Always True Crime

1962, the basement flat at 17 Pembroke Court in West Kensington was owned by George Brinham; a respected trade unionist and chairman of the Labour Party, who was hailed as a Prime Minister in the making. And yet, there is no blue plaque to George Brinham. Some might say this was down to his political affiliations, others might imply it was owing to his love life, but maybe it’s simply down to a sc...

In the season 7 special, I tell the story of Dr Harold Shipman, dubbed by the media as "Dr Death". Shipman was arrested on September 7, 1998, after police raided his home. The body of Kathleen Grundy, one of Shipman's former patients, was exhumed and examined after her daughter deemed it suspicious that her mother's will excluded her children but left a large sum to Shipman. Kathleen's body was fo...

Southport Sailing Club, like many others around the UK, is a fun place to be a member where people enjoy the sailing and the social side which comes as part of the club. But in the story this week, Paul Longworth - the Commodore of the club - is increasingly cruel to his wife Tina, and openly nasty about her at the sailing club and with friends at work. On the day he celebrated his 37th birthday a...

For the penultimate tale of Series 7 of The True Crime Enthusiast Podcast, we head over to Ireland's capital, Dublin, and back to the early 1990's, for a horrific tale of a savage killing that was to shock the country, and bore the argument: Was it a moment of madness?  The episode contains details and descriptions of crimes and events, and with descriptions of injury detail, that some listeners m...

I welcome Dr Shahed Yousaf to the show in this interview episode. Dr Yousaf is a GP who works in prisons, in substance misuse and with the homeless community. He was shortlisted for the Bath Flash Fiction Prize 2016, commended for the Faber & Faber FAB Prize 2017 and won a place on the Writing West Midlands Room 204 Mentoring scheme and the Middle Way Mentoring Project in 2019. Dr Yousaf's fir...

On the 2nd of June 1935, Ms Riley, owner of a two-floor flat at 19 Gloucester Avenue in Regent’s Park asked her friend, 63-year-old Louise Gann to house-sit while she went on holiday. Feeling a little lonely in a spacious two-floor flat, for three weeks in June, Louise was accompanied by her 20-year old daughter Maxine and Maxine’s boyfriend, 28-year-old Alan Grierson. The morning of Saturday...

In the tenth and final episode of season 7, I tell the story of Liam Naylor and Doreen Walker. On April 1, 2014, Naylor broke into the house of 75-year-old Doreen and murdered her before stealing the £104 pension money she'd collected earlier that day. He used the money to treat his friends to a night out in Barnsley. The following day, Naylor was arrested on suspicion of murder in Skegness. On Oc...

Affairs often ruin lives and destroy families, but when the affair is between a man and his daughter-in-law, the mother of his grandchild, the feelings naturally run very deep. And this is the case in the story today from Stowmarket, near Ipswich in the east of England. But as the family tried to come to terms with what had happened, they were rocked again by the most shocking events.... Hosted on...

Just shy of midnight on Wednesday 26th August 1942, across a wooden bench on Lover’s Walk sat 44-year-old Gladys Wilson and her lover Second Lieutenant Ronauld Kurasz of the Polish Army. Both being married to others who the war had split apart, neither Glady nor Ronnie had planned to have affairs, as like so many others, they were just seeking a little affection during a turbulent time of loss and...

In the ninth episode of season 7, I tell the story of Mark Bridger and April Jones. On October 1, 2012, 5-year-old April Jones was abducted and murdered by 46-year-old Mark Bridger. April's disappearance sparked the biggest search for a missing person in UK police history after the national Child Rescue Alert (CRA) system was triggered. On May 30, 2013, Mark Bridger was found guilty of murdering A...

Who do you trust in life - who do you really trust? If you are a small business you have to trust your bank which funds you as you grow. But in this episode of the UK True Crime, we look at a Senior Banker who treated small business owners with utter contempt, using them to fund his lifestyle of sex parties and foreign holidays as hard working business owners lost all they had worked so hard to ac...

We are off to the county of Norfolk, on the east coast of the UK, and back to the mid 1980's, to hear two accounts of absolute horror this time on The True Crime Enthusiast Podcast. When you've heard them, I'm sure you'll see why they made the cut for this series "Monsters Of" episode. No other word will suffice.  The episode contains details and descriptions of crimes and events, involving offenc...

I welcome Kim Booth to the show in this interview episode. Kim spent 35 years in the Lincolnshire Police after joining as a cadet in the early seventies. He has been involved in investigating approximately 23 murders and is now writing books on true crime and crime fiction. Kim's first book 'A Cruel Deception: The true story of a wicked and cunning fraud... and the search for justice' , was releas...

