Piers Morgan’s verdict on the girl who killed her entire family? ‘Evil.’ Well, thanks for the analytical nuance

In his latest documentary series Killer Women, the presenter is simplistic and morally absolutist – despite the fact there is an interesting, subtle story to be told about a girl who has rebuilt her relationship with the father she asked her boyfriend to kill

Erin Caffey orchestrated the murder of her family (ITV/YouTube)

As a bastion of gender equality, a champion of free expression and a monumental force for good in using his platform to celebrate women’s achievements, I was surprised to see the results of Piers Morgan’s latest project, Killer Women, the new ITV documentary. Or not.

I cannot deny that the tale is chilling. A softly spoken, articulate 16-year-old girl with the looks of an angel and a sweet singing voice plots to kill her entire family. Her boyfriend and his best friend, aided by her encouragement, storm into her Texas home in 2008 wielding guns and swords, brutally murdering her mother and two brothers, while she waits outside in the car with an accomplice’s girlfriend. Her father survives and the two rebuild their relationship while she spends the next decade behind bars.

A juicy story with plenty of meat for a former tabloid editor – but hopefully also an opportunity to challenge the audience on the meaning of bad and good, a chance to study the human psyche, to find out more than we could already read in the Mirror.

But after an hour-long interview with 24-year-old Erin Caffey and conversations with her family, neighbours and psychologists, what did we get?

“She is the most evil woman I have ever met,” says Piers.

Oh. Does that mean we can forget watching Killer Women episodes two and three?

A shame, really, that such a fascinating and frightening story was hijacked by a man who appears to see the world in black and white and takes every opportunity to further his career by creating controversy.

Of course Piers Morgan focuses on the sex Erin Caffey had with her boyfriend in his trailer after the murders, and of course he pushed her as to whether she felt guilty for what she had "made" another family's son do, instead of focusing on the role the knife-wielding son played himself. It’s the wicked, beautiful witch syndrome: the face of an angel, wearing lipstick and eye shadow, dressed all in white, singing ‘Amazing Grace’ behind bars.

After his constant stream of negative and simplistic commentary on cultural affairs – disparaging Susan Sarandon’s clothes, disregarding journalist Michelle Fields’ right to accuse Donald Trump’s campaign manager (who denies it) of battery, criticising Beyoncé for using her new album as a platform to fight racism – it would be truly refreshing if Mr Morgan deigned to say something, anything, positive about women.

Yes, women do bad things. Awful things. Crazy things. Evil things. They should face punishment; the same punishment as men. But women, especially when talking about such disturbing and high profile crimes, will inevitably soak up more of the blame and the media attention as it is rarer for a woman to be involved in the first place.

Another predictable point: there was little mention of the two teenage boys who actually murdered the family. Let’s not forget that whatever despicable things Erin Caffey did, it was not her who took turns to stab eight-year-old Tyler Caffey as he hid in the closet, or almost behead mother Penny Caffey with a samurai sword.

So: Erin is evil. Is that it?

Give us a break, Piers. It won’t say “5m Twitter followers” on your tombstone. For someone who is so opinionated and shouts so much, you say surprisingly little of value. It’s high time to put your massive public platform to better use.