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Killing for Love

Duration: 1 hour, 55 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC FourLatest broadcast: on BBC Four HD

Documentary about a compelling murder mystery, fuelled by a passionate young love affair. It all looked clear-cut when German student Jens Soering confessed to the brutal murder of his girlfriend's parents. But all was not as it seemed - by the time it came to trial, Jens was claiming he confessed to the murders to protect his beloved girlfriend, the beautiful Elizabeth Haysom - and that she had actually been the killer. Through access to the dramatic trials, love letters and new evidence, Killing for Love attempts to get to the truth of what happened on that fateful night.

The 20-year-old Elizabeth Haysom was widely admired at the University of Virginia for her wild past. Jens Soering, the son of a German diplomat, was a first-year Jefferson Scholar and had just turned 18 when he met her. He was instantly entranced and they embarked on an intense, obsessive relationship. Three months into their affair, on 30 March 1985, Elizabeth's parents were brutally murdered in their Virginia home and the couple fled. Crisscrossing Asia and Europe they were eventually arrested in London, where Jens confessed to the murder in what he later claimed was an act of love. Show less

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