Back in 1962, Flat D on the ground floor of 60 Redcliffe Square was a one-roomed lodging which was once the home and workplace of Lyn Bain & Jan Blake - two ladies with too many secrets. Given the era, they disguised their illegal lesbian relationship as merely a tempestuous friendship, but it would be a single incident over a few drinks, a card game and a bit of telly, which would end it all....

In the eighth episode of season 7, I tell the story of Luke Mitchell and Jodi Jones. This incredibly divisive case began on June 30, 2003, when 14-year-old Jodi Jones was brutally murdered on an isolated footpath in Dalkeith, Scotland. Fellow 14-year-old Luke Mitchell, Jodi's boyfriend, was the one who found her body, and the police treated him as their key suspect from the very beginning. On Febr...

This week the Uk true Crime podcast heads to a gang dispute in the north-west of London. A normal Saturday evening for 18 year old Jason Isaacs and his friends turns into absolute horror as they are chased by masked men on mopeds and wearing balaclavas. When the group is separated, Jason is brutally stabbed by the cowardly gang members... Sources https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/jason-isaacs-...

We are off to the town of Birkenhead, in Merseyside, and back to the early noughties this time around on The True Crime Enthusiast Podcast, for an incredibly sad tale in which you will undoubtedly be struck by the question: How much grief can one family possibly have?  The episode contains details and descriptions of crimes and events, involving involving injury detail, and depicting drug use, tha...

#190 - The Stockholm Syndrome of Susan Lattaney. June 1863. In the basement of 11 Old Compton Street in Soho, 21-year-old Susan Lattaney lived and worked as a prostitute. Having met and fell in love with glass decorator Henry Broughton - keen to fullfil her dreams of a great life together - she agreed to keep selling her body for sex, with Henry as her pimp. It was a small sacrifice she would make...

In the seventh episode of season 7, I tell the story of Leigh Ann Sabine. In 1997, John Sabine disappeared after moving to a flat in Beddau, South Wales, with his wife, Ann, who also went by Leigh. Neighbours assumed the couple had divorced, but the truth would come to light 18 years later. Less than a month after Ann succumbed to brain cancer in October 2015, the body of her husband, John, was fo...

All murder cases are dreadful, with the effects rippling widely, sometimes for generations. But today, from rural Derbyshire, I cover one of those stories almost impossible to comprehend. A random murder and more than this, a murder seemingly just for fun.... Sources https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1291093/Murderer-Colin-Cheethams-chilling-photo-album.html http://www.taxi-driver.co.uk/php...

I welcome Robin Jarossi to the show in this interview episode. Robin is a London-based journalist and true crime author who contributes to documentaries such as Murder by the Sea , Voice of a Killer , The Real Prime Suspect and Dark Son: The Hunt for a Serial Killer . He is currently working on a book about corruption and how the hit BBC drama Line of Duty echoes real-life wrongdoing in the police...

This is The Campanile, a 284-foot tower on the south-west corner of Westminster Cathedral. Saturday 23rd February 1924 was an ordinary day for happily married mother-of-two Margaret Ann Davey; she made breakfast, she packed some sandwiches for lunch, and – at 11:30am – she climbed the steps to the top of The Campanile. Having purchased a ticket, the doorman had no suspicions that her mind was unba...

In the sixth episode of season 7, I tell the story of Henry Gaskin. On February 19, 1919, 27-year-old Henry Gaskin murdered his 25-year-old wife, Elizabeth Gaskin, in a wooded area of Hednesford Hills, later dubbed 'Gaskin's Wood'. After murdering Elizabeth, Henry dismembered her body and dumped it in a gasholder at Hednesford Gasworks. On February 23, 1919, a week after the murder, Henry confesse...

So how many times have you been on public transport and somebody is behaving badly near you? Has it made you anxious, concerned or terrified? In the story today, we look at a bus travelling from Victoria in Central London to Lewisham. One passenger is agitated and angry and makes all 37 passengers feel uncomfortable. Just the one person on the bus, 56 year old Herbie Williams, spoke up to call out...

Welcome to The Daily Inch. While I’m away researching Murder Mile, here’s a little treat to keep you entertained over the next three weeks. Fifteen little stories which are fun, rambly, informative, but not essential to listen to. Each story had been written and presented in a tongue-in-cheek way and are not for the easily offended. Murder Mile returns on Thursday 3rd of November 2022, but until t...