Psycho Killer: Shocking True Crime Stories

Let's take stock of the catalogue of carnage to date.

We’ve reached the halfway point of The A–Z of Psychopaths — and before plunging headlong into the rest of the alphabet, it’s time to pause, reflect, and ask an uncomfortable question: Who is the worst psycho killer… so far?

In this special mid-series episode, I'll rank the most disturbing figures we’ve covered to date using a deliberately unscientific but brutally honest scoring system — weighing body count, cruelty, manipulation, remorse (or lack of it), cultural impact, and that indefinable “ick” factor.

From high-vol...

Thanks for your support during a fantastic year!

Hi, it’s Simon here. On behalf of Jacques and me, we want to wish you a very merry Christmas and all the best for 2026!

This year has been huge — three new strands, a growing community of true-crime fans, and more ambitious plans ahead.

Listen in for a festive message and a glimpse of what’s coming in the New Year, including bonus content, Patreon perks, and our back catalogue for binge-worthy listening.

Become a Patreon supporter for more of the authentic, true-c...

"The gun went off through the driver's window ... and he shouts, 'Call 999! We've got an armed man!' "

Paul Cullen was a teenager hanging out with a friend when a series of dramatic events catapulted him into the criminal history books. His actions on a cold December night in 1975 helped bring Britain's most wanted fugitive – the elusive and deadly Black Panther – to justice.

Neilson had hijacked a police car and was holding the occupants, PCs Stuart McKenzie and Tony White, at gunpoint. In a last, desperate attempt to escape, they crashed their patrol car outs...

He built a torture bunker and videotaped acts of depraved cruelty.

Charles Ng is one half of one of America’s most disturbing criminal duos. Alongside Leonard Lake, he participated in a series of kidnappings, tortures, and murders carried out in a remote bunker in the foothills of California.

Their videotapes — cold, clinical, and horrifying — remain among the most chilling pieces of evidence in US criminal history. In this episode, Simon Ford examines Ng’s background, his manipulative personality, and the toxic partnership that allowed Lake’s violent fantasies to become reality.

We also lo...

"There had been families going into the park during the day, dog walkers, you know, it was very well used, and she was there all at the time."

Fifty years ago, two boys were growing up on opposite sides of the English Midlands — unaware that a killer was shaping both their childhoods. 

One lived just yards from the place where Donald Neilson — the Black Panther — held kidnapped heiress Lesley Whittle in terrifying captivity.

The other grew up in the Nottinghamshire coalfield, where Neilson’s violent reign finally came to an end on 11 December...

Join us live at 19.30 GMT, Thursday, 11 December 2025, from the exact location where the Black Panther was brought down.

For Lynn Dorling, Thursday, 11 December 1975, was just another day at the village school in Blidworth, where she was head teacher. But the next day, Friday, would be a day like no other.

Overnight, just down the road in Rainworth, another colliery community, Britain's most wanted fugitive had been arrested in dramatic circumstances. The children arrived bursting with the news – and bursting with pride at the bravery of the grown-ups who'd helped tackle an armed killer with th...

To mark 50 years since the capture of Britain's most wanted fugitive, Jacques and Simon retrace the Panther's movements on the night he was caught.

Donald Neilson, dubbed the Black Panther for his ruthless cunning and stealthiness, thought he was above the law. Invincible, even. So when a couple of Bobbies asked him what he was up to one night in December 1975, Neilson responded by hijacking their patrol car at gunpoint.

His plan? Nobody really knows, but we suspect it would have been curtains for the unfortunate cops. Then, providence threw them a lifeline.
<...

A predator with a shotgun. A village that refused to let him escape.

On 11 December 1975, armed robber and murderer Donald Neilson — the Black Panther — was finally captured in the Nottinghamshire village of Rainworth. In this 10-minute on-location scene setter, presenter Simon Ford revisits the streets where it happened, explaining who the Panther was, why he was feared, and how the people of Rainworth helped bring him down.

The episode includes gripping eyewitness testimony from local man Paul Cullen, who, as a teenager, watched the dramatic struggle outside the village fish-and-chip shop.

On 11 Dece...

Manson didn’t kill people. He convinced people to kill.

Charles Manson never stabbed, shot, or strangled any of the victims in the Tate–LaBianca murders — yet he was the driving force behind every killing. Through psychological manipulation, apocalyptic ideology, and a cult-like hold on his followers, Manson created one of the most disturbing criminal networks of the 20th century. 

In this episode, Simon Ford examines the roots of Manson’s influence, the psychology that underpinned his control, and the crimes that cemented his place in true-crime history. From the counterculture backdrop to the forensic...

A polite smile, a marriage proposal, and a stove full of ashes.

Henri Désiré Landru was one of France’s most notorious killers — a polite, moustachioed gentleman who lured vulnerable women with promises of marriage during World War I. Once they entered his villas, they vanished forever. 

In this episode, Simon Ford examines Landru’s double life, his careful record-keeping, and the forensic evidence that shocked France. Was he a cunning predator shaped by wartime chaos, or a calculating psychopath hiding in plain sight?

We break down his crimes, his psychology, and the e...

Mob enforcer. Contract killer. Self-made legend.

Richard “The Iceman” Kuklinski is one of America’s most infamous contract killers — a man who claimed to have murdered more than 100 people while working for New Jersey and New York crime families. But behind the macabre legend lies a killer who blended real violence with outright invention. 

In this episode, Simon Ford looks at the psychology, the mob connections, and the mythmaking behind Kuklinski’s criminal career. From freezing bodies to confuse coroners to his chilling interviews with forensic psychologist Dr Park Dietz, Kuklinski remains a disturbing figure at t...

Unmasking the psychology behind London’s most infamous phantom.

In this 5-minute deep dive into criminal history, journalist and true crime storyteller Simon Ford revisits the most famous unsolved murder spree of all time.

