News of the Times - Unlocking the vaults of historical crime

The Parcel of Death: How a Handwriting Clue Solved a Victorian Murder (1873)Horfield, near Bristol, 1873 — a small parcel arrives at a cottage, addressed in a neat feminine hand. Inside: a polite note, a shilling’s worth of stamps, and three teething powders marked Steedman’s. Within minutes of taking one, a healthy ten-month-old child is dead.What followed became one of Victorian Britain’s most u...

The Clerkenwell Explosion: The Outrage That Shocked Victorian Britain (1867)A quiet December afternoon in 1867 — and then a blast so powerful it shattered windows for half a mile, reduced homes to rubble, and sent shockwaves through Victorian London. What unfolded at Clerkenwell was far more than an attempted prison rescue. It became one of the most notorious tragedies of the era, triggering publi...

The Doctor, The Brothers, And the First Great Failure of Forensic ScienceNews of the Times | Episode 603| 1823 Paris, 1823: Two wealthy brothers die months apart. A respected young doctor attends both deaths. Symptoms point to poison — but toxicology finds nothing at all.In today’s episode, we uncover one of the most unsettling cases in early forensic history — the story of Dr Edmé Castaing and th...

The Office Murder That Shocked Edwardian Britain — And the Detective Who Died Investigating It | True Crime 1911News of the Times | Episode 602 | 1911On a quiet September afternoon in 1911, a respected Hastings building society manager sat down to continue his paperwork. Minutes later, gunshots echoed through the office — and one of the town’s most trusted citizens lay dying on the floor. What fol...

What happens when privilege, violence, and the full weight of Georgian justice collide?In today’s episode, we uncover one of the most extraordinary moments in British criminal history: the 1760 execution of Laurence, Earl Ferrers — the last aristocrat ever hanged at TyburnThis astonishing case has everything that captivates lovers of historical true crime:• a nobleman whose violent temper shook hi...

Catherine Wilson: Britain’s Female Borgia — The Last Woman Publicly Hanged in LondonNews of the Times | Episode 600 | 1862A quiet lodger. A trail of unexplained deaths. And the last woman ever publicly hanged in London.In this episode, we investigate Catherine Wilson — the Victorian poisoner newspapers called “Britain’s Female Borgia.” Her story begins with a near-fatal “soothing draught” in a Ken...

The Wheelbarrow Murder: The Case That Led to Hereford’s Last Execution (1903)News of the Times | Episode 599 | 1903#HistoricalTrueCrime #VictorianCrime #EdwardianHistory #TrueCrimeUK #NewsOfTheTimesTonight’s episode opens our Firsts and Lasts of January series with a case that shook rural Herefordshire — and ended with the final execution ever carried out at Hereford Gaol.In July 1903, a quiet qua...

The Arsenic Exhumation: How Mary Bailey’s Body Exposed a Killer | True Crime 1863News of the Times | Episode 598 1863In 1863, a quiet Stockport household became the centre of one of Victorian Britain’s most chilling poisoning investigations.When Mary Bailey died after days of violent sickness, her daughter insisted it was illness… but a newly taken life-insurance policy, two purchases of arsenic,...

The Workhouse Path Murder — South Wales, 1902 | A Fatal December EveningNews of the Times | Episode 597 | 1902Southeast Wales, 1902.A woman runs bleeding down a narrow workhouse path, four children behind her screaming “Murder!” into the cold December air.Moments earlier, she was walking with the man who had vowed she would never have another home.Today we uncover one of the most chilling and deep...

Stalked by Her Brother-in-Law: The Christmas Murder That Shook Post-War Britain | Liverpool, 1918News of the Times | Episode 595 |1918As Britain celebrated the end of the Great War, one young Liverpool widow was facing a danger far closer to home.This week, we step into December 1918, a moment when church bells rang for peace, soldiers returned to broken households, and thousands of war widows tri...

Murder on the Winter Road: A Christmas Killing in Ballinrobe | True Crime 1880News of the Times | Episode 594 | 1880A Christmas walk home… a dark boreen outside Ballinrobe… and two figures lying in wait.Tonight we return to County Mayo, Ireland, 1880, for a chilling winter murder that stunned a rural community and left questions hanging over the snow-covered road for generations.This is the story...

THE WHITELEY MURDER (1907) — The Crime That Shook Edwardian BritainNews of the Times | Episode 593 | 1907In January 1907, William Whiteley — London’s famous “Universal Provider” and the man who transformed British shopping — was shot dead inside his own department store.The killer? A well-dressed young man who calmly announced he was Whiteley’s illegitimate son.What followed was one of the most se...

The Wardrobe Murder: The Grim Discovery in 1889 BuryNews of the Times | Episode 592| 1889A missing businessman. A manager with too many stories. A wardrobe that no one was meant to open.In 1889 Bury, Lancashire, a routine visit to a bustling Bolton Street furniture shop ended in one of the most shocking Victorian murder discoveries ever recorded. Behind drawn blinds, shifted furniture, and a locke...

