Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 54 i Crime Monthly

Disturbing new figures have shown that online grooming crimes against children are at a record high. Data gathered by the NSPCC revealed there were 6,350 “sexual communication with a child” crimes recorded in the year to March 2023, 82 per cent higher than in 2017. The data also showed children – the majority of whom are girls – are being targeted on social media, as well as online games and websites. Campaigners are calling for the government to expedite the Online Safety Bill, which has been delayed since 2019, and is due for final debate this month. Sir Peter Wanless, chief executive of the NSPCC, said, “The number of offences must serve as a reminder of why the Bill is so important, and why the groundbreaking protections it will give…

Chad Daybell – the husband of recently convicted killer Lori Vallow – has had his trial date set for 1 April 2024. He is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, and has pleaded not guilty. It is believed prosecutors may seek the death penalty. Daybell's first wife Tammy died in October 2019, with Daybell marrying Vallow just over two weeks later. Vallow's children Tylee and JJ disappeared in September 2019, and their burned remains were found at Daybell's Idaho property in June 2020. JJ's grandmother told reporters, “He should give it up. How do you have two kids in your backyard, and you don't know anything about it?” Meanwhile, Vallow has been sentenced to life without parole for the murders of her children and conspiring to murder Tammy. At…

One morning in August 1998, Jenny Ryan dropped her 14-year-old daughter Natasha off at school in Queensland, Australia, like normal. But Natasha didn't come home that evening, and despite a huge police and community effort, no trace of her was found. She'd been a troubled girl and had run away before, but always come home. Several other young women and girls had gone missing in the area and police believed there was a serial killer at large, so fears for Natasha grew. In April 1999, 58-year-old Leonard Fraser, a rapist who'd spent 20 years in prison, was arrested and charged with the murders of several women, including Natasha. Ponytails of his victims were found in his home, and he confessed to strangling Natasha and burying her body. Then something incredible…

▶ Isolating you from friends and family ▶ Depriving you of basic needs, such as food ▶ Monitoring your time and online communication with tools or spyware ▶ Taking control of things like finances, where you can go, who you can see and what you can wear ▶ Depriving you of access to support, such as medical services ▶ Repeatedly putting you down, i.e. saying you're worthless ▶ Humiliating, degrading or dehumanising you, or making threats Access free, confidential support from Refuge's 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247, and digital support via live chat Monday-Friday from 3-10pm on Nationaldahelpline.org.uk…

CHILLING DOCU This one-off docu takes a look back over the horrific events in London on 29 November 2019. Five people were stabbed, two of them fatally, by Usman Khan, who had been heralded as a success story for a Cambridge University prison rehabilitation programme. While attending a conference near London Bridge, Khan threatened to detonate a suicide vest and attacked people with knives taped to his wrists.…

Police diver Jen Harper goes to the places few people can, into the murky depths underwater searching for evidence – and for bodies. But when her team is called in to look for missing woman Claudia Franklin, Jen doesn't disclose the fact she knows the victim. She also doesn't tell anyone that they were once fierce rivals on the competitvive diving scene – and share a terrible secret. A compelling psychological thriller.…

Trust In Me LUCA VESTE (HODDER & STOUGHTON, £20) Trauma counsellor Sara has created the perfect life for herself – and no one has to know it's all built on a lie. But when a new patient confesses to a crime Sara committed, she is forced to take drastic action to protect herself. Gripping. The Opposite Of Lonely DOUG JOHNSTONE (ORENDA, £9.99) The Skelfs are back and recovering from the events that recently shook their lives. Now, Dorothy is investigating a fire at a travellers’ site, while Jenny searches for her missing sister-in-law and Hannah is sucked into danger. Absorbing. No Reserve FELIX FRANCIS (ZAFFRE, £20) Auctioneer Theo works at Newmarket, where millions are paid for horses in the hope they'll be the next big winner. But when he overhears…

A scheme aimed at boosting literacy among prisoners has been launched, with the support of Stephen Fry. The University of Wolverhampton's Big Bookshare project is inviting prisoners in four Kent prisons – Elmley, East Sutton, Swaleside and Maidstone – to read and discuss novels, as well as take part in creative writing workshops, with the hope of improving both their literacy and overall wellbeing. Stephen said, “As an ex-prisoner myself, I know the value of books and reading on the inside. Prison life is often noisy, crowded and loud – reading provides a kind of solitary non-confinement where you can visit other worlds, and find solace.”…

