Law Student ‘Murdered His Father’
Mark Alexander struggled with the ‘weight of his expectations’…
He’s hardly the first law student to be forced into law by a pushy parent, but whilst most bury their misery with alcohol, drugs or some other distraction; 22-year old Alexander is accused of resorting to more extreme measures.
A court heard on Monday how he was pushed to the edge by the pressure of attaining a law career. But rather than simply dropping out and shacking up with his Russian girlfriend, he allegedly murdered his father and buried him in their back garden first.
Daily Mail: Ambitious for his only child, frail Mr Alexander insisted his son attend the prestigious Sorbonne University in Paris for two years.
But the former pupil of £27,000-a-year Rugby School had his heart set on moving into a flat in central London with his Russian girlfriend.
Determined to finally have his way, weeks before he was due to start studying in the French capital, the court heard Alexander killed his 70-year-old ‘barely mobile’ father at the home they shared in Drayton Parslow, Buckinghamshire.
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His father’s dismembered body and battered skull were discovered in the back garden burnt and decomposing in plastic bags underneath four levels of concrete.
Whatever the outcome in court, the tale appears to be an extreme case of diverging parental expectations and an offspring’s desires. But it does reflect a wider issue. The popularity of careers in the professions (note the ever increasing university and training contract applications) is hardly surprising with the relatively high pay, supposed security and the kudos that goes with it. However, it would be interesting to find out at the student level how much of that popularity is driven by ambitious students themselves and how much is driven by their pushy parents. We suspect a fair proportion of the latter is at work. But parents who want the best for their children or, perhaps more commonly, parents seeking to live vicariously through their children, should take this sorry event as a reminder that the career which ticks all their boxes might not be considered a fulfilling option by their offspring.