The Christmas Execution No One Tried to Stop | True Crime 1898News of the Times | Episode 591 | 1898In today’s episode, we travel to Bugsworth, Derbyshire, where the brutal murder of Hannah Cotton shocked Victorian reporters… but what stunned them even more was this:When her husband John Cotton was sentenced to hang — just four days before Christmas — no one asked for clemency.No neighbours.No fri...

The Clergyman Who Hid His Wife’s Murder: The Shocking Case of Rev. Selby Watson | True Crime 1871News of the Times | Episode 590 |1871 London 1871A quiet Stockwell street.A respected clergyman.A locked room… and a truth no one wished to imagine.In October 1871, Reverend John Selby Watson — scholar, headmaster, and a man thought incapable of violence — calmly told his servant that his wife had “gon...

Two Killers, One Scaffold: The December Double Hanging of 1911News of the Times | Episode 589 | 1911On a cold December morning in 1911, the bell at Strangeways Gaol tolled across Manchester.Inside, two very different men walked the same final corridor — strangers in life, now bound together by the narrow platform of a double scaffold. One was a jealous, violent husband; the other a quiet young lab...

The Ivy Inn Murder: A Single Wound and a Vanishing Killer | True Crime 1891 News of the Times | Episode 588 | 1891 A shocking Victorian crime in which a trusted 16-year-old servant was killed in broad daylight… and her killer vanished into the hills of Huddersfield. What followed was a frantic manhunt, a wrongful arrest, mass public hysteria, and finally, a confession overheard in a prison infirma...

The Essex Poisoner: Mary May & the Five-Year Hunt for Britain’s Husband KillersNews of the Times | Episode 587 | 1848One quiet Essex village. One determined woman. And a trail of death so shocking it forced Victorian police to investigate an entire county.Today we uncover the chilling case of Mary May, the Essex wife whose actions in 1848 sparked Britain’s first major hunt for domestic poisone...

The Sheffield Poisoning Case – The Artist, the Housekeeper and the Fatal Fowl (1881)News of the Times | Episode 586 |1881A quiet December dinner in Victorian Sheffield ends in horror — and a respected artist whispers his final words: “I am poisoned.”In today’s investigation, we unravel the 1881 case of Thomas Skinner, a brilliant Sheffield craftsman and etcher whose sudden collapse after a simple...

The Abergavenny Christmas Massacre (1175) — The True Story Behind a Medieval BetrayalNews of the Times | Episode 585 | 1175Step into the frozen winter of 1175, when a Christmas peace gathering at Abergavenny Castle turned into one of the most shocking betrayals in medieval Britain.This is the real story behind a massacre so infamous that historians believe it helped inspire Game of Thrones’ Red We...

The Wife Killer of Watchfield: The Brutal Case of John Carter (1893)News of the Times | Episode 584 | 1893In 1893, the quiet Berkshire hamlet of Watchfield discovered a horror hiding in plain sight.Rhoda Carter — a young wife with no reason to run — vanished overnight. Her husband, John Carter, insisted she’d gone to tend her pregnant sister. But every part of his story began to crumble.A locked w...

The Kidsgrove Tragedy: Murder, Madness & the Vanished Mind | Staffordshire, 1911News of the Times | Episode 582 |1911  In October 1911, the quiet mining town of Kidsgrove was shaken to its core.Inside a secluded villa, three people — a widow, her four-year-old daughter, and their 16-year-old servant — were found brutally murdered. No forced entry. No screams. Just silence… until an eight-year-...

Yarmouth’s Darkest Day Since the Plague | The 1845 Bridge Disaster News of the Times | Episode 581 | 1845What began as a light-hearted Victorian spectacle — a clown in a tub drawn by four geese — became one of the worst civilian disasters in British history.In 1845, hundreds gathered on Great Yarmouth’s suspension bridge to witness a novelty act. Within minutes, the bridge collapsed, sending a cro...

Murder in Uniform: The Death of William Glass and the Hanging of Inspector Montgomery News of the Times | Episode 580 | [1871 - 1873 🔍 A Victorian bank clerk found butchered. £1,600 in notes vanished. And standing at the centre of the storm? A decorated police inspector with debts, secrets... and a very damp coat.In 1871, the quiet Irish town of Newtownstewart was shattered by a murder so brutal...

The Ardlamont Mystery: Murder, Money, and the Missing ManNews of the Times | Episode 579 | 1893  Scotland, 1893 — A young aristocrat lies dead on a hunting estate. His tutor claims it was a tragic accident. But as investigators dig deeper, a tangled web of insurance policies, disappearing witnesses, and suspicious identities begins to unravel.🔍 Who was the enigmatic "Edward Scott"?💼 Wh...