He had a vision of putting a pick axe in his head. John pleaded with his probation officer to
be moved from his lodgings, but was refused. He felt trapped, knowing that leaving the
house would be in breach of his license of parole.

One evening, after preparing both their dinners, John settled down to relax in front of the
television. Together, John and Bronia watched two films and during the third, a Judy
Garland film, Bronia started 'nagging him' again, wanting him to make coffee and bring in
coal for the fire. In the coal shed, John noticed an axe hanging up against the wall. He
picked it up and placed it in the kitchen while he tended to the fire. He then returned with
the axe, approached from behind and hit Bronia seven times on the head with the blunt
end of the axe.

Bronia's dog was making a racket, scared in the confusion. John put the dog in his
bedroom and later talked with police of his concern for the dog's well being. John
proceeded to make the coffee, then sat down in the living room. Although unconscious
from the first blow, it was another ten to fifteen minutes before Bronia died, about the same
time it took John to finish his drink.

The week before the killing John had applied for a job as a bargeman on the Thames. "I
could just see myself, floating down the river, away from it all without a care in the world. I
would have got a dog for company". He was told he had the job, but the letter of
acceptance arrived too late, the day after the killing.

10
John walked seven miles in the pouring rain to hand himself in at Reading police station.
As John relays this part of the story to me, he talks of how music was a big part of his life.
While walking, he had the song 'Riders on the Storm' by The Doors spinning in his head.

There’s a killer on the road

His brain is squirmin’ like a toad
Take a long holiday
Let your children play
If ya give this man a ride
Sweet memory will die
Killer on the road, yeah

After enduring an almost Kafkaesque scenario, with police initially not believing his story,
eventually a house inspection proved his confession true.

John told police he had simply thrown in the towel, getting himself a life sentence rather
than having to deal with the outside world. That was his mental state at the time. He didn't
feel sorry for what he had done, rather he thought it was fate, that if it hadn't been Bronia it
would have been someone else. He considered that his only crime was being born.

Back in his home in Hull, John shows me his office. He is a hoarder, files upon files of
papers, components of his life that fit together like jigsaw pieces; police and court records,
newspaper articles, letters and diairies. From childhood John had been a keen writer and
as well as keeping diaries he produced a local newspaper for his village.

When police searched the scene of the crime they took away his diaries for investigation.
One diary in particular caught their attention. In it he wrote about one day at the Barnados
home, when he had to make the decision on whether to go out for the day with his real
mother or his foster mother, both who had turned up at the same time. A dilemma for a
young boy, he knew that he would have to hurt someones feelings, and that hurt him. He
phrased in his diary that he might have to 'harden myself into being a Mr Nasty so that I
could kill again without too much remorse'.

When the investigating Detective Inspector read this he took it to be proof that he was a
serial killer. In fact, the phrase was in reference to John, as a child, having to drown kittens
on a farm overrun by feral cats. John dismissed the allegation saying he knew it should
have been re-phrased. He feels that this misconception was prepared into a report and
forwarded to the prosecution and judge of his case. Indeed, it continued with him, resulting
in him being viewed as a high security risk. At a later date he was accused of the
Yorkshire Ripper murders but was exonerated when it was found that two of the murders
occurred when he was in detention.

John tells of a worrying story on the morning of the trial, when his barrister visited him with
grave news. He was getting life. But John asked how, as the hearing hadn't even started.
The barrister responded that as he had no access to this 'secret' report, he couldn't defend
it.

11
The enormity of what John had done didn't sink in until he was in court and saw Bronia's
daughter, an 'innocent victim'. He said that her eyes dug into him and thought that if she
had a gun she would have shot him there and then. Dr Mackie, medical officer at
Winchester Prison, gave evidence. He categorised John as a man with a gross personality
disorder to such a degree that he was amoral. He said at the time of the offence he had a
mental abnormality which substantially impaired his mental responsibility for his action. He
added that this disorder was not amenable to treatment and that he should be considered
a security risk. Dr Wright, consultant psychiatrist, said although instability might get less
over the years as he matured, his eventual release should be approached with great
caution. Justice Purchas stated that had John showed any true remorse or sympathy for
the victim, then it might have been possible to mitigate in some way his offence.

