Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 82 i Crime Monthly

‘Dangerous’ online footage showing women being choked, strangled or suffocated is to become illegal, as the government cracks down on violent pornography. Victims Minister Alex Davies-Jones said, ‘The Government will not stand by as women are violated and victimised by violent pornography, which is allowed to normalise harm. We are sending a strong message that dangerous, sexist behaviour will not be tolerated.’ Technology Secretary Liz Kendall added, ‘Viewing and sharing this kind of online material is… vile and dangerous.’ The changes, which will be made to the Crime and Policing Bill, come after Baroness Bertin's warning this porn may cause ‘devastating consequences’.…

Known for her warmth and compassion, 23-year-old Kada Scott was driven, ambitious, and caring. She had been involved in pageants and community events in northwest Philadelphia, making her face familiar in the neighbourhoods, and she was an ‘endlessly kind’ young woman who talked about going back to school to become a registered nurse. But she would not live to see all that promise fulfilled. On 4 October, Kada finished her night shift at an assisted living facility. She texted a friend shortly before midnight, signed off her shift and headed out – but she never arrived at her family home. At first, Kada's family weren't overly alarmed. The nursing assistant often picked up extra shifts, so when she didn't come back, they assumed she was working late or her phone…

When 23-year-old A my Lynn Bradley disappeared from a Caribbean cruise in 1998, her family's nightmare began in the space of just 45 minutes. Her father had seen her asleep on the balcony of their cabin aboard Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody Of The Seas at around 5.15am. But by 6am, she was gone – her cigarettes and lighter untouched on a table. The ship kept sailing toward Curaçao and A my was never seen again. Now, a new Netflix documentary has reignited the case, leading to what investigators are calling three ‘very significant’ new leads. MISSING A my, her parents Ron and Iva, and her brother Brad, all from Chesterfield County, Virginia, were holidaying together before A my started a new job with a computer company. They had adjoining cabins for…

As the Emerald Princess set sail on 23 July 2017, Kristy Manzanares, 39, smiled at her husband Kenneth. The Utah couple were travelling with their three daughters and extended family on a week-long cruise to Alaska. But two nights later, while guests enjoyed a murder-mystery dinner, raised voices were heard from their cabin. Moments later, Kristy's screams tore through the hallway, then abruptly stopped. Concerned passengers rushed to the scene and burst into the couple's room. Kristy lay motionless on the floor, her face covered in blood. Kenneth then attempted to drag her body toward the balcony before passengers intervened. The captain called for medical and security staff over the intercom, and crew members restrained Kenneth while medics tried to revive Kristy, but it was too late. She was pronounced…

In the late 1990s, the city of Wollongong in New South Wales was plagued by corruption and addiction. Many prominent figures had been caught up in accusations of abuse of power, and a heroin epidemic gripped the streets. However, even against this crime-riddled backdrop, the murders of two men in the summer of 1998 were gruesome enough to shock the community. The ritualistic elements of the killings fuelled rumours of Satanism and as panic spread, the pressure on police to arrest the killer mounted. Then, on 1 October, an unexpected development caught everyone off-guard when Mark Valera walked into the local police station and confessed. And, shockingly, the person who'd committed some of the worst crimes officers had ever seen was just 19 years old. EARLY LIFE Born Mark van…

When Ken Jiggins and Peter Theobald discovered the grisly aftermath of one of Britain's most infamous under world hits, the friends had no idea what they had stumbled across. It was early morning on 7 December 1995, and the pair were on their way to feed pheasants in a field outside the small Essex village of Rettendon. Neither recognised the blue Range Rover blocking the snow-covered farm track and got out of their car to take a closer look. ‘For all the world, the men looked as though they had fallen asleep,’ Ken told The Sun in 2021. ‘It wasn't until I looked again I realised they had been shot. From the nose up, they looked normal. But the lower halves of their faces were shot off, flesh and blood…

U&DRAMA, STREAMING NOW Natascha McElhone (Californication) is back for a third season of this classy period drama, in which she plays Bella Ainsworth, the daughter of a rich industrialist who moves to Italy to set up a very British hotel in the town of Portofino as fascist dictator Benito Mussolini is on the rise. Mark Umbers (Home Fires) plays her aristocratic husband Cecil, and this new run begins two years after the events of season two. Expect more of the show's combination of political corruption, personal drama and intrigue.…

