Killing for Love

Love Is The Ultimate Weapon.

They were an unlikely couple - Jens Soering, the geeky son of a German diplomat and Elizabeth Haysom, the worldly, aloof daughter of a wealthy steel executive and his artist wife. The discovery of the bodies of Elizabeth's brutally murdered parents panicked their affluent, rural Virginia community into thoughts of a serial killer on the loose. Suspicion turned to Jens and Elizabeth when they fled the country, criss-crossing Asia and Europe, leaving a trail of passionate love letters, eventually landing in the UK where they were arrested for writing bad checks. Jens says his love for Elizabeth drove him to confess the murders. From their honours classes at the University of Virginia to life sentences in prisons 35 miles apart, it's the story of a deadly love. There are many hours of never-before-seen video material, combined with contemporary interviews with Jens Soering and many of the key figures in the original investigation and the trials. 'I am innocent', said Jens Soering on September 4, 1990, when he received two life sentences for the murders of Derek and Nancy Haysom. Nobody believed him when he said that he just confessed to save Elizabeth from the electric chair. Nobody believed him when he said that he promised her to take the blame on himself. Much like the hero of Dickens' 'A Tale Of Two Cities' who gave his life for love.