Jack the Ripper murdered at least five women—Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly—in a frenzy of theatrical brutality that shocked Victorian London. But beyond the myth, the fog, and the fear… who was he? This episode explores:
The killings and their escalating violenceWhy the identity of Jack the Ripper remains fiercely...

He buried “kill kits” across America… but that was only the start of Israel Keyes’ monstrous planning.

Israel Keyes is one of the most terrifying killers in modern American history — not because of the crimes we can prove, but because of the ones we can’t. Keyes built “kill kits” years before he used them, travelled thousands of miles to find random victims, and prided himself on having no recognisable pattern.

In this episode, Simon Ford unpacks the forensic details, psychological insights, and chilling contradictions behind Keyes’ double life. From his calm, calculated interviews to the cold effici...

Sometimes love is blind… and sometimes it’s deadly.

In 1958, Charles Starkweather and his 14-year-old girlfriend Caril Fugate embarked on a killing spree across Nebraska that left 11 people dead and America terrified. But was Caril a victim—or an accomplice? 

In this episode, Simon Ford and Jacques Morrell dissect the couple’s toxic relationship, their violent road trip, and the long shadow the case still casts over true crime, youth culture, and media sensationalism.

Hear how the courts ruled, what happened to Caril, and why the debate over her guilt or innocence continues...

Enter the "Murder Castle" in our latest, chilling, bite-sized episode.

H.H. Holmes is often described as America’s first serial killer, but that title barely captures the scale of his crimes. A charming conman and medical swindler, Holmes built a three-storey “Murder Castle” in Chicago during the 1893 World’s Fair — complete with secret passages, soundproofed rooms, and hidden furnaces.

In this episode of The A–Z of Psychopaths, Simon Ford explores Holmes’s chilling psychology. From pathological lying and manipulation to financial fraud, bigamy, and murder for profit, Holmes exhibited the hallmarks of a true psychop...

Beneath the clown makeup, he hid 33 bodies — and the soul of a psychopath.

John Wayne Gacy — the “Killer Clown” — was one of America’s most horrifying murderers.
By day, he was a respected businessman and community volunteer. By night, he tortured and killed young men, burying thirty-three bodies beneath his suburban Chicago home.

In this chilling episode of The A–Z of Psychopaths, Simon Ford examines Gacy’s double life and the psychological traits that made him such a dangerous predator. Using the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, he uncovers how superficial charm, narcissism, and total lack of re...

When Bonnie met Clyde, a myth began — but what actually drove them to kill?

Step into the story of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow — but not as you know it. This isn’t a simple love-and-crime saga. It’s a study of two personalities colliding, of fear and fascination, of power and vulnerability. In this episode of It Takes Two, journalist Simon Ford and former major-crime detective Jacques Morrell bring you:
The historical backdrop of 1950s America — from juvenile delinquency panic to the lure of the motor-car getaway.An in-depth look at the personal dynamic of Bonnie...

He called himself “a real-life boogeyman.”

Albert Fish was every parent’s worst nightmare. A kindly old man on the outside, but beneath the surface — a sadist, cannibal, and predator of children. 

In this deeply disturbing episode of The A–Z of Psychopaths, Simon Ford examines the twisted psychology of “The Brooklyn Cannibal” — a man whose crimes shocked America and still haunt the true-crime world today.

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Police speak in code — but what does it really mean when a detective says ‘ABH gone wrong’?

When a detective says “ABH gone wrong,” what do they really mean? Is it code, cold detachment — or something darker? Behind every headline and police press briefing lies a secret language: blunt, efficient, and sometimes brutal. In this episode of The Detective’s Files, Simon Ford and former detective Jacques Morrell decode the jargon of murder investigations — uncovering how words can reveal, conceal, and even distort the truth. It’s a rare glimpse inside the mind of the police and the media they...

Grave robber and the real-life inspiration for Norman Bates and Leatherface.

Ed Gein, the mild-mannered handyman from Plainfield, Wisconsin, shocked the world when police discovered what lay behind his farmhouse walls: human remains, skin masks, and grisly trophies made from corpses. But beneath the horror lies a deeper psychological question — what drove him to do it? 

In this episode of The A–Z of Psychopaths, Simon Ford dissects the life and crimes of Ed Gein, the so-called “Butcher of Plainfield.” They explore his twisted devotion to his mother, Augusta, his macabre “projects” inspired by loneliness an...

She baked pies for her neighbours — and buried her husbands in the garden. Meet Nanny Doss: The Giggling Granny.

She looked like everyone’s favourite grandmother — smiling, baking, and always laughing.
But Nanny Doss’s laughter hid a terrible secret. Over three decades, she poisoned, smothered, and strangled 11 members of her own family — husbands, children, her mother, even her sister.

Her motive? A twisted mix of romance, resentment, and control. Known as The Giggling Granny, Doss confessed with a smile — and kept on giggling as she described each killing in detail.

In this epis...

She was convinced her children would die unless she made a human sacrifice.

In Episode 3 of The A-Z of Psychopaths, Simon Ford delves into one of Italy’s most macabre murderers: Leonarda Cianciulli — the Soap-Maker of Correggio.

During the chaos of World War II, Cianciulli murdered three women and used their remains to make soap and teacakes.

But behind the horror lies a deeper question: what twisted psychology drove a superstitious mother to kill in the name of protection?

Discover the disturbing blend of delusion, ritual, and maternal obse...

She lured peasant girls to her castle, and they were never seen again.

In the second episode of The A-Z of Psychopaths, Simon Ford investigates the legend — and the truth — behind Countess Elizabeth Báthory, often called “The Bloody Countess.”

Accused of torturing and killing hundreds of young women, Báthory’s story sits at the crossroads of myth, misogyny, and madness.

Was she a sadistic noblewoman or a victim of political intrigue? We separate fact from folklore in this haunting mini-episode.