US forensic scientist Henry Lee, a regular expert witness at high-profile trials, has been found “liable for falsifying evidence”. The ruling came during a wrongful conviction lawsuit filed by Shawn Henning and Ralph Birch, who were convicted of murder in 1989. Lee, 84, testified that bloodstains at the scene linked the then-teenagers to the 1985 crime, but it was argued that no such tests had been conducted. The men were exonerated after 30 years in prison in 2020. The judge said, “Dr Lee's own experts concluded there is no written documentation or photographic evidence that he performed the test,” adding, “The tests actually conducted did not indicate the presence of blood.” It's been reported the men are seeking $60m in damages and a trial is set for October.…

Rudy Farias of Houston, Texas, went missing in March 2015, aged 17, while taking his dogs for a walk. There was concern over his welfare as he suffered depression, anxiety and PTSD following two family deaths. This July, he turned up alive, in the doorway of a church. Police discovered his identity and reunited him with his mother. She said he was, “receiving the care he needs to overcome his trauma, but at this time, is nonverbal and not able to communicate with us”. But it was all a sham. Rudy had been living with his mum Janie Santana the whole time. In an emotional, and at times rambling and confused, interview with Fox News, Rudy said his mother had controlled the situation. He claimed, “I was just at home.…

HISTORIC CRIME Each time detectives were called to the unsettling scene of a crime attributed to the perpetrator nicknamed “Mr Cruel” by the Australian media, they were deeply disturbed by what they learned. His choice of victims and the timing of his attacks strongly suggested he had carefully surveilled the homes before committing his crimes and, more worryingly, he appeared to have a knowledge of forensics. Mr Cruel never left a single trace of his DNA in the houses he burgled, and ensured not a single strand of hair or flake of skin was ever found on his victims. As far as law enforcement was concerned, he was a ghost. FIRST CRIMES Mr Cruel's reign of terror began with the rape of an unnamed 11-year-old girl in her own home.…

One bright morning, a woman wakes up in the middle of a rural road in Ireland. She's wearing a white dress stained with blood, and she's surrounded by cows. It seems like a bad dream, but as she makes her way home, barefoot, we realise this is really happening to the character. She's called Lorna Brady (Ruth Wilson, His Dark Materials), and when she arrives at her house, she finds a dead body there. This is the startling opening sequence of a thrillingly original six-part drama with this extraordinary woman at its centre. It turns out the reason Lorna ended up in that situation – on her own, in the middle of the (fictional) small town of Kilkinure in Ireland – is because she sleep-walks and has memory blackouts. So,…

POWERFUL DRAMA Third and final season of Netflix's revival of the gritty show about drug dealers Dushane Hill (Ashley Walters) and Gerard “Sully” Sullivan (Kane Robinson, aka rapper Kano), who are struggling to become “top boy” of their east London estate. At the end of the last series, Sully's actions changed the rules of his business with Dushane. Now, they face new problems, as everything they've built comes under threat and the code they have lived by is tested to its limit.…

SKY REINVESTIGATES RUSSELL MURDERS An upcoming Sky documentary will attempt to shed new light on the murders of Lin and Megan Russell. Lin and her two daughters, Josie, nine, and six-year-old Megan, were bludgeoned with a hammer on a remote lane near their home in Kent. Lin and Megan died, but Josie miraculously survived. Drug addict Michael Stone was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison, but he has always maintained his innocence, while serial killer Levi Bellfield has since confessed to the killings. The docuseries will include exclusive access to Stone in prison via phone calls as his legal team prepare one last appeal. The series will air late September. PARAMOUNT'S THE KILLING KIND This month sees thrilling new drama The Killing Kind finally arrive on streaming service…

One stormy night, sisters Nina, Lizzie and Aisa find themselves driving near the village where they grew up. When their car gets stuck on a flooded road, they have no option but to take refuge in Moirthwaite Manor, the forbidding – and now long abandoned – house where their mother once worked as a hired help. With no electricity and one of them hurt, they draw straws to determine who will head back out into the storm to look for help, but soon events from the past come rushing back to haunt them. This slow burn builds to a thrilling climax.…

What was the inspiration behind your latest novel? I like to tackle the issues of the day, so I had a meeting with the Chief Constable of Sussex, Jo Shiner, about 18 months ago, asking her what was new in terms of criminality in the county. One of her big concerns was the explosion in crime around dogs that happened during the pandemic, when everyone wanted a “lockdown dog”, and has continued since. The price of dogs soared and countless unregistered breeders jumped on the bandwagon, as did organised crime gangs. They realised that with illegal breeding, smuggling puppies in from Europe, and the horrific crime of mugging people in parks and stealing their beloved pets, they could make more money than by dealing in drugs – and with pathetically…

