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47 Articles

100 MOST INFAMOUS

Reported crime rates grew dramatically during the 20th century, peaking in the early 90s, and steadily falling since then. Of course, these trends aren’t necessarily indicative of the numbers of crimes committed. The last 100 years have seen numerous new types of crime coming into law, as well as major shifts in the public’s relationship with law enforcement. Whether actual criminality has risen or fallen during the last century, one thing is for sure: our awareness of crime has risen dramatically. Crime has always been important fodder for news media, but the rise of television and the advent of the internet have brought crime reporting into our homes, and even into the palms of our hands, like never before. Crime stories are now very much part of our everyday lives,…

100 MOST INFAMOUS

SERIAL BABY KILLER

Social media photographs show a fun-loving young woman who likes nothing more than a girls’ night out, dancing and drinking cocktails, while images of her bedroom, taken by the investigating police officers, suggest a slightly immature girl who still keeps cuddly toys on her bed. But looks can be deceiving: the woman smiling coyly in her graduation photo is the same one who was recently convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six more, making her the worst child killer in British history. Letby’s friends and family are still reeling at the verdict, convinced that the jury of eight women and four men have got it wrong. Her parents, John and Susan, have stood by their daughter despite the overwhelming evidence given by more than 200 witnesses, which…

SERIAL BABY KILLER

“I AM EVIL”

Investigators from the Cheshire County Constabulary discovered the letters, scraps of paper, Post-it Notes and diaries when they searched her home and the bizarre scribbles became a key element of the prosecution’s case. The diaries were of particular interest since detectives quickly realised that they contained details of each attack, but the information was hidden within a coded system comprising of coloured asterisks. Various comments such as “I am evil” and “I killed them on purpose because I am not good enough” initially looked like strangely worded confessions and an outpouring of guilt, but criminal psychologist Dr David Holmes doubts that this is likely, stating on Good Morning Britain that she was most likely “doodling her thoughts” and merely pondering how this situation affects her rather than feeling any guilt…

INSIDE LUCY LETBY’S MIND

Q: NOBODY SEEMS TO HAVE OFFERED UP A REASON FOR HER BEHAVIOUR. DO YOU BELIEVE SHE HAS MUNCHAUSEN BY PROXY OR IS SHE SIMPLY A SADIST? A: It is difficult to know Letby’s incentives, as she has not opened up her psyche to the world. However, we can look at some of the most high-profile healthcare professionals UK killers and compare and contrast. Beverley Allitt was convicted of murdering four infants, attempting to murder three others, and causing grievous bodily harm to a further six in 1991. She had Munchausen by proxy. This contentious disorder leads the individual to intentionally fake or even artificially create illness. The perpetrator gets some sort of perverse pleasure from feeding off the sympathy and attention that is afforded to the victim. With Harold Shipman,…

INSIDE LUCY LETBY’S MIND

INTERVIEW BEING THE GOVERNOR

Tenacity seems to be key to prison governor Veronica Bird’s success in rising to the top of a traditionally male-orientated career, and it’s also a trait that helped her escape the poverty line and the increasingly abusive members of her family. She was brought up in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, in the 1950s as part of a coal-mining family of 11 that was fairly typical of the area and time. Her father, George Bird, had been involved in a mining accident 20 years previously that he shouldn’t have survived. Yet miraculously, surgeons managed to patch the gaping hole that a fallen coal face had opened up in his head. He fully recovered – his physical health, at least. Veronica suspects that compassion and empathy might have died in George that day,…

INTERVIEW BEING THE GOVERNOR

FIXING RUSSIA’S WORST PRISON

The gulags, the notorious labour camps of the Soviet era, weren’t much worse than the women’s and men’s prison Veronica visited in 2002. Up to 400 people were crammed into small dormitories in the most unsanitary of conditions. Ventilation was far from adequate, so the stench would have been foul but for the fact that there weren’t any smoking regulation – and everybody smoked. Rats and cockroaches were rife, disease spread easily from one unwashed body to the next in the close quarters, and the very communal mealtimes were a particularly disorganised (first come, first served) and unsanitary affair. When Veronica and her team talked with their Russian counterparts about how they ran their respective prisons, there was much exclamation on both sides. Russian officers gasped at the no-smoking rule…

