RedHanded

When the body of a weeks-old baby was found in a plastic bag in a shed, covered in soil and rubbish, it marked the end of one of the UK’s strangest and most tragic criminal manhunts. The baby’s parents were Constance Marten and Mark Gordon – an aristocratic heiress and an American convicted rapist. As a jury wrestled for months over the couple’s guilt, more and more shocking details came out. Deta...

Nicknamed "Artemis" and "The Limping Lady" by Nazi Germany, Virginia Hall was, without a doubt, one of the most effective—and certainly the most feared—Allied spies during the Second World War. She helped countless POWs escape and funneled a constant stream of weapons into and information out of Nazi-occupied Europe. Her contribution is almost unfathomable, yet most people don't even know her name...

When the son of Mormon family vlogger Ruby Franke turned up bound, emaciated and apparently covered in blood – it horrified the police, the internet and Franke’s millions of followers. The uber-strict brand of parenting advice she preached on her YouTube channel, “8 Passengers”, had been drawing online criticism for years. But even her loudest detractors couldn’t know how despicable and unhinged h...

In our unexpected third part on this neverending rabbit-hole of a case, we finally take on the big, crucial factors that have sent the internet into a frenzy: the taillight, the flirty texts, the inverted video, and the conduct of one Trooper Michael Proctor. And, finally, we give our verdict: is Karen Read guilty of murder? Exclusive bonus content: Wondery  - Ad-free & ShortHand Patreon  - Ad...

In this second (and not-quite-final) part on the Karen Read saga, we take a look at the most talked about trial of the year. In front of a packed courtroom – and with furious demonstrators from both sides lining the streets outside – Karen Read’s defence team painted a picture of a malicious conspiracy that went all the way to the top. The plot, they said, included dozens of public officials, thei...

At roughly 12:30am on 29 January 2022, Karen Read drove her boyfriend, Boston police officer, John O’Keefe to a party at a friend’s house. The next morning John would be found unresponsive on the front lawn of this house, and would later die in hospital. Karen would say that she saw John go inside the house - so the people at the party must be the ones responsible for his death. But the 9 people i...

With Scott Peterson back in the news, having given his first interview in decades we thought it would be a good time to refresh our memories on this baffling case, and remind you all of one very important fact - He 100% did it. When beautiful, eight-and-a-half-month-pregnant Laci Peterson vanished without a trace on Christmas Eve 2002, headlines across the US exploded. As much as the media and the...

A serial paedophile and murderer, Javid Iqbal dedicated his entire existence to grooming, sexually abusing, and eventually killing young boys from the streets of Lahore. Using his father’s money, Iqbal designed his entire life – from his businesses to his home – around capturing vulnerable children who were desperate for help. By the time Iqbal had handed himself in to the police, he had sexually...

This week on RedHanded we’re joined by some new friends from across the pond - Lucy and Amanda aka Wine & Crime! Given our geographical and cultural differences we thought it would be fun to discuss some “Bad Brits”, as well as give our new mates a bit of insight into the British way of life. So tune in for the tale of Pottery Cottage, and the story of the “Teacup Poisoner”, two British true c...

In the early hours of Valentine's Day 2014, 29 year old model Reeva Steenkamp was shot to death by her partner: South African Olympic sprint runner and double amputee, Oscar Pistorius. He still claims that it was a tragic case of mistaken identity, but the forensics and the messages Reeva left before her death tell a very different story. 

Three trials, countless corrupt officers, and years behind bars faced Renee Chignell, after she and her boyfriend, were accused of the murder of 51-year-old British cricket umpire Peter Plumley-Walker in their ramshackle sex dungeon. Renee was adamant Peter’s death had been a tragic accident – but it would take years of jail time, heartbreak, and her own mother going behind bars, to convince anyon...

How does a “true British gentleman”, complete with love of cricket and handlebar moustache, end up dead at the bottom of a waterfall in New Zealand with his limbs bound and lashes to his buttocks? This is the question that faced police in 1989, when a tourist boat found the body of 51-year-old cricket umpire Peter Plumley-Walker floating at the bottom of Huka Falls. To find out the answers you nee...

As far as the people of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, knew, Davy Tweed was a sporting hero, dedicated public servant, and good Protestant family man. But his stepdaughter Amanda Brown knew what this public façade masked: a volatile, unstoppable juggernaut of physical and sexual abuse, who made her family’s life a living hell. In a very special episode, we directly hear from Amanda herself – who...

