Anthony Arkwright brought terror to the streets of South Yorkshire in a fifty-six hour killing spree in August, 1988. The film includes powerful testimony from several of the police officers central to the case (including the Chief Inspector who led the investigating team, and the man who interviewed Arkwright over several challenging days), as well as Arkwright’s defence lawyer and a friend with him on the night he embarked on his murderous killing spree, the story emerges of a troubled man who would send shockwaves across the nation – at the age of just twenty-one. With the help of leading experts including a renowned criminal psychologist, and eminent forensic scientist, Arkwright’s crimes are examined and dissected for both motives and methods. The result is a chilling account of one of Britain’s most violent killers.
The crimes of two particularly vicious sexual killers are examined. The first story revolves around the shockingly brutal triple homicide of a woman and her two young daughters in Dalston, London in 1982. The killer – Wilbert Dyce - remained undetected until a cold case review was launched twenty-seven years later. The case was eventually solved by a combination of old-fashioned detective work allied with ultra-modern policing methods, such as DNA analysis and fingerprint comparison techniques. The police officers involved tell the gripping story of how the murderer – who tried to put police off the scent with graffiti suggesting it was a racist murder - was eventually brought to justice. The second story is centred around the horrific murder of Clare Benson Jowry in Lancaster in 2004. Clare was attacked by Paul Culshaw, a serial offender against women, whose many previous attacks are detailed by the investigating officers, as they build a picture of Culshaw’s propensity for extreme violence. The film includes powerful testimony from surviving victims of both killers, and also includes expert analysis from a renowned criminal psychologist and an eminent forensic scientist, who examine and dissect both killers’ motives and methods. The result is a chilling account of the horrifying crimes of two of Britain’s most ultra-violent sexual predators – both of whom are now serving whole-of-life tariffs and who die behind bars.
Royston Jackson is one of just a tiny percentage of criminals who kill, serve time in prison for murder, then leave jail - only to take another life. As a result, he is now on a whole-of-life tariff and will die behind bars. With contributions from officers from both Norfolk Constabulary and the Metropolitan Police, this film looks at Jackson’s despicable crimes, including two brutal murders - seventeen years apart. With remarkable access to scene-of-crime materials, and CCTV footage captured around the time of one of the murders, the full extent of Jackson’s brutality and his vain efforts to escape justice, are revealed. The programme also looks at the difficulties that arise for police when victims of crime are offenders themselves – Jackson’s second murder victim was an elderly paedophile and the indifference with which his death was greeted proved a major problem for the investigating officers. The film includes powerful testimony from several of the police officers central to the two murder investigations (including the Chief Inspector in Norfolk who brought Jackson to trial for murder for a second time), as well as a moving and candid interview with the daughter of one of Jackson’s murder victims. The film doesn’t just tell the story of what happened. With the help of leading experts including a renowned criminal psychologist, and eminent forensic scientist, Jackson’s crimes are examined and dissected for both motives and methods. The result is a chilling account of one of Britain’s most sinister killers, a man from whom no-one was safe.
John Cooper terrorised the usually safe county of Pembrokeshire for more than a decade, committing two double murders, a violent robbery, rape and sexual assault of children and a spree of armed robberies and burglaries. He was so prolific that the crime rate dropped by 90% after his arrest. This film tells the story of Cooper’s horrific crimes and how police finally brought him to justice. With access to original case materials and police interview videos with Cooper, it reveals how police launched a cold case review into unsolved crimes, and used forensic techniques to reach a breakthrough. John Cooper was a family man, and a local celebrity, who hid his crimes for over a decade. A ruthless killer, Cooper attacked and murdered holidaymakers and local landowners – and used extreme violence. For years the identity of the murderer remained a mystery, until police uncovered crucial forensic evidence. Twenty-four years after his first murders, John Cooper was given a whole life sentence, joining the list of 46 criminals told they will die behind bars.
With access to his brother, police officers and Dawson’s neighbours, we tell the true story of how Dawson became of the UK’s most notorious prisoners – given a whole life sentence. Dawson first struck when he was just eighteen, repeatedly stabbing a 91-year-old shopkeeper to death, before robbing him for small amounts of money. A life sentence followed – but Dawson would be freed in his thirties. This film explores his adjustment to the outside world, the gradual return to criminality, and the build up to his second shocking crimes – in which he again targeted vulnerable, elderly men. In 2011 Andrew Dawson again faced a court charged with murder. Only this time, he had killed twice. His victims were neighbours, both stabbed repeatedly in their own flats. And it could have been more. We meet a survivor of Dawson’s attacks. This film plots the tragic, murderous story of Andrew Dawson, his shocking crimes, and how he was brought to justice.