FIXING RUSSIA’S WORST PRISON

MARY BELL Manslaughter – 12 years In 1968, 11-year-old Bell and her 13-year-old friend Norma Joyce Bell (no relation) killed four-year-old Martin Brown and three-year-old Brian Howe in two separate incidents. The age of the killers shocked Britain. Bell was kept in a secure centre and was relatively pampered until she was 16, when she moved to an adult women’s prison, which proved a shock for her. CAROLE RICHARDSON Murder, conspiracy – life imprisonment As one of the ‘Guildford Four’, 17-year-old Carole was convicted on decidedly shaky evidence for her role in the 1974 IRA pub bombings. Her conviction, along with the other three, was quashed years later amid accusations of police corruption. The judge even pushed for convicting Carole of treason, which carried the death penalty at the time.…

PSYCHO ESTATE AGENT

“You’re trying to find the girl…” said Todd Kohlhepp, a Realtor from South Carolina, then 45 years old, as detectives Tom Clark and Mark Gaddy, both Senior Investigators in the Violent Crimes Unit of the Spartanburg Country Sheriff’s Office, approached his home. Clark knew Kohlhepp. The two had been neighbours for a time. He and Gaddy also knew that the missing Kala Brown and her boyfriend, Charlie Carver, last had their phones ping on the site of one of Kohlhepp’s other properties in Woodruff. Some of Clark and Mark Gaddy’s colleagues were on route to the location now. “This is where we’re at, Mr Kohlhepp” said Detective Clark as he ushered him inside. “My sergeant served a search warrant on your property. We have Kala…” “Excuse me?” replied Kohlhepp. “We…

PSYCHO ESTATE AGENT

“BEYOND REHABILITATION”

Born on 7 March 1971, Kohlhepp’s parents had divorced when he was two years old. His upbringing had been chaotic, he’d been moved around a lot, and he was the archetypal problem child. His first sexual assault that his mother had spoken of was committed after he’d left his native Florida and moved to Arizona to live with his biological father, when Kohlhepp was 15. Kohlhepp, holding a .22 revolver to his victims head, had taken the victim to his residence, bound her, sealed her mouth with tape and sexually assaulted her. Upon taking the girl back to her home, he threatened to destroy her family if she disclosed the incident to anyone. Bravely, the young woman didn’t comply, and Kohlhepp was soon indicted on charges of kidnapping and sexual assault,…

SILVER FOX SERIAL KILLER

Ablow to the back of the head. Then another. Then another. The man brandishing the metal pipe meant business. In an act of desperate self-defence against an attack from out of nowhere, an assault unfolding in his own home, Mark Henderson raised his arms to protect his face – two fingers were broken in the process. On the verge of unconsciousness, Henderson somehow managed to rally, to find a reserve of strength. He rushed to the phone and frantically dialled 911. His attacker had not expected this. He had not expected a fightback. But that’s sure as hell what he got. The middle-aged, silver-haired attacker was Bruce McArthur. He begged Henderson not to call the police. Henderson rightly ignored the strange request as the assailant ran around in a blind…

SILVER FOX SERIAL KILLER

THE DATING APPS

Millions of people worldwide engage in and enjoy consensual S&M sex acts and role play, from the innocuous end of the scale to the extreme. McArthur was very active on social media in general, including Facebook, but he trawled dating apps and fetish websites such as Recon, Manjam, Growlr, Grindr, Scruff, and Silver Daddies, all in search of potential victims, exploiting their kinks for his psychopathic pleasure. McArthur used usernames such as silverfox, silverfoxtoronto and silverfoxx51 to attract men to a certain type of older man. On his Silver Daddies profile, McArthur set out his pseudo-nice-guy stall. It stated he was interested in men aged from 22–55, declared he was shy but romantic at heart and that he worked as a landscape gardener. Other sites, though, revealed his much darker…

THE DATING APPS

QUOTES FROM THE CASE

“OBVIOUSLY, THE CITY OF TORONTO HAS NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS. I’D CALL IT AN UNPRECEDENTED TYPE OF INVESTIGATION.”Detective Sergeant Hank Idsinga, lead officer on Project Prism “I WOULD DEFEND THE POLICE IF THEY DID IT RIGHT, BUT THEY JUST KEPT DOING EVERYTHING WRONG.”Mark Henderson, victim of a 2001 Halloween assault by Bruce McArthur “FOR YEARS, MEMBERS OF THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY IN TORONTO BELIEVED THEY WERE BEING TARGETED BY A KILLER. THEY WERE RIGHT.”Michael Cantlon, Crown attorney “THE ACCUSED EXPLOITED HIS VICTIMS’ VULNERABILITIES, WHETHER THEY INVOLVED IMMIGRATION CONCERNS, MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGES OR PEOPLE LIVING A SECRETIVE DOUBLE LIFE.”John McMahon, judge at sentencing hearing “SYSTEMS AND PRACTICES THAT WERE IN PLACE DISCRIMINATE AGAINST THE LGBTQ2S+ COMMUNITY AND MARGINALIZED AND VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES GENERALLY.”Gloria Epstein, retired judge, speaking at the press conference held…