Once again, because of the time, his condition was not recognised and therefore not taken
into account. It was said that John showed no remorse. Still now he talks of the killing quite
matter of fact, what happened, happened. Some would say this is the mind of a cold
blooded killer. But it's simply another signature of his disorder. Police recordings
strengthen this opinion, and I feel he would be treated very differently if the event
happened today.

After hearing all the evidence, the court accepted the plea that he had acted with
diminished responsibility and charged him with manslaughter. He received a life sentence
to serve a minimum of 18 years, later reduced to 15 years.

The culture of submission and violence from prison inmates and staff was not an ideal
situation for a person with a short fuse who knew no boundaries. He became known as
'Mad John' as he handled his life sentence with violence. When he got into fights, John
would easily soak up the pain, a sensory abnormality due to his disorder. His terrifying
reputation and wild unpredictability were so extreme that for twelve years he remained as
a Category A prisoner, those considered the most dangerous and highest security risk in
the system. He served time with terrorists, gangsters and the most feared men in the
country, who were all wary of the loner who had no gang to run with.

When I ask John how he survived such a regime, he tells me that it wasn't like that all the
time. The biggest part of his time inside was light hearted as prisoners constantly tried to
get one up on their superiors, and John has many humorous tales concerning these times.
He said that the prison dramas you see on television and film are not true depictions, and
that the closest that any of these dramas came to reality was 'Porridge'.

John soon became considered a lost cause and was kept under maximum security
conditions. Denied televison and visits, he would only be allowed out of his cell under
escort. As a lifer, dispersal was common practice, regular movement from prison to prison
so that one couldn't get settled. He would be transported by several prison officers,
sometimes with police escort and be double handcuffed. He was made to stand out,
dressed in a suit with yellow stripes and patches. There was regular violent abuse by
prison officers. Unlike lower category prisoners, 'Category A' prisoners would have regular
medical check ups. So often, his dispersal was simply a move to a lower category prison
where the signs of a beating would not be noted.

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Over the years John had constant battles with officials about his Category A classification.
He was a discretionary lifer, not a mandatory one. For lifers, there was no Life Career Plan
drawn up until they had been downgraded to Category B. He was told he had to work
towards getting off Category A, but felt that he didn't know what the criteria was, nor why
he was in that category in the first place. "Here I am in a darkened room, without a
weapon, unable to see the target, yet I'm expected to hit it".

In later years these battles became personal between him and the Home Office. In 1994,
after his tariff had expired, the Parole Board recommended six months in Category D
before a move into a pre-release hostel. The Secretary of State for the Home Department
refused the recommendation. There seems to be a direct link to his constant
reclassification and his legal pursuits, as if it were a punishment for his constant meddling.
Later, in 1994, John challenged the ruling in Europe and won.

In between these mighty battles, John read a lot; travel books, biographies about
Wellington and Alexander the Great, and accounts of survivors from prisoner of war
camps.

In 1989 John was secured in Albany prison on the Isle of Wight. On his wing was a
particularly brutal prison officer who would regularly intimidate inmates. Non conforming
individuals would receive a beating to which there was never any recourse. One morning,
John was at his usual post on the hot plate. As a food serving orderly, it was an unwritten
rule that they would get the extras. The officer took exception to the perks rule, saying he
was having none of it. John unwisely argued, as was his usual way. The officer took note.

Ten minutes later and full of rage, John waited in the gloomy shadows of a stairwell in the
bowels of the prison. As the officer made his way up the stairs he didn't have time to
register the figure in the shadows. John pounced, knocking him unconscious, a rock in a
sock his primitive weapon.

John struggled as four prison officers took him to the segregation unit. They were trained
in control and restraint tactics; his thumbs were twisted back against his wrists, one
grasped his testicles in a vice like grip while another held him in a headlock. John faded in
and out of consciousness. Stripped naked he was dumped onto the concrete floor of the
'strong box' – a seven by three foot cell with no windows. With the pain, John had bitten a
hole in his inside cheek that nearly went through to the skin.

