News of the Times - Unlocking the vaults of historical crime

The Actress Who Tried to Kill Her Mother | True Crime 1909News of the Times | Episode 551| 1909In this astonishing Edwardian crime, a young woman named Winifred Kirk lured her own mother to a secluded country road — and attempted to end her life with a rope and a shoemaker’s knife.What began as a secret letter turned into a national scandal. Was this premeditated matricide... or a moment of madnes...

Scotland Yard Casebook: Harold Jones – The Boy Killer Who Fooled a TownNews of the Times | Episode 550 |1920 📺 SPECIAL EXTENDED EPISODE — TWISTS, TRAGEDY & A TOWN DECEIVEDIn this gripping extra-long episode of News of the Times, we explore one of Britain’s most chilling true crime cases: the 1921 murders committed by 15-year-old Harold Jones, a boy so charming he was celebrated as a hero — af...

Strangled by a Rejected Love: The 1909 Cornwall Murder of Emily Tredrea | True Crime 1909News of the Times | Episode 549 | 1909  In this chilling Edwardian murder case from the heart of Cornwall, 16-year-old Emily Tredrea was brutally strangled by a man who refused to be rejected. The year was 1909. The setting: the quiet village of St Erth. The witness? Her 9-year-old brother.🎙️ Join us as we unr...

The Shocking Murder of Harriet Farmer – Bound and Gagged Above Her Shop (1904) | True CrimeNews of the Times | Episode 548 | 1904Step into the shadows of interwar Britain as we uncover the horrifying 1921 murder of Harriet Farmer — a respectable shopkeeper found bound, gagged, and beaten to death in her modest flat above the store.Set in the quiet town of Maldon, Essex, this chilling case shocked...

The 1900 Beeston Murder: Mary Ann Blewitt Found Dead in Her ChairNews of the Times | Episode 547 | 1900 In the summer of 1900, the quiet village of Beeston near Leeds was shaken to its core. Mary Ann Blewitt, a hardworking mill hand, was discovered dead in her own kitchen chair — her throat cut, her body left untouched for days. Her husband Charles had vanished, leaving only a shaved moustache, bl...

The Riviera Murderer Who Lured Women to Their Deaths | True Crime 1902 News of the Times | Episode 546 |1902The French press once whispered his name alongside Jack the Ripper’s — but Henri Vidal was no criminal genius. Instead, this so-called “Riviera Murderer” left a trail of bloodied clothing, stolen trinkets, and shameless lies across southern France in 1902. From Marseilles to Nice, he lured v...

Scotland Yard Casebook: The Jealous Seamstress Who Stabbed Her Lover in Broad Daylight | True Crime 1902News of the Times | Episode 545 | 1902A bustling London street. A young man lies bleeding. A woman, once in love, now holds the knife.In this gripping 1902 case from the Scotland Yard Casebook, we uncover the dramatic story of a seamstress whose jealousy turned deadly — and the scandal that foll...

Body Under the Bed: The 1920 Murder That Shook Little MarlowNews of the Times | Episode 544 |1921When police forced their way into a silent riverside cottage in Little Marlow, they made a chilling discovery: the body of a young woman, wrapped in a sheet and hidden beneath the bed.Within hours, her husband — a self-proclaimed music tutor with a trail of peculiar newspaper ads — was arrested at a ra...

Scotland Yard Casebook The Locked Garage Murder – A Chilling 1929 Crime MysteryNews of the Times | Episode 543 | 1929 In the winter of 1929, Southampton held its breath. Behind the padlocked doors of a quiet garage, the decomposed body of an oil agent was found — his pockets empty, his car silent, and the rats already at their work. No one had seen him in two months.Scotland Yard’s finest were dis...

Scotland Yard Casebook: The Hotel Murder That Baffled London (1922)News of the Times | Episode 542 | 1922London, 1922. A respected widow is found in her bed at the Spencer Hotel near Oxford Street — her skull fractured, her life slipping away. No fingerprints. No weapon. No forced entry. No known enemies.With the city in shock, Scotland Yard’s finest — including one of the legendary “Big Four” — s...

Sisters, Poison, and Betrayal: The Forfar Murder Case of 1827News of the Times | Episode 540 | 1827IIn the quiet Scottish town of Forfar, 1827, a tragic case unfolds — one shrouded in domestic routine, whispered secrets, and the quiet horror of suspicion. When a blind, unmarried young woman named dies suddenly following childbirth, townsfolk are gripped not only by the circumstances of her death,...

Confessed After 22 Years — The Victorian Murder That Refused to Stay BuriedNews of the Times | Episode 539 | 1879 Step into the shadowy world of Victorian secrets, where murder doesn’t always stay in the past. In today’s chilling tale, we follow a crime that baffled the community for over two decades—until a sudden confession upends everything. What drives a man to speak after 22 years of silence?...