QUOTES FROM THE CASE

INTERVIEW FACE TO FACE WITH THE GRIM SLEEPER

In May 2007, the Grim Sleeper apparently awakened. A derelict rifling through the rubbish in a dumpster in South Los Angeles made what must have been a heart-stopping discovery: the bright red fingernails of a shapely hand poking through a black bin bag. Inside was the body of 25-year-old Janecia Peters, who had been shot in the back and strangled to death, before simply being disposed of like so much household waste. DNA linked her murder to at least 11 other unsolved murders, the last of which had been committed over a decade before. Around the same time this cold case was thawing out, Victoria Redstall was finishing her interviews and trial documentation of long-haul trucker-turned serial killer Wayne Adam Ford. The Grim Sleeper was grabbing headlines, and Redstall wondered…

INTERVIEW FACE TO FACE WITH THE GRIM SLEEPER

NO REST FOR THE WICKED

In the 1980s and 1990s, South Central Los Angeles was a centre for gangster rappers. Crime was at an all-time high, and the LAPD was overwhelmed with gang violence and drug trafficking. So if a black prostitute turned up in a dumpster in Inglewood, the case got flung into the paperwork pile in the hope that no one cared enough to chase its progress up. By the time Janecia Peters was found in 2007, the crime rate of the rebranded ‘South Los Angeles’ had receded to similar levels to the 1940s and 1950s. After Lonnie Franklin Jr.’s arrest and during Victoria Redstall’s interviews, hundreds of photos were discovered in Franklin Jr.’s home. The high profile of this case meant police began to open cold cases spanning his supposed dormant period,…

DEATH ROW INMATES

3 TIMES AS MANY DEFENDANTS GOT THE DEATH PENALTY FOR KILLING WHITE OVER BLACK VICTIMS IN CALIFORNIA $4 BILLION WHAT THE DEATH PENALTY HAS COST CALIFORNIA SINCE 1978 98 THE NUMBER OF EXECUTIONS IN ONE YEAR PEAKED IN 1999 EXECUTIONS SINCE 1976 1,301 LETHAL INJECTION 158 ELECTROCUTION 11 GAS CHAMBER 3 HANGING 3 FIRING SQUAD 749 CALIFORNIA HAS BY FAR THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF DEATH ROW INMATES 1,476 TOTAL US EXECUTIONS SINCE 1976 (at the time of writing) RACE OF VICTIMS IN DEATH PENALTY CASES deathpenaltyinfo.org…

DEATH ROW INMATES

UNHAPPILY EVER AFTER

In 1996, Helen Bailey married her boyfriend of six years, John Sinfield, and the pair began an extremely happy life together. While John continued running a successful business, Helen went on to become a highly popular children’s author with a string of much-loved teen novels to her name. Their healthy financial situation meant that the couple could enjoy a comfortable lifestyle, and in 2011 they decided to take a break in Barbados to revisit the island where they had married. It was meant to be the holiday of a lifetime, but the getaway ended in tragedy when John was swept out to sea during a day at the beach. Helen looked on helplessly as her husband floundered in the waves. He was eventually brought to shore but was pronounced dead…

UNHAPPILY EVER AFTER

THE HIDDEN EVIDENCE

In the UK, when an individual dies unexpectedly, the law states that a post-mortem examination must be carried out to identify the cause of death despite the trauma and anxiety it often causes the deceased’s bewildered family and friends. If the death is treated as questionable in any way, a forensic post-mortem is undertaken. This includes a full toxicology report and anatomical examination. However, if the death appears unsuspicious, a cursory non-forensic inspection may take place. Ian Stewart’s apparent distress at finding his wife fooled the police, who quickly accepted his explanation of an epileptic seizure. Without a thorough examination of Diane Stewart’s brain to identify any physiological changes, nor an accompanying neck dissection, which would have shown clear signs of suffocation, it was impossible to disprove his alleged theory…

LASER SCANNING THE CRIME SCENE

The defence counsel responded with the fanciful kidnap story whereby two individuals had taken Helen. This, they claimed, was the only reason Stewart had lied about the note. While the tale was a stretch of the imagination for the jury, they were all the more unconvinced when two gentlemen, Joe Cippullo and Nick Cook, were brought into the courtroom by the prosecution. Both had known the accused some time before he had moved in with Helen and matched the descriptions of the kidnappers Stewart had given to the police. The defence were on the back foot. However, they had one card left to play. Stewart had no history of violence against women and had, up until this ghastly incident, never committed any crime. He had, they maintained, lived a blameless…

LASER SCANNING THE CRIME SCENE

A FINAL INJUSTICE

The controversial Whole Life Tariff has been handed out to 60 of the most notorious killers in the UK, all of whom know that they will spend the rest of their lives incarcerated without hope of parole. Although many lawyers feel that this is a breach of human rights, the Home Office still believes that there is a need for the severe punishment, and it has proved to be popular with the general public, who often feel that sentencing in the UK is far too lenient. Although Stewart was handed a WLT, his lawyers immediately appealed, and in July 2020, to the horror of the victim’s family, the Lord Chief Justice, along with four high-ranking judges, reduced his sentence to a 35-year minimum term, claiming that Diane Stewart’s murder, when…

A FINAL INJUSTICE

MINUTE BY MINUTE AURORA CINEMA SHOOTING BATMAN MULTIPLEX MASSACRE

James Eagan Holmes was a nobody. A maladjusted, socially inept loner, he’d suffered from psychiatric and personality problems for years. When he walked into Aurora, Colorado’s midnight premiere of Batman: The Dark Knight Rises on 20 July 2012, something inside Holmes had snapped. In his own mind he was a nobody, but was determined to become a somebody. Holmes would murder 12 people, injure dozens and blight the lives of Aurora’s citizens. He would again reignite the USA’s gun control debate, having taken full advantage of the gun culture to do it. Holmes, always maladjusted, had deteriorated considerably in the months before the Aurora massacre. Former co-workers, fellow students, psychiatrists and his few friends all noticed his decline, but little action was taken. Increasingly anti-social, withdrawn and isolated, he had…

MINUTE BY MINUTE AURORA CINEMA SHOOTING BATMAN MULTIPLEX MASSACRE

“THAT’S MY MIND. IT’S BROKEN”

Holmes had met with mental health professionals in the past, and one psychiatrist even suspected he had a borderline condition, and that he could be dangerous. Just days before the midnight premiere, Holmes posted a notebook to a psychiatrist who had treated him, which only arrived after the cinema shooting. Inside are the “Insights into the mind of madness”. Holmes diagnoses himslef with a range of mental disorders of varying severity. Terrifyingly, he draws dozens of stick men, most lying flat and one standing, followed by a string of equations in which he tries to gauge the value of a murderer by the number of people they kill. He then talks about his own obsession with mass murder, followed by a plan of his attack on the Aurora cinema complex.…

“THAT’S MY MIND. IT’S BROKEN”

PAYING THE PRICE

For many Aurorans life would never be the same. Even hardened police officers, accustomed to seeing violent death, were appalled. Raiding Holmes’s apartment, they also had to deal with the numerous IEDs Holmes himself had warned them about. According to Police Chief Daniel Oates, “It looks very sophisticated, how it’s booby-trapped. It could be a very long wait.” Batman star Christian Bale quietly visited Aurora, meeting victims, their families and hospital staff. Director Christopher Nolan also expressed his horror at what had happened. In a 2018 interview Bale stated, “I have not been able to watch that film since because of Aurora.” As is usual after such an event, gun control dominated headlines. Why did Holmes assembling his arsenal not raise any red flags? Why were his serious personality and…

PAYING THE PRICE

HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

Most criminals do everything they can think of to conceal their crimes. They remove and destroy evidence (or avoid leaving it in the first place, if possible); they cover their tracks (literally and figuratively); and, in the immediate aftermath of their crimes, they lie low and they keep their heads down. It’s just common sense. Commit a crime and the police, perhaps even the general public, will be looking for you. So it makes sense to hide away until the heat blows over. But a surprising number of criminals do the exact opposite. Instead of hiding, they leave ‘signatures’ at their crime scenes, they taunt the authorities, or else they ‘go loud’, placing themselves in the public eye and make subtle hints and references to their crimes for all to…

HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

MURDER… THEY WROTE

THE WRONG HUSBAND by Nancy Crampton-Brophy Goodreads rating: 3.22 Fans describe Crampton-Brophy’s most reviewed novel as romantic and suspenseful, while critics point to numerous grammatical errors and a plot lifted straight out of the Julia Roberts thriller Sleeping with the Enemy. AMOK by Krystian Bala Goodreads rating: 3.66 Less of a novel, more of a manifesto of Bala’s warped views, Amok is a string of violent sexual fantasies without any point. Unless that point is to express a deep, seething resentment towards women. FEGEFEUER ODER DIE REISE INS ZUCHTHAUS: ROMAN by Jack Unterweger Goodreads rating: 3.22 Unterweger’s most famous written work (although it’s rumoured he didn’t actually write it) was critically acclaimed and even taught in Austrian schools. It’s fared considerably less well at the hands of the Goodreads generation.…

MURDER… THEY WROTE

PSYCHO ANALYSIS

REAL CRIME: How much psychological common ground is there among Krystian Bala, Nancy Crampton-Brophy and Jack Unterweger? EMMA KENNY: All of these killers are likely to be on the psychopathic spectrum. They all engender high levels of arrogance, carry out callous behaviour and exploit their victims to achieve the outcome they desire. Their inability to demonstrate empathy for their victims is another common trait among them. RC: Serial killers often leave a ‘signature’. Could Nancy Crampton-Brophy and Krystian Bala have been doing something similar in their writings? EK: While organised serial killers in particular enjoy taunting the authorities with signals and symbols, they are not the only kind of killer whose ego becomes their downfall. Nancy Cramptom-Brophy and Krystian Bala believed that they were more capable and intelligent than the authorities…

PSYCHO ANALYSIS

BACKPACKER TERROR

Roman Heinze was not supposed to be using Gumtree. The 59-year-old Adelaide resident had been subjected to a court order forbidding him from using it since 2014, when he’d been charged with the indecent assault of two young backpackers he’d met through a classified ad on the site. But he’d been planning a camping trip to the tiny settlement of Salt Creek on Australia’s southwest coast and, after his girlfriend had abruptly ended their relationship, he had no one to go with. There were always plenty of backpackers posting ads on Gumtree asking for rides from Adelaide to Melbourne: none of them would know about the court order. And what they didn’t know couldn’t hurt them. He’d already responded to a dozen adverts but with no success. Then, during the…

BACKPACKER TERROR

INSPIRED BY TRUE EVENTS

Wolf Creek is a 2005 horror film loosely based on the crimes of Ivan Milat, Bradley Murdoch and others like them. Lena Rabente had actually watched it with a friend just a month prior to her ill-fated road trip with Roman Heinze. As she told 60 Minutes, her reaction to the movie was that it was a little far-fetched, “This is horrible, but it’s not real,” she said. “This will never, ever happen to anyone. Not like this.” And then, of course, it did happen. To her. But few horror movie “scream queens” fight back with the strength, courage and determination shown by Lena and Beatriz, and thankfully their story came to a much happier ending than Wolf Creek.…

INSPIRED BY TRUE EVENTS

ATTACKS IN THE OUTBACK

IVAN MILAT Australia’s most infamous serial killer was convicted of the “Backpacker Murders”. Milat killed seven backpackers in the Belanglo State Forest, New South Wales, between 1989 and 1992 but is suspected to have claimed other victims throughout Australia. BRADLEY MURDOCH On 14 July 2001, Murdoch flagged down British backpackers Peter Falconio and Joanne Lees and told them there was something wrong with their camper van. He promptly shot Falconio dead and attempted to kidnap Lees, whose escape led to Murdoch’s arrest and life sentence. ROBERT LONG On 23 June 2000, Long deliberately started a fire in the recreation room of the Palace Backpackers Hostel in Childers, Queensland. Of the 88 people inside the building at the time, 15 sadly lost their lives in the resulting blaze. KINDERGARTEN KILLER No…

ATTACKS IN THE OUTBACK

BRONSON REFORMED OR DERANGED?

“I WILL BITE YOUR FUCKING NOSE OFF AND GOUGE YOUR EYES OUT!” These are the words Charles Bronson snarled into the face of Wakefield Prison governor Mark Docherty as he landed on top of him during what was supposed to be a routine welfare meeting. Bronson – who legally changed his name to Charles Salvador in 2014 but is still best known as the namesake of the Death Wish film star, having been given the name by a bare-knuckle boxing promoter – later told a judge and jury at Leeds Crown Court that “bite your fucking nose off” had been a mere figure of speech, and that he had actually meant to whisper, “Where’s my wife’s photos?” in Docherty’s ear while gently bear-hugging him. “Since when is it a crime…

BRONSON REFORMED OR DERANGED?

THE ART OF VIOLENCE

Bronson was encouraged to take up art by two prison officers at Wakefield Prison. While it didn’t bring about an immediate reduction in his violent behaviour, Bronson believes it’s been key to his rehabilitation. “I’ve always been a destructive person all my life,” he admitted to the Yorkshire Post. “But since I’ve found art, I’m now creative. Positive. Focused.” His cartoons range from depictions of some of the more famous ‘hijinks’ he’s got up to behind bars to surrealist expressions of his state of mind. It certainly looks as if Bronson is using art to express many of the negative emotions that he’s previously typically expressed through violence, and that can only be a good thing.…

THE ART OF VIOLENCE

THE TRANSFER LIST

Bronson was imprisoned for the first time in 1968, aged just 16. He was held on remand at Risley Prison on charges of criminal damage after smashing some parked cars during an argument. After receiving a seven-year sentence for armed robbery in 1974, Bronson would spend the rest of the 1970s in various prisons, including Walton, Hull, Armley, Wakefield, Wandsworth, Parkhurst, and Broadmoor. Due to his violent behaviour, Bronson’s seven-year sentence would be extended to 1987, by which time he had added several more prisons to his list, including Ashworth Hospital, Wormwood Scrubs Winchester and Leicester. After just 69 days of freedom, Bronson was back behind bars in January 1988. During the rest of the 1980s he would return to various previous prisons, as well as adding Brixton, Full Sutton,…

THE TRANSFER LIST

Back in 2017, during one of his many stints at HMP Wakefield, Charles Bronson was watching Channel 4’s Confessions of the Paparazzi documentary when something about the show’s star, George Bamby, struck him as familiar. It was mainly his name, but the photographer’s nose and chin rang a bell too. Bronson had had a brief fling with a girl named Bamby some 46 years previously and he quickly became convinced that George was his son. He asked his then wife Paula to contact Bamby via social media, and a visit was soon arranged. During that first visit, Bronson gave Bamby two hairs from his famous moustache so that Bamby could get them tested to see if there was a match with his own DNA. The result was a 99.98% probability…

POISON DARYLL’S DEADLY SHAFT

Many of us dream of finding that special someone to spend our lives with. Someone who is just right, or even just right now. We assume that, even if it is temporary, our partners will have our best interests at heart for the duration of our time together. The diseases of HIV and AIDS seem a world away from that warmth. We may associate the illnesses with the likes of Tom Hanks in the Oscar-winning film Philadelphia, which followed the story of an AIDS-stricken lawyer. Skin hangs off the wire frame of the skeleton, the eyes sink into their sockets and lesions creep out of the body as it eats itself from inside out. Daryll Rowe, on the other hand, sports a great bouffant of chocolate-brown hair on top of…

POISON DARYLL’S DEADLY SHAFT

LYING TO THE LAW

Completely aside from how he may have intended the text messages to the victims to be interpreted, Rowe ultimately incriminated himself by outright lying to the police. The recording released by Sussex Police showed Rowe denying his relationship history and knowledge of his HIV status. POLICE: Do you have HIV? ROWE: No [Shakes his head]. POLICE: Have you had a HIV test recently? ROWE: Erm, not recently… But I had a relationship when I first got here and it was unprotected, so I’ve not been tested after that. POLICE: Is that something you were…? ROWE: It was a couple of months ago and I was a little bit worried about that. POLICE: So you say it was a couple of months ago you had a relationship and had unprotected sex?…

EXTRACTING THE URINE

Like many of us, Rowe apparently wanted to be healthy and chronicled his lifestyle online. He didn’t drink alcohol, didn’t smoke, used coconut oil as a moisturiser and had an animal-product-free vegan diet. He also believed coconut oil mouthwash could detoxify his whole body. He also sipped on his own fresh urine “every single day” as “medication” with a bit of added zing (salty for a healthy person, since you ask). Unsurprisingly, this peculiar self-prescription was brought up during his trial. Had he known he had HIV and what the diagnosis meant? Rowe said he thought his murky mixture would cure him of the disease, stating, “Why would I do it every single day if I thought it was nonsense?” He told the court that had he tried to self-medicate…

