Crimes That Shook Britain

Double murderer, John Sweeney, brutally murdered two of his girlfriends, dismembered their bodies and dumped them in canals. Handed two life sentences he was told he will die in prison. In a macabre twist, a key detective on the case tells how Sweeney allegedly hid clues to his killings in abstract paintings he produced, and how FIVE other girlfriends of his are currently missing as well.

In 1985, PC Keith Blakelock was brutally murdered during a riot on a housing estate in North London triggered after a black woman died of heart failure during a house search. Keith received more than 40 injuries during the sustained attack from a number of rioters. Nobody has been brought to justice for his murder to this date, despite three investigations and the arrests of over three hundred people.

One of the UK’s biggest sex trafficking rings was uncovered in Rochdale in 2012. In a horrific catalogue of abuse, girls as young as 13 were subjected to rape and torture by a gang of nine men. One 15-year-old girl was even ‘recruited’ by the gang to lure other girls into the trap. After plying them with alcohol and money, the victims would be raped by up to twenty men at a time. The gang were sentenced to between four and nineteen years for their crimes.

Estate agent, Suzy Lamplugh, disappeared in July 1986 after going to meet a client at a house in Fulham. Witnesses said they saw her arguing with a man near the address and then getting into a car. She has never been seen since. For almost thirty years police have followed many lines of enquiry – one being to identify who ‘Mr Kipper’ is that she went to meet. So far they have reached a dead end. In 1994 she was officially declared dead, presumed murdered. The strongest theory to date is that convicted rapist and killer, John Cannan, killed Lamplugh. But as yet, this hasn’t been proven. Cannan is already serving a life sentence with the recommendation he never be released.

On an October evening in 1977, 2 girls were enjoying a night out in the World’s End pub in central Edinburgh. The following day, one body was found on a beach, the other in a field. The girls were seen leaving the pub with two men but the identity of the killer would remain a mystery for the next 30 years. In 2007, Angus Sinclair was charged with the girl’s murder after new DNA evidence linked Sinclair and his brother in law Gordon to the murders. However the trial sensationally collapsed when a piece of crucial evidence was withdrawn. Unbeknownst to the jury, Hamilton had a history of sex attacks starting at the age of 16 and culminating him serving a life sentence for the murder of a 17 year old woman in Glasgow in 1978. In 2014, following the development of new DNA technology, Prosecutors successfully applied for a change in a century’s old law of double jeopardy, consequently allowing the same man to be tried twice for the same crime. This time, the trial proved successful and Sinclair was jailed for a minimum of 37 years. He has been described as Scotland’s worst serial killer and the authorities believe he may well have been responsible for numerous other murders.

The hunt for five year old April Jones, when she vanished in October 2012, was the largest missing person search in UK police history. April went missing whilst playing with her friends and was last seen getting into vehicle near her home in Machynlleth, mid-Wales. The nation held their breath as the hours, days and weeks rolled on, in the desperate hope to find her alive. But on the 6th October a local man, Mark Bridger was charged with her abduction and murder. Investigations in his background revealed that Bridger was a prolific user of child pornography and a paedophile. After a long and distressing trial, Bridger was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison with a whole life tariff. With unprecedented access to the Jones family and the police investigation, we reveal the true story behind this appalling crime and how April’s family have channeled their grief into campaigning for a safer internet.

In April 2007, Clare Wood met George Appleton on a dating website and they embarked on a relationship together. Unbeknownst to her, Appleton was a criminal with a severe history of violence against women. Several months later Clare decided to end the relationship, but Appleton was furious and began to torment Clare at home. Although she was interviewed by police several times, Clare's pleas for help went unheeded and her burnt body was discovered at her home in Salford in February 2009. Appleton had raped Clare, and then strangled her to death before setting her body alight. A police man-hunt for Appleton ensued, but after 5 days he was found hanged in a derelict pub, escaping justice. After years of hard work, a group of campaigners – this included Clare’s father, politicians and journalists - successfully launched Clare’s Law, a renewed version of a national scheme that allows people to find out if their partners have a history of violence. The programme contains exclusive interviews with Clare's father, Home Secretary Theresa May, and journalists and police officers instrumental in changing the law to give domestic violence sufferers ‘the right to know’.

When six children died in a house fire in Allenton, Derby in May 2012 it shocked the nation. Parents Mick and Mairead Philpott were seen visibly distraught in front of the press but just weeks later, they were charged with the murders. Now convicted of manslaughter for their children’s deaths, we uncover the reasons behind the arson attack on their own home. Speaking to eye witnesses who desperately tried to save the children’s lives, as well as family members and neighbours that knew the couple well, Title Role will unravel the real story behind the tragic deaths of Jade, John, Jack, Jesse, Jayden and Duwayne.

In broad daylight on a busy Woolwich street on 22nd May 2013, serving soldier Fusilier Lee Rigby was attacked and murdered by Islamic extremists Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale. The men used their car to strike the soldier from behind as he crossed the road. They then proceeded to use knives to hack at Lee’s body in an attempt to decapitate him before dumping him in the middle of the road. These sickening events were caught on camera phones by horrified onlookers and the killers were filmed claiming to have carried out the attack in the name of Allah. In a dramatic sequence of events, police arrived at the scene within minutes and shot at the two men as they ran towards them holding up their weapons. Both Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale were found guilty of murder at the Old Bailey. In this programme we speak to witnesses to the attack and experts on terrorism to examine how two young British men could be radicalized to such an extent that they killed an innocent man in the name of religion.

In the summer of 2010, the nation watched as police mounted one of the largest manhunts in British history. Raoul Moat went on the run after he shot and wounded his ex-girlfriend and killed her new partner in Newcastle.

Arguably Britain's most infamous serial killer, Peter Sutcliffe became known as The Yorkshire Ripper when he began murdering women in Yorkshire during the 1970's.

In the summer of 1993, gay men in London was being terrorised by a brutal killer. Colin Ireland, a loner from Southend in Essex, had made a macabre resolution - to become a serial killer.

Gripping documentary examining the fatal stabbing of 22-year-old motorist Stephen Cameron during an altercation on the M25 in 1996.

The unsolved murder of TV presenter and newsreader Jill Dando, who was shot outside her house in Fulham, London, in 1999.

The parents of innocent 11-year-old Rhys Jones, shot on his way home from football club in Liverpool 2007, speak about the harrowing day when they lost their son.

Eight year-old Sarah Payne's disappearance and murder shocked the nation.

Beverley Allitt was thought to be a 'model' nurse.

Estate agent Stephanie Slater was abducted in 1992 whilst showing a man around a house. For eight days she was locked in a makeshift coffin, raped and tortured before remarkably being released after a £175,000 ransom was paid by her boss. In this episode Stephanie relives her experience, giving detailed accounts of the time as well as how her life changed after the incident. We also reveal an exclusive interview with her father and police who were involved in the case.