News of the Times - Unlocking the vaults of historical crime

Insane or Evil? The 1901 Murder of Emily Chapman at Hindhead News of the Times | Episode 524 | 1901 Was it madness — or murder? In the summer of 1901, the quiet village of Grayshott awoke to a scene of unimaginable horror. Emily Chapman, a mother of five, lay dead — brutally attacked in her own home. The killer? Her husband Walter: sub-postmaster, cabinet-maker, and now accused murderer. This epis...

The Horfield Horror: A Victorian Murder That Shook Bristol News of the Times | Episode 523 | 1841 🕯️ A Brutal Victorian Murder. A Teenage Suspect. A Trial Gripped by Doubt. In 1841, the quiet village of Horfield near Bristol was shattered by the violent murder of 67-year-old Martha Shedden. Her skull was crushed in eleven places. No weapon was ever found. No one saw the killer. But a 17-year-old e...

🔥 Murder by Fire: The Notting Hill Tragedy of 1881 | Ep522 | News of the Times In Victorian London, fire could be a constant threat—but what if the flames were no accident? On a quiet night in May 1881, a Notting Hill lodging house erupted into an inferno. Six people perished. One couple escaped unharmed—and fully dressed. Suspicion grew. Insurance claims were filed. And whispers turned into a mu...

Our First-Ever Q&A Special | Arsenic, Pirates & Victorian Mayhem News of the Times | Episode 521s |  2025 You had questions. We had… tea, notes, and an unwise amount of confidence. In this special episode, Robin fearlessly tackles viewer queries on everything from Victorian habits to pirate ethics, frying pan sorcery, and why so many 19th-century murderers owned top hats. 💬 Expect mildly...

The Goatfell Murder | Victorian Sociopath or Calculated Climber? News of the Times | Episode 521  1889 In this gripping true crime tale from 1889, we follow mild-mannered London clerk Edwin Rose on what should have been a peaceful summer holiday to the Isle of Arran. Instead, he crosses paths with a charismatic stranger calling himself “Mr. Annandale” — a man who dresses well, speaks smoothly, and...

A Respectable Gentleman. A Sudden Shot. A Suspect in the Privy News of the Times | Episode 520 | 1806 When a beloved dockyard figure is murdered in his own parlour, the streets of Rotherhithe whisper of robbery. But what unfolds is far murkier — involving fake drafts, vanishing money, and trousers hoisted just a little too late. Was Richard Patch simply in the wrong privy at the wrong time… or was...

The Woolston Tragedy – Double Murder and Vanishing Man News of the Times | Episode 519 | 1922 A quiet Edwardian home. A respected family. A horror no one could have imagined. When a devoted mother and her young daughter are found savagely murdered in Southampton, suspicion turns to the only one missing — Frederick Halliday, husband, father, and railway clerk. But what drove a trusted man to vanish...

Terror at Bank Farm: The Tragic Case of Dennis O’Neill News of the Times | Episode 518 | 1945 In 1945, 13-year-old Dennis O’Neill was found dead on a remote farm in Shropshire. Starved, beaten, and neglected — by foster parents approved by the state — his death shocked wartime Britain and exposed catastrophic failures in the child welfare system. How could this happen under the nose of officialdom...

The Servant Who Shocked London: Sarah Malcolm’s Fatal Crime News of the Times | Episode 517 | 1733 🕯 Step into the shadowy alleys of Georgian London... In 1733, a laundress named Sarah Malcolm stood accused of one of the most shocking triple murders the city had ever seen. Was she a cunning killer, a scapegoat, or simply in the wrong place at the worst time? In this week’s News of the Times, we un...

Murder or Mercy? The Witney Shooting That Shocked 1884 News of the Times | Episode 516 [1884 In the quiet town of Witney, Oxfordshire, 1884, a desperate son pulls the trigger—and Victorian England must decide whether he is a murderer… or a saviour. John William Rose claimed he fired to stop his father from killing his mother. The evidence? A terrified family, a long-suffering wife, and a courtroom...

Bridget Durgan: The Maid, The Murder, and the Smile That Haunted 1867 News of the Times | Episode 515  | 1867 Domestic Servant or Cold-Blooded Killer? The Gruesome Case That Shocked 1867 In a quiet New Jersey town in 1867, a physician’s wife is found brutally murdered — stabbed, slashed, and burned — and the only suspect? Her Irish maid, Bridget Durgan. With 50 wounds, bite marks, and a suspicious...

The Murder of Emma Hunt: Cold Case or Victorian Injustice? News of the Times | Episode514 | 1896 Step into the shadows of 1893, where a quiet Essex town is shaken to its core by the brutal murder of a respected widow, Emma Hunt. Her body is found in a brook — throat slashed, umbrella shattered, and no weapon in sight. Was it suicide, murder, or something far more sinister? A teenage boy is arreste...