The officer survived his time in intensive care. When I press John on the reasons for the
attack, he tells me he was a bully and deserved what he got. After the attack he learnt his
lesson, there was no more intimidation of prisoners, so John felt vindicated.

For the attack John got fifty six days solitary confinement, plenty of time perhaps for
reflection. While in the 'strong box' he had a visit from a member of the Home Office who
asked him if he wanted to be doing this for the next twenty years. John replied “No, not
really”. He went over and over the situation he was in and realised that, if the violence
continued, then the escalation would result in a death again. Somebody elses, or his own.

13
John read a newspaper article about a special unit in Hull prison. The unit was
experimental, designed to hold at most a dozen prisoners marked down as being among
the most difficult and dangerous in the system. Prisoners would receive close supervision
and education. John contacted the units governor Phil Wheatley and went before a
selection committee to be assessed for transfer. Even though the committee declined
recommendation, Phil Wheatley thought he detected a 'little nugget of gold' and had him
transferred there.

The unit provided prisoners with better treatment and conditions. There was a television
room, computers, a gym and, more importantly, one to one counselling, something not
possible in a prison with a thousand prisoners. Phil Wheatley said "John was capable of
being very angry very quickly, at which point he would be explosive. If he felt you had
crossed him the consequences were very serious". I'm reminded of his adopted mother's
forewarning. Phil befriended John and earned his trust.

Stephen Shaw, now prisons ombudsman but then director of the Prison Reform Trust,
visited the unit. Stephen said "John was a frightening man and he frightened me. Yet
underneath, although he had no formal education, you could tell he was a highly intelligent
man". Stephen convinced John that violence would get him nowhere, that the system
would always hit back harder, that sitting around the table and negotiating could deal with
his frustrations better.

Stephen gave John a copy of a guide they published; ‘Prison Rules: A Working Guide’. It
mentioned 'The Standing Orders', another guide which outlined prisoner rights and
treatment. Nowadays prisoners have access to this, but at the time it was kept in a locked
room. John found a way in and left with the guide under his jumper. He stayed up all night
reading it and confessed to never having been so bored. But he knew that he had to
understand it, that in prison, information is power.

He began to read law books. "The first I read was on administrative law," he says. "I
opened it up on a chapter concerning power and the abuse of power. I thought: 'This is
what prison is all about'. Suddenly, my brain seemed to kick into gear. I wanted more
books”.

He was insatiable for the knowledge of law, studying for sixteen hours a day, seven days a
week. The educationalist at the unit, Ron Foulkes, gave him a copy of 'Administrative Law'
and arranged regular visits by a Master of Law from nearby Hull University. The prison
authorities were taken aback at how fast he was learning. Any time they tried to rein in his
enormous appetite for legal text he would challenge them with the law in which they were
educating him.

Armed with the correct information, his first legal case was a success as he sued a
previous prison governor for compensation regarding a quantity of his property that had
disappeared during transfer. The prison service settled out of court, awarding him £362.50.

During the two years he spent at the Special Unit he won eleven legal victories in a row. "I
was a force to be reckoned with, with the double-edged sword in my hands. The system
gave me the weapon to fight the system".

14
He completed Open University degree levels in criminology and social sciences. A sign on
his cell door proclaimed: 'Prison Law Centre - Free Legal Advice'. Every morning he had a
queue outside his cell waiting patiently to take advantage of his legal skills and his
straining shelves of law books. John did not discriminate, even prison officers were known
to ask for advice, and the self-taught legal eagle was always happy to assist. But not all
officials were impressed. He was becoming a thorn in the side, and a sharp one at that.

Prisoners from all around the country began to write to him for his legal advice and even
solicitors and barristers contacted him for consultation. He represented as many as nine
prisoners in internal adjudication in one day. The Prison Service even consulted him on
the formulation of 'Prison Rules 1999', which explains prison law and remedies available to
prisoners.

