I really enjoy reading/watching content about true crime, particularly cases that involve forensic sciences.
What are some of the most interesting cases that have ever been tried in your country/region? It’s okay if it’s not forensics related ofc, I’m interested in everything.
Bonus points if there’s a documentary I can watch!
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Colin Pitchfork was the first person to be convicted using dna evidence. The whole story and investigation is super interesting from a forensic science point of view. There’s a pretty good drama series about it. I can’t remember its name but it has John Simm in it.
Jon Venables, even to this day it still makes me mad, this guy is a cunt.
Michael Ryan, the Hungerford shooter, and Thomas Hamilton, the Dunblane shooter were interesting cases.
Stephen Port/“The Grindr Killer” – there’s a good BBC dramatisation called Four Lives.
Also really recommend the true crime podcast Seeing Red, it’s hosted by two Brits and focuses mostly on British cases. They did an excellent episode about the Hillsborough disaster.
Dennis Nilsen.
Leanne Tiernan. Although I hate the idea of her case being “interesting”, when ultimately we should be thinking about why we live in a society where young women are murdered. The killer was caught with pathology, police work, and what would have potentially been the first case prosecuted by animal DNA rather than human.
Britain’s Darkest Taboos. Its a good show which goes into detail about many murders committed in the UK. It was on Netflix, im not sure where to watch it now but I do recommend it.
The Hatton garden heist, has loads of docs and dramas based on it
Tony Martin case (shooting a burglar) iirc Steve Pemberton did a good thing about that one
Fred and Rosemary West, two of the most disturbed people who ever lived.
Purple Aki is an interesting one. Was the bogeyman when I was a kid. Saw him in the flesh when I was living in Huddersfield about 10 years ago asking a young lad outside the job centre if he could feel his muscles. My friends didn’t believe me.
Sasha Marsden. 16yo girl. Was a bit “off the rails” (occasional runaway, missing, drinking) but settled down and started going to college. Found herself a potential little part time job at a local hotel. She got a lift to the hotel for her job interview/trial.
She was sexually assaulted, stabbed 58 times, rolled up in carpet and set on fire.
Harrowing.
The Clydach Murders. There is an excellent book out there on it!
John Christie: a serial killer that played a part in getting the death penalty abolished in the UK. There’s a film about it: *10 Rillington Place*
Joanna Dennehy: A rare case of a female serial killer. She was convicted about 10 years ago.
The murder of Billie-Jo Jenkins in the 90s.
The Dore Wedding Day Masacre by Arthur Hutchinson.
Graham Young the Teacup Poisoner. There was a movie called The Young Poisoner’s Handbook.
Levi Bellfield, a serial killer that used a hammer.
My partner recommends the *Blood Ties* podcast.
If you’re happy to listen to podcasts I would really recommend the series British Scandal which covers a lot of this stuff. They do mini seasons covering particular cases – a couple of the good recent ones have been on Charles Ingram (the so-called ‘coughing major’ who was accused of cheating on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire) and John and Anne Darwin (married couple, he faked his death to make an insurance claim by taking his canoe out to sea, and then several years later turned up claiming to have lost his memory).
Lynette White and the Cardiff 5.
5 men were wrongly accused of murdering Lynette. 3 of them were convicted and given life sentences. They used DNA to find the real killer. The Cardiff 5 were haunted for the rest of their lives by what they had been through and it shows that racial discrimination is certainly not just an American thing.
There are some good documentaries on it.
Quite a bit of mystery surrounding Swedish sisters Ursula and Sabjna Eriksson
The story of Mark and John is very strange. A teenage boy was the first person in the UK to be charged with attempting their own murder in 2004. The real identities of the kids have been kept private so it’s not always easy to find the story but [Casefile](https://casefilepodcast.com/case-104-mark-and-john/) goes into detail about the events.
Also, the murders of Buck Ruxton in 1935. The case is msotly remembered for the innovative forensic techniques employed to identify his victims and prove that their murders had been committed in Ruxton’s home. It was one of the first cases to use several new forensic techniques including finger prints, forensic anthropology through superimposition of photos over x-rays of the remains and forensic entomology to determine the age of maggots on the bodies.
There’s a youtube short about etymology of the British phrase ‘sweet FA’:
https://youtu.be/TWAwP2dAQKk
My favourite documentary series about British serial killers is [Fred Dinenage’s Murder Casebook](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1889810/). It used to be on Amazon Prime but it’s disappeared unfortunately, though there’s a few episodes of it available on YouTube, and you can get it on DVD for a pretty reasonable price.
[This](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-5667c315-a69c-4e5d-a683-e4e7771eb04d) BBC article is about a case of two schoolgirls abducting a child out of Primark.
It’s a very good read in that it goes into a lot of detail about the police response and explains how terrifyingly little time there is to respond to an event like this.
Do you listen to podcasts? There are some brilliant ones aimed at criminal cases.