Testimony - A True Crime Podcast

It was an incomprehensible murder which left jury members in tears. But the death of nine-month-old Mollie Norman at the hands of her uncle ultimately changed the way police investigate child homicides. Trevor Stoker was babysitting Mollie when he took her life in a series of vile assaults. His sole motivation for attacking her was his hatred of her father. At Manchester Crown Court in 2006 Stoker...

On the night of May 10th 2005, someone who would have known that the front door of 23 King Street, Higher Broughton was insecure entered the 1930s terraced house. Once inside they lit two fires in foam-filled furniture in a sofa and armchair in the front lounge and rear living room. Within 20 minutes the temperature in the property was 1000 degrees centigrade causing windows to blow out. Rhona Sch...

It was a brutal plot that resulted in the horrendous death of a dearly loved father, Liam Smith.  The 38-year-old electrician was shot dead and doused in acid yards from his home in Wigan in November last year. The murder had been planned for 10 months. Couple Michael Hillier and Rachel Fulstow were once united on their plan to murder Smith as part of what they saw as “vigilante justice” - but the...

If Stephen Bear was aiming for theatre during his trial, the former reality TV star instead delivered farce and pantomime.  But it was no laughing matter: the Celebrity Big Brother winner was sent to prison for 21 months in March following his conviction on revenge porn charges in December last year. Bear uploaded a video of him having sex with Love Island star Georgia Harrison without her consent...

It was a brutal murder that shocked Manchester: torture, betrayal, killers likened to “creatures” and “a kind of cancer”. In the summer of 2022, Thomas Campbell was attacked in a professionally planned operation, lasting hours, and left for dead. He succumbed to his injuries after being stabbed, punched, kicked, and strangled. Andrew Bardsley followed this case as it played out in court, and he de...

It is a story that has gathered massive interest across the country: the disappearance of Nicola Bulley. Nicola, a 45-year-old mother-of-two, disappeared almost three weeks ago, whilst walking along the River Wyre with her dog Willow. Despite a massive search in St Michael's on Wyre, a small village on the Fylde in Lancashire, no trace of Nicola has been found yet. Speculation is rife, the investi...

In this second part of Testimony: The Body on Seaham Beach we find a mystery within a mystery. The case continues, venturing into new territory and commissioning a full facial reconstruction to be carried out by Dundee University. Listeners will hear varying theories as to what may have happened to this missing person. ___________________________ On 13th May 2006 a man walking on the beach in Seah...

On 13th May 2006 a man walking on the beach in Seaham, south of Sunderland, made a shocking discovery. He called the police and set in train a series of events that have yet to be resolved. We explore the events that took place following the discovery of these human remains on the Featherbed Rocks. Fiona Thompson, who covered the story as a reporter for the Sunderland Echo at the time, takes us th...

Testimony: Coming soon... On 13th May 2006 a man walking on the beach in Seaham, south of Sunderland, made a grizzly discovery. He called the police and set in train a series of events that have yet to be resolved. Testimony: The Body on Seaham Beach is a two-part series which explores the events that took place following the discovery of human remains on the Featherbed Rocks. Fiona Thompson, who...

In the second part of this true crime podcast, Neal Keeling, senior reporter at the Manchester Evening News, delves deeper into the unsolved murder of Leigh schoolgirl Lisa Hession. Neal speaks to experts, campaigners, and those who knew Lisa about the original investigation in 1984, theories behind her murder, and the potential links between a serial sex attacker and Lisa's killer. Testimony is a...

In this two-part true crime podcast, Neal Keeling, chief reporter at the Manchester Evening News, looks back at an unsolved murder that has haunted his career for the past 36 years. On one winter night in 1984, 14-year-old schoolgirl Lisa Hession was robbed of her life in a back alley only two minutes away from her home in Leigh. Neal guides us through this tragic case, speaking to those who knew...

Testimony: Coming soon...In this two-part true crime podcast, Neal Keeling, chief reporter at the Manchester Evening News, looks back at an unsolved murder that has haunted his career for the past 36 years. On one winter night in 1984, 14-year-old schoolgirl Lisa Hession was robbed of her life in a back alley only two minutes away from her home in Leigh. Neal guides us through this tragic case, sp...