PRIME VIDEO, STREAMING NOW The murder of A nni Dewani on her honey moon by car-jackers in South Africa drew global attention after her husband Shrien was accused of planning her death. This docuseries revisits the case, exploring how a romantic holiday turned into a tragedy that sparked years of speculation and legal battles. Featuring new inter views with A nni's family and Shrien's defence counsel, along with police footage, court recordings and previously unseen material, it re-examines the shifting accounts and unanswered questions that surrounded the investigation. Rather than rehashing old headlines, the filmma kers focus on the human impact and conflicting versions of events – including speculation around Shrien's sexuality – which continue to shape our understanding of the case. As such, it offers a closer look at…

SKY ATLANTIC/NOW, STREAMING NOW This eight-part thriller stars the great Sarah Snook from Succession as Marissa Irvine, a Chicago businesswoman who experiences the ultimate parent's nightmare. Echoing Disney's Stolen Girl from earlier this year, when Marissa goes to collect her son Milo from a playdate with a school buddy, the woman who answers the door isn't a mother, doesn't have Milo, and has never heard of him. Has Marissa been given the wrong address? Or the wrong date? Well, it soon turns out that the text from fellow mum Jenny (Dakota Fanning, The Perfect Couple) arranging the playdate was actually fake. It seems poor Milo has been taken and, as it soon transpires, there are plenty of suspects who could be behind it. As the series unfolds, all indications point…

On the evening of Friday 20 June, Heather Lane realised her phone was too quiet. Her twin sister Katlyn hadn't called or sent her usual message, a ritual they completed every day. But what unsettled Heather even more was the stillness on the Life360 app they both used – Katlyn's location hadn't updated since the previous night. Katlyn had endured a difficult few years. In 2020, she lost her partner in a car accident, which sent her spiralling into grief and drug use. She entered a rehab facility in 2021 and began working through treatment. Though she was still taking methadone, in 2023, Katlyn completed a residential treatment programme and regained partial custody of her children. She was finally getting her life together – and then she met Vincent Harp.…

Nearly three decades after six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey was found murdered in the basement of her Colorado home, a new artificial-intelligence system has sparked cautious hope of finally solving the painful mystery. The technology, called Crime Owl A I, was developed to analyse vast archives of police files, witness statements and evidence logs, working to connect data and uncover links that human investigators may have missed. Creator Ash Ghaemi says the system ‘organises unstructured data into a usable format’, which could potentially help detectives identify overlooked leads in one of America's most haunting cold cases. JonBenét's death on 26 December 1996 shocked the world. Netflix documentary Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey? took a deep dive into the events, revealing how her mother Patsy reported her missing early that morning, before…

It has been 15 years since Ellen Greenberg was found dead in her flat in Philadelphia, but her family continues to search for answers. The 27-year-old teacher died in 2011 from multiple stab wounds, but while her death was initially ruled a homicide, that decision was shockingly changed to suicide. For more than a decade, her heartbroken parents Sandee and Joshua fought to get the investigation into her death reopened, so they could uncover the truth about their only child's death. They finally succeeded in February 2025 – only for the City of Philadelphia's Chief Medical Examiner to rule Ellen's death a suicide yet again this October. And while Ellen's case has gained new traction since documentary Death In Apartment 603: What Happened To Ellen Greenberg? aired in September, the…

It was 11.50 pm on 6 October 2025 when a patrol officer noticed the hazard lights were flashing on a vehicle parked at the side of a suburban road in Harvard, Illinois. Initially believing a motorist had broken down and was in need of assistance, the lone officer approached the car. But peering into the windows, he was confronted with two deceased individuals – a female in the driver's seat and a male occupying one of the passenger seats in the rear of the vehicle. It was a horrifying scene. The car interior was covered in blood and both occupants had a single gunshot wound to the head. A gun was clearly visible in the car. As the officer radioed for back-up, the gruesome discovery triggered the immediate involvement of…

Denise Bozarth, 34, and Edward Bozarth, 61, made for an unusual couple. But despite the 30-year age gap, they went on to have two children and set up home on a motor yacht called Screw U-2. The boat was docked outside Key Largo, Florida, and from the moment Ed arrived, an air of mystery surrounded him. Locals thought he was some kind of spy – then something strange happened. On 23 June 2007, Denise turned up at her parents’ house with her two children, saying she had left Ed. A week later, on 1 July, police were called when neighbours complained of a foul stench coming from Screw U-2. When officers boarded, they discovered Ed's body stuffed into a large bag and hidden in the engine room. The medical examiner…

