Four Corners 2012.04.23 - The Killer Within

Four Corners is Australia's premier television current affairs program.
With no apparent warning, Breivik killed 77 people in just a few hours - why did he do it and why were the authorities powerless to stop him?

For much of his life Anders Breivik appeared to be a model citizen. But all that changed on 22nd July last year when he went on a killing rampage in and around the Norwegian capital of Oslo. Now Four Corners presents an exclusive BBC investigation into the events of that day. What sort of man was Breivik? How did he prepare for the attack? Why did it take police and the military over an hour to respond to calls for help, as he cold bloodedly stalked his victims?

It was the afternoon of the 22nd July 2011 when Norwegians first heard the shocking news that a car bomb had exploded in the centre of their country's capital. What they didn't know was that the bomb was simply the first instalment in a terrible plan of mass murder. Within minutes of the explosion Anders Breivik, the man behind the bombing, was headed for a remote island to the west of the capital armed with automatic weapons. There he planned to kill members of the Labor Party's youth wing. His reason was simple. He wanted to destroy the next generation of politicians from a Party that, he believed, was allowing the country to be over-run by Muslims. By nightfall he had killed 77 people, leaving 33 others wounded.

"The Killer Within" includes interviews with those who knew him at school, and the police who arrested him and prepared the case against him. But the most telling testimony of all comes from the people who were on the island that day.

In piecing together the story of Anders Breivik, the filmmakers tell of his preparations and dissect the elements of the political manifesto he left behind. The manifesto is a chilling justification of the slaughter he committed and it goes some way to explaining why Breivik pleaded not guilty to murder, claiming he had acted to protect his country.

Duration (hh:mm:ss): 45:16
frame Width: 640x352