This fortnightly pod, hosted by Dawn Young and occasionally her sister, Cole, does what it says on the tin, discussing solved and unsolved murders involving people from or living in Scotland and exploring the darker side of the country. Although it can sometimes come off as repetitive due to the lack of dramatic embellishment – it should be noted that Dawn delivers her well-researched facts without adding to the story – the cases themselves are varied and interesting. Many eps come with a trigger warning, but a couple of standouts are The Josephine Ogilvie Murder, which explores the brutal murder of an elderly nun seemingly by a ninja warrior; and The Buccleuch Street Murders, which focuses on two murders on the same street, but were they committed by the same…

H is breakthrough role may have been on the Disney Channel, but Shia LaBeouf's entry to stardom was anything but squeaky clean. Desperate to escape a turbulent home life, he began stand-up comedy aged just ten with “disgustingly dirty” material. It led to an early role in US sitcom Even Stevens, which propelled him to fame, but by then he'd already had brushes with the law for shoplifting and trespass. In 2007, aged 21, he spent two days in jail after a fight with a neighbour, and the following year, he was arrested for DUI after a car smash. He was later released. In 2014, the Transformers star caused shockwaves after drunkenly hurling abuse at the cast during a performance of Cabaret on Broadway. At one point, he reportedly slapped…

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is to look into a miscarriage of justice after a Manchester man spent 17 years in prison when police knew he was not the offender. Andrew Malkinson, 57, was found guilty of rape and given a minimum of seven years in 2004, but spent an extra decade behind bars because he refused to admit his guilt. He was freed on license in 2020, but his conviction was quashed in July when his legal team were given a DNA sample belonging to another man. It has since been alleged the sample was identified in 2007, and records appear to show the CCRC refused further testing. Andrew said, “If they had investigated properly, it would have spared me years in prison… It seems the very body…

CRIME NEWS CASES UPDATE Neonatal nurse Lucy Letby has been given a whole life order and will never be freed from prison after being convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others. During the televised sentencing on 21 August, judge Mr Justice Goss detailed each tragic case, before saying, “This was a cruel, calculated and cynical campaign of child murder involving the smallest and most vulnerable of children, [done] knowing that your actions were causing significant physical suffering and would cause untold mental suffering.” He added, “There was a deep malevolence bordering on sadism in your actions,” before handing down the order, saying, “During the course of this trial, you have coldly denied any responsibility… you have no remorse. In their totality, the offences of murder and…

It was as monstrous a crime as anyone could imagine. A 15-year-old girl was abducted, raped, beaten and dumped in a bin bag. The youngster, who was black, had racial slurs written on her body and her hair was covered in excrement. Tawana Brawley, from New York, had been assaulted by six white men and was so traumatised, she could only communicate with police by blinking her eyes. The 1987 case fuelled the already volatile racial tensions across the nation. Prominent activists, church leaders and celebrities spoke out with fury and passion about her ordeal. This only escalated when her team claimed two of Tawana's assailants worked in law enforcement – one a district attorney called Steven Pagones, one a police officer called Harry Crist Junior who killed himself days…

Legendary director Martin Scorsese is renowned for turning incredible real-life crime stories into some of modern culture's best-loved movies. His latest film is three-and-a-half-hour epic Killers Of The Flower Moon. Based on David Grann's 2017 non-fiction novel, it tells a shocking story of greed and murder. BLACK GOLD In the early 1920s, the crazy days of the Wild West and the Gold Rush may have been behind the United States, but there was a new treasure occupying every entrepreneurial American's mind: black gold. Osage County, the largest county in Oklahoma, was rich in oil, and it didn't take long for cash-hungry vultures to circle. But the oil was under Osage Nation ground, meaning it belonged to the Midwestern Native American tribe of the Great Plains known as the Osage. The…

SURVIVAL STORIES When Emma Davey met property developer Ashley Southgate in her local gym, she found his attention flattering. They started dating, and he soon began showering Emma, 34, from Essex, with compliments and gifts. Their relationship moved quickly, and the pair began living together after three months. But Emma discovered Ashley had a darker side – and the traits she'd loved about him at the start of the relationship were actually red flags. Emma says, “Our relationship went from fairy tale to nightmare. Eventually he was arrested for trying to break into my house. He pleaded guilty to coercive and controlling behaviour towards me, and was sentenced to 19 months in prison. Now, I'm a trained therapist specialising in narcissistic abuse, and I've set up an app, MyNARA –…

