Charles Sobhraj, the French serial killer accused of murdering at least 12 Western tourists travelling through Asia in the 1970s, is now free and is discussing his experiences in a new television interview.
“If you follow Sobhraj, that's just how he is. He loves the attention,” former Metropolitan police detective chief inspector Jackie Malton told Fox News Digital. “He's a narcissistic character who has a wholehearted belief in himself and his innocence.”
The 80-year-old French national is believed to have killed at least 20 people in Afghanistan, India, Thailand, Turkey, Nepal, Iran and Hong Kong during the 1970s.
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French serial killer Charles Sobhraj (center) is brought before a local court for hearing in a case related to the murder of Canadian backpacker Laurent-Ormond Carrière, in Bhaktapur, May 26, 2014. Sobhraj, a Frenchman serving a life sentence for the 1975 murder of an American backpacker in Nepal, was nicknamed the “Bikini Killer” for his alleged involvement in a series of murders across Asia in the 1970s. (Prakash Matema/AFP via Getty Images)
“I think he came across as an extremely cold, ruthless and unempathetic person at the time,” Malton said.
Sobhraj was sentenced to life in prison (20 years in Nepal) in 2004 for the murder of 29-year-old American tourist Connie Jo Bronzic in 1975. Ten years later, he was also convicted of killing Laurent Carrière, a 26-year-old Canadian who was Bronzic's companion.
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On June 12, 2014, French serial killer Charles Sobhraj was escorted by Nepalese police to the local court in Bhaktapur for hearing in a case related to the murder of Canadian backpacker Laurent Ormond Carrière. (Prakash Matema/AFP via Getty Images)
Sobhraj was released Nepalese prisons He will be released in December 2022, after 19 years of his life sentence, and deported to France.
The Supreme Court had ordered Sobhraj's release due to his poor health – he had a heart condition – and because he was of good behaviour and had served more than 75 per cent of his sentence.
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His new interview will be featured on Peacock's “World's Most Notorious Killers,” which will be available on September 17th.
Sobhraj preyed on young backpackers, primarily on the “Hippie Trail” of Asia, befriending them before drugging them, robbing and murdering them. He was nicknamed “the Snake” because of the disguises he used to evade police for many years, and was known in Thailand as the “Bikini Killer.”
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Charles Sobhraj is interviewed on Peacock's “The World's Most Notorious Murderers.” (peacock)
Malton, who stars in the Peacock series, has spent much of 2023 working with a large team of criminal profilers, researchers and psychologists investigating Sobhraj, who gained prominence when Netflix featured him in “The Serpent.”” 2021. She spoke to him this year after taking the time to get to know the convicted killer.
“He wanted to tell the world he was innocent,” she said. “We investigated five murders in Thailand and presented him with pretty solid evidence that showed, in my opinion, he was not as innocent as he thought he was.”
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The retired detective said he was surprised to see that 80-year-old Sobhraj “was not a man in his 30s targeting backpackers.”
“Mr. Sobhraj is a very polite and respectful person,” she said. “He's not a serial killer in the sense that we understand in the history of serial killer cases, that anybody would think of. He doesn't fit that mold.”
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After his release, Sobhraj told French newspaper Le Monde: “I have used stolen passports many times but I have never killed anyone. I can prove that.”