John turned his hand to criminal law too. Philip English, a 15 year old from Gateshead,
was handed a life sentence for the murder of PC Bill Forth under the 'joint enterprise'
ruling, even though he was under arrest and handcuffed at the time. Philip's stepmother
heard of John through campaign groups and contacted him for advice. She said "during
the early days of the campaign to free Philip John's legal advice was crucial. He gave me
the strength and purpose to carry on". After spending two years behind bars, Philip was
freed.

John's first success in the property case marked the beginning of a preoccupation with the
law and prison conditions that has left modern law books littered with dozens of references
to his cases: Hirst v (numerous prison governors), Hirst v Secretary of State and, in
relation to the October 2005 European Court of Law judgment, Hirst v UK.

In October 2000 John had been listening to the news in his cell about how the Human
Rights Act had been incorporated into UK law. After searching through his library of law
books he discovered that anyone could set up an association in direct opposition to any
other association. Prison officers had the Prison Officers' Association, the POA, so (and
slightly tongue in cheek), he decided to set up the AOP, the Association of Prisoners.

Word got around fast and soon the minimum of 10 members had been recruited. After
agreeing on a constitution, they met in John's cell to plan objectives. Somebody suggested
pushing for better food, somebody else proposed conjugal rights. But John had a better
idea. He had read about groups lobbying politicians to change things but knew that, as
prisoners, they weren't allowed to vote and so would be ignored. So he decided to find out
why they were refused this right. During his research, he read books on the British
constitution and studied the Suffragette movement. Eventually he felt confident enough to
mount a legal challenge to the state on the right for prisoners to vote and in October 2005,
in the European Court of Law, he won.

John was valid for parole after fifteen years but had to serve another ten before he was
released in May 2004. He then had a recall for three months (which he contested in court)
and was re-released in November 2004. Now in his terraced house in Hull with his dog
Rocky, John has hopes of getting a job in a law firm or penal reform group and continues
to fight for prisoners rights.

15
John believes there has been a lot of waste; the waste of anothers life, the waste of time in
custody and the waste of his own life. In an early diary he wrote 'someone owes me a life
and I might deem it necessary to take one'. Although this was in reference to his mother
and foster mother and the feral cats, it was almost prophetic, though the life he got was his
sentence.

“If I could go back to the night of the killing and change it, I would."

I think John needs to go back further than that. Born in an era when his condition was not
recognised, he didn't have much of a chance. Being fostered at the age of two must be
tough for any child, but to be mislabelled as uncontrollable as a four year old was the start
of a route down the wrong road. Some of his foster parents simply gave up on him. He
was failed by the school system. This was a highly intelligent child, but he had no chance
of fitting into societies perception of 'normal' life and so left school with no qualifications, in
societies eyes a failure. His rebellious nature meant he was sentenced to a detention
centre, inappropriate surroundings for someone with his condition, and the continuation of
a downward spiral.

Here was a child who, after watching episodes of 'Dixon of Dock Green', wanted to
become a policeman and yet, after a systematic failure, became hardened, angry,
sometimes violent and subsequently a killer. While incarcerated he was misunderstood
and mistreated. His sentence was to have his liberty taken away, but in prison the
punishment didn't stop there. This was no rehabilitation.

Eventually, with help from the right people at the Special Unit, John was given a chance
and channeled his frustration and anger into something he believed in. It gave him a
reason to be John Hirst, to be a person, not a number. Perhaps, with his new found
knowledge, he will use the tools he's been empowered with to set the record straight.

16
The Film

17
 Premise

Injustice - The acts or conditions that cause people to suffer hardship or loss
undeservedly. A violation of a person's rights.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

This is the core theme of 'Life'. It will centre on the injustice suffered by John Hirst and will
impact on others in similar positions and on society as well.

John Hirst has a condition known as Asperger Syndrome, a developmental disorder on the
autistic spectrum. It was not fully recognised until 1981, and it has taken a long time for it
to be properly understood and for the correct treatment to be implemented. John's history
has all the hallmarks of a person with the condition; high intelligence, not understanding
the rules of society, frustration, an apparent lack of empathy and responsive violence, but
unfortunately he grew up in an age when it was not recognised at all. He began his life
sentence in 1980, and once in prison had even less of a chance to access support.