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He really did go on TV in the middle of his murder spree.

In the first episode of The A-Z of Psychopaths, we explore the chilling crimes of Rodney Alcala, infamously known as “The Dating Game Killer.” 

Join Simon Ford as he unpacks Alcala’s manipulative personality, his methodical approach to murder, and the psychological patterns that made him one of America’s most notorious serial killers.

This episode sets the stage for our A-to-Z exploration of history’s most disturbing minds.

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When love turns lethal: the Ken and Barbie Killers.

In this episode of It Takes Two…, Simon Ford and Jacques Morrell explore Canada’s most chilling criminal couple: Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka. 

Were they partners in evil — or a manipulator and his victim? A gripping, psychological deep dive into love, power, and shared psychopathy.


References & Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the following sources that informed this episode:
Radio-Canada Interview with Karla Homolka (Joyce Napier, 2005) — Parts 1 & 2 available on YouTube:
Part 1
Part 2
This rare inte...

Murder Was The Glue That Bound Them

Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are remembered as the Moors Murderers. But beyond the horror, their story forces us to ask: how does a psychopath recruit a partner, and what happens when love and loyalty become tools of murder? 

In this episode of Psycho Killer: Shocking True Crime Stories, Simon Ford and Jacques Morrell explore the dark synergy between Brady and Hindley — complementary fit, closed-world isolation and the momentum of co-offending.

We revisit psychiatrist Jeremy Coid’s insight that Brady may have been “born evil,” and hear...

The victims never stood a chance against their combined cruelty.

Some killers act alone. Some form a partnership so toxic and unstoppable that the results are catastrophic.

In this episode of It Takes Two, Simon Ford and Jacques Morrell examine Fred and Rose West, Britain’s most infamous killer couple. We explore Fred’s early life and pre-existing crimes, Rose’s abusive upbringing, and how two damaged people fused into a dark partnership.

From their home in Gloucester to the courtroom, discover the psychological dynamics that made them so lethal, and th...

It Takes Two to Kill: Leonard Lake & Charles Ng

Serial killers usually act alone. But sometimes, two broken personalities collide — and the result is catastrophic. 

In the launch episode of our new series, It Takes Two, Simon Ford and Jacques Morrell investigate Leonard Lake and Charles Ng, a sadistic duo who turned a remote cabin in California into a chamber of horrors.

We explore their warped backgrounds, the psychology of killer partnerships, and the devastating human toll of their crimes. What happens when one man’s fantasies meet another’s lack of restrai...

Fingerprints may not grab headlines like DNA, but they’ve been solving crimes for over a century. In this episode, Jacques Morrell shares stories from his detective career where fingerprints cracked cases ranging from burglary and cheque fraud to cold-blooded murder.

Simon and Jacques also trace the history of fingerprinting: from its discovery in the 19th century, to the first conviction in Argentina in 1892, and high-profile British murder cases where a single print made all the difference.

Join us as we reveal how fingerprints remain one of the most reliable—and sometimes overlooked—tools in for...

Why Bureaucracy, Hollywood, and the NRA Helped Serial Killers Thrive

Why does America remain the global epicentre of serial killers? In Part Two of Psycho Killer: Shocking True Crime Stories, Simon Ford and Jacques Morrell uncover how bureaucracy, pop culture, and gun culture shaped the rise of American serial murderers.

From the FBI’s behavioural profiling to the National Rifle Association’s influence, from Hollywood’s romanticisation of killers to the chilling question of whether Millennials and Gen Z will break the cycle, this episode digs deeper into America’s darkest shadows.

We exami...

A CID Detective Relives His First UK Murder Case — 1989

Step inside the world of real homicide investigation with The Detective’s Files: Episode 3. In this gripping instalment, former CID officer Jacques Morrell takes us back to 1989, when he faced his very first murder case.

With 30 years of policing experience, Jacques reveals the reality of moving from the beat into CID, the pressures of working homicide over the Christmas period, and the shocking discovery that forced his team to live at work while chasing down a killer. This is not fiction. These are the real stor...

Inside America’s Darkest Secret: The Serial Killer Capital of the World.

Why does the USA have more serial killers per capita than any other country?

From Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer to the Golden State Killer and Samuel Little, the United States has produced almost 70% of all known serial murderers—despite making up less than 5% of the world’s population. 

In this episode of Psycho Killer: Shocking True Crime Stories, Simon Ford and Jacques Morrell uncover the data, the history, and the psychology that explain America’s dark reputation.

We explor...

Behind every sudden death, there’s a story—and a detective who has to uncover it.

In this second episode of The Detective’s Files, Jacques Morrell sits down with Simon Ford to explore how the police investigate unexpected deaths.

From natural causes to cases of suicide, Jacques reflects on his time in uniform—sharing first-hand experiences with the deceased and their families, and explaining the vital roles of the police surgeon and coroner.

While procedures have changed over the years, Jacques reveals that professionalism is always defined by calmness, compassion, and respect i...

Osama Bin Laden masterminded 9/11, evaded the world’s most powerful armies, and reshaped global politics. But who was he, really?

In this second episode of Psycho Killer: Shocking True Crime Stories, Simon Ford and Jacques Morrell go beyond the headlines to explore Bin Laden’s psychology — from fugitive years and obsessive micromanagement to the chilling revelations in the Abbottabad files.

Using the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP), we ask: Was Bin Laden a prophet, a prisoner of his own ideology, or a psychopath? We examine his messianic self-image, emotional detachment, and controlling dominance, alongs...

This month marks 24 years since the 9/11 attacks on America — the deadliest terror strike since Pearl Harbour. To mark the anniversary, Psycho Killer investigates the rise and fall of Osama Bin Laden. Was he a religious zealot, a freedom fighter, or a psychopath? Perhaps all three.

