Beyond Reasonable Doubt
Politikk og nyheterTrue crimeAward-winning Daily Mail crime writer Stephen Wright talks to top detectives, lawyers, victims and relatives to take an in-depth look at crimes that have shocked Britain (and the world), as well as revisiting some of his landmark stories and campaigns. From serial murderers to child killers, ruthless gangsters to corrupt police, psychopaths to paedophiles, celebrity criminals to audacious conmen, he untangles the mysteries and the secrets behind the headlines.
Siste episoder av Beyond Reasonable Doubt podcast
- Beyond Reasonable Doubt: Catching the Night Stalker (00:35:10)
For 17 years serial rapist and burglar Delroy Grant – who became known as the ‘Night Stalker’ - terrorised elderly people in south London, cutting phone lines before breaking into homes and carrying out horrific sex attacks on victims as old as 93. Award-winning Daily Mail crime writer Stephen Wright speaks to ex Metropolitan Police DCI Colin Sutton, whose battle to capture Grant is now an ITV drama starring Martin Clunes, on the near-miss that left Grant free to attack more victims, and how his team finally tracked down the monster and saw him jailed for 27 years for a string of rapes, sex assaults and burglaries.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Putin’s poisoners (Pt 2): Marina Litvinenko’s fight for justice (00:16:07)
With her murdered husband’s powerful last statement still echoing in her ears, Marina Litvinenko has fought a long and lonely battle to bring two justice the two ‘businessmen’ thought to have poisoned her husband with radioactive Polonium-210 - former bodyguard Andrey Luguvoy and former KGB agent Dmitry Kovtun. Marina speaks to award-winning Daily Mail crime writer Stephen Wright on her long quest for justice, whether she fears she might be targeted by assassins, and why she still loves Russia.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Putin’s poisoners: Marina Litvinenko on her husband’s murder (00:23:49)
Fifteen years ago, Putin critic Alexander Litvinenko, who had fled Russia to safety in Britain, was hospitalised with a mystery illness after a business meeting with two Russians in a London hotel. A haunting photo of Litvinenko shocked the world, and three days later he was dead, poisoned by radioactive Polonium-210. Award-winning Daily Mail crime writer Stephen Wright talks to his widow Marina Litvinenko in Part One of a two-part podcast about the moment she realised that her husband had been poisoned, her 15-year quest for justice, and her husband’s powerful deathbed message to Vladimir Putin, ‘You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate in your ears for the rest of your life.’See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Virginia vs Andrew: The Prince and the courtroom (00:39:36)
This Monday, in a New York courtroom, a pre-trial hearing began. The complainant was Virginia Roberts Giuffre, the defendant was Prince Andrew, the Duke of York. She alleges that when aged 17, she was introduced to the Prince by paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein - and forced to have sex with him. Award-winning crime writer Stephen Wright digs into this remarkable case with the help of a panel of experts including Nazir Afzal, a former Chief Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service and expert on historical sex abuse cases, Dai Davies, ex head of the Metropolitan Police’s Royalty Protection Squad and Mail journalist Daniel Bates who is based in New York - and reported on the pre-trial hearing this week. What dangers lay ahead for the Duke, who denies any wrongdoing, and for how much longer can Scotland Yard delay launching a formal probe into Ms Giuffre’s allegations?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- ‘Scotland Yard on trial’: a question of leadership and accountability. (00:34:00)
In a grand house in South London, a group of seven remarkable people gathered together for the first time - all victims of or witnesses to gross injustices at the hands of the police. Award-winning Daily Mail crime writer Stephen Wright spoke to victims of bungled cases, corruption and the inept investigation of false abuse claims - from Baroness Doreen Lawrence, whose son Stephen was brutally killed by racist thugs in 1993, to Lady Brittan, whose late husband Leon (an ex Tory Home Secretary) was hounded by police over ludicrous false sex abuse allegations, and Alastair Morgan, whose brother, private eye Daniel Morgan, was the victim of an infamous (and still unsolved) axe murder in 1987. All had one thing in common - they felt they had been failed by the Metropolitan Police, and were to sign a letter calling for Dame Cressida Dick’s tenure as Commissioner to not be extended and a shake up of the police watchdog.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- How I tracked down Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs… and was charmed by him! (00:42:44)
When Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs was sentenced to 30 years for his part in the biggest robbery in British history, it wasn’t the end of his story - he disappeared over the wall of Wandsworth Prison and fled abroad, becoming one of the 20th century’s most infamous wanted men. Award-winning Daily Mail crime writer Stephen Wright talks to Colin Mackenzie, the intrepid reporter who tracked Biggs down in Brazil in 1974 about how he found him, why he found himself charmed by the notorious criminal… and what happened next. Brace yourself for a heavy dose of Fleet Street and Scotland Yard nostalgia from a different era.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Last Days of Diana: Forgeries and Fake News (00:24:43)
What lead to the conspiracy theories that swirled in the aftermath of Diana’s death - and what role did BBC journalist Martin Bashir play in the final years of Diana’s life? In the final of our seven-part series, Stephen Wright talks to Lord Stevens, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner who led Operation Paget, about the people who spread the conspiracy theories about Diana’s death, and why some are still not convinced to this day that her death was an accident. Produced by Rosie GillottSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Last Days of Diana: Diana’s life on trial (00:22:54)
The inquests into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales officially began on 2 October 2007, ten years after her death - but would the findings of Operation Paget satisfy those who still believed she had been murdered? In the sixth of our seven-part series, Stephen Wright talks exclusively to Lord Stevens, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner who led Operation Paget, about the evidence he gave to the inquest. And Michael Cole, Mohammed al Fayed’s press secretary explains why his former boss was unhappy with the outcome. Produced by Rosie GillottSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Last Days of Diana: No one’s above the law (00:35:38)
Central to the conspiracy theories around Princess Diana’s death was an accusation that Princes Charles and Prince Philip had been involved in a plot to kill her in a staged car crash - fears voiced by Diana herself in a letter to butler Paul Burrell. In the fifth of our seven-part series, award-winning crime writer Stephen Wright talks exclusively to Lord Stevens, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner who led Operation Paget, about the moment he had to ask Prince Charles whether he had a hand in murdering his wife... and about a mysterious sum of money found in chauffeur Henri Paul’s bank account. Produced by Rosie GillottSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Last Days of Diana: Blood Conspiracy (00:34:21)
Mysteries still remained after Diana’s death - was the Princess pregnant? Why did it take so long for emergency services to get her to hospital... and could she have been saved? In the fourth of our seven-part series, award-winning crime writer Stephen Wright talks exclusively to Lord Stevens, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner who led Operation Paget, the ground-breaking three-year inquiry into Diana’s death. Lord Stevens reveals how he began to put the conspiracy theories to rest - while leading forensic pathologist Dr Dick Shepherd explains the real reason why there were ‘gaps’ in the notes from the autopsy on chauffeur Henri Paul. Produced by Rosie GillottSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Last Days of Diana: A Note From the Grave (00:26:19)
Princess Diana’s tragic death would prompt a three-year investigation by Scotland Yard - but what crime had been committed… and who was really to blame? In the third episode of a new seven-part Beyond Reasonable Doubt podcast from Mail+, award-winning crime writer Stephen Wright speaks to the people who knew Princess Diana to unravel the conspiracy theories around her death - as a bombshell note from the Princess suggested that someone was plotting to kill her, and that person was, ‘My husband’. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Last Days of Diana: A World in Shock (00:38:49)
The death of Princess Diana in a car crash in a tunnel in Paris sent shockwaves around the world, with mourners taking to the streets in Britain and in Paris - and photographers surrounding the French hospital where the Princess lay dead. In the second episode of a new seven-part Beyond Reasonable Doubt podcast from Mail+, award-winning crime writer Stephen Wright speaks to the people who were there that day - including Father Yves-Marie Clochard-Bossuet, the priest who attended her, and driver Colin Tebbutt, who secured the room where Diana lay in bed - and whose own children thought he had died in the crash. Produced by Rosie GillottSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Last Days of Diana: The crash (00:36:40)
On August 31, 1997, a Mercedes carrying Diana, Princess of Wales crashed into a pillar in a tunnel in Paris, and the world would never be the same again. A new seven-part Beyond Reasonable Doubt podcast from Mail+ finally reveals what really happened that night - in the words of the people who were there, including an exclusive first interview with surgeon Monsef Dahman, who fought to save Diana's life that night. Presented by award-winning Daily Mail crime writer Stephen Wright, the podcast offers a minute-by-minute breakdown of the events of 1997 - and how it changed the Royal family forever. Produced by Rosie Gillott.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- NEW SERIES: Last Days of Diana (00:02:14)
On August 31, 1997, a Mercedes carrying Diana, Princess of Wales crashed into the wall of a tunnel in Paris, and the world would never be the same again. A new six-part Beyond Reasonable Doubt podcast from Mail+ finally reveals what really happened that night - in the words of the people who were there. Presented by award-winning Daily Mail crime writer Stephen Wright, the podcast includes an in-depth interview with Lord Stevens, who ran the public inquiry into Diana’s death - and a minute-by-minute breakdown of the events of 1997.From Dai Davies, then head of royalty protection to Colin Tebbut, Diana’s Driver, and one of the first people who arrived in France to identify her body, ‘Last Days of Diana’ explores the tragedy - and how it changed the Royal family forever. The six-part podcast also includes exclusive interviews with medical staff who have not spoken to the media for decades.‘Last Days of Diana’ launches on Monday 21st at 11pm, only on Mail Plus. Tune in every Monday for a new episode of ‘Last Days of Diana’, available first via mailplus.co.uk/diana.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Bent cops and cover ups: the axe murder of Daniel Morgan (00:22:49)
In March 1987, private investigator Daniel Morgan was brutally killed in the car park of the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham, with an axe embedded in his skull - but more than three decades later, no one has ever faced justice for his death. Award-winning crime writer Stephen Wright talks to Daniel’s campaigning brother, Alastair, about how the Metropolitan Police repeatedly failed Daniel, and why current Met Chief Cressida Dick should resign ‘as a matter of honour’ over a murky investigation mired in allegations of police corruption.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Fred West's missing 'victim': the Mary Bastholm mystery (00:28:04)
Mary Bastholm vanished from a Gloucester bus stop in January 1968, while en route to visit her boyfriend. She was just 15 years old and her disappearance was completely out of character. Within months, police shelved the investigation after running out of leads – despite detectives believing she had been abducted. A police file on her case was gathering dust for a quarter of a century until 1994, when Fred and Rose West were arrested over the brutal murders of 12 girls and young women. Psychopath Fred West was quickly linked with Mary's disappearance but repeatedly denied being responsible before killing himself. In this exclusive interview, Stephen Wright speaks to ex Det Supt John Bennett, who led the Cromwell Street investigation in the 1990s (and who as a young detective worked on Mary’s disappearance in the late 1960s) to discuss her case and the recent police dig at the site of a former Gloucester cafe in a new bid to find her remains. Why is Bennett convinced Fred West abducted and murdered Mary, and will her body ever be located? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Justice for Joan: The inspirational story of a family's historic pursuit of a murderer (00:39:17)
On Boxing Day 1994, 27-year-old gynaecologist Dr Joan Francisco was found strangled in her London flat - but her family faced an agonising five-year legal battle before her volatile ex-boyfriend was finally brought to justice. Did police and prosecutors treat them differently because they were black? Award-winning crime writer Stephen Wright talks to Joan’s sister Margaret about how the Stephen Lawrence case inspired the family to pursue a landmark civil case, their joy at finally getting ‘Justice for Joan’, and the lessons that the case offers for the Black Lives Matter movement.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Blowing the whistle: One detective's battle against the Met (00:35:44)
When police raided the homes of VIPs Lord Brittan, Field Marshal Lord Bramall and Harvey Proctor on the basis of ludicrous false child abuse allegations from ‘Nick’ - aka paedophile Carl Beech - one brave detective stood up against the ‘witch-hunt’. Award-winning crime writer Stephen Wright speaks to former Detective Chief Inspector Paul Settle on how he was hounded to the brink of suicide by senior officers, leading to his early retirement (the Met denies this). Settle talks about the Met’s ‘cover-up culture’ relating to the VIP abuse scandal, how the force he loved became ‘like the Gestapo’ and why he is prepared to testify against them in any new inquiry.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Hounding of Heath: Bogus claims of satanism, child abuse and murder against former PM - and a £1.5 million police farce (00:43:41)