Before the Acid Bath Killer: Death in a Victorian WorkhouseNews of the Times | Episode 538 |1842 Long before the notorious Acid Bath Killer horrified Britain, one quiet town faced its own chilling tragedy — not in some alleyway, but inside the walls of a Victorian workhouse. In Bromsgrove, 1842, a surgeon prescribed a sulphur bath to treat "the itch" among impoverished children. Nineteen...

The Murder That Stunned Victorian London — The Shocking Case of Mrs. Millson (1866)News of the Times | Episode 537| 1866Step into the gaslit streets of 1890s London, where scandal, betrayal, and murder collided in a case so sensational it gripped the entire city. When Mrs. Millson’s tragic fate came to light, the press seized on every sordid detail — from whispered infidelities to the chilling evi...

The Liverpool Doctor on Trial – Abortion, Deception, and Death | True Crime HistoryNews of the Times | Episode 536 | 1934In 1934 Liverpool, a respected doctor stood accused of a crime that shocked Britain. Two young woman lay dead, whispers of a secret procedure swirled, and the courtroom bristled with scandal, betrayal, and conflicting testimony.Was this tragedy the result of medical malpractice,...

Escape from Strangeways: The Hammer Murder of Warder Webb (1888)News of the Times | Episode 535 | 1876  🔨 A daring prison break, a brutal murder… and the most notorious escape in Strangeways history.In January 1919, the walls of Manchester’s Strangeways Prison could not hold William Horwood, a career criminal with nothing left to lose. Armed with a hammer stolen from the prison workshop, Horwood...

The Woman in the Water Tub: The 1915 Murder of Carrie JubbNews of the Times | Episode 534 | 1915At 6 a.m. on a cold February morning, a young stable hand in Huddersfield made a horrifying discovery: a woman’s body, bruised and bloodied, was found kneeling headfirst in a horse’s water tub. Her name was Carrie Jubb, a woman of no fixed abode, with a troubled past—and no one to sound the alarm when s...

The Inheritance Scandal of Lady Gooch: Fake Pregnancy, Stolen Baby, and a £3.8 Million EstateNews of the Times | Episode 533 | 1893🎩 Victorian Deception at Its Finest — Fake pregnancies, hidden heirs, and one very determined Lady...In today’s gripping episode of News of the Times, we dive into the jaw-dropping 1878 scandal surrounding Lady Anne Gooch, who stood accused of staging a pregnancy and...

The French Student Who Tried to Hire a Murderer — or Did He?News of the Times | Episode 532 | 1876 In this true crime case from 1876, a young French student in Hertford is accused of hiring a drifter to murder his own parents with an air gun. But was Paul Bayart a cold-blooded conspirator—or the victim of a scam by a man with far more ambition than scruples?📜 Featuring forged notes, poison resear...

The Policeman Who Saw Jack the Ripper — Then Was Murdered in WhitechapelNews of the Times | Episode 531 |1900 Was Frances Coles the Ripper’s final victim?In 1892, PC Ernest Thompson discovered her body still warm and bleeding in a dark Whitechapel archway. Some say he glimpsed Jack the Ripper himself that night. Others dismissed the killing as unrelated.But contemporary newspapers strongly linked...

The Shocking Case of James Tucker Who Brought a Gun to His Own ArrestNews of the Times | Episode 530 |1854 London, 1854. A disgraced salesman. A loaded pistol. A police station.In this astonishing News of the Times episode, we follow the jaw-dropping case of James Tucker—a travelling conman who arrived at the station to answer charges of embezzlement… and instead opened fire.What follows is one of...

Pushed to Her Death:  Murder on London BridgeNews of the Times | Episode 529 | 1872 London, 1871. A woman lies crushed beneath a brewer’s dray on one of the city’s busiest bridges. Her final words? “My husband pushed me.”In this chilling Victorian case, we follow the tragic final hours of Ann Pettingell, a wife abandoned, threatened, and ultimately killed — or so she claimed. Was her death an acci...

The Body in the Cupboard: A Mystery That Baffled Victorian LondonNews of the Times | Episode 528 |1868 In this chilling Victorian true crime, a decomposing body is discovered hidden in a cupboard beneath the stairs of a half-built house. With no missing persons report and only a single glove as evidence, the authorities must untangle a web of bizarre clues and duelling identities.Was the victim an...

The Baffling Case of Margaret BallNews of the Times | Episode 527 | 1874A woman found hanged.A confession shouted in the street.And a trial that left more questions than answers...In this curious case from Victorian Hackney Wick, Margaret Ball — a strong, pregnant mother of two — is discovered hanging from the stair bannisters. Her young lodger, George Coulson, confesses immediately... yet somethi...

The Butler, the Gun, and the Judge: A Shocking Welsh Murder in 1876News of the Times | Episode 526 | 1876A trusted servant.A quiet estate.A double-barrelled gun.And a judge who would not survive the day...When the peaceful Dolaucothy estate is rocked by gunfire in August 1876, the crime that unfolds becomes one of the most shocking in Welsh Victorian history. Retired magistrate Mr Johnes is left f...