There are two sides to every coin like there are two sides to every story. A headless body is found in the undergrowth of a natural beauty spot in Devon. Police soon find the culprit who openly admits that he carried out the killing. However, not everything is, as it seems… or perhaps it is? (Part 1 of 2).

If you robbed a bank, how much do you think you would get? What would you spend the money on? How much money is a life worth?

“There may have been some sort of consensual behaviour at the start of this night’s activity. But we say that you can be sure that, whatever may have started willingly, there is no way that Natalie either consented to or was able to consent to what John Broadhurst did to her after that, leading to her untimely, unseemly and tragic death.”

— Prosecutor David Mason QC, Birmingham Crown Court, November 2018.

Jack and Charlotte were on a date. The evening was going well. So well, in fact, that Jack invited Charlotte back to his houseboat on the most famous river in London. Little did they know, that following the events of that night, one of them would end up dead and the other chased by police, halfway around the world.

Sometimes a killer can just blend in. Be one of many faces in a crowd, unnoticed by everyone, including the officers desperately searching for them. The person known to many as an unassuming "softly spoken gentleman", carries on with his life. Will he ever have to pay the price for what he has done?

“Psychological reports say they are absolutely sane individuals. It’s frighting that they are such ordinary people. There is nothing special about them.”

— Detective Inspector Peter Wall, outside Manchester Crown Court, 1993.

Sally Challen was found guilty of murdering her husband, Richard in 2010, but over the intervening years, much was changing in the outside world (Part 2 of 2).

On Sunday, August 15, 2010, police were alerted to a situation on the cliffs of Beachy Head (Part 1 of 2).

When the internet and social media evolved, it created another method through which stalkers could intimidate their victims. In 2012 stalking laws were introduced in England and Wales which included cyberstalking. For some victims it was too little too late, they had already lost their lives. 

As there is not a new episode this week, we thought we’d post a short extract from the final chapter of our book ‘They Walk Among Us’

Ten brand new intriguing and unsettling cases that we have not covered on the podcast.

Order your copy here: https://theywalkamonguspodcast.com/book 

From the outside in, there did not seem anything wildly different about the Barrass family. Six children and a single mother Sarah, living together in a semi-detached house in South Yorkshire. But the Barrass family were not the only occupants. Sarah shared her life with a secret so big she was willing to do absolutely anything, even the unthinkable, to protect it.

Benjamin Field and Martyn Smith were on trial, accused of murdering Peter Farquhar at his home and conspiring to murder Ann Moore-Martin before she died of natural causes. She had handed over more than £30,000 before she died. Peter Farquhar had been found dead. A coroner at first believed he had died of acute alcohol intoxication. However, the authorities now believed that he had been drugged and suffocated (Part 2 of 2).

“I think I will get away with most of it”. Those were the words uttered by a deputy churchwarden while he was in the custody police. He was arrested when his second elderly lover in as many years was admitted to hospital. The first had died under somewhat mysterious circumstances. How had this man, in his late twenties, who bore all the hallmarks of a god-fearing churchgoer, worked his way not only into the will’s but also the beds, of a 69-year-old-man and 83-year-old woman, who were neighbours on the same street? That was a puzzle Thames Valley police were determined to solve.  (Part 1 of 2).

The fire was intense. The strap of the victim's wristwatch had disintegrated. The hands of the watch, still visible, had stopped moving at 2:58 am… about the same time its wearer had lost their life… 

As the opening remarks were given to the court — describing the lives of two young girls who would now be in their early forties, Russell Bishop sat writing notes, observed from a public gallery full to the brim with the victims family members, and a large number of journalists, as the case had garnered national news coverage once again (Part 4 of 4).

In November 2002, there appeared to be some movement on the case. Following a speech by the queen, it was announced there were plans to remove the double jeopardy law across England and Wales in which a person could not be tried twice for the same offence. The changes announced were retrospective, which meant that the murders at Wild Park could be reinvestigated (Part 3 of 4).

The trial into the murders of Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows took almost a month, supported by evidence from one of the most significant investigations Sussex police had conducted at the time. However, Ivan Lawrence QC, defending, said there were glaring holes in the crown’s case (Part 2 of 4).

Wild Park, is an area of land, several miles from Brighton's coast. Within that park stands a wooden bench and a brass plaque, inscribed with the names of two little girls. When the bench was built it sat between two maple trees that were planted in their memory. Karen and Nicola were only nine years old when they were murdered. The investigation to bring their killer to justice would take over three decades, and the toll it took on those involved was unimaginable — a failed trial, divorce, death from a broken heart, a change in the law, unfounded accusations of abuse, and all while the girls killer was in prison for a separate albeit near-identical crime. This is the case of the Babes In The Wood (Part 1 of 4).

In 1976, a boy was photographed. The picture appeared in The Daily Mirror. The 3-year-old was marching up and down in front of a sentry who stood outside Clarence House in London. Wearing a faux Queen’s Guard uniform, the boy was excited for the Trooping the Colour ceremony the next day. A snippet in the article mused about the child and his future. It read: "Dreaming, perhaps of the day when he can measure up to the real thing himself ". That boy was Mark Acklom. He chose a very different path to the one the newspaper and his parents had envisioned. From teenage swindler to one of England’s most wanted fugitives — Mark Acklom, known as an MI6 conman, led a life of audacious scams…

Under Operation Ensign, Sussex Police completed one of the most significant mass DNA screenings in its history. Still, by December 2018, the fifth anniversary of the murder, they were no further forward with capturing the person responsible. The killer appeared to have committed the perfect crime, and Valerie Graves’ death would forever remain a mystery. That was until July 10, 2019…