In June 2016, Dawn Rhodes was killed at the family home in Redhill, Surrey. Her husband, carpenter Robert Rhodes, who cut Dawn’s throat and claimed self-defence, told the police that she had attacked him. In 2017, a jury at the Old Bailey believed him. He walked free. But in 2021, one of the couple's children disclosed the truth to a therapist…
Read moreThe World's End Part 3 / Angus Sinclair & The Murders of Christine Eadie and Helen Scott
Investigators wanted to get justice for the World’s End victims, but they would need the law to be changed in order for that to happen (Part 3 of 3)…
Read moreThe World's End Part 2 / Angus Sinclair & The Murder of Mary Gallacher
The murders of several women in Scotland in the 1970s went unsolved. During a case review into the 1978 murder of 17-year-old Mary Gallacher in 2000, a suspect was identified through DNA comparison. He was arrested and brought to trial (Part 2 of 3)…
Read moreDouble Jeopardy / Hazel Backwell / Wendell Baker
Hazel was safety conscious, but the fact that she was not answering the door made George concerned that something had happened to her, so he alerted the police. When officers gained entry to the property, they found a pile of boxes blocking a cupboard under the stairs. Faint cries pleading for help were coming from inside. The reality of what had happened to Hazel was far beyond what George could have ever imagined…
Read moreDouble Jeopardy / Jacqui Montgomery / Dennis McGrory
Double jeopardy is a legal principle that somebody cannot go on trial for the same crime more than once. The rule, over 800 years old, was put in place to protect the innocent against judicial misconduct that could see them convicted, even after being found not guilty. A pivotal shift occurred twenty years ago, with the UK's double jeopardy law undergoing a significant transformation through the Criminal Justice Act 2003. This introduced substantial reforms, particularly for serious crimes. The amendment allowed the possibility of retrial for someone previously acquitted, if "new and compelling" evidence surfaced…
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