EXTRACTING THE URINE

MADNESS AND MASS SUICIDE

Street 4, Sant Nagar in Burari, Delhi, was a bustling hive of activity with its 11 family members getting on with their daily lives. The patriarch of the family, Bhopal Singh of the Chundawat family, had passed away in 2007, leaving his widow Narayani Devi, three of their children, two daughters-in-law and five bubbly, fun-loving grandchildren all competing for space in the little home. According to friends and neighbours, they were a happy bunch, quick to help those in need and always ready for an impromptu celebration. In fact, 13 days before the tragedy, the family had come together to celebrate the engagement of Priyanka, the eldest of the grandchildren, who was making plans for her future wedding. The festivities had continued well into the night and everyone had been in…

MADNESS AND MASS SUICIDE

BENEATH THE BANYAN TREE

As one of the most sacred trees in India, worshipping the banyan is said to bring about a long and healthy life. In Hindu lore it is thought to be a heavenly tree where the bark represents Lord Vishnu, the branches represent Lord Shiva, and the roots Lord Brahma. It is here, amongst the leaves of the banyan tree that the gods reside. It is also said to be the place where the spirits of deceased relatives can be found and souls can be returned. No wonder, then, that Lalit Singh insisted on carrying out a Banyan Puja after believing that his dead father’s spirit had returned to guide the family towards wealth and spiritual fulfilment. During banyan tree rituals, women are often seen tying multi-coloured threads around the trunk,…

BENEATH THE BANYAN TREE

RECIPE FOR DECEPTION

In 2015 cancer’s bad rap gained a new negative association with a certain media darling whose wellness empire was built on lies. Australian mother Belle Gibson had burst onto social media with claims of healing a malignant brain tumour through natural and controversial therapies. Her app ‘The Whole Pantry’ had become an overnight sensation and her cookbook had taken the world by storm. Both had won backing from some of the biggest businesses in the world. There was just one problem: Gibson knew she didn’t have cancer. When Australian journalists Nick Toscano and Beau Donelly dared to expose her as a liar, a cheat and a con artist, the fans that had fawned over her ‘inspirational story’ were aghast. It wasn’t just that Gibson had lied about one of the…

RECIPE FOR DECEPTION

There is one thing many of the world’s best-known criminals have in common, from the furrowed brow of the Zodiac Killer, to the buzz cut hairstyle of Oklahoma City Bomber Timothy McVeigh, to the shadowy hooded figure of the so-called Unabomber Ted Kaczynski: each of them is recognisable from the shaded sketches drawn by forensic artists like Michael Streed every year. You may have seen their composite sketches on the evening news. You’ve probably studied their mottled features to see if you recognise them. Perhaps something in the details struck you as familiar? But have you ever stopped to consider the process behind an often-fundamental piece of evidence that helps bring serial killers, child abductors and bank robbers to justice time and time again? Speaking to us from his home…

SATANIC MONSTER 13-year-old James Romero Jr. spotted this serial killer prowling outside his California home on the evening of 25 May 1985, before the prowler fled in his car. James made note of the car and phoned police, believing he had thwarted a thief. But the suspect was connected to more than a dozen murders, multiple rapes and burglaries. That same night the suspect attacked a couple. They survived and described their attacker to police. LADY KILLER After multiple disappearances of women in Washington in 1974, police released a composite sketch of the suspect to the public. This suspect turned out to be one of the world’s most notorious serial killers, who raped and killed women in states such as Washington, Colorado, Utah and California until 1978. LOUISIANA PROWLER This…

TALE OF A BLOODY GANGLAND WAR

Melbourne businessman and lawyer Joe Acquaro knew that there was a $200,000 contract out on his life. Police had warned him. With strong links to the Calabrian community, Mr Acquaro had represented several members of Melbourne’s gangland. He’d had the confidences of some of the city’s most powerful underworld figures and a few of them were worried that Mr Acquaro had been speaking with investigative reporters about their secret gangster business. Mr Acquaro owned a popular business called Gelobar in inner-city Brunswick East. At about 12.40am on Tuesday 15 March 2016, he locked the premises up for the night. A garbage truck driver found his body on the street a few hours later. Police feared Mr Acquaro’s murder signalled the re-start of the gangland war that had plagued the streets…