Ten years after former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath died, he was smeared with vile and bizarre false claims of satanism, child abuse and murder, including using a bear-claw glove to disembowel children. Why did police believe the claims against him - and was it to do with Heath’s sexuality? Award-winning crime-writer Stephen Wright talks to Heath’s godson, Lincoln Seligman (who knew him as ‘Uncle Teddy’), and his former political secretary and biographer, Michael McMannus about how - unlike other establishment figures falsely accused of similar crimes - Heath had no children to defend him, and why police chose to believe the ‘wicked and cruel’ allegations against him. And they explain why Home Secretary Priti Patel should ensure officers are held to account over their shocking blunders.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Liar, liar: How I fell in love with 'fake spy' conman (and lost £850,000) (00:42:53)
When dashing Swiss banker (and secret MI6 agent) Mark Conway walked into the Gloucestershire shop she worked in, divorcee Carolyn Woods fell head over heels and they began planning a life together. There was just one problem, she tells award-winning crime writer Stephen Wright: ‘Conway’ was actually notorious conman Mark Acklom, who span a web of lies including taking fake calls from the King of Spain, and slowly tore Carolyn’s life apart, isolating her from her friends and robbing her of £850,000.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Licensed to kill: An interview with Britain’s most controversial police marksman - Part 2 (00:27:24)
Police marksman Tony Long was dubbed ‘the Met’s very own serial killer’ by a senior officer after shooting three men dead, including two security van robbers gunned down in seconds in a hail of bullets. In the second part of an interview with award-winning crime writer Stephen Wright, Long describes how he shot gangster Azelle Rodney dead in a car, wrongly believing Rodney was reaching for a Mac-10 submachine gun - and faced trial for alleged murder at the Old Bailey over the killing. Long also explains why he had little doubt he would be acquitted.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- When police kill: An interview with Britain’s most controversial police marksman - Part 1 (00:30:18)
For 25 years, police ‘top shot’ Tony Long served in Scotland Yard’s elite specialist firearms unit, becoming Britain’s most lethal police marksman (and at one point facing trial for murder over a split-second decision to shoot). In Part One of a no-holds-barred interview with Daily Mail crime writer Stephen Wright, Long gives an insider’s view of what led up to the moment two colleagues shot innocent Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes seven times in the head in the wake of the July 2005 terror attacks (and why although the Met was fined over the catastrophic operation, the officers who gunned him down never faced any criminal charges).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- The night the Krays moved into my house (after shooting dead a rival gangster) (00:34:06)
The night the Krays moved into my house (after shooting dead a rival gangster) After shooting dead a rival gangster in full view of drinkers in an East End pub, the Kray twins took over a young man's family home for two weeks as they hid from the law. Award-winning crime writer Stephen Wright talks to David Teale, whose new book, ‘Surviving the Krays’, tells the story of how he met the notorious gangsters aged 17, suffered a brutal sex attack by Ronnie, was then jailed for three years after being ‘fitted up’, and how his testimony helped to ensure the Kray twins were themselves locked up for murder in 1969 (but not before the brothers sowed the seeds of unimaginable tragedy in Teale’s own life).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Sex lies and videotape: the Hamiltons’ ‘rape’ scandal (00:36:29)
Twenty years ago, former Conservative Minister Neil Hamilton and his TV personality wife Christine were arrested over false rape allegations - with documentary maker Louis Theroux filming it all. Their accuser was a woman with a long history of false allegations but Scotland Yard took her seriously. Award-winning Daily Mail crime writer Stephen Wright, who covered the damaging fallout of their high-profile arrests in 2001, talks to the Hamiltons about a case which embarrassed Britain’s biggest police force - and whether detectives failed to learn lessons from it .See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- ‘Get your trousers on, you’re nicked!’ (00:27:59)
John Thaw’s hard-drinking, rule-bending detective Jack Regan was a 70s TV icon - and amazingly, he was inspired by a real policeman. Acclaimed scriptwriter Ian Kennedy Martin gives Stephen Wright the inside story on The Sweeney, the legendary ITV series he created. The cop show pioneer also tells all about his other hits including Juliet Bravo, why filming car chases was easier in the 70s (the cars were all dirt cheap) - and how he had the original idea for iconic Michael Caine crime caper The Italian Job (but sold it to his script-writing brother Troy Kennedy Martin, who wrote the BBC’s long-running Z-Cars). Strap in for half an hour of TV crime drama nostalgia.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.