Using the Hare Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R) and the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP), Simon Ford and Jacques Morrell apply two clinical tools to Bin Laden’s life and legacy. The result? More than one conclusion — and a portrait of a man whose blend of belief, power, and manipulation shaped the world we live i...

Explicit – contains surgery details.

Walter J. Freeman II thought he was a revolutionary. And in a way, he was. He operated during three revolutionary decades of the twentieth century – years that saw the coming of nuclear power, antibiotics and mankind's first tentative steps into space. But his technique was more medieval than post-modern. The cutting edge of his trademark instrument was the point of an icepick – or at least, a wicked-looking tool derived from one. Yet, here was an individual who convinced himself he was doing humanity a service, while all around, patients were wheele...

An American “hitwoman” is starting a 30-year prison sentence in the United Kingdom for trying to murder her lover's business rival. Aimee Betro, from Wisconsin, flew to the UK in August 2019 and spent more than two weeks in the country before trying to shoot the man outside his home in Birmingham—Simon Ford reports.

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Explicit – surgery details

The story of Walter J. Freeman II is as disturbing as it is bizarre. He pioneered the transorbital lobotomy, a radical and, to modern minds, barbaric form of brain surgery. Freeman left behind him a trail of devastation – shattered lives and a body count that reached the hundreds. Yet it took the authorities two decades to come to their senses and stop him. 

During those years, he worked with official approval at institutions across the United States. He even became a travelling sales-surgeon, peddling his procedure like snake...

Step inside one of true crime’s strangest afterlives. In this bonus episode of Psycho Killer: Shocking True Crime Stories, we follow the grisly journey of Henri Désiré Landru’s severed head—from the guillotine in 1920s France to its eerie display in Hollywood’s infamous Museum of Death.

Landru, known as the “Bluebeard of Gambais,” was convicted of murdering at least ten women and a teenage boy during World War I. But what happened to his head after the blade fell is a mystery tangled in rumour, lost records, and bizarre twists.

Was it preserved for...

An Australian serial killer has been granted parole after almost three decades behind bars. James Vlassakis was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 26 years for committing four of 11 murders in South Australia between 1992 and 1999.  

The case became known as "the bodies in the barrels" serial killings, because the dismembered bodies of the victims were found in barrels of hydrochloric acid in the vault of a disused bank in Snowtown, a remote community 93 miles north of Adelaide.  

As Simon Ford reports, Vlassakis was jailed with three ot...

Psycho Killer's Jacques Morrell. Thirty years as a copper, first on the beat, then a major crime detective, specialising primarily in homicide.

In this new true crime series, Jacques opens his casebook to reveal gripping stories from a lifetime investigating murders, cold cases, and criminal minds. From serial killers to psychopaths, he shares behind-the-scenes insights into real police work and the psychology of killers.

The Detective’s Files offers a rare glimpse into the dark heart of crime, told by someone who’s seen it all. Subscribe now for must-hear true crime stories, interviews, and...

Explicit

In our last episode, we met Henri Désiré Landru: serial seducer, swindler, and killer — a man who lured lonely women to his villa at Gambais and turned them into ash.

Now, the net is closing. In this second instalment of The Bluebeard of Gambais, we follow the tenacious detective who pursued Landru across a war-torn France — and finally brought him to justice.

We’ll take you inside the courtroom where Landru stood trial for eleven murders — and the public couldn’t look away.

With forensic precision and historical rigour, we e...

Explicit

This is the chilling true story of Henri Désiré Landru — France’s most infamous serial killer. He posed as a lonely hearts suitor… but behind the doors of his villa at Gambais, women disappeared without a trace.

It took one of the most painstaking investigations in French criminal history — and a detective who refused to give up — to expose the horror Landru was hiding in plain sight.

At Psycho Killer: Shocking True Crime Stories, we don’t just recount the crimes. We go deeper. With forensic accuracy and historical int...

Update

Lori Vallow Daybell, the doomsday cult follower who killed two of her children, has been handed two additional life sentences for a plot that led to her ex-husband's murder and the attempted murder of her niece's ex-husband. 

It marked the end of the road for the Arizona mother with doomsday religious beliefs who claimed evil spirits had possessed her family members. Simon Ford has the details.

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Update

Police in Cornwall have quashed speculation that multiple bodies have been found in woods near the town of St Austell.

The County’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Alison Hernandez, has apologised for misleading remarks she made during an online meeting.  

On Friday, 25 July, Alison Hernandez told a streamed meeting of Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel that “dead bodies” had been found in Paramoor Woods near the village of Sticker, approximately three miles southwest of St Austell.

Simon Ford has more details.

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A man described as "a budding serial killer" by a District Attorney has been jailed for 40-80 years for stabbing a homeless man to death and seriously wounding another in Philadelphia. 

As Simon Ford reports, Dshawn Crawford disguised himself as a wrestler known as The Undertaker to carry out the attacks in 2023.


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Bryan Kohberger has been given four consecutive life sentences for the murders of four University of Idaho students on 13 November 2022. The 30-year-old former criminal justice doctoral student agreed to life in prison without the possibility of parole or appeal under a deal that spared him the death penalty. Simon Ford has the details.

Love true crime with a psychological twist?
Explore dozens more gripping episodes in the Psycho Killer: Shocking True Crime Stories archive — from infamous serial killers to criminal minds you’ve never heard of.
👉 Listen now on Spreaker.
Duration: 00:02:58

Explicit

A murderer who cut up his victims, packed their remains into suitcases and threw the remains off Clifton Bridge in Bristol, has been told to expect a life sentence.

Yostin Andres Mosquera, of Scotts Road, Shepherd’s Bush Green, was found guilty at Woolwich Crown Court of the murders of Paul Longworth and Albert Alfonso.

The pair were killed at their Shepherd’s Bush flat on 8 July last year in what police described as a "brutal and callous" attack – as Simon Ford reports.


Become a supporter of thi...

Explicit

In the final part of our Ian Huntley trilogy, Psycho Killer: Shocking True Crime Stories asks: can a psychopath ever truly feel remorse? And if they can’t be cured—can they at least be taught to reform?

We explore Huntley’s prison behaviour and recorded expressions of regret, set against the pioneering research of British forensic psychologist Dee Anand. His group, Beyond Diagnosis, argues that even psychopathy can be addressed—if we ask not “what’s wrong with you?” but “what happened to you?”

Featuring real psychological insight, forensic rigour, and professional e...

In this second and final part of our deep dive into the Robert Parrington Jackson case — Bristol’s oldest unsolved murder — we pick up where we left off: a dead cinema manager, a bullet fired in perfect sync with a wartime film reel, and a suspect so slippery he makes Keyser Söze look chatty.

We’ll explore false leads, post-war paranoia, deathbed confessions, and one very suspicious newspaper. And we ask: why has this case remained unsolved for nearly 80 years? In a story this cinematic, the ending should’ve been scripted by now.

...

Breaking | Explicit

An inquiry into the case of necrophiliac killer  David Fuller has concluded that offences such as those he committed could happen again because hospital mortuary security in England is ineffective.

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Explicit

In the second part of our deep dive into the Soham murders, Psycho Killer: Shocking True Crime Podcasts examines Ian Huntley’s disturbing psychological profile through the lens of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist (Revised). What does his score reveal about his mind—and his motives?

We also explore the complex role of Maxine Carr: was she a willing accomplice, or a victim of coercive control? With forensic storytelling, gold-standard journalism, and insight from a real former detective, Psycho Killer goes beyond the headlines to uncover the uncomfortable truths behind this...

Explicit

When 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman vanished from the quiet town of Soham in 2002, Britain was gripped by a tragedy that quickly spiralled into one of the most disturbing child murder cases in modern history. In this first episode of a three-part investigative series, Psycho Killer: Shocking True Crime Stories examines the early signs, missed red flags, and manipulative behaviours of Ian Huntley—the school caretaker who inserted himself into the heart of the investigation… while knowing exactly what had happened to the girls.

🎧 Expect meticulous research, forensic detail, and profess...

Welcome to Psycho Killer: Shocking True Crime Stories — the podcast that peers into the darkest corners of the human psyche, dusts off cold cases, and gives them a hard stare.

This week, we’re delving into Bristol’s oldest unsolved murder — the mysterious shooting of cinema manager Robert Parrington Jackson in 1946. A real-life whodunnit with a cinematic twist: the killer timed the shot to coincide with gunfire in the film playing next door. All very Hitchcock meets hardboiled noir — minus the tidy ending.

This is Part One of a two-part investigation. Part Two drops...

Explicit

In the second part of our investigation into Jimmy Savile, we go deeper into one of the most disturbing cover-ups in British criminal history. How did a man accused of hundreds of sexual assaults operate with impunity for decades—inside hospitals, children’s homes, and even the BBC itself? Who protected him? And why did it take so long for victims’ voices to be heard?

With exclusive insight from veteran detective Jacques Morrell and gold-standard journalism from Simon Ford, this episode dissects the systemic failures, psychological profile, and chi...

Explicit

Jimmy Savile was one of Britain’s most famous celebrities — a beloved TV presenter, tireless charity fundraiser, and knight of the realm. But behind the tracksuits, cigars, and catchphrases lay something far darker.

After his death in 2011, hundreds of victims came forward, revealing him to be one of the most prolific sexual predators in British history. In this first episode of Psycho Killer: Shocking True Crime Stories, we dig beneath the surface to explore how Savile groomed an entire nation.

How did he hide in plain sight for...

Expicit

It took over a decade and more than fifty brutal murders before Soviet authorities finally captured Andrei Chikatilo. Dubbed The Butcher of Rostov, his cold, clinical detachment stunned even the most hardened investigators.

In this second part of our deep dive, Simon Ford and Jacques Morrell follow the hunt to its chilling conclusion – the arrest, trial, and execution of the USSR’s most prolific serial killer. 
They perform a psychological autopsy of a man who sodomised, tortured, and cannibalised his victims – most of them women a...

Explicit

He looked harmless—bookish, quiet, almost invisible.
But behind the thick glasses and timid manner, Andrei Chikatilo was a sadistic predator who haunted the Soviet Union for over a decade.

Nicknamed The Butcher of Rostov, Chikatilo lured women and children, especially vulnerable runaways, with false promises of food, warmth and safety. What followed was unspeakable. His crimes were brutal, methodical... and astonishingly prolific.

How did one of history’s most savage serial killers slip through the cracks for so long?
The answer lies in the secrec...

Warning: strong language, suicide and genocide.

Dive into the twisted psyches of Jeffrey Dahmer and Adolf Hitler in the latest episode of Psycho Killer: Shocking True Crime Stories—the true crime podcast that dares to ask why. Hosted by a veteran journalist and a former detective, we go beyond the headlines to explore the psychological roots of evil. Is psychopathy nature or nurture? What makes a killer? Packed with forensic insight, historical depth, and chilling clarity, this is true crime for minds that crave more.

Subscribe now—because unde...

How do you solve a murder when the most crucial piece of evidence—the victim’s body—is missing?

That was the chilling challenge faced by detectives in Nottingham, England, when Polish street drinker Bogdan Nawrocki vanished without a trace. Forensic evidence pointed to a brutal and violent end, but without a body, could they prove it was murder? To this day, Nawrocki’s remains have never been found. What happened to him—and how did investigators pursue justice without the one thing that could confirm his fate?

Watch the video on YouTube. Duration: 00:44:10

Listener discretion advised

As French police continue to investigate the violent deaths of British ex-pats Andrew and Dawn Searle, Simon Ford and Jacques Morrell discuss the possible behind-the-scenes developments of the inquiry.

This podcast is also available as a video on YouTube.