Ernest Wright was a career criminal, whose life on the wrong side of the law was finally brought to an end in 2010 – with a whole life sentence. His first murder occurred in 1971, as he beat to death a love rival with an iron bar. After 26 years in prison, Wright rejoined society – but not for long. After taking advantage of a vulnerable woman, Wright again turned to murder. Wright forced his way into the home of the woman’s son, in Bradford, brandishing a double-barrelled shotgun. The son was left critically injured in the attack, and his ex-partner killed in what police described as an execution. We hear from police officers on both investigations - and the surviving son - on how Wright committed his crimes and how he was brought to justice. Mark Martin became Nottingham’s first serial killer – something he claimed he wanted to be – in 2005. Over a period of weeks, Martin attacked and killed three women whilst living rough in the city. We hear from police, and those who knew Mark Martin, to reveal how he took advantage of vulnerable people and believed he was untouchable.
In October 1983, Arthur Hutchinson brutally murders a mother, father and son in their own home in South Yorkshire and subjects a young woman to a prolonged and vicious rape. Fearing he’ll strike again police launch a manhunt for Hutchinson – a criminal with a violent temper who has previously escaped custody. Whilst on the run Hutchinson revels in his notoriety by sending messages to the local press and even giving himself a nickname – “The Fox”. Join us as we find out how “The Fox” was finally caught.
Very few people in the UK are convicted of one murder, but David Cook has twice been convicted of killing. Fresh out of prison Cook carries out his murderous plan and attacks pen-pal Beryl Maynard in her own home in the hunt for money. Unlike most convicted murderers, David Cook hadn’t reached the end of his crimes as over twenty years later, in a small Welsh town where no one knows of his past crimes, pensioner Len Hill disappears. We lift the lid on this shocking double-killer’s attack on his vulnerable neighbour.
Dubbed “The Beast of Manchester” Trevor Hardy’s shocking crimes left a city living in fear during the 1970s. After first killing a teenage girl as she walked to a New Year’s party and burying her body in a park Hardy struck twice more over the next eighteen months, again killing teenage girls. We reveal how Hardy went to extraordinary lengths to destroy evidence before giving a dramatic confession and finally being brought to justice.
Stephen Farrow is a man with a violent hatred of the church and in 2012 sparked a nationwide man-hunt, after brutally murdering Reverend John Suddards, in the sleepy Gloucestershire town of Thornbury. Soon after his arrest it became clear that Farrow had in fact been on the run after committing two murders. Weeks earlier he had beaten pensioner Betty Yates to death in her home with her own walking stick. Join us as we meet those who befriended Farrow and tried to help him settle down and as we examine the theories Farrow himself put forward for his campaign of violence against the church, and the evil plans that he failed to see through.
Join us as we tell the chilling and disturbing story of quadruple murderer Mark Hobson – a man guilty of a vicious murder spree in July 2004. After murdering his girlfriend, Claire Sanderson, and hiding her body in their bedroom for almost a week, he then lures her twin sister Diane to the house where she meets a similar fate. Now on the run, Hobson heads north where he strikes again, murdering elderly and frail couple, James and Joan Brittain. Splashed across every front page, this story made the news nationwide, but what drove Hobson to murder four innocent victims during a week of horror?
This is the extraordinary story of bizarre double murderer, Glyn Dix. A man locked up once for murder who couldn’t resist the urge to kill again after he was released. Dix’s first victim was young mother of two, Pia Overbury. After his arrest Dix soon admitted the murder, but when challenged, he produced a series of bizarre and conflicting stories. Twelve years on and free from prison, Dix married Hazel, but the marriage was to end in tragedy when in 2004 he killed Hazel in what Hazel’s family believe was a ritualistic sacrifice.
Michael Roberts, then thirty, brutally assaulted, raped and murdered women who lived alone in his neighborhood - aged 57, 66, 77 and 83 - through the late 80s. He went scot free till 2005, when advancements in forensic sciences led to a DNA match - and his conviction. Roberts was known as the "The Praying Rapist" after a victim recounted him crossing himself and praying.