It doesn't take much to cast doubt on the story John Mark Karr has been telling. Although he claims to have killed six year old JonBenet Ramsey in her Colorado home in 1996, his tale doesn't hold water. The confession makes no sense -- none of the evidence points to him in any way. His handwriting doesn't match that on the ransom note, according to most experts. His confession states that he picked the girl up from school, but the murder took place during vacation. He stated that he drugged her, but no traces of drugs were found in her system. His ex-wife -- in fact, his entire family -- claims that he was in Alabama when the murder took place. Yet Karr went out of his way to confess to the killing, and no one can figure out why.

It's tempting to dismiss Karr as a nut, especially considering his strange behavior. Karr obsessively "collected" details about the murder, even exchanging phone calls, letters and emails with anyone remotely involved with the case. His 2001 California arrest for possession of child pornography led to a messy divorce and his flight to Thailand, where he recently had his facial hair permanently removed at a clinic, in preparation for gender reassignment surgery.

Yet Karr is no gibbering lunatic, baying at the moon -- he at least appears to be rational and intelligent. Nor, if he were completely sane and guilty, would he confess to a crime for which he would never be caught. Karr wants something, something he can only get as a prisoner in the American justice system. Is it fame he's after? Does he just want to be connected with the case in some way? Maybe. But there is one thing he can get for free as a prisoner in Colorado, something for which he would normally have to pay a lot of money: gender reassignment hormone therapy. Could that be at least part of Karr's reason for confessing to a crime that most experts doubt he committed?

In 2002, a Colorado inmate won the "right" to have the state of Colorado provide hormone treatments for his "gender identity disorder," because the treatments were started prior to incarceration. Although the state has not yet been forced to pay for the actual operations, getting pre-surgery treatment at taxpayer expense can save a person quite a bit. One has to wonder whether Karr -- eking out a meager living as a teacher in Thailand, getting fired from school after school -- saw an opportunity to turn his obsession with the Ramsey case into a tangible benefit.

He would have known enough to convince law enforcement officials to check out his story, while making enough deliberate mistakes to ensure that he couldn't possibly be convicted. He may have realised that, while waiting for the slow wheels of justice to turn, he might be able to get free hormone treatments. In addition, the sale of his story to authors and movie-of-the-week producers (to which every prisoner is entitled, according to the Liberal version of the Bill of Rights) ought to net him enough money for the surgery itself after he's released, even if performed here in America.

Of course, this is all mere speculation. Karr might just be an obsessed madman who wants his name linked with JonBenet Ramsey's. He could simply be attempting to draw public attention to the case that still consumes him. But what other logical explanation could there be for his starting treatments right before confessing to the murder, which he knew would land him in a Colorado jail? Karr could be "gaming" the system in a coldly calculated way, using his familiarity with a horrible crime -- and abusing the memory of a murdered girl -- to get something for nothing.

Whatever the truth behind Karr's confession, he's already gotten more attention than he deserves. The media play-by-play of his deportation and flight back to America was excruciating. We don't need to hear all the details of his twisted life, which are almost certainly forthcoming. Before long, we'll probably hear that he was abused as a child, thus -- to some -- absolving him of responsibility for his crimes and choices.

If we're lucky, a lack of DNA evidence will cause the prosecution to drop the case, despite whatever details he revealed that only the killer would be likely to know. It's a good bet, though, that John Mark Karr is going to be with us for quite a while, dominating the headlines until we approach the 2006 election, Israel defends itself again, or another celebrity gets pregnant.

I never thought I'd be rooting so hard for the Hollywood crowd.