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Our next Psycho Killer podcast will probe the unsolved murder of Allan Graham, a schoolboy from Newcastle-upon-Tyne who disappeared while on an errand to the corner shop in 1970.

His abduction and death have baffled detectives for more than 50 years. Allan's family keep his memory alive, hoping that one day, they will have closure and Allan can rest in peace.

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Explicit content
 
She looked like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, but little Mary Bell became the face of evil. So, who was this 11-year-old convicted of the manslaughter of two little boys? What motivated her? And did her punishment fit her crimes?

This podcast explores the character of Mary Bell through the work of the author, Gitta Sereny, and TV documentaries broadcast since the child killer's release from prison.

Acknowledgements
Mary Bell: BBC Children of Crime (1998) BBC/Blakeway Productions. Available to watch on YouTube.
Sereny, G...

Explicit content

She looked like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, but little Mary Bell became the face of evil. So, who was this 11-year-old convicted of the manslaughter of two little boys? What motivated her? And did her punishment fit her crimes?

This podcast explores the character of Mary Bell through the work of the author, Gitta Sereny, and TV documentaries broadcast since the child killer's release from prison.

Acknowledgements
Mary Bell: BBC Children of Crime (1998) BBC/Blakeway Productions. https://bit.ly/mary-bell-documentarySereny, G. (1972) The Case of Mary...

"They chopped him." Those three words from the parents of Shawn Seesahai starkly describe their teenage son's death at the hands of two machete-wielding boys aged just 12, during a confrontation in a park in Wolverhampton, England.

So, are murderers getting younger? Broadly speaking, the answer is 'yes'.

Figures from the UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the percentage of homicide convictions going to under-16s compared with other ages doubled over 10 years, from about one in 50 in 2012/13 to one in 25 in 2022/23.

Sky News reports that the 2022/23 figure is the highest since at least 2008/09...

Join Jacques and Simon in the green room as they chat about future Psycho Killer true crime podcasts. If you'd like to hear more content like this – or there's a case you'd like us to cover – please let us know in the comments. And don't forget to like, share and all those other good things that help us to grow the podcast. Thank you, Psycho Killer fans everywhere!

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Spring, 1945. As Italy collapsed into anarchy and the Allies drove north, the fate of fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini, was in the hands of a partisan militia claiming to represent the country's legitimate government.

The death of Il Duce and his mistress Claretta Petacci marked the end of his rule, but not the end of Italian fascism. As Jacques Morrell discovered, the far right remains influential in present-day Italian politics.

So what exactly happened in those chaotic days in April 1945? Did Mussolini receive justice, or were his executioners just as bad as he was? In an age...

Benito Mussolini was a textbook psycho – arrogant, grandiose and heartless. He established a fascist dictatorship in Italy by brutally repressing his political opponents.

Mussolini invaded Ethiopia and Libya, where his troops committed extensive war crimes, including civilian massacres and the use of chemical weapons. He took Italy into World War Two, a national catastrophe that led to widespread death and suffering.

In the first of two podcasts, journalist Simon Ford and retired detective Jacques Morrell explore the events surrounding Mussolini's fall from power. How can a psycho enthral a nation – and are there lessons for our time...

People don't vanish into thin air, but it sometimes seems that way. Australia has a reputation for mysterious disappearances, but folk go missing everywhere, and families all over the world are left fearing the worst.

Sometimes foul play is afoot: a serial killer snatching victims off the street, or a stalker with a score to settle. In those cases, it can be decades before evidence of a crime comes to light.

The fear of sinister figures lurking in the shadows has inspired generations of horror movies. The most chilling, as you're about to hear, are based...

The podcast looks at the police investigation into the murder of Alfred Swinscoe, a coal miner who vanished without a trace in 1967. What do the police do when faced with a 50+ year-old cold case? The Psycho Killer team investigates.

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Jack the Ripper. The unknown serial killer murdered and mutilated at least five women in the East End of London in 1888.

Every time he gave the police the slip. He only made one mistake – dropping a piece of apron ripped from his fourth victim.

Catherine Eddowes was murdered in Mitre Square in the City of London. A copper found the apron piece in Goulston Street, less than half a mile away in Whitechapel.

So, what was the East End like at the time of the killings? And how would a modern homicide team investigate th...

Jack the Ripper – the serial killer who murdered at least five women in London's East End in 1888 – is the subject of a special Psycho Killer investigation.

M.P. Priestly is the author of 'Jack the Ripper – One Autumn in Whitechapel' and Jack the Ripper tour guide.

Mick kindly agreed to answer some questions from former major crime detective Jacque Morrell about the reliability of the witnesses who came forward.

Were they attention seekers? Were they profiteers? Or were they, perhaps, covering their tracks?

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/po...

Warning: graphic content

Mystery surrounds the mass murderer known as Jack the Ripper. He prowled the back streets of London's East End preying on the poor and the vulnerable.

This devil butchered his victims and left their mutilated corpses down dark alleys, on doorsteps, and in doss houses. Then, the killer vanished, seemingly into thin air.

What spurred the Ripper on his rampage? Some believe he was driven by dark forces conjured from hell itself. The evidence, they say, is plain to see––if you know what to look for.

In t...

Contains very strong language

Some said Mad Billy Hughes was born bad. He was a misogynist who let his fists do the talking.

But Mad Billy was worse than a knuckle-headed bully.

He was a psychopath — cunning, resourceful and ruthless.

And when he was cornered, he'd stop at nothing.




Location recording by Karl Cooper, Podcast Partners UK.

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1. Take an unremarkable, working class man, who idolises the soldier father he never knew.

2. Steep in military doctrine until rejected by the army.

3. Set aside while he retreats into a fantasy world and allow resentment to simmer for several years.

4. Then flambé his personal life, garnish with an illegal firearm, and serve to an unsuspecting copper – or three.



Acknowledgements

Featuring the song ‘Barry Prudom’ by Combat 84 (re-released by Splattered! Records, 2019) and extracts from the documentary, ‘Manhunt: Phantom in the Forest’ (ITV, 2002).

