Bad People

Back in 2016 the pizza restaurant owner James Alefantis began to receive a large number of abusive messages on social media. Confused and afraid, he goes online and to his horror discovers dozens of bogus articles describing how the basement of his pizza joint is being used to traffic and molest children. The architect of this so-called “child sex ring”, the fake articles conclude, is presidential...

A group of American soldiers sought out and murdered three civilians in Afghanistan. How did this happen? Was it the work of a rogue platoon or is it part of a larger issue? On this episode of Bad People, Dr. Julia Shaw and comedian Sofie Hagen discuss how soldiers are trained to kill and what counts as murder at war. How do we distinguish between a successful battlefield kill and an unlawful murd...

This episode of Bad People features the writer of the new BBC One hit drama, Time, Jimmy McGovern. There will be spoilers. Mark Cobden is drunk. Again. But this time he gets into his car and drives off. Moments later he hits and kills a cyclist. Criminal psychologist Dr Julia Shaw, comedian Sofie Hagen and the Bafta and Emmy-winning writer Jimmy McGovern discuss what makes dangerous driving a rela...

This is part two of the shocking story of abuse and torture which marked the small German town of Höxter. Angelika was called the ‘torture witch’, a psychopath, and a sadist. The truth about Angelika is more interesting. Her relationship with Wilfried took her down a dark path that made her testimony in court so hard to listen to that the judge called a break so everyone could get some air. But it...

In the middle of a snowstorm in April 2016 a car broke down on the outskirts of a sleepy German town. Angelika, a middle-aged woman, stepped out and knocked on a neighbour’s door asking for help. Wilfried, her partner, stayed behind. But, why did the woman in the back of their car have so many injuries? What had happened to her? In this episode of Bad People, presenters Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hag...

In the 1930s in Tuskegee, Alabama, hundreds of men signed up to a medical study which offered free transportation to and from hospitals, free hot lunches and free medicine for most diseases. But the men were not informed of their diagnosis or treated for the disease that was killing them - syphilis. This study went on for 40 years and 128 men died from syphilis and related conditions. On this epis...

In 1997 Lyle May murdered a young mother and her son, allegedly after being annoyed by them at a dinner party. He was later convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and is now on North Carolina’s Death Row. Should he be allowed to get a prison education? In this episode of Bad People, Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen discuss the link between prison education and violence and overcoming the self...

American film producer Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for two separate cases of sexual assault. Women have made allegations of Weinstein committing sexual assault over decades. Are people who witnessed his crimes but didn’t speak up partly to blame for his long history of misconduct? And, what is it about some workplaces that make them particularly likely to lead to peop...

Children are playing on the grounds of a former Irish Mother and Baby Home in Tuam when they find 20 tiny skeletons under a concrete slab. Stories follow that shock the world, of over 800 babies found in a septic tank. But who is to blame? Years later, an investigation into the Bon Secours Home establishes that 978 babies and children died on the grounds while it was run by Catholic nuns. The 2021...

William Melchert-Dinkle posed as a female nurse online and encouraged people with suicidal thoughts to hang themselves. He even watched some of them carry it out via webcam. He was convicted of assisting suicide and given a prison sentence. But, this is an unusual case. Does criminalising assisted dying protect vulnerable people or take the power away from people to choose when and how they die? G...

On the 19th February 2008, nine-year-old Shannon Matthews went missing in Dewsbury in West Yorkshire. She had just been dropped off by a coach at her school which was just half a mile from her home. Shannon’s best friend said her brother was supposed to be collecting her but he never turned up. Shannon’s mum Karen reported her missing later that evening. The Police moved quickly for fear that she...

On the 22nd of April 1972, the police in the southeast London borough of Lewisham were alerted to a house fire on Doggett Road. On the second floor of the building, they discovered the body of 26-year-old Maxwell Confait. Three boys later confessed to the murder. In this episode of Bad People, Dr. Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen examine what went wrong in the police interviewing process, the major lega...

The former President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, was implicated in the killing of between 50,000 and 100,000 people. In 2006, he was sentenced to death by hanging for committing crimes against humanity. But do his crimes justify his death? Should we be writing him off as evil or is it worth trying to empathise with him? And does revenge actually make us feel good in the long run? Warning: This episod...