As a child he was labelled as uncontrollable. The prison medical officer that gave evidence
at his manslaughter trial described him as amoral, that he had a personality disorder and
that his condition was not amenable to treatment. The judge stated that had John showed
any true remorse or sympathy for the victim that it might have been possible to mitigate in
some way his offence. I think all of these statements would be different had he been born
thirty years later.

I believe these facts have to be recognised, taken into account and redressed.

This the first aspect of John's injustice. The second was his treatment once in prison.

This film will not in any way try to condone the act for which John received his life
sentence, and neither does John. He went to the police and admitted his crime. But his
sentence was to have his liberty taken away until he was deemed fit to be released back
into society. I beleve that it is our duty to rehabilitate. For most of John's sentence this was
not the case, and we continue to treat prisoners in this country in the same way.

Justice is 'the obligation that the legal system has toward the individual citizen and society
as a whole'.

Last year a report from The Prison Reform Trust showed the number of offenders being
returned to prison has more than trebled over the last five years. One in five crimes is
committed by ex-offenders. Nearly three in five prisoners are re-convicted within two years
of leaving prison costing society at least £11 billion a year. We are breeding criminals. Is
this carrying out our obligation toward the individual citizen and society as a whole?

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 Interpretation

This film should not be considered a prison drama, but a character drama. It will not dwell
on or graphically depict the violent episodes in John's life. Rather it will show violence
through emotion and the effect it has on those involved. Often the perspective will take
direction from John's Asperger condition. This is not a camera point of view, but a
psychological one, providing a window into a unique and particular world. The structure of
the story will not be linear, but broken up to create intrigue and dramatic tension.

Visual and Aural Style

Aspergers' people have sensory anomalies which can be thought of as a volume knob on
the senses. These may include sensory hyper-sensitivities, hypo-sensitivities and
processing problems.

The visual and aural style will take the third of these anomalies into consideration; the
processing problems, not being able to filter out background stimuli resulting in the inability
to follow a stimulus or instruction. John has given incredible accounts of events in strange
and minute detail, and it is these that the film will try to encapsulate. The sudden recall of
the moment of the killing, a clock that seems to be going backwards in the police station.
At times, disconnection while all around is mayhem.

Whenever we are in John's 'world', the audience will receive information from his
perspective, not a camera point of view but an experience linked to his emotional and
mental state. This perspective might be considered dreamlike, a focus on certain things or
people that hold his attention while things in the periphery are undefined. This style would
not be used all the time, only at moments of heightened emotion or stress. At these
moments the soundtrack would be treated similarly, the increase of background noises
drowning out foreground sounds.

To contrast this, when we do not take John's perspective, visual and aural style would be
more rational, though when John is in a scene I envisage an 'out of body feel', sometimes
following from behind, perhaps steadicam, giving a fluid but detached feeling. A useful
reference might be 'Elephant' by Gus Van Sant (2003).

Devices may be used to imply emotion, such as John on a barge on the Thames, doing
the job that he never actually got the chance to do, 'floating down the river, away from it all
without a care in the world'. These kind of ideas could also become structural devices.

Structure

The film will have several timelines. The information of two of the timelines will be
introduced in stages. The first, the day of the killing, the second, John in solitary in 1989.
These were the two passages of time that impacted the most on John's life, and
information will be fed in drips, creating intrigue and anticipation.

19
The first, the day of the killing. This will not be treated in a linear form, rather in sections of
information. It was later at the police station that John recalled in full the actions he carried
out. This is how the scene will be treated. For instance, we will see John sitting alone on
the couch drinking his coffee, but only later realise the gravity of the situation. It is not
intended to show the act of the killing. The strength will be in what isn't shown, the
emotional violence, the information filtering through during the course of the timeline.

