Per Hansen (originally Paul Heartley-Reade) is a character appearing in the episode The Fisher King of the ITV crime drama Midsomer Murders.
Paul Heartly-Reade is an archaeologist who unearthed ancient Celtic artifacts, a spear head and a chalice, he was hoping would contribute to his studies. However, a rival archaeologist, Roger Heldman, was in competition with him, and because of his history of raping several women in the village, presumably including his own wife Anne, few dared to challenge him. So Paul sabotaged the cave for it to collapse on Roger, killing him under the rubble.
Paul retreated to Norway, where he was reported to have died in a car accident. In reality, he lived. He had reconstructive surgery for his face, but his scarred hands needed white gloves to cover the damages. Paul returned to Midsomer Barrow to see how things changed, and if he was honored. He disguised himself as a Norwegian national under the alias "Per Hansen" and taught lectures on his signature subjects. But he was furious to find out not only did his work not get any credit, as the spearhead was taken by Nathan Green and the chalice was left to Dr. James Lavery as a bribe, but children sired from Roger's rapes were abundant in the town.
Hoping to reclaim his fame and erase Roger's history, Paul, in the middle of his lectures, started off with his artifacts. Roger's only legitimate child Gareth Heldman found it, and Paul snapped when Gareth wanted to keep it for himself. Paul stabbed Gareth in his thigh in a rage in the spear, evoking Celtic lore. To throw police off his trail, as they consulted with "Per" regularly through the case while he was trapezing through town and the homes of Roger's families, Paul left the weapon in the home of David Heartley-Reade, who was supposedly his son.
Anne recognized him at David's solstice festival by his laugh, and he removed his gloves to eat the concessions at the event, which showed his burns. Because David published his book and studies that Paul worked his life to compile, he was next to die. Using the ritual of David shooting a flaming arrow at the sun, which his wife and half-sister Miriam Heartley-Reade was supposed to respond with firing an arrow from behind him, Paul took up the bow and arrow instead. When David fired his shot, so did Paul, and David got impaled by the arrow before tumbling down the mound he stood upon.
When Lavery was ready to kill Nathan due to his knowledge of the spear, Paul cranked the water wheel, pulled the crank out, and bludgeoned Lavery into the water, leaving him to drown so Nathan's life was saved. Paul made another stop at Miriam's house to collect more materials from his studies, but when she saw him, she was threatened by Paul with a letter opener because he was ready to erase Roger's family further. The police, after DS Dan Scott had the blade held on him but disarmed Paul quickly nevertheless, arrested him. They revealed his true identity and the scars on his hands by pulling his gloves off, before taking him into custody after he fully confessed.
Victims[]
- Roger Heldman - Killed in 1970 after the entrance to the Midsomer Barrow was arranged to collapse onto him.
- Gareth Heldman - Stabbed repeatedly with an antique spear tip in his right thigh and bled to death.
- David Heartley-Reade - Shot in the back with an arrow.
- Dr. James Lavery - Hit on the head with a water wheel crank, then fell into the Millhouse duct where he drowned.
- Miriam Heartley-Reade - Burgled into her home, held her hostage and attempted to slash her to death with a letter opener; she was rescued when he was disarmed and arrested.
- DS Dan Scott - Threatened with a letter opener, but disarmed him and took him into custody.
- Vanessa Stone - Presumably intended to kill, but was arrested before he could carry out the plan.