Inside a killer's mind

In the months leading up to Jackie Buckle's murder, the son who killed her sought help in hospital on 18 occasions. The case reveals the failures of the mental-health and justice systems

- SUSAN CLAIRMONT

Adam made him do it.

Adam said if he didn’t hurry and kill his mother, the mafia would kidnap and torture her and she would die in agony.

If he loved his mom, Adam told him, he should kill her quickly to spare her that fate.

So, Daryl Buckle strangled his mother and bludgeoned her with a wooden bat.

“I love you,” he recalled her saying as he killed her. “I love you, too,” he supposedly replied.

Exactly one year later, Daryl pleaded guilty to murdering his mother.

His case reveals critical flaws in the mental-health and justice systems. It exposes a lack of resources, the limitations of mental health laws and the all-too-frequent intersection of drugs, mental illness and crime in our society.

It tracks the frantic efforts by Daryl’s mother, Jacqueline Buckle, 62, to get her 32-year-old son the care he needed — even as she became increasingly afraid of him.

It also highlights the particular difficulties of Daryl himself. Family, doctors and the Crown describe him as a manipulative, abusive, needy man who did nothing to help himself, gamed the system to get what he wanted and exploded with rage when he didn’t.

This story is based entirely on court records — particularly a 48page forensic psychiatric assessment of Daryl conducted by a team at St. Joseph’s Healthcare.

Among the shocking facts is that a judge released Daryl even though he said voices were warning of his mother’s murder. Hours later, Daryl killed her.

And Daryl saw 12 different doctors in the St. Joseph’s psychiatric emergency room on 18 occasions in the 23 months leading up to Jackie’s murder. There were 14 separate diagnoses — sometimes different ones on the same day. On at least four occasions, he warned he was having thoughts of killing his family.