In May 2000, Mir vat Fayad, 19, was working her shift at McDonald's in Belmont, North Carolina. It was 5am and the restaurant was yet to open when she was approached by a masked man wielding a rifle. The intruder asked the manager to open the safe and put all the cash – $8,000 – into a rucksack. Then, after supplying the five employees with their uniform jackets, he ushered them into the walk-in fridge before fleeing in the same way he entered the building – through a hole he had cut in the roof. Providing jackets so the staff didn't get too cold was in keeping with the masked intruder's demeanour throughout the robbery. Mir vat told police he was polite, repeatedly told the employees not to worry, apologised…

There appears to have been no limit to the depth of depravity exhibited in the images that you were prepared to create and to distribute to others,’ Judge Martin Walsh said in late 2024 at Bolton Crown Court, as he sentenced Hugh Nelson to 18 years in prison and a lifelong inclusion on the Sex Offenders Register. ‘The nature and content of the communications that you entered into is utterly chilling.’ The 27 year old had already pleaded guilty to a long list of disturbing crimes, including multiple counts of ma king, possessing and distributing indecent images of children, attempting to cause a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity, and three counts of encouraging the rape of a child under the age of 13 – but it was…

The murder of 77-year-old Ann Prazniak in her own home was a truly callous crime. On 15 April 1998, authorities were called after Ann's neighbours complained of loud music and a stream of strangers entering the third-floor apartment in Minneapolis at all hours of the night. Those strangers – which included a man called Bryan Hooper and his female friend Chalaka Young – were using the apartment as a drugs den. The neighbours had also grown concerned for the welfare of Ann, who hadn't been seen for weeks. As investigators began a search of the home, they were confronted with the over whelming smell of decay. Horrifyingly, inside the ransacked residence, police discovered Ann's body stuffed into a cardboard box, concealed in a wardrobe. An autopsy would later reveal Ann's…

NETFLIX, STREAMING NOW Legendar y chat-show host Conan O'Brien and Oscar-winner Jodie Foster are among the producers of this fascinating eight-part thriller. It stars Claire Danes (Homeland ) as successful author Aggie Wiggs, whose most famous book is a memoir about her con-man father. But since the tragic death of her young son in a road accident, she's been holed up with her cute dog Steve in her huge mansion out in the sticks, suffering with writer's block. On top of every thing, a new neighbour has moved in with two big dogs and an alarm that goes off randomly. He turns out to be Nile Jar vis (Matthew Rhys, The Americans), a renowned real estate mogul who was the prime suspect in his wife's disappearance. The cocky, provocative Jar…

BBC1/IPLAYER, SATURDAY 23 NOVEMBER, 9PM This powerful new drama tells the true story of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. A British-Iranian citizen, Nazanin was arrested at Imam K homeini International Airport in Tehran in April 2016, while returning from a family visit with her daughter. Accused of plotting to overthrow the Iranian regime – a charge she denied – she was sentenced to five years in prison, and spent long periods in solitary confinement under brutal conditions. Her husband Richard mounted a tireless campaign from the UK, staging hunger strikes outside the Iranian embassy, launching petitions, and appealing to successive foreign secretaries as global outrage grew. Nazanin was finally freed in March 2022, returning home the day Britain settled a historic £400million debt to Iran. Starring Narges Rashidi (Gangs Of London) and Joseph…

CRIME + INVESTIGATION, STREAMING NOW It sounds impossible – the Bank of England, robbed in plain sight – but it happened. It's the audacious robbery you've probably never heard of, £292million snatched from a London briefcase in broad daylight. And this documentary digs into what became known as the 1990 City Bonds heist, meeting ex-gangsters, informants and the only man ever convicted. From backroom deals to FBI stings, this slick two-parter does a great job of unpicking history's biggest street theft – explaining how it was done, and trying to answer the big question: just where did all the money go?…

Julia Wandelt, who claimed to be Madeleine McCann, has been convicted of harassing the missing girl's parents, Kate and Gerry. The 24-year-old, who called and messaged Kate more than 60 times on 13 April 2024 alone, was given six months, but had already served that time waiting for trial, and made the subject of a restraining order. Wandelt – who has posted her claims on social media and US TV – was cleared of stalking the couple. Judge Mrs Justice Cutts said, ‘An order is necessary in this case for the sake of the McCanns. Even when giving evidence, you did not accept you were not Madeleine.’ Wandelt, who was proven not to be Madeleine, went to the McCanns’ home and sent ‘unwarranted’ and ‘unkind’ letters and messages begging for…

Over three decades after Melinda Freeman's death, her husband has been charged with her murder. Craig Freeman claimed he'd found his wife dead on the landing of their home in Whittlesea, Melbourne, on 4 October 1991. The 26-year-old mum, who had a nine-month-old son, had been assaulted and the house appeared to have been ransacked. Last month, gardener Freeman was arrested and charged. The former stripper had remained ‘a person of interest’ in the case after a coroner's inquest in 1997 revealed he had been having an affair with his wife's friend at the time of her death. But coroner Jacinta Heffey dismissed this as ‘insufficient evidence’ of his involvement, calling it ‘impressions, conjecture and speculation’. Over the past three decades, the unsolved case left her family waiting for justice.…

In a landmark ruling in Paris, Dahbia Benkired, 27, has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the rape, torture and murder of 12-year-old Lola Daviet – becoming the first woman in France to receive the nation's toughest possible sentence. Lola's body was found inside a plastic trunk outside her family's apartment building in October 2022. The schoolgirl's parents both worked as caretakers in the same block where Benkired lived. Prosecutors said Benkired lured the child into her flat, subjected her to a ‘scene of extreme cruelty’, then placed the body in a container before leaving it in the court yard. Surveillance footage later showed her dragging the box from the basement. No clear motive was ever established for a crime the judge called ‘barbaric…

In a crime that shocked the world, €88million-worth of jewels were stolen from the Louvre in Paris. The brazen heist, which lasted seven minutes, saw ‘highly organised criminals’ steal eight pieces – including crown jewels – from the world's most-visited art museum as tourists milled around. And in the aftermath, experts declared the whole country is ‘vulnerable’. Four masked individuals used a truck with an extendable ladder and hoist to access a balcony at the Galerie d'Apollon, before cutting through a first-floor glass window with an angle grinder during opening hours, ignoring security cameras on the outside walls. They made their getaway in minutes, despite the alarm being activated and security protocols enforced. Investigators gathered 150 traces of DNA and other evidence, with hair believed to belong to one thief…

When 35-year-old Ajike ‘AJ’ Owens was shot dead through a locked front door in Ocala, Florida, on 2 June 2023, it seemed like a tragic neighbourhood dispute. But the deeper investigators dug, the clearer it became that this was no momentary lapse of judgment. The shooter, 58-year-old Susan Lorincz, claimed she acted in self-defence under Florida's controversial Stand Your Ground law, but prosecutors would allege it was the culmination of months of hostility, threats and racial abuse – and the case quickly ignited national outrage. THE VICTIM AJ was a single mother of four, described by friends as strong-willed, funny and endlessly giving. She juggled two jobs with evening classes in nursing, determined to build a better life for her children. Her mother called her ‘a lioness’– protective, outspoken and…

U&ALIBI, STREAMING NOW This engaging cop drama sees Supinder Wraich star as Sabrina Sohal, a Punjabi Canadian who is top of the class at the country's leading police force. The only downside is that her politician dad gets arrested for treason at her graduation ceremony, which leads to even more pressure and scrutiny on Sabrina's first day as a Federal Police officer. With her first case involving a gun-wielding showdown and all-too-familiar ‘get out of our country’ racist undertones, it's easy to root for this talented and tenacious leading lady.…

ITVX, STREAMING NOW Trigger Point's mix of tense bomb disposal and detective drama – plus the star power of Vicky McClure – always makes for a thrilling concoction. Now, here's season three, and Vicky's ace officer Lana is immediately thrust into a deadly situation with a device in a taxi. But Lana is suffering from PTSD and is taking pills every day to try to deal with her pain. She's also still recovering from the sudden death of her former lover, DI Youngblood, who was in a relationship with his colleague DS Helen Morgan. She and Lana must now work together to catch a terrorist. Gripping as ever.…

Mindy Morgenstern had the world at her feet. Born in Bogota, Colombia, she began a new life in America after she was adopted at a young age by Larry and Eunice Morgenstern. A long with her new siblings,Michael, Rebecca and April, they were raised on the family farm in New Salem, Massachusetts. Described as warm, kind and helpful, Mindy had a zest for horses and sport, particularly track and basketball. ‘She had a light in her eyes. If you met her, you'd know what I was talking about,’ Eunice said. ‘She had a smile that would go right through you.’ Mindy's multiple sclerosis diagnosis didn't stop her from doing what she loved – she was a basketball coach for kids and a lifeguard in her spare time. The 22-year-old college…