"We have seen cases where young people have been groomed online, but it is rare for it to culminate in such a dreadful and violent murder. The degree of planning and manipulation by Daynes is shocking, and when you consider the young ages of perpetrator and victim, it stands out as one of the most cruel, violent and unusual cases we have dealt with"

— Chief Crown Prosecutor Jenny Hopkins, outside Chelmsford Crown Court, January 2015

The disappearance of Madeleine McCann, a three-year-old that went missing from a Portuguese holiday resort in 2007, has been widely covered by the media. Back in 1985, another three-year-old went missing while at a holiday park. This is the case of Leoni Keating.

Paul Bint is known under many aliases. He would convince his unsuspecting victims that he was a doctor, a lawyer, an aristocrat, or even a millionaire. Through his twenties and thirties, Bint had spent a total of 10 years in and out of prisons or mental health facilities. However, this did little curb his desire to convince his victims that the fantasy world he inhabited existed (Part 2 of 2).

"People have this picture of me which is completely inaccurate, and I don't see how I am ever going to get around this problem. I don't think I would describe myself as a conman, or King Con Man or King of the Swindlers, as the newspapers call me. I'm someone who lied about myself and my status. It made me forget what the reality was, and for me, it was a way of escaping. It always has been" — Paul Bint, Southwark Crown Court, 2009 (Part 1 of 2).

It is a scene reserved only for your worst nightmares. You live alone, but there is suddenly a stranger in your bedroom. He does not have to unfasten the zipper over his mouth on the black leather mask he is wearing to say why he is there. Prominent, against the dim light and the dark leather, there is one word scrawled crudely in white capital letters across the forehead of the mask… RAPIST.

Red stains on the carpet, red stains on your knife, oh, Dr Buck Ruxton, you murdered your wife. The nursemaid saw you and threatened to tell, oh, Dr Buck Ruxton, you killed her as well…

— Lancashire nursery rhyme, parody of the song ‘Red Sails in the Sunset’, latter half of the 1930s

Raoul Moat had been on the run from the police. Using a double-barrelled shotgun, Moat fired the weapon at his ex-girlfriend, Samantha Stobbart. She suffered life-threatening injuries. In the same attack, Moat murdered her new partner, Chris Brown. Moat was obsessed and could not face the fact that his six-year relationship with Samantha had ended (Part 2 of 2).

A highly volatile former nightclub doorman is released from prison. He is in a jealous rage. The carnage that followed saw one person dead, and two left with life-threatening injuries. The attacks would spur one of the biggest manhunts the UK had ever seen culminating in a stand-off that resulted in yet another life being taken... (Part 1 of 2).

Meeting a partner on the internet is common practice in this day and age — its popularity is on the rise. One group, the elderly seeking companionship, have become the preferred target for romance scammers trying to extort money...

On April 21, 2013, a 19-month-old was rushed to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge after a seizure. Doctors informed the boy's parents that his condition may be some form of congenital disorder, and surgeons had to undertake emergency surgery, removing part of his skull to reduce pressure on his brain. It was discovered he had suffered a subdural haematoma. After consultation with doctors, his parents made the extremely difficult decision to remove him from life support, and he continued to breathe unaided until he passed away three days later. At first glance, this would seem like an unfortunate and unavoidable tragedy. But investigators began to look deeper into the circumstances surrounding the boy's death...

Stuart Lubbock’s family would not see the justice they rightfully deserved but Michael Barrymore felt he too was a victim — he claimed his arrest on suspicion of murder in 2007 was a miscarriage of justice (Part 4 of 4).

On September 13, 2002, at the offices of Epping Forest district council, the inquest into Stuart Lubbock’s death was concluded. The frustrations during the proceedings were felt no more so than by the coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray who believed that she was left with no other choice than to pass the verdict she did (Part 3 of 4).

Stuart Lubbock, a father to two young children, was 31 when he was found lifeless, floating in a swimming pool that belonged to celebrity entertainer Michael Barrymore. Stuart was naked apart from a pair of boxer shorts. He had suffered severe internal injuries that would later be described as “horrific”. Essex police undertook an investigation that lasted almost a year, and several arrests were made. Still, no one was ultimately charged, and the inquiry wound down (Part 2 of 4).

At 5:46 am, on the morning of Saturday, March 31, 2001, a call was made to the emergency services. The operator was told that a male, who would later be identified as 31-year old Stuart Lubbock, was found lifeless and hyperthermic in a swimming pool. The pool belonged to celebrity entertainer Michael Barrymore who lived at 4 Beaumont Park Drive in Roydon — a village in Essex in the southeast of England (Part 1 of 4).

Terence Whall was on trial for murder. The prosecutor at Mold Crown Court told the jury that the defendant had shot his victim with a crossbow. The arrowheads used in the attack were designed for hunting animals — razor-sharp to sever a prey's arteries (Part 2 of 2).

"When he left his home to look at the Sky dish, there was someone waiting outside, in the dark, armed with a high-powered crossbow. A crossbow, members of the jury, is a silent, quick and deadly weapon” — Prosecutor Peter Rouch QC, Mold Crown Court, January 2020 (Part 1 of 2).

Michael Telling had killed his wife, Monika. He hid her body in a summer house for five months, before cutting off her head and disposing of the remains. He never disputed those facts. But after his arrest Telling argued that he was not responsible for his actions as he suffered from an abnormality of mind (Part 2 of 2).

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.