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Barry Prudom was a loner. A quiet bloke, obsessed with the army.

But the army wouldn't have him. So he made up his own fantasy world where he pretended he was in the special forces. And instead of a toy gun, Prudom had smuggled in the real thing.

His little friend was a Beretta Jaguar – his pride and joy – and they played happily together until one day, on manoeuvers when Prudom pulled the trigger. In a policeman's face.

Prudom went on the run. He killed again. And again. That summer of 1982 witnessed the biggest arme...

sex, violence, language

The newspapers called him the Sneinton Strangler after the district of Nottingham where he plied his trade.

Mark Martin operated in the shadows. While others walked by 'Reds', as he was known, always had time for the hungry and homeless.

But he was no Samaritan. He took what little they had – their benefits, their drugs, their remaining shreds of dignity. And when he had sucked them dry, Martin disposed of his victims – or got one of his henchmen to do the job for him.

Mark Martin was a ps...

Journalists Pip Watts and Simon Ford join retired major crime detective Jacques Morrell to investigate the life and crimes of one of Scotland's most reviled serial killers.

Peter Tobin, who died in October 2022, was exposed as a paedophile, rapist and murderer of at least three young women.

As he rotted in jail, Tobin's name became linked to a spate of sex murders in Glasgow in the 1960s – the so-called Bible John killings.

In this podcast, the team unearths evidence of unspeakable evil and cruelty in their search for answers.

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* This podcast contains topics related to suicide or self-harm.

It started as a family outing to pick juniper berries. It ended with the discovery of a charred body on a wooded mountainside near Bergen in Norway.

The Norwegian police ruled out murder and the coroner recorded a verdict of suicide. But speculation about the grisly discovery refused to go away.

It was 1970, the height of the Cold War. Stories of espionage started circulating. And the more amateur sleuths probed the mystery the more baffling the story became.

So Psycho Killer decided to...

Watch the video on YouTube https://bit.ly/bess-sheppard-murder

Bessie Sheppard lived a hard life in perilous times. That life was snatched from her after 17 years by a vagrant ex-soldier called Charles Rotherham. The crime horrified the community. So much so that they raised a memorial stone at the spot where Rotherham battered Bessie to death. The year was 1817. And as Simon Ford explains, Bessie's murder is the beginning of a story spanning more than two centuries.

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Legend has it evil stalks the backwoods of West Virginia — a blood-thirsty psychopath dressed in a rabbit suit. Generations of parents in Fairfax County have warned their children: 'Be good, or the Bunnyman'll get you!'

So who was this murderous character who became part of American horror folklore? Was Bunnyman a real serial killer or a figment of someone's imagination? And is he still out there — somewhere?

We went looking for answers. And you'll be surprised by what we found.

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Travel back in time to the London of Jack the Ripper and meet one of his psycho peers – Walter Chadwick. Following in the footsteps of renowned crime writer Jan Bondeson, the Psycho Killer team probes the backstreets and alleys of a city teetering on the edge of lawlessness. We go in search of answers – and what we find will shock you!

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Doctors promise to do no harm. Dr Buck Ruxton did the opposite. The crimes of this Lancashire physician justified the sensational headlines. The case marked a watershed in the acceptance of forensic science as we know it today.

Music credits
'Who's Been Polishing The Sun?' performance by Ambrose and His Orchestra, Decca Records, 1935.
'Lovely To Look At' performed by Eddy Duchin (vocals by Lew Sherwood), Victor Records, 1935.

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Dorothea Waddingham was a wicked woman. She poisoned an elderly widow and her disabled daughter for money. A jury found the Nottingham care-home owner guilty and she was hanged for murder. That was in 1936. But why was this mother sent to the gallows, leaving five young children to fend for themselves? Was the death penalty necessary? Why wasn't her sentence commuted to life imprisonment? And does the backstory cast doubt on the safety of Dorthea Waddingham's conviction? The Psycho Killer experts go in search of answers.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/psycho-killer-shocking-true-crime-stories--5005712...

The way police forces in England investigate unexplained deaths is to change in response to a "large number of very serious and very basic investigative failings" during the investigation into the serial killer Stephen Port.

Four new categories are to be made "to provide absolute clarity to officers", the Metropolitan Police and the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) have said.

Journalist Simon Ford and ex-serious crime detective Jacques Morrell, discuss the implications.

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Mahatma Gandhi said: 'the true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members'. In this case, the murders of a mother and daughter in Nottingham represent a damning indictment of British society in the 1930s. Nursing homes were unregulated, doctors played God, and their decisions went unchallenged. It was a toxic soup that nourished the likes of Dorothea Waddingham and Ronald Sullivan, as former homicide detective Jacques Morrell explains.

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A detective's powers of investigation. A journalist's nose for a story. Put them together and what have you got? The most authentic true-crime podcast out there!

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Psycho killers come in all shapes and sizes. This fellow fancied himself as a poet. His rage and resentment built up over the years. Then, in a carefully-planned murderous rampage, he set about annihilating his neighbours. Ex-homicide detective, Jacques Morrell, and journalist Simon Ford investigate Kosei Homi, Japan's 'Haiku Killer'.

Featuring special guest Pippa Phillips: @IpsaHerself https://ko-fi.com/pheagan

Acknowledgement: ABC News Australia

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Dr Sam Shepphard had it all – a brilliant career, a beautiful wife, a young family, and a gorgeous house overlooking Lake Eerie. Then, on Independence Day 1954, his dream life came tumbling down.

A bushy-haired burglar broke into the Sheppard residence and beat pregnant Marilyn Sheppard to death while she slept. At least, that was Dr Sheppard's story, and he stuck to it.

