Millions of people worldwide hand over money every week to be in with a chance of winning the lottery. The odds aren't stacked in your favour, but you pay anyway. 

Maybe for a minute, your mind drifts to a place where you’ve won. You imagine what you would do with your millions, what you would buy,  family and friends you would treat, how much your life would be improved.

Teenage lottery winner Michael Carroll’s fall was almost as fast as his rise after he won ten million pounds. His life spiralled into utter chaos, drugs, violence and murder within his family.

The Jane and John Does of the U.K, the unknown people, walking amongst us, unnoticed on the streets, here one day and gone the next. The unidentified, the unloved, the forgotten, the lonely, the lost, the missed and the loved.

The body of Jimmy Prout had been found in some scrubland only a hundred yards from his home in Percy Main, a small village located in the North East of England. He was the victim of abuse that a prosecutor described as belonging in the dark ages.

Zahid Zaman, Ann Corbett, Kay Rayworth and Myra Wood were charged with his of murder and a trial began at the start of May 2017.

Late March 2016, Northumbria police appealed to the public as they were growing concerned for two missing people in Tyneside.

On January 2nd, 1998, 15-year-old Hannah Deterville left her home in Queens Park, London to meet a friend. She never came home. 

The name Boarded Barn didn't really suit the large Tudor house which more closely resembled a manor than a barn. It sat surrounded on three sides by acres of land. The only neighbours lived on a farm nearby, with a road passing the front of the property. Everything was going to plan. The dogs were running loose while Ann and Christine got to the difficult task of sorting through Ann mother’s belongings. 

Sometime in the afternoon, their two cars were joined by a third on the gravel driveway. A white Ford Cortina pulled up with three men inside. 

A controversial case in British law when a 22-year-old man with the mental capacity of a nine and a half-year-old, and the understanding of right and wrong equal to that of a 6-year old, is sentenced to hang for murder.

The charred remains of 21-year-old Sophie Lionnet were found on a bonfire in the back garden of a property in Southfields, London. Sabrina Kouider and Ouissem Medouni were arrested and charged with murder. 

A trial began during March 2018. 

Smoke was billowing out of an Edwardian end-of-terrace property on the intersection of Pulborough Road and Wimbledon Park Road, in Southfields, London. Neighbours became concerned when the plumes of smoke grew so the dense a heavy fog covered the street.

‘Hannibal, The Cannibal’, is a fictional character from The Silence of the Lambs. He eats pieces of his victims. After he is caught, he is a kept in a cell, with a glass facade, to be safely observed.

The UK press has its own ‘Hannibal, The Cannibal.’

After Reggie’s Kray wedding in 1965, Ronnie’s mental health continued to decline, and he suffered from both bouts of crippling depression and pathological rages. Ronnie would take medication but over time its effects wore off. He was paranoid and convinced everyone was out to get him.

From their east end beginnings, the Kray twins would go on to run one of the most powerful and feared criminal organisations in London. Their influence wouldn’t only be felt by the nightclubs and casinos of the capital but also some of the highest tiers of government. They were untouchable, and the Krays remain a much-remembered part of sixties culture like the celebrity icons that filled their establishments.

This is the story of Reggie and Ronnie Kray.

On a dark December night, a couple were heading home after an evening out. As they drove towards Alvechurch in Worcestershire, they were stopped on a deserted country lane and the driver was murdered in a brutal attack. But who was this mystery assailant and what connection did they have to the victim? 

Basil and Avril Laitner’s day was filled with happiness. They watched their eldest daughter get married, and they spent the early evening at the reception, in a marquee tent in their back garden. When they waved their daughter and new son-in-law off on their honeymoon, they had no idea a stranger was watching too. 

The Laitner's dream day was about to turn in to their worst nightmare.

During September 2012 Dale Cregan opened fire on two unarmed police officers. After killing them both, he handed himself in at a local police station. His arrest ended a nationwide manhunt to find him as he was also wanted in connection with the murders of a father and son in Greater Manchester.

Along with Dale Cregan, nine other men would be charged in connection with the murders of PC Nicola Hughes, PC Fiona Bone, and Mark and David Short.

On Tuesday, September 18th, 2012, PC Nicola Hughes and PC Fiona Bone arrived at a property in Abbey Gardens, ten miles east of Manchester City Centre.

They were answering a routine call. 

After his release from prison in 1970, Roy Fontaine had accepted a job at Whittingham hospital, and he was staying at a prison hostel nearby in Preston. Under the watchful eye of staff, Roy carried out his duties as the hospital porter. While waiting for his boyfriend, David Barnard, to get parole, Roy Fontaine started a fling with one of his co-workers Mary Coggle. Roy used his leisure time, before the prison hostel curfew, to visit an RAF drinking club. While there, he began talking to Hazel Patterson, a well-liked widow who owned a newsagents. 

To ensure his brother couldn’t lift his head above the water, Roy held it under for a moment as the last of the air left Donald’s lungs. As Roy and Michael stepped back from the bathtub, they patiently waited. After five minutes Donald’s body bobbed to the surface.

Between 1975 and 1980 The Yorkshire Ripper used the North of England as a hunting ground. He spread fear not just in Yorkshire, but across the entire country.

The Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, killed thirteen women and attacked eight others. But before his capture, police were duped by a recording and three letters sent by a hoaxer. The voice on the tape claimed that he was the serial killer. This false evidence would derail the investigation, and divert attention away from the real culprit. 

Police would later discover the recordings were made by John Humble.

For over a quarter of a century, the answer to the question, who is “Wearside Jack”, would remain unanswered, and John would lead detectives on a wild goose chase that may have cost three women their lives.

David Smith, a former member of the SAS, was due to receive a large sum of money as a company he owned was being sold. David and his partner Elizabeth were excited as the windfall meant they could buy their dream home and permanently move in together after a committed long-distance relationship. Life appeared to be going well. That was until Elizabeth suddenly fell ill. 

She was assessed by doctors and consultants, who broke the news that Elizabeth was likely suffering from the early onset of motor neurone disease. But not everything was as it seemed. Sometimes the sweetest lie is easier to swallow than the bitter truth.