books
Publisher pulls book by Canadian serial killer
Colorado-based Outskirts Press says it has ceased publication of a book by Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, February 24, 2016.A book by one of Canada's most infamous serial killers, Robert Pickton, who was convicted in 2007 of killing drug addicts and prostitutes and butchering their remains at his pig farm, has been pulled by its publisher.
News of the book and its availability through online retailer Amazon.com Inc had sparked outrage in Canada and government officials had pledged to stop Pickton, 66, from profiting from its sale.
Colorado-based Outskirts Press said it has ceased publication of the book and has asked Amazon to remove the book from its website.
"We have a long-standing policy of not working with, nor publishing work by, incarcerated individuals," the publisher said in a statement emailed on Tuesday.
"Outskirts Press apologises to the families of the victims for any additional heartache this may have caused."
The publisher said Pickton misrepresented himself by seeking to publish the book using the name of a different person as the author. The memoir was no longer available on Amazon.
The book had been listed as a memoir by Pickton, 66, who is serving a life sentence at a prison in the Canadian province of British Columbia
Calling himself "the fall guy" on the book's jacket, Pickton had noted he is accused of murdering "between six and 49 women" and is finally telling his story.
Negative reviews of the book had piled up on Amazon's website, with many urging publisher Outskirts Press and Amazon to withdraw the book.
British Columbia Premier Christy Clark told reporters on Monday the province was looking at legislative options that would stop "anybody like Robert Pickton from profiting from their crime."
Amazon could not be reached for comment.
Pickton was convicted of killing six women whose partial remains were found on his ramshackle property near Vancouver. Government prosecutors dropped charges for an additional 20 murders after he was sentenced to life in prison.
The victims were among more than 60 women who disappeared from Vancouver's poor, drug-infested Downtown Eastside neighbourhood over more than a decade until Pickton's arrest in early 2002. – Reuters, February 24, 2016.
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