Bleeding from the eyes, foaming at the mouth, and bashing themselves to death against the rocks. That was the fate of six skilled hikers in the Russian mountain range Khamar-Daban – at least according to the single survivor Valentina Utochenko. Yet if the Russian authorities are to be believed, it was just a simple case of hypothermia. With speculation over what happened still rife, this mystery h...

On 19 May 2024, Ebrahim Raisi – “The Butcher of Tehran” and President of the Islamic Republic of Iran – died in a helicopter crash. Immediately, theories of who had killed him and why, swept the worlds’ media. But while his passing inspired this episode, we’re also going to look at his many thousands of victims – and in particular how his actions led to the murder of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in 202...

The world’s most infamous nuclear disaster officially killed just thirty-one people, but in reality it’s death toll is incalculable. Raining radioactive debris over a city, and melting the skin off the on-site workers, the explosion and subsequent meltdown at Chernobyl reactor 4 is one of the most devastating man-made accidents in history.  This is the story of how fear, bureaucracy, and lies firs...

Imagine finding out that your partner of six years – the love of your life, the father of your children – had never existed. That during all of your most intimate moments, they’d been spying on you, taking notes to report back to their superiors. That’s what happened to dozens of innocent British women in 2011, when they uncovered the SDS – a super-secretive unit of London’s Met Police. To infiltr...

Kidnapping might seem like an odd solution to low levels of education, but for The Democratic People's Republic of Korea it seemed like a perfect plan. Whisk away international intelligentsia to your hermit kingdom and reprogram them to become perfect North Korean citizens, capable of pushing forward your scientific endeavours – or more importantly, directing a cult classic knock-off Godzilla movi...

When Christine Mackinday and her boyfriend were interrupted in bed by her ex-fiancé – a 200-pound ex-MMA fighter who had legally changed his name to War Machine – she had every reason to fear for her life. This is the wild true story of Jonathan Koppenhaver: self-proclaimed “Alpha Male”, failed UFC fighter, wannabe pornstar and reality-show embarrassment – and his inevitable, tragic, violent reven...

Get your tour tickets at redhandedpodcast.com ! In 2001 on a remote stretch of highway in Australia’s Northern Territory, British backpacker Peter Falconio vanished. His girlfriend, Joanne Lees, told police that they had been attacked by a strange man. The subsequent investigation saw local drug runner Bradley Murdoch jailed for life - but questions still linger, especially around the truthfulness...

The state of Pamela Werner’s body alone would have been enough to send 1930s Peking into a frenzy. She’d been frantically stabbed, her chest cut wide open, and four of her internal organs had been precisely removed... But Pamela was the daughter of a high-ranking British diplomat. And the death of a white girl in the ancient Chinese capital, in 1939 – when anti-foreigner revolts were bubbling and...

Between September 1992 and November 1993 the remains of seven backpackers were found dotted around Australia’s Belanglo State Forest. The long-putrefied bodies had all been shot multiple times by the same .22 calibre rifle. Some had snapped spines; others had been used as target practice. Despite all signs pointing to the Milat family, the real challenge for police was finding which of the ten Mil...

Shot dead in broad daylight outside her house in West London – the killing of Jill Dando is one of Britain’s most high-profile murders. As one of the BBC’s best-known TV presenters through the 90s, Jill was in the living rooms of the British public every night, presenting the news, travel shows, and most famously, Crimewatch – in which she publicly campaigned to bring real criminals to justice.  Y...

To celebrate and get everyone in the mood for our soon to be iconic Antipodean Tour, we are digging up some of the craziest cases from down under that we've ever covered! Patrons can access tour tickets on Monday the 13th (TODAY!) via their Patreon feed, and general release is Wednesday the 15th, links below! NZ: https://premier.ticketek.co.nz/shows/show.aspx?sh=REDHAND24 AUS: https://premier.tick...

When a 13-year-old boy, out shopping for Christmas presents, disappeared from a bus stop in Australia’s Sunshine Coast, police were initially slow to suspect foul play. They had no idea what this investigation would become. The revelations that would come over the next decade would spark one of the country’s largest ever police operations. And in its dramatic climax, it ended in one of the most co...