The second timeline introduced in stages will be the fifty six days John spent in solitary
confinement in 1989. This was a time for reflection, and the visit from Stephen Shaw was
the catalyst for John's life changing decision. The time spent here will need to feel like an
eternity. I want to discover what thoughts went through John's mind. This scene will be
linear, but broken up throughout the timeline. It will be an opportunity to reflect on John's
past life.

Another timeline will be from teenage years through to the day of the killing, and another
after 1989 up to the present day. Interspersed within these timelines will be John's early
childhood, shown as strong images rather than whole scenes. Flashbacks will not always
explain events comprehensively, rather imply information which will add up to a strong,
visual back story.

Music

John had a keen passion for music. In prison he had a radio, then a record player, then a
cd player. He would carry with him from prison to prison two electrical wires so he could
get power from the light switch. And when he wasn't listening to music directly, he often
had songs spinning in his head. One such sonically strong moment is John's journey along
the road to Reading police station, the morning after the killing. In his head played The
Doors track 'Riders on the Storm', the lyrics 'killer on the road' of particular significance.

Music, though sometimes used to support the images, will at other times contradict the
images. At these moments, though still portraying emotion, the music will sometimes feel
at odds with the images, to strengthen the stylistic backbone of the film.

I have a strong interest, passion and experience of music. A keen collector and dj over the
years, I know how to use music in a cinematic way to be powerful and expressive. I have
extensive and strong contacts for both current and past music.

Locations

Certain places where John is unhappy will feel sterile. Other places where he feels
comfortable will feel warmer and more composed.

A lot of scenes will obviously take place in prisons. These will be different to the normal
perception and have a style of their own. These were institutions that John felt some sense
of comfort from, being a source of order and routine. Yet at the same time, they were the
very thing that he fought against. They will have a cold feeling of detachment with a sense
of calm. This will contradict with the turbulent times, when order breaks down and John's
world becomes stressful and agitated. Time will seem to pass slowly. These ideas were
encapsulated very well in 'Chopper' by Andrew Dominik (2000).

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Prison Life

Though John underwent turbulent and sometimes violent times in prison, there were also
many incidents of tom foolery and one-upmanship against the authorities. These will be
used to lighten the film when needed. Though there were quite a few bad prison officers,
there were good ones too, and it is my intention to show the human side of all of these
people. Prison becomes a world of it's own, and close relationships occur between
prisoners and prison officers. When actions are taken against the authority, one prison
officers' reaction might be violence, while anothers can be a feeling of being let down,
almost hurt with disappointment. It is a strange relationship and needs to be shown.

21
The Writer

22
 Approach and Research

The most important aspect of the approach is the personal relationship between myself
and John. From the first time I spoke to him there was a very good rapport and over time
this has strengthened. I have found the experiece so far enlightening and enjoyable. He
has solidified opinions that I had and made me re-evaluate others.

So far I have only spent one day with John. I treated this day as an introduction to see if
we could work together. Because of Johns condition and conditioning over the years, I
have had to be sensitive to his needs, making sure he felt he could trust me and that the
process for my plans was not going to be detrimental to him in any way. I believe he trusts
me. A very poignant moment occurred when I was in his house. His dog, Rocky, really
took to me and John said that this was very rare, only happening with one other person
before. He said that if Rocky trusted me, then that was good enough for him. This touched
me. He also commented on my passion for telling his story and how he knew I would be
disappointed if I couldn't carry this out.

Since meeting John he has been extremely forthcoming about his prison years and
childhood, mostly conducted in the form of e-mails. I have accumulated a plethora of
information and back story to his life. As a child he was a keen writer and produced his
local village newspaper. As a teenager he kept diaries. John is a hoarder, and has kept all
his writings. He has all the letters he wrote and received while in prison, extremely
personal accounts and an insight into his position at the time. Over the years he has
accumulated court and prison records as well as newspaper articles about himself and his
legal battles. He has sent me transcriptions of police interviews and excerpts of the
manslaughter court case, invaluable information.

These will be used for the first part of research. The second part will be audio recorded
interviews. On the day I was with John there were many personal stories that haven't
made it into the story outline, but are intended for use in the final film. Some bizarre, others
humorous, all giving an insight to the life he has led. These stories don't exist on paper, so
audio recordings will be the only way to capture them.

