The Hannibal trial to Mr Cruel

WHEN, in the Oscar-winning thriller Silence of the Lambs , psychopathic murderer Hannibal Lecter helped FBI agents see into the mind of another serial killer, cinema-goers saw the plot as little more than the product of a screen writer's fantasy. Lecter, chillingly portrayed from behind a muzzle by Sir Anthony Hopkins, was, in fact, loosely based on a 1950s killer in the United States. But an eerie new development has seen the Lambs plot being played out in 1993, as police try to nail the killer of Hongkong-Australian schoolgirl Karmein Chan. In a desperate bid to find a lead two years after Karmein was abducted from her Melbourne home, Victorian state police officers have contacted a sadistic killer facing life behind bars in an obscure South Carolina mental hospital. They hope Richard Starrett will give them psychological insights needed to trap ''Mr Cruel'', thought to have kidnapped two girls before Karmein, and whom they fear is waiting to strike again. The American killer led a bizarre double life keeping young girls prisoner and using them as sex slaves. As is suspected to be the case with Mr Cruel, to his family and friends Starrett was a happy husband and father, a well-educated, well-paid engineer, a clean-living, staunch conservative and patriot. But in another uncanny resemblance to the Silence of the Lambs, he also behaved like the deranged killer finally caught by Jodie Foster in the film's climax. Starrett built a mini-torture chamber in his respectable suburban home, kept a secret stock of hard-core pornography in a hidden warehouse and, according to police, used his victims to act out his fantasies and videotaped himself having sex with the girls. Assistant Sheriff Lewis McCarty, of Lexington, South Carolina, flashed a warning to the Australian officers thought to have already interviewed him. He said last week: ''I would stay away from any prison inmate. And I would have second thoughts about what Richard Starrett's motive might be - I would think he would be trying to enhance his situation by doing this. ''He's a very smart man and is extremely cunning. He's obviously a very dangerous individual. To me what they need to do is contact the FBI [US Federal Bureau of Investigation] for their help.'' Starrett has been sentenced to two life sentences for kidnapping and sex offences in South Carolina, and to 20 years for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a young woman naval officer. But before he can start serving them he faces a murder trial in Georgia. He is pleading insanity and is being held in a mental hospital. Starrett, 32, from Augusta, Georgia, has admitted assaulting at least seven girls, aged from 11 to 22. But police say the full count of victims may never be known. They suspect his insanity plea is a ploy to keep him out of Georgia's electric chair. His first known victim was an 11-year-old girl from Lexington, at the end of 1987. She was at home alone when he arrived, saying he was answering an advertisement offering household goods for sale. But once he was in the house he pulled out a pistol. ''He carried her back to Augusta, held her all day long in his house,'' Sheriff McCarty said. ''He went through a number of sexual situations with the girl and returned her to within a block of her home.'' In the summer of 1988 a 12-year-old girl was kidnapped and assaulted by a man who answered Starrett's description and who said he was answering a newspaper advertisement. Six days later a 22-year-old woman was assaulted in her home by a man with the same excuse. A month later a 16-year-old Georgia girl was attacked in her home south of Atlanta. Once again, the attacker pretended to be answering an advertisement. THEN, four days before Christmas 1988, his sick attacks turned deadly. His wife was spending Christmas with her family in California and had taken their year-old daughter with her. The victim was 15-year-old Jeannie McCrea, from Irmo, South Carolina. Sheriff McCarty said: ''He took her back to Augusta and kept her alive. He was having sexual relations with the girl in a bondage situation. ''He had a trapdoor built in his closet and a blanket on the floor. He handcuffed her to the floor while he went to work as if nothing was wrong.'' Yet while he was leading this seedy secret life, he kept in constant touch with his parents, who lived close by. On Christmas Day he went to visit them, leaving Jeannie chained up in his bungalow. But in early January he shot her dead, now claiming she tried to grab the gun from his hand as he was moving it from a drawer. ''He brought her body back to South Carolina and carried her out to a remote portion of the county,'' said Sheriff McCarty. ''He wrapped her in a blanket and dumped her at the edge of a creek. ''Then he went back to Georgia - and then he got this urge again. ''He answered an advert from a couple right outside Lexington who wanted to sell a bedroom suite. He cased the situation, called the house, talked to a young girl about the house and went round there. ''She was a very attractive young girl, as was Jeannie McCrea. He pulled a gun, made her lay down in the car and took her back to Augusta. ''He did the same things, this bondage situation. He tried to win her over - and the entire time he was videoing the sexual acts.'' And while she was handcuffed in his closet, Starrett phoned his mother, Mrs Geraldine Starrett, complaining of an excruciating headache and promising her he would see a neurologist. After four days the girl, Sharri Teets, 17, managed to escape when Starrett got drunk and fell asleep in front of the television. She telephoned her parents in hysterics. By the time police arrived at Starrett's house he had fled - leaving behind the evidence of his torture chamber and kinky videos. He was arrested by Texas State Police and flown back to South Carolina. By this time police had discovered a rented warehouse where he kept hundreds of hardcore books, magazines and posters, mainly depicting violence against women. He also had a collection of police text books and copies of news stories about serial killers. His wealthy parents were horrified by the charges. ''Anything that would be considered unclean would not be something you'd associate with him,'' Mrs Starrett said. ''He wanted family togetherness, cooking in the backyard, playing croquet together. If you were going to get in the car with him and drive, you would be listening to classical music. I cannot remember him ever saying he didn't care for anyone.'' His father, also called Richard, said: ''He was always able to get nice-looking girls.'' After his arrest in February 1989, Starrett repeated his complaints about severe headaches, which he said had started in January. That June, he pleaded guilty but mentally ill in the assault on the first 12-year-old, and sentenced to life - which in South Carolina usually means 20 years. Under state law he would be sent to a mental hospital - and his sentence would start to run after a doctor declared him well. He was then sent to Georgia to stand trial for the murder of Jeannie McCrea, and his lawyers are still arguing whether he is competent to stand trial. ''His parents are wealthy and hired a high-powered attorney,'' said Sheriff McCarty. ''Thus far they have been able to stave off a murder trial. ''It's disheartening for us and for the McCrea family. My heart bleeds for these folks but our hands are tied because the murder happened in Georgia and he has to be tried there. ''But he's a smart man. He's trying to stay out of the Georgia electric chair, that's what he's trying to do. We understand that.'' Whatever the police in the US think about the man, Melbourne police - and the grieving parents of Karmein - are praying that in the recesses of Starrett's dark mind, there might be something which will lead them to the home of Mr Cruel.