PERIOD MURDERS ITV's dark four-part period drama, an adaptation of Sara Collins’ novel, looks at the brutal realities of slavery and the devastating consequences of an illicit romance. Set in 1800s Georgian London, Karla-Simone Spence plays Frannie, an educated and spirited slave who is given as a “gift” by her master, John Langton (Steven Mackintosh), to aristocratic couple the Benhams. When Frannie is found in bed with her dead owner/lover Madame Marguerite (Sophie Cookson), with Marguerite's husband George (Stephen Campbell Moore) also murdered downstairs, Frannie is adamant she is innocent. Defiantly, she explains that this is not a tale of murder or a slave history full of misery, this is her own unique story, which she has every right to tell. Via a series of flashbacks, we learn about her…

REAL-LIFE STORY At first glance, the June 2021 murder of 67-year-old Mee Kuen Chong, also known as Deborah Chong, was mystifying. Not only had the victim been brutally decapitated, but her body was found in Salcombe in Devon, 200 miles away from her Wembley home. However, as this two-part series reveals, there was so much more to the story. Delving straight into the case itself, rather than providing a lot of background into the key players – the first episode opens with the police bodycam footage of the arrest of Deborah's friend, osteopath Jemma Mitchell – it's pretty clear that this is an openandshut case. Despite that, as much as it can, this does try to give both sides of the story, exclusively interviewing Jemma's mum, who is adamant that…

Crime+ Investigation Play is the UK's only dedicated true-crime streaming service and is packed with the latest premieres and box sets. From Cops Who Kill with Will Mellor to Homicide Hunter, Meet, Marry, Murder to The First 48, all the shows you love are available to stream. With brandnew shows every month, there are thousands of hours of true crime to investigate. Download the app from Google Play or the Apple App Store and watch on your Apple TV, iOS device or Android device. It's also available on Amazon Firestick through Amazon Prime Video Channels. As an exclusive offer, Crime Monthly readers can get their first three months for free. Head to crimeandinvestigationplay.co.uk and enter the promotion code CRIMEMONTHLY. T&Cs apply. EXCLUSIVE OFFER GET THREE MONTHS FOR FREE…

CRIMEscreen CRIMEbooks HIGH-OCTANE THRILLS HOT NEW PICKS In August 2010, police performing a welfare check at a flat in London found a macabre scene. The flat's occupant, Gareth Williams, was found dead, his body in a padlocked bag, and it transpired that he was working for MI6. Ava Glass possibly had this in the front of her mind with her latest novel, as it opens with a victim locked in a suitcase, poisoned by a Russian-favoured nerve agent. Soon, spy Emma Makepeace is tasked with tracking oligarchs suspected of trading in illegal weapons. The hunt sees her going undercover aboard a super-yacht, but beneath the veneer of wealth, something dark is lurking. Isolated on the high seas with no one she can trust, Emma finds herself pulled into extreme danger – especially…

W hen teenager Sophie goes missing, a full-scale police operation swings into action. DI Erin Crane finds herself manning a vehicle checkpoint, relegated to the periphery, but that puts her in exactly the right place to make a grim discovery. Tasked with finding out what happened, she teams up with old ally Tom. But when Erin confesses her greatest sin, the professional and personal lines between them get blurred – until footage is found of Sophie getting into Tom's car. This absorbing mystery also takes a timely look at police conduct.…

PODchart Much like Leonardo DiCaprio's character in Catch Me If You Can – to whom repeated parallels are made – it becomes clear throughout Con Juan that Juan Carlos Guzmán-Betancourt is not your average shyster. As Juan Carlos himself admits (incredibly, host Darrell Brown manages to find where he's hiding out and record an interview with him), he's never actually been caught on the job. Yes, he's been in and out of prison, but never for long and never for any serious charges. A lot of parallels can be drawn between Frank Abagnale and Juan Carlos – both are likeable and clever – but while Frank commits a variety of scams, Juan sticks to his speciality: robbing rooms in luxury hotels across the world by pretending to have forgotten his…

CRIMEscreen TWISTY CASE If you like your true-crime podcasts to finish tied up neatly in a bow, then this perhaps isn't for you, because – as the name suggests – journalist Richard Guilliatt is convinced there is more than a shadow of doubt in the case of Martin and Susan Johnson (not their real names), currently both serving time behind bars for abusing their children. Topping the podcast charts when it was released earlier this year, it looks at the case against the parents of the Australian family, who were accused and found guilty of the sexual assault of their daughters “Emily” and “Sarah”. But all isn't as it seems, as there's minimal evidence against the pair, and all of Emily's claims surrounding the incidents seem to have come from memories…