I will then transcribe interviews. Also, I will digitise them into an Avid editing system so that
material can be easily managed, accessed and structured.

Prison Research

Having never been in one, I will need to visit prisons to observe, and talk to prison officers
about daily routines and structures of the system.

Step Outline and Treatment

Upon completion of research, scene cards will be used to create the structure, and from
this plan a step outline and treatment will be produced. From these documents the first
and successive drafts will be written.

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Reference to Research Literature

Books

'Martian in the Playground – Understanding the Schoolchild with Asperger Syndrome'

by Clare Sainsbury (2002)

'Autism and Asperger Syndrome – Preparing for Adulthood'

by Patricia Howlin (2004)

'A Sin Against The Future – Imprisonment in the World'

by Vivien Stern (1998)

Papers

'Reducing Re-Offending by Ex-Offenders'

Report by The Social Exclusion Unit – July 2002

'Prisoners Information Book for Life Sentenced Prisoners - Lifers'

by The Prison Reform Trust and HM Prison Service – 2001/2002

Various Articles
The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph, BBC News On Line, CJS Now, The Prison
Reform Trust Magazine

Various On Line Public Court Records

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 Filmography

Mark Jenkins has been involved in cinema for the past 20 years. Starting out as a
projectionist at the age of 19, he worked his way up to Chief Projectionist of the Odeon
Cinema, Chester, and then the Cameo Cinema, Edinburgh, and has continued to be
involved in the Edinburgh Film Festival for 14 years.

In 1995 he achieved a Post Graduate Diploma in Film and Television Production. Since
graduating he has worked primarily as a drama film editor. His editing covers short, half
hour and series drama. He completed his first feature length drama last year.

His work has won four Scottish Bafta's and a further four nominations.

1996 Best Technician Editor

2000 Best Short Film Editor and Co-Writer
2002 Best Short Film Editor
2004 Best Children’s Series Editor

His work has also won numerous festival awards around the world.

Mark is not just an editor but a filmmaker. He has experience in camera, script writing and
script editing. On most projects he will get involved as early as possible bringing
assistance, feedback and a vision from the script through to the screen.

His first script achieved a Scottish Bafta for best short film. Since then he has continued to
write although has not yet achieved commissions. He has adapted three short novels, two
as half hour dramas and one as a feature length drama.

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Mark Jenkins Film Editor
The Cottage, 33 Main Street, Coaltown of Balgonie, Fife KY7 6HU
T: 01592 563 110 M: 07899 023 809 E: mjedit@blueyonder.co.uk

Creative, award winning drama editor involved in cinema for the past 20 years
Own Avid suite

AWARD Winners
2006 Cineplex Odeon Award, Victoria Film Festival, Canada ‘The True Story of Sawney Beane’ Best Short Animation
2005 MacLaren Animation, Edinburgh Film Festival ‘The True Story of Sawney Beane’ Best Animation
2005 Cineworld/BAFTA Audience Award ‘Night People’ Best Feature Film
2004 BAFTA Scotland ‘Shoebox Zoo’ Best Children’s Prog
2004 Frederick Film Festival, USA ‘The Return of Peg Leg Pete’ Outstanding Original
2004 Down Under Film Festival, Australia ‘The Return of Peg Leg Pete’ Audience Award
2004 Minneapolis/St Paul Film Festival, USA ‘The Return of Peg Leg Pete’ Best Narrative Short
2004 Welterstadt Open Air Film Festival, Germany ‘The Return of Peg Leg Pete’ Best of Festival
2003 Tokyo Video Festival ‘Little Big Head’ Excellence Award
2002 BAFTA Scotland ‘Wish’ Best Short Film
2002 Kino Film Festival, Manchester ‘That Old One’ Best Short Film
2001 Moondance Film Festival, USA ‘Lunar Jig’ Best Short Animation
2000 BAFTA Scotland ‘Busy People’ Best Short Film
1996 BAFTA Scotland ‘Arch Enemy’ Best Technician

