On December 3rd 1998, people in Altens, Aberdeen were making their way home from work in rush hour traffic. It was around 5pm and the roads were very busy with people trying to get home for the evening. Witnesses reported seeing two cars driving erratically down the road, weaving in and out of vehicles and seeing flashing blue lights on the dashboard. Members of the public alerted police to the cars and it was not long before it was discovered that a much bigger crime had occurred. Important inf...
Jan 20, 2019•20 min
Gertrude O'Leary was a popular former landlady of a pub in Bristol. After leaving the pub she had decided to run a shop in the city and she was well loved and respected within the community. Why then had someone decided to murder her on the 30th June 1949? This was the question that police had to ask themselves and this would lead them to a number of suspicious people and false leads. Important information provided by: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/ https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news...
Jan 12, 2019•21 min
In 1895, Adolf Beck stepped out of his doorway on Victoria Street in London to be greeted by a woman who accused him of tricking her and stealing her jewellery. Beck was adamant that he had nothing to do with this crime but police were sure they had enough evidence to convict him of this and other crimes relating to fraud. In the years that followed further evidence came out and another conviction occurred. This case would turn out to be one of the most notorious wrongful convictions in UK legal...
Dec 29, 2018•30 min
In 1908 the murder of 83 year old Marion Gilchrist shocked the city of Glasgow. Marion was a wealthy but reclusive woman who kept herself to herself. When she was found murdered in her own home the police were determined to find the perpetrator. A man named Oscar Slater appeared as a potential lead and after investigating, he was put on trial and found guilty. Years passed however and influential people began to get involved in the case including Sherlock Holmes creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. ...
Dec 22, 2018•26 min
On August 2nd 1963, taxi driver Stanley Blackmore went to work as usual. He was a hardworking man who took his job seriously and despite not feeling well that day, he still carried on working. After dropping off a passenger at 5 pm Stanley drove onto a main road out of the town of Yeovil where he both lived and worked. Unfortunately, this would be the last time that anyone would see Stanley alive. The investigation, in turn, found out a number of concerning things including that Stanley had actu...
Dec 15, 2018•22 min
On the 27th March 1971, a special constable walking along the River Trent in the village of Winshill came across a gruesome discovery. What he had originally thought was a bag of cement sticking up from the ground turned out to be a human skull. On closer inspection by police a whole body was discovered. A man kneeling with his hands and feet tied behind his back and wearing only socks had been found buried in a shallow grave. The police have spent the next 50 years trying to figure out some imp...
Dec 08, 2018•23 min
During the years 1987-1988 several deaths occurred of workers in the defence industry that caused many people to speculate what had actually happened to them. Since these deaths, many questions have lay unanswered despite an inquiry carried out about them. Were any of the deaths connected? What were the causes of these deaths? Were the jobs at all relevant to what happened? In this third and last episode in this series we delve into all these questions. Important information provided by: Collins...
Dec 01, 2018•28 min
During 1987, a spate of deaths of scientists, computer programmers and workers in the defence industry started to cause alarm. People from this industry were dying in very odd and unusual ways and in many cases their deaths were ruled with an open verdict. This often meant that the deaths could not be determined to be an accident, suicide or murder. These deaths have been left unsolved and without a conclusion since then. What happened to these people and why did their deaths occur? This is part...
Nov 24, 2018•23 min
During the 1980's a number of deaths came to light due to the bizarre and unusual nature in which they occurred. Some of these deaths were ruled as accidents, some suicides and some were ruled with an open verdict. These deaths came to be known in later years as the GEC Marconi deaths because of the industry that all of the people connected were involved in; the defence industry. More than 20 people have been connected with this but the question has always remained: were the deaths linked or was...
Nov 17, 2018•25 min
On the 15th December 1944, a plane was about to fly from the UK to Paris. The plane, a single engine UC 64 Norseman had been based at RAF Twinwood farm, just outside Bedford in Clapham. The plane set off on the short journey across the English channel heading for Paris. The flight however did not go as planned as the plane never arrived at its destination. Along the journey, the plane seemed to have vanished. The thing that surprised everyone however was that on the plane had been the American p...
Oct 20, 2018•22 min
On the 7th January 1949, a man was noticed by witnesses outside a Lloyds Bank branch in Knowle in Bristol. A number of phone calls were made to police about this odd looking man but little did the police or witnesses know that this man was about to commit a murder. The investigators carried out a huge man hunt across the country to discover the identity of this man and along the way would make links to other murders and crimes that had occurred in other parts of the country. What really happened...
Oct 13, 2018•24 min
On the 16th November 1972, decorators entered a fourth floor flat in Maida Vale, London. They had been sent to decorate the flat on Randolph Avenue but when they entered they found something that they weren't expecting. They had discovered the body of a woman covered in bruises and with a towel placed over her head. The police arrived at the scene and quickly identified the woman as Amala Ruth De Vere Whelan who had been renting the flat for 3 weeks. The question was why had someone wanted to ki...
Oct 06, 2018•21 min
After the Drummond family murders, the Dominici family were at the centre of the investigation at La Grand Terre farm. The investigation began to look at testimonies from lots of different people but when Gaston Dominici was arrested people were shocked by the evidence against him. What really did happen to the Drummonds? Important information provided by: https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2004/apr/17/weekend7.weekend8 https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/french-alps-shooting-unsolved-rid...
Sep 29, 2018•24 min
Sir Jack Drummond, his wife Ann and his daughter Elizabeth travelled to France in July 1952\. Jack was a renowned biochemist who had helped to design the rationing program in the UK during the Second World War. The family were on their way to visit friends in the South of France and had stopped at a farm by the name of Le Grand Terre. What happened afterwards shocked the world and hit the headlines in both the UK and France, who murdered the Drummond family? Important information provided by: ht...
Sep 22, 2018•21 min
On Saturday 14th March 1970, a farmer who lived at Knowles Pit Farm had left his home at around 9:30pm. He was on his way to feed his sheep some hay and had quickly left the house to do this errand. Knowles Pit Farm was located close to Mere in Knutsford, a town in the county of Cheshire around 14 miles South West of the city of Manchester. As Ted Whittaker, the farmer, went to feed his sheep he noticed something unusual in a small group of trees. It looked like clothing had been left in the tre...
Sep 15, 2018•26 min
In 1975 an unidentified woman was found alongside the A1 motorway and in 1991 an unidentified man was found in some undergrowth in West Sussex. What do they both have in common? As of 2018 both of their cases remain unsolved and most importantly both of the victims remain unidentified. In this episode, we look at the stories of both of these people and the circumstances in which they were found. In recent years the cases have gone cold but there is still some hope that they can finally be identi...
Sep 01, 2018•24 min
Lower Quinton is a civil parish in the Stratford upon Avon district of Warwickshire. In 1945 and largely today it has a small population and a mostly sleepy village feel. On the 14th February 1945 75 year old Charles Walton went out to work as an agricultural labourer as normal. When his niece returned home that evening at around 6pm and found that her uncle had not returned she was immediately worried. The reserved Charles did not often spend time with friends after work so his absence was stra...
Aug 25, 2018•24 min
On the 4th July 1928, a monoplane landed on a beach close to Dunkirk, Northern France. The beach was home to a local army unit who were extremely surprised to see the small plane landing there as nobody had been expecting it and it wasn’t a usual occurrence. The army members who were there ran to the plane to see who was in it and why it was there. Six people exited the plane and when asked what they were doing on the beach and in military territory. The group proceeded to tell an extraordinary ...
Aug 18, 2018•26 min
The trial of Dr John Bodkin Adams had become a national sensation and it appeared that everyone had an opinion about his guilt or innocence. The newspapers discussed his wealth and where it was suspected that this wealth may have come from while some of his loyal patients exclaimed that he was an excellent doctor who had only tried to help them. It was undeniable that going into his trial in March 1957, it was going to be a huge story. John Adams was facing 2 counts of murder for the deaths of E...
Aug 11, 2018•30 min
Dr John Bodkin Adams was a general practitioner doctor in Eastbourne in Sussex from the 1930’s onwards but in 1956 his career would be put on hold and his reputation scrutinised. John Bodkin Adams was accused of the murder of 2 of his patients in 1957 and questions surrounded why so many of his patients had given him something in their wills. He had gained a list of wealthy and famous patients and was a huge part of Eastbourne society for a number of years. When he was accused of murder and forg...
Aug 04, 2018•22 min
In 1924, a British expedition to conquer the summit of Mount Everest took place and experienced climber George Mallory was the climbing leader. They were accompanied by a number of other climbers including Andrew Irvine, one of a number of less experienced mountaineers. During the 1920's Britain and the world were in a period of change and there were lots of records being broken and explorers setting off on dangerous pursuits. Conquering Everest was a dream for many climbers. The expedition woul...
Jul 28, 2018•30 min
On the evening of the 11th September 1971, Robert Rowlands was in his fifth floor flat on Wimpole Street Central London. He had been having a relaxed evening using his ham radio. It was late around 11:15pm on a Saturday evening when he was surprised hear that he had picked up something on one of the frequencies. He listened hard to the transmissions and after a short time realised what he was actually listening to. He was listening to people discussing a robbery that was about to take place at a...
Jul 21, 2018•22 min
On the 5th July 1919, a farmer by the name of Joseph Cowell was working on his farm in the village of Stretton Parva, Leicestershire. The area was a relatively quiet and sleepy place and Mr Cowell was finishing off a number of things he needed to get done. It was quite late, past 9'clock and Mr Cowell had to go and get some cows and bring them back to the farm. He went to go and collect them and as he was walking back along the road he noticed something lying in the middle of it. As he got close...
Jul 14, 2018•30 min
In England there are currently 554 unidentified people who are listed on the UK missing persons unit website. These people are yet to be identified and their deaths are yet to be solved. In this episode we delve into just one area of the UK and document the stories of these unidentified people. This episode discusses the 12 people currently listed as unidentified in the county of Dorset, South East England. We look at the descriptions, locations and other facts known about them in the hope that ...
Jul 08, 2018•26 min
In 1939, worried friends of Ada Constance Kent went to police to explain that they had not seen her for a number of months. Ada lived in the small village of Fingringhoe, close to Colchester in a traditional thatched cottage. The residents of Fingringhoe did not see Ada often as she kept herself to herself and lead a relatively reclusive lifestyle. Police did a check on Ada's house but found nothing and importantly they didn't find Ada. 10 Years later, Ada had still not been located and everyone...
Jun 30, 2018•25 min
On Christmas Eve 1975, Peter Gibbs set off in a Cessna-150 civilian aircraft from the Glenforsa airstrip on the Isle of Mull in Scotland. He was staying at the Glenforsa hotel with his girlfriend and as he was an experienced pilot he had decided to try a circuit of the bay in the plane before returning back to the airstrip. After half an hour of being in the air his girlfriend grew alarmed as he had not returned. She went back to the hotel and after two hours of waiting, the police were called. ...
Jun 23, 2018•31 min
On the 19th April 1956, former Royal Navy diver Lionel Crabb went on an MI6 operation to investigate a soviet cruiser docked in Portsmouth harbour. After 2 hours under the water Lionel had still not emerged and the operation was aborted. Around 14 months later, a body was discovered wearing a diving suit but was missing its head and hands. Was this the body of Lionel Crabb and if it was him what had happened to him? The mystery of his disappearance is still ongoing and continues to baffle those ...
Jun 02, 2018•27 min
At around 1:50am in the early morning hours of the 6th November 1930, two men were walking back from a Guy Fawkes dance in the centre of Northampton. They both noticed a fire in the distance. Both men dismissed it as it had been Bonfire night and a fire was not unusual to see. The men then noticed a man coming towards them dressed in professional clothes and carrying an attaché case. The men thought it was odd to see a man dressed for work at that hour but they conversed for a minute and the men...
May 26, 2018•30 min
On the 17th June 1934 workers at Brighton Railway station were going about their usual duties. William Joseph Vinnicombe, in the process of his shift, noticed a terrible smell at the station. He did a quick search of the area of the station and discovered that the smell appeared to be emanating from the left luggage room. It seemed to be permeating throughout the station and Vinnicombe noticed there was a plywood trunk that had been left in the room. The trunk got his attention and the location ...
May 19, 2018•30 min
On the 11th of September 1978, Bulgarian born Georgi Markov was waiting for a bus on Waterloo Bridge in London. He was on his way to work for a normal run of the mill day. The day did not turn out the way in which he had expected. That day on the bridge, Georgi was poisoned with what turned out to be an umbrella. This crime was baffling and investigators struggled to figure out what had happened. Had Georgi been killed for his brave decision to speak out about the conditions in his own country? ...
May 12, 2018•23 min
