Dating and Mating Advice from a World-Class Professional

The Daily Mail reports on ascot-wearing Oliver Killeen:

The man who had 14 wives

[Oliver Killeen] was so fond of weddings he had attended 16 of his own. Sadly, just like his marriage to education expert Margaret Curtin, then 43, all but two were bogus.

And as if that wasn't extraordinary enough, the university qualifications on which he had built his career as a relationship counsellor and psychologist were false, too.

Oliver Killeen, international fraudster, had simply culled his knowledge from self-help books he'd read while in prison.

Boasting a string of qualifications in psychology, his patients included lawyers, doctors and teachers. It was to take years before Margaret discovered the truth — that she was married to one of Britain's most prolific bigamists.

In June 2004, Killeen was jailed at Isleworth Crown Court for three years for bigamy.

At his trial, the judge recorded his horror at the 'cruelty and gross deception inflicted on the women in your life'. It's a tale that would be almost comical if it weren’t so tragic.

Behind the charm of the twinkly eyed Irishman lies a string of broken hearts, blighted careers, devastating debts and — perhaps worst of all — an arrogant, amoral man who feels absolutely no guilt.

"Why should I?" asks Killeen. "I gave women what they wanted. If they were foolish enough to marry me within a few weeks of meeting me that was up to them. They should have asked more questions.

"I always gave the same little speech at my weddings. It was like a template — but no one ever questioned it. That made me laugh even more.

"Conning women is easy. I studied psychology and behaviour patterns. I presented myself as a dashing, suave sort of guy and women fell for it.

"I have a strong personality and an air of total respectability. And, of course, I'm a good lover — that’s the sealing factor."

However, his career as a bigamist did not begin until he was widowed in his 30s. He had married his childhood sweetheart, Mary, when he was 18.

They left their native Ireland and moved to London before emigrating to Toronto, where they had eight children.

"I have always liked living on the edge," says Killeen. "So I never had boring nine to five jobs. I got involved in various scams, such as money laundering.

I served time in Canada for 178 fraud convictions. That's when I started studying psychology. I thought it would be useful." And so it proved. Mary died of septicaemia, aged just 38, in 1974. And it was then that Killeen decided to use his undoubted skills to con women.

Needing a new mother for his children, when he was 36 he married the first of what he rather chillingly calls his 'collection of wives'...

Brazenly, he had reinvented himself as a psychotherapist and relationship counsellor in London, dealing in cases of sex abuse and addictive behaviour.

He was particularly popular thanks to the marriage classes he offered to young couples referred to him by his local Catholic priest.

Styling himself Dr Killeen, he claimed he was American and boasted he had a degree in psychology from prestigious Berkeley College, California, and a doctorate from Toronto University.

"He overwhelmed me with compliments," says university educated Margaret, who worked for the education department of Harrow council. They had met when she came to Killeen for advice in changing her career.

"He made me feel I was the most beautiful, accomplished woman to ever walk the earth. He looked into my eyes and instantly I was transformed from a rather plump, ordinary woman into Elizabeth Taylor.

"Now I can see that all he was doing was telling me exactly what I wanted to hear. But he appears so completely honest and open it's impossible to doubt him.

"I was at work on Valentine's Day and a huge bouquet appeared. It was half the size of a florist's shop.

"I thought I had found this knight in shining armour who was going to rescue me from my ordinary, boring life."

Within weeks, Killeen had proposed. "His passion blew me away," she says. "He knew I was worried my biological clock was ticking. I was 43 and wanted a child. He's so clever that he played on that."

Killeen persuaded a local radio station to give him a slot and his gentle, bedside manner was an instant hit with listeners.

Even after he has been exposed as a fraud, former patients pay testimony to the help he offered them. One woman claims the caring Dr Killeen understood her so well he was able to cure the bulimia which had plagued her for more than 30 years.

Perhaps it's no surprise that he was extremely good at his job. Charming, intuitive and with a commanding presence, he was soon so successful he had a full appointments book and was able to charge £7.99 for relaxation tapes.

I checked Google to see if he was just making up stories of his success as a psychologist, but there are lots of media accounts from before his unmasking of him offering professional advice, which I must say, sounds just as plausible as all the advice I've read offered by real psychologists. Here, for example, is a 1998 account from the Irish Farmers Journal, of a talk he gave to journalists on how Irish farmers could deal with stress. He advised relaxation tapes and self-esteem.

Even now he has no guilt.

"Psychology isn't a true science anyway so I don't feel guilty admitting I don't have a single proper qualification," he says.

"I'm self-taught. I read lots of books because I wanted to understand myself. I wanted to know why I could be so impetuous and spontaneous. It just snowballed."

Perhaps most extraordinary of all, Killeen found himself in court — as an expert witness on the effect of sexual abuse on the psychological state of victims. For years, no one ever questioned his qualifications.

"I was even an adviser to the police on issues such as drugs, alcohol and suicide," he says.

"In the five years I practised in Ireland, I treated judges, GPs and other psychiatrists as clients. It was a joke. I never worried that I would be unmasked. These weren't serious crimes — they were just harmless escapades. I spoke persuasively and carried myself with authority. It was easy." Killeen was making £5,000 a week — money he used to indulge his passion for the good things in life...

At his trial, Killeen admitted three counts of bigamy and was sentenced to three years — one of the longest sentences for this crime. Released early, in June 2005, for good behaviour, he fled to Canada, where he now lives.

"I'm very happy here," he says. "I'm running several girlfriends who know nothing of my past."

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer