Blood Ties Podcast

In this episode of Blood Ties, hosts Molly and Geoffrey Wansell discuss the infamous 1892 murders of Andrew and Abby Borden in Fall River, Massachusetts. Comparing the historical case with a recent television drama on Netflix called, 'Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story'. They explore the strict religious upbringing of Lizzie and Emma Borden, their tensions with their stepmother, family finan...

In this episode of Blood Ties , hosts Molly and Geoffrey Wansell focus on Jon Venables, one of the two 10-year-old boys who abducted and murdered toddler James Bulger in 1993. The episode details Venables' initial eight-year juvenile detention and his complete inability to adapt following his 2001 release under a new identity. Struggling with substance abuse and trauma, Venables was re-impriso...

In this episode of Blood Ties , hosts Molly and Geoffrey Wansell unpack the horrifying 'Limbs in the Loch' case. The investigation began in December 1999 when divers found dismembered human remains in Loch Lomond, later identified as 18-year-old Barry Wallace. Police traced the murder to William Beggs, a killer previously freed on a legal technicality after a strikingly similar 1987 crime....

In this episode of Blood Ties , hosts Molly and Geoffrey Wansell discuss the horrifying crimes of serial killer Christopher Halliwell. The conversation explores Halliwell's troubled childhood, his life as a Swindon minicab driver, and the 2011 abduction and murder of Sian O'Callaghan. They analyse how police errors by Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher initially compromised the investi...

In this episode of Blood Ties , hosts Molly and Geoffrey Wansell examine the tragic 2019 death of PC Andrew Harper, who was killed in the line of duty while responding to a robbery. The father-daughter duo trace the harrowing event, the controversial trial that resulted in manslaughter convictions rather than murder, and the widow’s relentless fight for 'Harper’s Law'. Together, they analy...

In this bonus episode of Blood Ties , Molly and Geoffrey Wantsall close out Season 14 with a listener-recommended case that changed British legal history. They explore the tragic murder of 22-year-old Julie Hogg, whose body went undiscovered beneath her own bath for months after a flawed police investigation. When suspect Billy Dunlop escaped conviction under the double jeopardy rule, Julie's moth...

In this episode of Blood Ties , Molly and Geoffrey Wansell examine the shocking case known as the Mother's Day Massacre. In 2008, Edward Covington murdered his girlfriend, Lisa Freiberg, and her two young children in a crime that stunned the community and left a family devastated. After later admitting responsibility in court, Covington faced sentencing as Lisa's relatives spoke of their grief and...

In September 2012, a quiet forest road in the French Alps became the scene of one of Europe's most baffling unsolved murders. Three members of the British French al Hilli family and a local cyclist were shot dead near the village of Chevaline, close to Lake Annecy. Miraculously, the couple's two young daughters survived, one hidden beneath her mother's body for eight hours before being discovered....

In October 2020, a series of brutal murders shocked the Midlands and sparked one of the region's largest manhunts. When Julie Williams reported her son David missing, she could not have known she would become one of Anthony Russell's victims. Within days, Julie and David were dead, and Russell was on the run. As police closed in, he continued a violent trail of robbery, assault and murder across C...

In August 2010, Gareth Williams, a brilliant Welsh mathematician working for GCHQ and on secondment to MI6, was found dead inside a padlocked sports bag in a London flat linked to the security services. His death quickly became one of Britain's most perplexing unsolved mysteries. An inquest concluded that Gareth's death was unnatural and likely involved a criminal act. Yet a later Metropolitan Pol...

When two vulnerable women vanish from the streets of East London within weeks of each other, detectives uncover a chilling predator hiding in plain sight. Derek Brown, a convicted rapist and serial sex attacker, targeted Xiao Mei Guo, a mother selling DVDs to support her family, and Bonnie Barrett, a young woman struggling on the margins of society. Both were last seen with Brown before disappeari...

In this episode of Blood Ties, Geoffrey and Molly Wansell examine one of the most controversial criminal cases of the 21st century: the killing of Reeva Steenkamp by South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius. On Valentine’s Day 2013, Steenkamp was shot dead at Pistorius’s home in Pretoria. Pistorius claimed he believed an intruder was hiding in the bathroom, but prosecutors argued the shooting was...

On the remote Orkney island of Sanday, a love triangle would end in brutal violence. In June 2009, Yorkshireman Robert Rose disappeared after beginning a relationship with the former girlfriend of local man John "Jack" Campbell. When Rose failed to return home, a major search operation was launched. Two weeks later, his body was discovered hidden among sand dunes on the island. Investigators uncov...