Popstar Nadja Benaissa was convicted of recklessly transmitting HIV. She was blackmailed and attacked by the press. Did she deserve the hatred she received? On this episode of Bad People, presenters Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen discuss whether knowingly spreading an infectious disease should be criminalised and what that means for COVID-19 rule breakers. Is consenting to getting HIV legally possi...

Murderers. Dictators. Sex offenders. Why do people do bad things? Bad People is back for another series. Archive credits: This episode contains audio from House of Saddam, a BBC Television and HBO Films production, and Shannon: The Mother of All Lies, a BBC Panorama production. Presenters: Dr. Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producers: Louisa Field & Caroline Steel Assistant Producer: Simona Rata M...

Charles Sobhraj is a convicted killer and the inspiration for the new BBC One drama, The Serpent. Julia and Sofie speak with producer Paul Testar about the unlikely history of Interpol, missing persons, and Sobhraj’s many escapes. We also hear audio clips from Herman Knippenberg, who played a crucial role in Sobhraj’s capture. Find out how he once tunnelled a hole through the ceiling of a jeweller...

Charles Sobhraj is a convicted killer and the inspiration for the new BBC One drama, The Serpent. Julia and Sofie speak with Julie Clark, journalist and author of On the Trail of the Serpent: The Life and Crimes of Charles Sobhraj. Julie and her late husband Richard Neville met Sobhraj. What is he really like? And we hear from Sobhraj himself as Julie shares a secret recording from his cell. Spend...

What happens when a man serving multiple life sentences keeps killing in prison? In July 1996, while in solitary confinement, Craig Bjork wrote to the warden of Stillwater prison in Minnesota threatening to commit mass murder against his fellow inmates. One year later he kills his first victim. Bjork who was already serving three consecutive life terms for killing his entire family reportedly aske...

Early one morning in July 2019, Brandon Clark used his online platform to share graphic photos with his followers, including a photo that appeared to show a woman’s bloodied torso, captioned “I’m sorry Bianca”. Not long after this, police found Brandon lying on top of a green tarp. He had spray-painted the words “May you never forget me” on the ground. He had killed 17-year-old ‘micro-influencer’...

Charles Sobhraj is a convicted killer and the inspiration for the new BBC One drama, The Serpent. Julia and Sofie speak with producer Paul Testar to learn what it was about Sobhraj that inspired this show. Was it the nature of his crimes? His charm? Or something else? Julia and Sofie discuss Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and how this famous construct was partly inspired by hippie culture. Perhaps Ma...

When far-right terrorist Anders Breivik murdered 77 people, many of whom were children, court-appointed psychiatrists declared him insane. Many Norwegian members of the public were angry that a diagnosis of a psychotic disorder would mean he would not be held accountable for his crimes and might even be freed early. He told doctors that he was the leader of a military group at war with Norway, com...

On February 7th 2009, Australia experienced its worst natural disaster. The weeks-long intense heat and gale force winds culminated in 400 separate wildfires which ended up taking 173 lives. In the town of Churchill, detectives began an investigation which led them to believe that one man, driving a sky-blue sedan, may be responsible for 10 of those deaths. After the arrest, detectives quickly rea...

If a killer refuses to reveal where they’ve hidden a body – should they have to stay in prison? Helen McCourt’s family campaigned for the UK to adopt an Australian-style “no body, no parole” law – but would it be adopted in time to stop the release of her killer? In 1989 pub landlord Ian Simms was one of the first people in the UK to be convicted on DNA evidence without the victim's body having be...

There were signs that the former polo player Alexander Lewis Ranwell was unravelling in early 2019. He’d lost his job and his girlfriend, was living in a caravan and was no longer taking medication to treat his delusions or hallucinations. He’d been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and had a history of substance abuse. He was arrested after letting loose animals and attacking a farmer and lat...

An excavation reveals horrific truths about Robert Pickton. The bodies of dozens of women are unearthed on a pig farm, many of whom are sex workers and indigenous. Pickton’s defence team argues that he has a low IQ and was used as a pawn. On this episode of Bad People, presenters Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen discuss how Canadian police failed indigenous women and talk to Professor Stephen Hart who w...