Risen Bishop
Is this some kind of ( subconscious ) narcissistic injury?
IS had previously mentioned a neighbour who he'd had a row with and maybe Joe is some poor guy he lost a bowls match to?
CW, you could well be on to something although I don't think he's a narcissist. Any slight would incense the pathological disdain and hatred that comes with having an APD. TBH, I suspect that he has nothing but self-loathing for himself and all his braggadocio BS is born out of that rather than a NPD. I do wonder whether his mother's mental health issues have caused his own personality dysfunctions that we are now witness to.
Of course, it's not unknown for people with borderline personality disorders to act as he has and to murder with premeditation. Without observing him in person, and not having any forensic psych evaluations to go off, it's difficult to say with any degree of accuracy but I do favour psychopathy. He's not prone to the explosive rage of a sociopath; he's much more dangerous a non-cognitively challenged, cold-blooded, covert killer who planned, carried out and enjoyed what he did.
As I've said before a lot of the traits of sociopathy and psychopathy overlap and both types share many similar characteristics. However, as far as the APD spectrum goes, in terms of danger to the public, IS is right there at the top of the tree.
He needs to go away for a very long time or as long as the law of the day allows. I'm sure that the Judge will address this in his sentencing too as it's clear as day he will kill without compunction if suits his purposes.
Not because he doesn't feel like a normal person feels but because he is consumed with a contempt and cynicism we could never understand. The sort of contempt that allows you to intern a woman who gave you everything into a pit of feculent waste that she, in common with most people, had a phobia of along with the dog she loved so dearly.
Even now, his contempt for Helen's family and friends and society in general fuels his seemingly deluded fantastic denials. Believe me, this monster knows exactly what he's doing and who to. He's reveling in it!
I hope Helen's family realizes this as they watch the farce play out and their blood boils with incredulity and burns with a righteous vengeance and don't allow this man to manipulate them for a single second longer. Not allowing this evil to overwhelm us or define us is what truly makes us human and separates us from animals such as him.
I wish he was a narcissist but alas he isn't. At least narcissist's, for all the chaos they cause, have the capacity to love, albeit themselves. Stewart, has no such capacity to love. What drives him is a desire to wreak destruction and rip apart the edifices of everything weak people perceive as beautiful. He is evil personified and I mean that from both a theological and ponerological standpoint.