But the police and the courts were dubious – and the events of that summer night in Bay View, Ohio, would echo down the decades. The Psycho Killer team has been taking a fresh look at t...

He was suave, sophisticated, and a psycho killer through and through. Arthur Warren Waite's get-rich-quick plan involved the systematic murders of his parents-in-law, his wife, and any of her relatives who got in the way.

Waite was as audacious as he was ruthless. But could his jaw-dropping legal defence save him from the high-voltage embrace of Ol' Sparky? Step back in time to New York in its heyday – and the dastardly deeds of the Deadly Dentist!

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Why did Lee Harvey Oswald shoot JFK? We’ll never know. Jack Ruby saw to that. But we do know why Sirhan Bishara Sirhan assassinated Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. Sirhan was captured. And over the course of his life sentence, he’s gone on record about what motivated him.

Patrick Magee, the Brighton bomber, is less talkative. Magee tried to blow up Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet in 1984 – and he almost succeeded. Magee was a terrorist, a member of the Irish Republican Army. But was he a psychopath? And was Sirhan? We’ve been looking for answers...

The Metropolitan Police is without a Commissioner following the resignation of Dame Cressida Dick as London's police chief. A recent report about racist and sexist officers was one of many controversies she faced. Among the cases covered by Psycho Killer are:

- The murder of Sarah Everard by Wayne Couzens, a serving police officer (https://bit.ly/sarah-everard-wayne-couzens)
- The murder of Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman by Danyal Hussein (https://bit.ly/danyal-hussein)
- The investigation into Stephen Port, the Gridr Killer (https://bit.ly/grindr-killer)

Former West Yorkshire DCS Bob Taylor is...

Advisory: injury detail

Not much is known about William Sheward, a Victorian tailor-turned-pawnbroker. He loved the company of women – except, it seems, his wife. Did he marry her for love, or for money? Was William climbing the social ladder, or cooking up a get-rich-quick scheme?

The couple had a fiery relationship that flared up when they hit hard times. Their fall from grace preceded possibly the most gruesome crime ever committed in Norfolk — the Norwich Tabernacle Street Murder.

Featuring Graham Lewis from Anglia News as the voice of H. Woodcock.
The March Of The...

In the fortnight before Christmas 2006, the bodies of five missing women were discovered at locations near Ipswich in Suffolk. There was a serial killer on the loose and the police had to act fast. God only knew what he'd do if he wasn't stopped – and stopped quickly.

This podcast goes behind the scenes of the hunt for the psycho killer Steve Wright, with insight and analysis from our resident homicide investigator, Jacques Morrell. And we remember the women whose lives Wright cruelly cut short: Tania Nicol, Gemma Adams, Anneli Alderton, Annette Nicholls, and Paula Clennell.

Become a s...

It started with the unexplained deaths of four young, gay men, whose bodies were found in Barking, East London. It led to the conviction of Stephen Port, whose warped fantasies drove him to administer lethal doses of the date-rape drug, GHB.

But the case of the Grindr Killer is far from over, with calls for a Public Enquiry into allegations of
institutionalised homophobia at the Metropolitan Police.

But why did the 'catalogue of errors' come about? How were crucial errors made? Were processes, not people, to blame?

In this podcast, former major crime...

Part 3 of 3

Question: you've just killed someone; what's the quickest way to dispose of the body? If you live in northern Queensland, Australia, a simple answer presents itself. Dump the corpse in a crocodile-infested river. The "salties", as Australians call them, will do the rest.

That was Matthew White's plan after he murdered Donna Steele in Cooktown. But the plan backfired spectacularly thanks to advances in forensic science and a one-in-a-million DNA match.

The third and final part of our series about familial DNA looks at the 2017 murder of Donna Louise Steele and how...

Part 2 of 3

16-year-old Colette Aram had her whole life in front of her. But on Halloween 1986 she encountered Paul Stewart Hutchinson as he cruised her home village in Nottinghamshire in a stolen car. Hutchinson abducted Colette, raped and murdered her. Then he simply disappeared.

25 years later, police reopened the investigation. In this podcast, we go behind the scenes of the Colette Aram cold case with Psycho Killer's Jacques Morrell. He was part of the team that collared Hutchinson thanks to advances in DNA testing — and an incredible coincidence.

Become a supporter of this podcast: ht...

Part 1 of 3

This psycho killer made Jack the Ripper look like a choirboy. Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. committed at least 13 murders, 50 rapes, and 120 burglaries across California between 1974 and 1986.

Born on 8 November 1945, DeAngelo served in the US Navy during the Vietnam war. Afterwards, he joined the police but was fired for gross misconduct.

Before he was unmasked, DeAngelo was known as the Night Stalker, the Original Night Stalker, the Visalia Ransacker, and the East Area Rapist. But the name that stuck was the Golden State Killer.

DeAngelo committed his last rape/murder in 1986...

Advisory: violence, strong language.

When three young men disappeared in a small Yorkshire town, the finger of suspicion pointed to the local troublemaker. Paul Anthony Hobson was the president of the West Riding chapter of the Hell's Angels. He and his rag-tag gang of impressionable followers were behind most of the antisocial behaviour in Garforth, near Leeds. But was loud-mouthed Tony Hobson a killer? Even hardened detectives were shocked by what they found.

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Pre-sentencing reports are being prepared on David Fuller, the self-confessed murderer who also admitted sexually abusing more than 100 dead bodies in a hospital mortuary.

Fuller was unmasked s the 1987 Tunbridge Wells Bedsit Killer by DNA evidence. He'd lived a normal life under the noses of the police for more than three decades.

Detectives stumbled upon evidence of his other, sickening crimes when they raided his home in East Sussex.

Simon Ford, writer and journalist, and former major crime detective, Jacques Morrell, discuss the case and its fallout.

Acknowledgement: Kent Police/Sky News<...