How ‘Mindhunter’ who claimed to have quizzed world’s worst killers was fantasist PC from Kettering exposed by The Sun

AS a criminal profiler dubbed Britain’s Mindhunter, Paul Harrison had his audience entranced with chilling tales of the world’s most notorious serial killers. A packed theatre sat spellbound as he recounted his ­meetings with Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy in a bid to work out what made them tick — and all at the request of the FBI. Paul Harrison, a criminal profiler dubbed Britain’s Mindhunter, delivers talk about his supposed exploits Credit: Glen Minikin Harrison claimed to have interviewed Jeffrey Dahmer, dubbed the Milwaukee Cannibal, who murdered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991 Credit: Getty The only problem was, none of it was true. Harrison, also a true crime author, made an estimated £100,000 from sell-out shows like the one I attended at the Tyne Theatre in Newcastle. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! But that event would prove to be the beginning of his end after I set about investigating his fantastical claims to have quizzed 70 of the world’s worst killers. When The Sun published an exposé in 2019 — revealing that in reality Harrison had been a beat bobby in Kettering, Northants — he apologised to fans and vanished from public view. But his incredible story is now being retold in an absorbing ­podcast called The Mindhunter. Narrated by journalist Francisco Garcia, the six-part Audible Original show, out today, lays bare the full extent of Harrison’s deception. As well as his criminal profiling claims, he also said he had been at gangster Reggie Kray’s death bed, had worked as a close personal protection officer for the King of Jordan and was the inspiration for numerous fictional television detectives. He also reckons he worked as a firearms officer escorting nuclear convoys and as an undercover officer who had infiltrated a football hooligan gang. Most read in The Sun In an earlier and even more bizarre chapter of his life, he even faked his own death amid a legal battle, claiming to have died on an archaeological dig in Egypt. The case has striking parallels to that of Professor Jason Arday, the academic who last week quit Cambridge University over a string of dodgy claims about his achievements. Harrison also claimed that notorious London gangster Reggie Kray wanted him to write his life story, and that they became such close pals he invited him to visit him on his deathbed in 2000 Credit: Getty American cult leader and convicted murderer Charles Manson was another killer the Harrison claimed to have known Credit: Alamy Fantasist Harrison targeted the world of true crime rather than academia but, just like Arday, his sparkling CV went unchallenged for years. Following his supposed death in Egypt, he re-emerged a few years later, claiming to be one of the world’s foremost experts on criminal psychology. Harrison alleged that he first worked with the FBI in 1982 when agents invited him to its Quantico academy after he wrote to them out of the blue about his interest in profiling. He said he was given access to America’s most infamous killers on an almost daily basis and worked on and off with the FBI for a decade. As well as Dahmer, Bundy and Gacy, he said he had met Charles Manson and Amityville Horror murderer Ronald DeFeo. Harrison told his audiences: “Ted Bundy walked in like Liam Gallagher. He had a look of contempt on his face. He slowly walked behind me and stopped right behind me. “Every part of my body was telling me to look round as you’ve got Ted Bundy behind you. I sensed him move forward, I felt his body heat on me. Then he bent down. “He sniffed me and I thought this is going to be horrific, but he said, ‘I can smell your cologne’.” In his book Mind Games, Harrison boasted that Bundy told him he was the “guy who gets inside our heads”. He said he worked with the FBI’s pioneering Behavioural Science Unit which features in the film Silence Of The Lambs and the Netflix series Mindhunter, leading to his nickname of Britain’s Mindhunter. ‘Killer Clown’ John Wayne Gacy, who was convicted of 33 murders in 1980, was another of Harrison’s claimed conquests In his book Mind Games, Harrison boasted that American serial killer, kidnapper and rapist, Ted Bundy, told him he was the ‘guy who gets inside our heads’ Credit: AP Harrison’s growing profile meant he landed a regular slot on the CBS Reality channel as a criminal expert and was able to splash out on a ­Jaguar, which he drove to his shows. He also claimed that Peter Sutcliffe invited him to Broadmoor so they could discuss writing his life story — but that they failed to hit it off. Harrison said in an interview: “He said to me, ‘Why are you so cold towards me? You seem completely