Close Your Eyes / The Murder of Dawn Rhodes and The Killer Who Walked Free

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…

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Double 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… 

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Double 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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Justice Rewritten - Part 2 / The Trials Of Matthew Hamlen

Over the course of three days at Winchester Crown Court, the jury decided if the evidence the prosecution presented was sufficient enough to prove that Matthew Hamlen stabbed, robbed and bludgeoned to death 77-year-old Georgina Edmonds on the wet and grey afternoon of January 11, 2008Hamlen had been in custody for the past 12 months since he was charged with murder, but always denied his involvement… (Part 2 of 2).

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Justice Rewritten - Part 1 / The Murder Of Georgina Edmonds At Fig Tree Cottage

Kiln Lane is a narrow road flanked by woodland, crossing the River Itchen, and winding south-east from the village of Otterbourne to the quiet hamlet of Brambridge in the south-east of England. Although isolated, measuring roughly a mile, the road is used as a commuter route, so a considerable amount of traffic passes through it during peak travel times. Shortly before 6 pm, on Friday, January 11, 2008, police were alerted to an address on the thoroughfare, close to the riverbank… (Part 1 of 2).

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