In this episode of Blood Ties , Geoffrey and Molly Wansell examine the crimes of serial killer Robert Black, whose abduction, rape and murder of young girls shocked the UK throughout the 1980s. From the disappearance of Susan Maxwell, Caroline Hogg and Sarah Harper to the later conviction for the murder of Jennifer Cardy, they trace the painstaking police investigation that became one of the large...

In this episode of Blood Ties , Geoffrey and Molly Wansell uncover the terrifying story of Gordon Frederick Cummins, the RAF serviceman who became known as the Blackout Killer. Over just five days in wartime London, Cummins murdered four women and brutally attacked two others while the city lay hidden beneath the enforced blackout of the Blitz. His victims were strangled, and several were shocking...

Three women murdered. One city terrified. And a killer who vanished without a trace. In this gripping episode of Blood Ties , Geoffrey and Molly Wansell investigate the chilling case of Bible John, the unidentified serial killer who preyed on young women in Glasgow between 1968 and 1969. Each victim met a sharply dressed stranger at the famous Barrowland Ballroom before suffering a brutal death. C...

In this episode of Blood Ties , Geoffrey and Molly Wansell uncover the terrifying story of Gordon Frederick Cummins, the RAF serviceman who became known as the Blackout Killer. Over just five days in wartime London, Cummins murdered four women and brutally attacked two others while the city lay hidden beneath the enforced blackout of the Blitz. His victims were strangled, and several were shocking...

Part 2 of this Blood Ties special with Geoffrey and Molly Wansell. Confronting one of Britain’s most chilling killers: Dennis Nilsen. Calm, calculated, and hiding in plain sight, he murdered at least twelve young men between 1978 and 1983. Luring victims back to his North London flats, he strangled them, then carried out grotesque rituals, keeping bodies for days, even weeks, before dismembering a...

In this episode of Blood Ties , Geoffrey and Molly Wansell investigate the terrifying case of Barry Prudom, the fugitive killer known as the 'Phantom of the Forest'. An electrician turned murderer, Prudom sparked the biggest manhunt in British history after shooting dead PC David Haigh in June 1982. Over the following days, he killed two more men while evading capture across the forests and countr...

Blood Ties with Geoffrey and Molly Wansell confronts one of Britain’s most chilling killers: Dennis Nilsen. Calm, calculated, and hiding in plain sight, he murdered at least twelve young men between 1978 and 1983. Luring victims back to his North London flats, he strangled them, then carried out grotesque rituals, keeping bodies for days, even weeks, before dismembering and disposing of them. It i...

In this episode of Blood Ties, Geoffrey and Molly Wansell explore the shocking murder of 12 year old Leo Ross, killed in a seemingly random knife attack on his walk home from school in Birmingham. They examine the disturbing profile of a 14 year old killer who had already carried out violent assaults on vulnerable strangers in the days before the crime. Drawing on court testimony and police insigh...

Blood Ties with Geoffrey Wansell and Molly Wansell delves into one of Britain’s most disturbing criminal cases, the story of Joanna Dennehy. Geoffrey and Molly explore how Dennehy carried out a shocking killing spree in 2013, targeting strangers and revelling in violence. Father and daughter bring a unique dynamic, blending journalistic rigour with personal insight as they examine the psychology,...

Maria Pearson is Britain’s longest serving female prisoner and one of its most unsettling cases. Dubbed the 'forgotten prisoner', she has spent decades behind bars, yet still refuses to accept responsibility for a brutal murder that shocked the nation. In 1987, driven by jealousy and rage, she stalked and stabbed a young woman 17 times in the street. It was calculated, savage, and final. What foll...

In the shadows of Louisiana’s bayous, a predator operated almost unnoticed for nearly a decade. Ronald Joseph Dominique, later dubbed The Bayou Strangler, confessed to the murders of at least 23 men and boys between 1997 and 2006. He lured vulnerable victims with false promises of work, then subjected them to unimaginable violence. For years, his crimes slipped beneath the radar, receiving little...

Blood Ties with Geoffrey and Molly Wansell explores one of Scotland’s most haunting crimes and the long road to justice. In 1994, Bangladeshi waiter Shamsuddin Mahmood was shot at point blank range in a busy Orkney restaurant, shocking a quiet island community. With eyewitness accounts, twists in the investigation, and a web of unanswered questions, the case would remain unresolved for 14 years. C...