indifferent to me. I’m scared of you’. “I wanted to tell him what I thought. I said to him, ‘Good. I don’t like you’.” Harrison also claimed that notorious London gangster Reggie Kray wanted him to write his life story, and that they became such close pals he invited him to visit him on his deathbed in 2000. But his barely believable claims — and his lucrative career — fell apart when The Sun began investigating. It is not easy to prove someone did not do something they claimed they did, especially when it was decades ago in the pre-internet age. I knew that the only way we could publicly accuse Harrison of being a fantasist was to methodically unpick every one of his claims. I had a contact who had links to the Krays’ inner circle who was able to check for me whether he had indeed been a friend of Reggie’s. Former Krays henchman Freddie Foreman responded with the message: “Reggie Kray was not a friend of Paul Harrison. He wouldn’t entertain the police in his company and he certainly wasn’t at Reggie’s final days.” Harrison in his days as a beat bobby Credit: Facebook Harrison’s case has striking parallels to that of Professor Jason Arday, the academic who last week quit Cambridge University over a string of dodgy claims about his achievement Credit: Graeme Robertson.. Another contact was close to the Yorkshire Ripper and was able to ask Sutcliffe whether he had ever invited Harrison to Broadmoor. His response, in a letter passed to The Sun before his death in 2020, was even more cutting, calling Harrison a “charlatan, a con man and a wazzock”. He added: “He never corresponded with me, nor did he ever visit me.” Crucially, I needed to check ­Harrison’s claims that he had worked for the FBI. The agency’s press office would not help with staffing matters so I tracked down former agent Mark Safarik, who did work in the Behavioural Science Unit for 12 years. He told me: “I have never heard of Paul Harrison. He is making all this up.” Not only that, Mark reached out to a number of other former agents, seven of whom confirmed they had never heard of Harrison. The most bizarre chapter of Harrison’s life came in 2010 when he sued Carlisle United over the copyright of some photos the club had used. As well as being a Leeds fan, Harrison is a Carlisle supporter and has written a number of books about the club. But he had a falling-out with them over the snaps and took the club to court in a case which would have left him with a hefty legal bill had he lost. It was lined up to be heard at Romford County Court in London but the court then received a letter to say Harrison was dead. Fellow Carlisle fan Neil Nixon heard the news and wrote an obituary in a fanzine, but was then stunned to discover Harrison was still alive. Neil said: “He sent me an email to tell me he’d been through some really difficult stuff. I was left thoroughly bemused.” Harrison has been married four times, with his third marriage to Mandy Doyle falling apart after we published our investigation. Mandy said: “When he started the serial killer talks he got bigger and bigger. It was amazing and the money he made was ridiculous. He would come home with wads of cash. “I think he made around £100,000, easily, but his books were all fiction. “I did the research on the killers for him. He never met any of them.” When he was exposed, Harrison posted on Facebook to say: “I’ve let everyone down, I’m sorry.” He has never responded to The Sun’s requests for comment and did not respond this time either. But he did send an email to the podcast team answering some of the claims against him. However, he did not respond to the claims that he was never a criminal profiler, had never spoken to Peter Sutcliffe and was not present in Reggie Kray’s final days. In relation to the stories told in his show, he said: “I won’t discuss in depth the shows. I was always told they were good entertainment. “The producers knew and were told they were for entertainment purposes.” He denied writing the Facebook message apologising to fans, blaming it on his social media team. He did not deny an email was sent to people saying he had died, but did deny that he sent it. He maintains that he did work as a protection officer for the King of Jordan, as a nuclear cop and as an undercover cop and that he had been the inspiration for TV detectives. He described the claims that he made up his meetings with notorious serial killers as “false allegations” and said they would be dealt with in his own podcast in the near future. Until then, fans of true crime — and all the other areas Harrison has written books about — can tune in to The Mindhunter to decide for themselves whether his incredible life is fact or fiction. The Mindhunter is available on Audible now. 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