A Crime of Passion

There's a theory I tend agree with about romantic relationships- one partner loves more than the other. And should the loved one transfer their affection to someone else, the pain is so acute and the hurt so deep, they lose all sense of reason. The French call it crime passionell or a crime of passion.


Cameron Neil Cook 44 was a respectable lawyer and former policeman. He had his wife followed and when the private investigator showed him footage of her with another man, he went bezerk. Consumed with jealousy and rage, he tried to drown them both by driving off a pier.


He went out and bought chains, a knife and padlocks. He gave their 7 year old son a sleeping pill so he wouldn't hear, bashed his wife and tied her ankles. Then he chained them both inside their car and drove off a pier, his plan being to kill them both. He flew off the end of the pier and through a steel fence with such force, it went flying and almost hit a fisherman before the car plunged into the water. Somehow his wife was able to free herself and was found bleeding with the chains still wrapped around her. Cook was also rescued and taken into custody.


Love can be a very dangerous emotion for some people and this man loved too much. If you give your love utterly and completely to someone without holding something back, you take a big risk. If your beloved walks out, there's nothing left in reserve and you collapse in a screaming heap. It happened to Glen Close in Fatal Attraction when she put the child's rabbit in a pot and cooked it, loving someone too much makes some people do terrible things.


Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth took into account Cook's good character as a police officer and government prosecutor with no previous history of violence, but sentenced him to 15 years with a minimum of 10. He was overheard at one of his court appearances saying "When I get out of here, I'll do the job properly".