You drop the kids off at school at nine in the morning. The next six hours of their day are spent in the care of trustworthy professionals. The majority of the time, they are safe in the hands of their tutors. It’s a rare occasion when the friendly teacher isn't the honourable person they appear to be...
Read morePreventable / Kamil Ahmad / Jeffrey Barry
After receiving a 999 call in the early hours of Thursday, July 7, 2016, two police officers from the Avon and Somerset Constabulary arrived at a property on Wells Road in Bristol. The caller confessed that he had killed someone...
Read moreMI5, Psychological Control & Coercion / Robert Hendy-Freegard
In the American embassy, the telephone rang. Special agent Jaclyn Zappacosta picked it up. The call marked the end of a decade of crimes so bizarre that if they were translated into a book of fiction, it would be deemed too outlandish to publish...
Read moreUnsolved / Valerie Graves
Overlooking an estuary, the small village of Bosham, West Sussex, sits on the South coast of England. Located a few miles south from the built-up village centre, a sizeable six-bedroom property called ‘Hove To’ on Smugger’s Lane lies off the beaten track, affording a view of a natural inlet of Chichester Harbour. On December 30, 2013, a woman was found dead in one of the downstairs bedrooms…
Read moreM4 Rapist / John Steed
He got into the stolen car, started the engine and left his mother’s home. The vehicle wasn't the only thing that he had stolen. Concealed under a blanket, in the boot of the car, was a pump-action shotgun and some ammunition taken from his stepfather. Women in the south-east were not safe. The severity of his crimes escalated fast…
Read moreA Murder In Orkney - Part 2 / Shamsuddin Mahmood / Michael Ross
After Michael Ross was charged with the murder of Shamsuddin Mahmood, a trial began at the High Court in Glasgow on May 12, 2008… (Part 2 of 2).
Read moreA Murder In Orkney - Part 1 / Shamsuddin Mahmood / Michael Ross
Off the northeastern tip of Scotland, many of the 70 isolated Islands in Orkney are unoccupied. The sandy beaches, lush green fields and rugged white cliffs look like something you would see on a postcard. With a population of roughly 20,000 people, crime is rare. On the odd occasion when an offence is committed, it doesn’t take long for police to apprehend the culprit, as everyone knows everyone else’s business. There hadn’t been a murder in Orkney in a quarter of a century, but in 1994 all that would change… (Part 1 of 2).
Read moreBlood Ties / Robert & Patricia Sedden / Stephen Seddon
Stephen suddenly felt a pain in his chest and momentarily blacked out. After hitting what he thought was a brick in the centre of the road, it startled him, and looking for the brake, he accidentally put his foot on the accelerator. Before he could get the vehicle under control, it ploughed through a gap in the trees and plummeted into the freezing waters of the Bridgewater canal…
Read moreThe Red Mini Murder / June Cook
The early spring evening was spent at the George Hotel in Pangbourne, Berkshire. Raymond and June Cook enjoyed their meal while overlooking the Thames. Nights like these, alone, were a rare treat, and they were making the most of it…
Read moreA Seat in Parliament, A Crime at Home / Anne & Stephen Searle
Extramarital transgressions can cause anger and destruction. But add to that mix another element. The people having the affair are related by marriage. The following two cases cross the boundaries of family, sex and murder…
Read moreConvicted by Numbers & A Miscarriage of Justice / The Case of Sally Clark - Part 2
Sally Clark had been arrested and charged with murdering two of her sons. Sally was adamant she was innocent, but a magistrate at a committal hearing believed there was enough evidence to go to trial… (Part 2 of 2).
Read moreConvicted by Numbers & A Miscarriage of Justice / The Case of Sally Clark - Part 1
Two police officers arrived at Hope Cottage. They took photos of the bedroom and were sympathetic to the couple's loss. Their visit was expected, and Sally and Steve were not alarmed... (Part 1 of 2).
Read moreThe Wild Fraud of "Lady" Rosemary Aberdour
Jeeves jumped into the back of the Bentley. The chauffeur was escorting him from London to Scotland. Jeeves was looking peaky; maybe a break from the city for a walk in the Scottish countryside might help freshen him up. After a short trip, they would make the roughly eight-hour drive home, refreshed. Jeeves was used to the more exceptional things in life; sometimes he devoured the best fillet steak purchased especially for him from Harrods…
Read moreKiller in Crystal Meth / Gordon Semple / Stefano Brizzi
Stefano Brizzi had just been found guilty of murder. Throughout his trial, Stefano denied the allegations made by the prosecution. He insisted that it had been a terrible accident. It was always going to be difficult to explain what the police found at his home… partially dissolved human remains.
Read moreFarmhouse Of Lies / Colyn Bedale-Taylor / Graham Backhouse
Margaret got into the driver's seat. She heard her husband call, “Drive carefully, darling”. She turned the key in the ignition. BOOM!…
Read moreThe Glasgow "Alien" Abductions - Part 2
After Robert Allan’s abduction and torture, the theft of ammunition and grenades from a barracks in Kent, a drugs bust of nearly three-quarters of a million pounds, and a shooting at a family home, police would bring down one of the most sophisticated and brutal crime gangs Scotland has ever seen… (Part 2 of 2).
Read moreThe Glasgow "Alien" Abductions - Part 1
The alien abductions in Scotland have nothing to do with little green men from another planet. In 2009, members of one of Scotland’s most dangerous crime gangs began kidnapping their rivals at gunpoint… (Part 1 of 2).
Read moreStalked / Dr Jan Falkowski / Maria Marchese
Her dream wedding dress hung on a door in her parents’ home. She had spared no expense buying a £2,000 gown. Today, September 6, 2003, was meant to be her big day; she was supposed to be getting ready. Instead, Deborah Pemberton was waiting anxiously with plain-clothes police for the phone to ring…
Read moreA Murderer in the Making / Georgia Williams / Jamie Reynolds
Georgia was an independent teenager and wanted to earn some spending money, so got a part-time job at a petrol station. She was working with a man called Jamie Reynolds…
Read moreA Millionaire, Blackmail & A Body In The Workshop / Georgina Symonds / Peter Morgan
Peter Morgan, a wealthy Welsh businessman and multi-millionaire in his early fifties, had recently separated from his wife. He was looking to start a new life with his young girlfriend. This new beginning would come to an untimely end when the body of one of the couple would be found next to a saw in a workshop at the home of Peter’s soon-to-be ex-wife…
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