Bruce George Peter Lee

"I know when I'm going to start a fire because my fingers tingle."

Bruce George Peter Lee (born Peter George Dinsdale) is a British serial arsonist who is most infamous for starting the Selby Street fire.

History
Bruce George Peter Lee was born Peter George Dinsdale in 1960 in Manchester England. His mother, Doreen, was a prostitute who called him a "freak" because of his epileptic fits, his deformed right arm and congenital spastic hemiplegia in his right limbs and sent him to live with his grandmother when he was only six months old. He never knew his father, who left Doreen when Peter was young. He lived there until he was three and spent the rest of his childhood in different children's homes and also went to a school for physically handicapped children until he was 16. He became a serial arsonist at a young age; when he was 9 years old, he burned down a shopping precinct, causing £17 000 worth of property damage. People made fun of him his whole upbringing and when he was a teenager, he became known as "Daft Peter" and worked at a local speedway track and a pig market and also babysat sometimes. Over the years, Lee set a total of over 30 known fires which resulted in the deaths of a total of 26 people. Apart from his final fire, that on Selby Street in 1980, all of them were attributed to accidents and arson was not originally suspected. One of his worst fires took place on the night of January 5, 1977, when he was only 16 years old. He set the Wensley Lodge, a retirement home, on fire using paraffin as an accelerant, disposing of the can in the River Humber. The fire claimed the lives of 11 people and injured six more and was not believed to be the result of arson but to have been caused by a plumber who had used a blowtorch while working. Bruce didn't find out about the fatalities until he read about them in the newspaper. In 1979, Doreen remarried and Peter changed his name to Bruce George Peter Lee, both after his stepfather's surname and as homage to actor Bruce Lee.

On December 4, 1980, Lee set the fire for which he became most well-known, even though it wasn’t his most fatal one. He set 12 Selby Street, the home of the Hastie family, on fire. While Mrs. Hastie survived with an injured ankle as well as her second-oldest son, Thomas, her other three sons perished. This time, it was determined that the fire was caused by arson. Because the Hastie boys were well-known local delinquents responsible for several cases of vandalism and petty robberies, there wasn’t much sympathy from the local residents. The investigators went to the local gay scene, to which the Hastie boys had some connections, and brought in a number of boys, including Lee, for questioning. Lee did indeed confess to the fire, claiming it wasn't his intention to kill the Hasties. He kept confessing to all his prior fires, shocking the police, who had attributed them to accidents. In order to test him and make sure he wasn't lying, officers took him to the site of another arson case for which someone else had already been convicted. When he said he had never been in the area, they believed his confessions. On January 20, 1981, he pleaded not guilty to 26 counts of murders, but pleaded guilty to 26 counts of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and 11 counts of arson. Today, he is currently institutionalized at the Rampton Secure Hospital in Nottinghamshire. It is unlikely that he will ever be released.

Modus Operandi
Lee’s accelerant of choice was paraffin, a flammable chemical that is used as fuel as well as for fire-breathing and fire-juggling. He would typically break a window of the house he targeted, pour the liquid over the floor, set it ablaze and then run out. Like many arsonists, he was known to revisit his crime scenes.

Known Victims

 * June 24, 1973: The Ellerington residence fire:
 * Richard Ellerington
 * Catherine Ellerington
 * Carol Dennett
 * Richard Ellerington, 6
 * The Elleringtons’ unnamed other five children
 * Carol Dennett’s unnamed baby
 * The October 12, 1973 fire: Arthur Smythe, 72
 * The October 27, 1973 fire: David Brewer, 34
 * The ?, 1974 fire: Elizabeth Rokahr, 82
 * June 3, 1976: The Edwards residence fire:
 * Dorothy Stevenson, 77
 * Andrew Edwards, 1
 * The January 2, 1977 fire:
 * Pete Thacker
 * Karen Fraser
 * Karen’s unnamed two daughters
 * Katrina Thacker, 6 months old
 * January 5, 1977: The Wensley Lodge fire:
 * 11 unnamed people killed
 * Another six unnamed people injured
 * April 27, 1977: The Gold residence fire:
 * Peter Jordan
 * Deborah Jordan, 13
 * Albert Gold
 * Gwendoline Gold
 * Mark Gold, 7
 * January 6, 1978: The Reynoldson Street fire:
 * Christine Dickson
 * Mark Dickson, 4
 * Steven Dickson, 3
 * Michael Dickson, 1
 * Bryan Dickson
 * June 1979: The Fenton residence fire:
 * Ros Fenton
 * Samantha Fenton, 7
 * December 4, 1980: The 12 Selby Street fire:
 * Edith Hastie, 34
 * Charlie Hastie, 15
 * Paul Hastie, 12
 * Thomas Hastie, 9
 * Peter Hastie, 8

On Criminal Minds
Lee is mentioned by his birthname, Peter Dinsdale, in Compulsion, where Reid states that, when asked about his motives, he replied, "I am devoted to fire. Fire is my master."