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Abstract
The ground-breaking work of Brittain (1970) provided the template for subsequent investigations of the aetiology, development and careers of sadistic murderers. The current article revisits some of the key observations that Brittain made, reviews briefly some of the empirical/theoretical developments that followed and offers an associative account of how sadistic fantasy may be initiated. We conclude by calling on clinicians working with sadists to apply the single case-study to collect sufficient information so that models of the aetiology of this population may be refined.