Bad People

The story of the biggest prison smuggling plot ever busted in the UK - and the love story at the heart of it.

Journalist Amber Haque untangles what happens when mental health nurse Amy Hatfield meets convicted criminal Joe Whittingham. Her investigation leads into a world of blackmail and manipulation, where you never quite know who to trust or who's watching.

Credits

How one of the first Tesco Clubcards was used to pay off a blackmailer threatening to poison frozen food. And how that Clubcard was used to catch him.

Presented by journalist and true crime documentary maker Amber Haque and criminal psychologist Dr Julia Shaw.

Producer: Ciaran Tracey with help from James Shield

Bad People is a BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds

Former Metropolitan Police officer, Wayne Couzens, kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard, in March, 2021.

Hosts Amber Haque and Dr Julia Shaw discuss the findings of The Angiolini Inquiry, and how the crime of indecent exposure may indicate a potential trajectory towards even more serious sexual and violent offending.

Producer: Lorna Reader

Bad People is a BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds.

Rob Parkes’ ex-wife lied about him being a drug dealer and a gang member. Then she tried to hire a hitman to have him killed.

Rob tells his remarkable story of abuse, narrow escapes and survival.

Presented by journalist and true crime documentary maker Amber Haque and criminal psychologist Dr Julia Shaw.

Producers: James Shield and Danita McIntyre

Bad People is a BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds

Ian Patterson was a sought after breast surgeon and patron of a charity supporting people with cancer, now he’s in prison.

He was sentenced to 20 years in 2017 for carrying out unnecessary and unapproved procedures.

Hosts Amber Haque and Dr Julia Shaw discuss the psychology of medical encounters and the prevalence of narcissism amongst surgeons.

Producer: Rachel Oakes

Bad People is a BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds.

Dr Gwen Adshead has spent almost thirty years working with the some of the most violent offenders in prisons and high security psychiatric facilities. Amber Haque and Dr Julia Shaw speak to Dr Gwen Adshead who is delivering this year's BBC Radio 4 Reith Lectures. She tells Bad People that to really understand violence we need to pay more attention to what perpetrators say about it.

Should the parents of a high school shooter be held criminally responsible for the actions of their son?

The landmark case of James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of US high school shooter Ethan Crumbley. They were charged with failing to prevent their son's fatal attack.

Presented by journalist and true crime documentary maker Amber Haque and criminal psychologist Dr Julia Shaw.

Producer: James Shield

Faye Dunn was a professional footballer who played for the England women's team. In 2020, police discovered she had another career in organised crime.

Amber Haque tells the story of how Faye and her father were rumbled in the biggest organised crime bust in British history. Dr Julia Shaw delves into the research on double lives and going into crime with a family member.

Producers: Maggie Latham, Lorna Reader and Fiona Woods

The story of how teenager Michelle Carter's text messages to suicidal boyfriend Conrad Roy resulted in death for him and a charge of manslaughter for her.

Hosts Amber Haque and Dr Julia Shaw discuss whether it should be a crime to encourage someone to take their own life?

Producers: Lorna Reader and Rachel Oakes.

Sherri Lynn Lamarche was the unassuming bookkeeper in a family real estate business in Nova Scotia. She was trusted so much that she managed to steal millions before anyone noticed.

Hosts Amber Haque and Dr Julia Shaw discuss how criminal psychology's model of the "fraud triangle" perfectly fits this ultimate office drama. It's a classic fraud story of opportunity, incentive and rationalisation.

Producers: Ciaran Tracey with help from Lorna Reader, Rhiannon Cobb and Shabnam Grewal