Murder in the Woods: The Forgotten Case of the Wigwam Girl News of the Times | Episode 513 | 1942 [In one of wartime Britain’s most haunting and tragically overlooked murder cases, 19-year-old Joan Pearl Wolfe—forever remembered as the "Wigwam Girl"—is found hastily buried on Hankley Common. Who was this quiet, vulnerable girl? And why was a Canadian soldier—August Sangret—accused of her...

The Regent’s Park Murder of 1888 News of the Times | Episode 511 | 1888 While all eyes were fixed on the shadowy lanes of Whitechapel, murder found its way into the genteel heart of London. In this gripping episode, we unravel the tragic and mysterious killing of Joseph Rumbold — a young printer, stabbed to death under the gaslights of Regent’s Park. Was it mistaken identity? Gang rivalry? Or some...

The Man Who Vanished: Whitechapel’s Other Attacker News of the Times | Episode 510 | 1888 Before Jack the Ripper cast his long shadow over London, Whitechapel was already soaked in fear. In this gripping episode, we follow the shocking case of Richard Patterson, a dock labourer turned violent fugitive, whose stormy night of rage left two victims gashed and bleeding — and the police scrambling. On...

The Chilling Walthamstow Mystery That Shocked Victorian London 1888 News of the Times | Episode 509| 1888 London, 1888 — the Ripper loomed large in the East End’s imagination… but just a few miles away, another case was unfolding. One with no mutilations, no blood-stained alleys—just a quiet note, a mysterious bottle, and a young woman who never came home. When newlywed Annie French stepped into a...

Was This the Ripper’s Comeback? The 1889 Whitechapel Murder News of the Times | Episode 508 | 1889 Welcome to News of the Times — where sinister shadows of history refuse to stay buried. In this chilling episode, we return to the gaslit alleys of Victorian London. It’s July 1889, and another woman is found brutally slain in Castle Alley — her throat cut, her body mutilated. The location? Just stre...

Bradford’s Jack the Ripper: The Mutilation of John Gill News of the Times | Episode 507 | 1888 In December 1888, the brutalised body of 8-year-old John Gill sent shockwaves through Bradford — a young boy mutilated and arranged in a grotesque parcel, echoing the horrors of Jack the Ripper just weeks earlier. As panic swept the streets, suspicion fell on a familiar milkman, and London detectives wer...

The Ripper Fever Spreads: The Gateshead Mutilation Murder of 1888  News of the Times | Episode 506 |1888 In the swirling fear of 1888, with the shadow of Jack the Ripper stretching far beyond Whitechapel, terror came to Birtley. This episode brings us to the unsettling murder of 28-year-old Jane Beatmoor—a quiet woman in delicate health, found savagely mutilated at the foot of a railway embankment...

Jack's Last Shadow? - Whitechapel Chronicles 6  News of the Times Episode 505 | 1888 By November 1888, the East End of London was no stranger to fear. The shock of earlier murders had settled into a grim, uneasy silence—until one final killing shattered it completely. Behind the locked door of a tiny room at 13 Miller’s Court, Mary Jane Kelly was found horrifically mutilated. This wasn’t just...

One Night, Two Murders - Whitechapel Chronicles5 News of the Times Episode 504 | 1888 September 30th, 1888: London awoke to horror. In less than an hour, two women—Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes—were murdered in separate locations. The press dubbed it “The Double Event.” For the people of Whitechapel, it was the night terror took hold. In this episode of The Whitechapel Chronicle, we follo...

Leather Apron and the City on Edge - Whitechapel Chronicles4 News of the Times Episode 503 | 1888 As fear gripped Whitechapel after the brutal murder of Annie Chapman, the press gave that fear a name: Leather Apron. This episode of The Whitechapel Chronicles follows the frantic days after Chapman's body was found—when suspicion fell on local bootmaker John Pizer, infamously dubbed “Leather Ap...

The Butcher Escalates - Whitechapel Chronicles 3 News of the Times Episode 502 | 1888 By September 1888, fear in Whitechapel had turned to full-blown panic. When Annie Chapman’s mutilated body was found in a narrow yard on Hanbury Street, it became clear—these murders were no longer isolated horrors, but part of something far more chilling. In this episode, we revisit the scene through the eyes of...

Blood in Buck's Row - Whitechapel Chronicles2 News of the Times Episode 501| 1888 Episode Two: The Murder of Mary Ann Nichols August 31, 1888 — a woman is found brutally murdered on a quiet East End street. Her name is Mary Ann Nichols, known as Polly, and her death marks a turning point in Whitechapel’s descent into fear. This episode dives into the chaos that followed Polly’s killing: eerie...

Before Jack: The Cases They Dismissed - Whitechapel Chronicles1 News of the Times Episode 500 | 1888 "Before the name carved itself into history… before the letters, before the myth… there was only blood.” Step into the smoke-choked alleys of 1888 Whitechapel, where dread slinks behind every corner and the gaslight barely pierces the gloom. In this premiere episode of Whitechapel Chronicles,...