AWARD Nominations/Placings
2005 BAFTA Scotland ‘The True Story of Sawney Beane’ Best Animation
2005 BAFTA Scotland ‘Night People’ Best Screenplay
2003 BAFTA Shortlist ‘The Witches’ Best Short Animation
2003 10 Kodak/BAFTA Short Film Festival
th ‘The Witches’ Best Short Animation
2002 BAFTA Shortlist ‘The Emperor’ Best Short Animation
2002 MacLaren Animation, Edinburgh Film Festival ‘The Emperor’ 4th place
2002 Szolnok Festival, Hungary - Short Animation ‘The Emperor’ 2nd place
1999 BAFTA Scotland ‘Horsehair’ Best Short Film
1998 Palm Springs Film Festival, USA ‘New York Diary’ Best Short Film
1996 Edinburgh Film Festival ‘Arch Enemy’ Best of the Fest

TEACHING
Numerous workshops for Skillset, Cineworks, James Watt College, Telford College, Sony/Screentime, EVTC; Mediabase,
FalkirkTH, WLYT and S.K.A.M.M.
Currently visiting lecturer at Edinburgh College of Art; BA/MA/Mdip and Edinburgh Screen Academy; MFA

FILM CREDITS Listed over page

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CREDITS include: R.T Production Director
2006 ‘Feel The Force’ Assembly Editor 2x 25m Catherine Bailey/BBC2 Tristram Shapeero
2005 ‘Toll’ 10m Cineworks/BBCScotland Matt Lloyd
‘Night People’ 95m STV/New Found Features Adrian Mead
‘John Irving-My Life in Fiction’ Co Editor 55m BBC4/Lion TV Mike Prince
2004 ‘The True Story of Sawney Beane’ 10m Red Kite/NFB Canada Elizabeth Hobbs
DVD release, NFB Canada
‘Hushtown’ 10m CBBC/Tartan Smalls Adrian Mead
‘Electric Blues’ 25m STV/New Found Land Stephen McCole
‘The Race’ 25m STV/New Found Land Bovvy MacKinnon
2003 ‘Shoebox Zoo’ 6x25m CBBC/Blueprint James Henry
‘Little Big Head’ 10m Cineworks David Sandreuter
‘The Return of Peg Leg Pete’ 12m Fox Search Lab David Cairns
‘Wise Guys’ 10m BBC Scot/Tartan Shorts Adrian MacDowall
‘Out of the Cold’ 15m 3sisters Films Nic Shearer
2002 ‘Man at the Window’ 10m 81/2/BBC Heidi Bartlett
‘The Tale of Tarquin Slant’ 15m Caspian/Lottery Fund Steven Morrison
‘Inside an Uncle’ 10m Tartan Smalls/BBC Scot David Cairns
‘Lula Fantastic’ 5m Red Kite/Mesh/C4 Ellen Deakin
‘That Old One’ 10m Tartan Shorts/BBC Scot James Henry
‘Family’ 25m STV/New Found Land Adrian Mead
‘The Witches’ 5m Cineworks Elizabeth Hobbs
DVD release with ‘Televisual’
2001 ‘Wish’ 15m Cineworks Rene Mohandas
‘Pater Noster’ 10m 81/2/BBC Mella Shaw
‘The Emperor’ 5m Red Kite/C4 Elizabeth Hobbs
‘Lunar Jig’ 5m Red Kite Rachel Everitt
2000 ‘Over Land and Sea’ 25m Sprocketeers Adrian Mead
‘The Important Parts of a True Story’ 10m Cineworks Kevin Cameron
1999 ‘What Do Busy People Do All Day?’ 10m BBC2 10 x 10 Martin Morrison
4 x BBC2 + 12 x European broadcasts
1998 ‘Pan Fried’ 10m STV/Prime Cuts Justin Molotnikov
‘Horsehair’ 10m STV/Prime Cuts Duncan Nicol
Video release with ‘Blair Witch Project’
1997 ‘New York Diary’ 15m Sprocketeers Adrian Mead
1996 ‘Arch Enemy’ 20m Hernia Martin Morrison

27