The Witch of Tewkesbury: 25 Years of Captivity / Amanda Wixon

On a quiet street in Tewkesbury, a secret remained hidden for over two decades. In March 2021, the police uncovered one of the most disturbing cases of prolonged abuse in modern UK history. Inside a neglected home, officers found a woman who had effectively vanished from society, malnourished, isolated, and living in conditions described as inhuman…

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Elkin & Bell / The Gosport Funeral Home Scandal

In England, anyone can become a funeral director. No licence, no qualifications required. This is the story of how that gap was exploited. On December 10th, 2023, bailiffs entered a repossessed funeral home in Gosport, Hampshire, and discovered something that would prompt a year-long police investigation, a landmark criminal trial, and renewed calls for long-overdue industry regulation…

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The Men Next Door / Drugs, Coercive Control & Cases Mirroring the Pelicot Trial / Rodney Johnston

When Gisèle Pelicot waived her anonymity in 2024 and exposed her husband's crimes to the world, many assumed what happened in Mazan was an isolated case. It wasn’t. A 66-year-old carer from Norfolk subjected a woman to almost three decades of sexual exploitation. He operated in plain sight, using digital networks to recruit men, threatened his victim into silence, and recorded everything…

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Nightmare on Elm Road / Louis Price / Kirsty Carless

Staffordshire police officers were dispatched to an address following a 999 call on Christmas Day. In a distressed state, the caller said, "My stepdaughter just turned up at my house, and she is alleging that she stabbed her boyfriend, and he is dead. She is in my kitchen at the moment, talking to her mother.” When the operator asked for details about the caller’s stepdaughter and her boyfriend, the man replied, “They have got quite a history, so it’s going to be on your file somewhere”... 

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Force & Frailty / Donald Burgess / PC Stephen Smith & PC Rachel Comotto

In the quiet corridors of a seaside care home, on an ordinary weekday afternoon, a 92-year-old man sat confused in his wheelchair, gripping a butter knife he'd been using to eat his lunch. Within minutes, two police officers would arrive at his door after being alerted that it was vital for them to attend the scene quickly, as someone’s life had been threatened…

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A Needle Attack in Northallerton / Gary Lewis / Darren Harris

Susan Allan had just returned from her lunch break when she heard Gary, the shop owner, calling her name from the street outside. She rushed out of the shop and saw a customer she had been chatting with earlier that day walking towards a car parked in an alley. Thinking that the man had stolen something, Susan quickly took out her phone and snapped a photograph of him. At the same time, Gary told her, “He’s stabbed me”. As Susan was repeating exactly what her boss said to a 999 operator, Gary added, “With a needle”...

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Luton Triple Murder & Planned School Shooting / Nicholas Prosper

Clarice Reyes groggily checked the time—it was just after 5 am. She lived on the seventh floor of the Leabank building in Marsh Farm, an area of Luton in Bedfordshire. It was the heavy thudding coming from the flat above that roused Clarice from sleep. The noise, like the sound of a scuffle, came from the eighth floor. Exasperated, she dragged herself out of bed and followed the commotion upstairs, stopping outside flat number 82…

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Under The Knife / Graeme Perks / Peter Brooks

In the darkness, he could only make out a silhouette. It was nearly impossible to see their features clearly through the shattered glass of the conservatory. Perhaps it was his son, who was on leave from the army. Only a few moments earlier, Graeme had been fast asleep, and now he was downstairs, and the floor of his home was soaking wet, reeking of petrol…

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The Criminology Killer / Amie Gray & Leanne Miles / Nasen Saadi

The full moon painted the sea in silver; its light rippling gently across the water. From his perch on West Cliff, a local photographer heard sudden screams from the shoreline below. The darkness concealed whatever was unfolding. He was puzzled but not alarmed. The screams stopped almost as quickly as they had started. Not overly concerned, he packed up his equipment and began heading home. As he turned, a figure peeled away from the shadows near the top of the steps leading down to the beach. The young man passed beneath a streetlight, and something about his facial expression struck fear into the photographer… 

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The Naked Carpenter / Robert Jenner

Following reports that a man had been seen streaking in a park in Maidstone, Kent, police officers were sent to the home of a notorious self-described naturist. The man had a reputation in the area for wearing see-through clothing, if any at all. When confronted by the police in the past, he had done nothing more than laugh, so the attending officers felt the situation would be resolved quickly. It wasn't the case this time. The confrontation took a darker turn…

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