What creates a serial killer? Is it possible to predict that someone will become a rapist? Do spree killers share common character traits and childhood experiences? What turns a child into a murderer? And how do they explain their crimes?

To unravel the psychological profile of the world’s most dangerous criminals, consultant forensic psychologist Kerry Daynes, examines some of the most infamous cases and goes in search of in-depth, personal interviews with convicted criminals and killers.

Kerry is not your average forensic psychologist. She’s female, she’s glamorous and she talks in accessible sound bites. She’s passionate about her subject and she’s on a mission to investigate, understand and unravel a psychological blueprint of violent crime.

Each episode of The Making of a Monster will take Kerry on a journey into the minds of violent criminals; serial killers, rapists, fantasists, paedophiles, wife beaters, women who kill, arsonists. It’s a journey with many twists and turns as she builds up a clear psychological profile.

Peter Sutcliffe - Serial Killers

He was a softly spoken Yorkshireman who lived in a quiet suburb of Bradford. But Peter Sutcliffe was leading a double life.

He stalked his prey in the shadows of Northern Industrial towns. He said he had a mission to kill prostitutes but no woman was safe.

On Friday, 2 January 1981, the Yorkshire Ripper’s five-year reign of terror came to an end. In the previous five years, beginning in July 1975 with his first attack, he had killed thirteen women and left ten others for dead.