Crime Insiders

In 2006, underworld figure Lee Patrick Torney vanished without a trace. Nearly a year later, forensic anthropologist Dr. Soren Blau was lowered into an abandoned mineshaft outside the old gold-mining township of Chewton, near Castlemaine, Victoria. Soren pieced together the secret clues hidden on the surface of bones and what they showed about injuries and the circumstances of death.

Soren also revisits another landmark case that reshaped forensic science, with the first ever exhumation of a murder suspect in the United Kingdom.

Host Liz Porter sits down with Soren to find out how her pioneering use of familial DNA helped unmask a serial killer.

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In 2021, a neatly dressed man in his 60s walks into a Sydney Police Station. He looks like a regular guy. But police are stunned - this isn’t just any man. It’s Darko Desic. A fugitive who escaped from Grafton Prison with a hacksaw and bolt cutters three decades earlier. A man who was a prolific weed grower. A man who lived in hiding for 30 years - right under the noses of the police. 

How did he do it? How did he evade capture for so long? And why, after all that time, did he finally give himself up? 

That’s what journalist Tim Elliot set out to uncover in the latest season of LiSTNR’s documentary series, Secrets We Keep.

If you’re hooked and want more, click here to go straight to episode 2. 

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Two people vanish without a trace from Logan, south of Brisbane in Queensland. 

They hadn’t been seen in days. Their phones rang out. Their social media...silent. 

Something had happened, but no one could possibly have predicted what was about to unfold…

This episode contains references to violent crime. If you or anyone you know needs assistance, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14. 

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It took 37 years, a failed murder trial, and an Australian mathematician to finally prosecute one of Scotland's most infamous serial killers.

Professor David Balding is a pioneer in the field of mathematical computational genetics. In this Rewind episode of Crime Insiders Forensics, former host Kathryn Fox learns how David uses tools like probability to calculate the likelihood of DNA belonging to offenders, victims, and crime scenes.

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The courtroom drama that gripped Australia has finally reached its conclusion. Erin Patterson, the woman at the centre of the nation’s most infamous murder case in recent history, has been sentenced to life for three counts of murder.  

Justice Beale did not hold back in his scathing remarks, saying Erin had zero remorse, chilling premeditation, and victims left across generations. 

In this special bonus episode from The Briefing podcast, criminologist Xanthe Mallett joins Natarsha Belling to unpack the sentence, the judge’s remarks, and the question that still lingers: why did Erin do it? 

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Dr Peter Tickner is a seasoned auditor with over 40 years of experience across the NHS, central government and police. 

Peter became Head of Internal Audit of Her Majesty’s Treasury in 1988. In 1995 Peter left to become Director of Internal Audit for the Met Police, a post he held until early retirement in 2009, when he set up his own consultancy and fraud investigation business.

Host Brent Sanders sits down with Peter to discuss his role in high-profile investigations and the challenges of maintaining integrity in the face of institutional resistance.

From the intricacies of the Leveson Inquiry to the unexpected twists in his career, Peter's insights offer a rare glimpse into the world of forensic auditing.

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A stolen car, a drunken joyride, and a woman left with injuries so severe, she’ll live with them for the rest of her life.

What happens when a crime becomes a civil lawsuit?  When the thief becomes the victim and the driver becomes the one left holding the legal wheel?

Miller v Miller is one of Australia's most significant legal challenges, determining if someone is still involved in the committing of a crime if they actively pursue leaving the criminal enterprise.

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In 1997, two young girls from Bega in regional New South Wales were kidnapped, raped and murdered. 

In this Rewind episode of Crime Insiders | Detectives, former host Adam Shand talks with former NSW Detective Sergeant Mark Winterflood to sift through the details and process of receiving the first notifications of the missing girls. 

He explains the hard reality of not pursuing clues and following them to the end, how important it was to maintain a good relationship with the perpetrator and having to deliver the hard news to the parents.

****A warning – this case details the heinous crime of the Bega school girls, and involves abduction, violence, rape and murder****

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Aged just 13, Thomas Carrick was placed under covert surveillance by the Australian Federal Police and lured into online conversations with them, posing as fake ISIS operatives. Ultimately, he was charged with terrorism offences. The most powerful intelligence agencies in the country knew Thomas had a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, and lived with an intellectual disability. Yet undercover operatives continued to engage with him in what a judge later described as ‘grooming’ for terrorist activities.

But was Thomas ever truly dangerous… or simply a vulnerable boy, lost in a make-believe world crafted by highly trained police?

In this episode, counter-terrorism expert Peta Lowe takes us inside the Thomas Carrick case, and reveals what it tells us about the rising threat of youth radicalisation in Australia.

You can also hear Peta in Secrets We Keep: Lone Actor.

This episode references extremist ideology and violent crime. If you need assistance, contact LifeLine on 13 11 14. 

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A woman wakes to a tragic accident on her rural Queensland property. She’s told one of her friends has fallen into a woodchipper. He was clearing trees with two other men at the time, but police soon suspect his death was no mishap and a murder investigation commences. They want to find the people responsible, and after the news goes public, members of the community share some theories with the police. Investigative journalist Tara Cassidy has been covering this case for years, and speaks to those who knew the victim, and potential perpetrators. 

All people convicted of murder related to this case have lodged their intentions to appeal the outcomes. At the point of publishing this podcast those appeals have not progressed further. 

Go straight to episode two here and binge the rest of the series. 

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