TALE OF A BLOODY GANGLAND WAR

SUNSHINE CREW The group, unofficially led by Paul Kallipolitis, hailed from the suburb of the same name and were friends from childhood. Carl Williams was a member until he branched out on his own. The group had a reputation as, “Volatile, ruthless and hungry for an easy dollar.” WILLIAMS GANG Carl Williams worked for the Morans but went out on his own in the drug-manufacturing business, going from bit player to crime lord in just over a decade. His father George was also involved in the family business. MORAN FAMILY The Moran clan were involved in the manufacture of amphetamines. The elders of the family – Lewis and Des – were old school criminals who didn’t want to draw attention to themselves. The same can’t be said for the younger…

No affiliation/unconfirmed Carlton Crew Honoured Society Moran Family Radev Gang Sunshine Crew Williams Family GREGORY JOHN WORKMAN 44 A career criminal and standover man, Workman was shot dead outside a Wando Grove, St Kilda, party on 7 February 1995 by thug and wannabe gangster Alphonse Gangitano. Gangitano was said to be enraged over a debt he was owed by Workman. ALPHONSE GANGITANO 40 Gangitano, who was the violent figurehead of the Carlton Crew, was fatally shot late on 16 January 1998 in the laundry of his home in Templestowe, a suburb in Melbourne’s leafy east. No one was ever convicted of the murder but a coroner implicated Jason Moran and Graham Kinniburgh in the killing. JOHN FURLAN 48 Executed in a car bomb explosion in Coburg North on 3 August…

GODFATHER OF THE CHICAGO OUTLAWS

Peter ‘Big Pete’ James always wanted to be an Outlaw. When he first got involved with the motorcycle club in the mid-90s they were involved in a vicious war with the Hells Angels, who were encroaching on Outlaw territory in Chicago, trying to gain a foothold in the city. A series of bombings, fights and shootings ensued, and a lot of the Outlaws that Big Pete came in under were sent to prison for their actions in the war. With their leadership in Chicago decimated, Big Pete stepped up to the plate. He had witnessed the devastation the war wrought on his club first-hand. And despite the bloodshed the Hells Angels were still there. Big Pete realised they weren’t going anywhere. He understood what his predecessors were trying to do,…

GODFATHER OF THE CHICAGO OUTLAWS

WHO’S THE TOP DOG?

In the world of outlaw motorcycle clubs the Outlaws rank high with the other notable clubs like the Hells Angels, Mongols and Bandidos. But they all grew by absorbing smaller clubs to increase their numbers. SUPPORT CLUBS (OUTLAW SUPPORTERS) After the success of shows like The Sons of Anarchy, Big Pete said there was a big jump in guys showing up at the Outlaws’ club house. They wanted to be sanctioned to fly their colours in Chicago. Groups of bikers would come in and pay their respects to the Chicago boss, looking to form alliances so they could ride Chicago’s streets bearing their patch. Examples: Twisted Image MC led by Coyote Loyal Order MC led by Papa Joe SATELLITE CLUBS (OUTLAW AFFILIATES) Big Pete had clubs that were affiliated with…

WHO’S THE TOP DOG?

BADGES OF HONOUR

BOSSES BEING JAILED When the Outlaws and Hells Angels became embroiled in a vicious territorial battle in Chicago in 1995, Big Pete was on the scene. As the retaliatory bombings, assaults and shootings went tit-for-tat, Big Pete watched as all his mentors in the club and the Chicago Outlaw leaders were incarcerated. It left a power vacuum in the MC, which Big Pete stepped up to fill. THE ANGEL HUNTS While negotiating for a truce with the Hells Angels – the first act of his tenure as Outlaw boss – Big Pete initiated ‘Angel Hunts’, where armed Outlaws ready for a fight would cruise around the city looking for Angels to jump. This helped turn the tide and forced the Angels into an agreement that Big Pete dictated. THAT MAFIA…

BADGES OF HONOUR

When Big Pete and his crew headed out on a run they would form themselves up on the highway in a tight formation that placed bikers in the line according to stature. As the boss Big Pete rode at the head of the group next to his road captain. Traveling two abreast, the bikers would never break the speed limit: the sound of their engines would attract enough attention and scrutiny. On a run Big Pete and his crew wouldn’t carry any guns or drugs. It wasn’t a case of ‘if’ they’d get pulled over, it was ‘when’. Precautions were taken, and all contraband items were stashed in the crash truck, which some prospects usually drove. By sticking to this rigid formation on their runs Big Pete and his club…

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