Gore and Guilty

Calling all spooky fans.. Halloween is just around the corner! G&G is doing two Halloween specials - this is our first - all about the English witch trials. It's estimated that 500 to 1000 people were killed during witch trials - as you'll hear - they didn't have a great chance of survival. A lot of superstition and purposeful false claims, you wouldn't want to be called a witch back in the day.

Listen to this week's episode as Georgia talks through some infamous cases and how witch trials took place in England many years ago. Trigger warning, we do talk about some torture in this episode.

In this week's episode, we have decided to cover a topical and current case. Sarah Everard's killing rocked the whole of the UK. The reason? Sarah's killer: Wayne Couzens, was a serving police officer in the Metropolitan police. We talk through the horrific crime and how the police missed several opportunities to identify Couzens as an evil monster while he worked for the police. 

There's a general trigger warning for this episode. Every crime we cover is tragic but there's something particularly unsettling about this one. 

These unsolved cases are wrapped up in part two. G&G discuss the tragic assassination of Tommy Ballard, Crystal Rogers' father. As well as exploring potential theories and whether all the cases connected. What was the 'item of interest' the FBI found at the prime suspect's former house one month ago?

Bardstown is a small and beautiful town in the state of Kentucky. Between 2013 and 2015, Bardstown witnessed four shocking murders and one disappearance which remain unsolved to this day. The main question that whispers through this community - are they all connected?

One day in 1958, Shirley Hitchings found a silvery key resting on her pillow. The key fit no lock in her family's home and no one in the house had seen it before. As that day turned to night, Shirley and her family began to be haunted by a poltergeist called Donald. The hauntings lasted for 12 years - some of the stories boggle the mind. As word spread around the Battersea locals - the Hitchings family found themselves being front page news. However, were these real hauntings or an elaborate hoax? We discuss it all in this week's episode. 

Imagine a killer so brave, so cold and callous, that they'd partake in a TV gameshow after murdering several people. That's what John Cooper did after committing the Pembrokeshire murders. This week, G&G explore the Pembrokeshire killer John Cooper. In this fascinating case, police successfully prosecuted John for 4 murders after reopening a cold case. Some of John's crimes were particularly violent, and the extra sad part is some of his victims were simply trying to enjoy their holidays.

However, did John Cooper have other victims? Three cases stand out with ties to John Cooper. Which ones do you think he was involved with?

Imagine a killer so brave, so cold and callous, that they'd partake in a TV gameshow after murdering several people. That's what John Cooper did after committing the Pembrokeshire murders. This week, G&G explore the Pembrokeshire killer John Cooper. In this fascinating case, police successfully prosecuted John for 4 murders after reopening a cold case. Some of John's crimes were particularly violent, and the extra sad part is some of his victims were simply trying to enjoy their holidays. 

However, did John Cooper have other victims? Three cases stand out with ties to John Cooper. Which ones do you think he was involved with? 

Approximately 9 months after Madeleine McCann went missing, 9 year old Shannon Matthews is reported missing by her mother. Shannon was last seen outside her school gates - she never arrived home. It was as if Shannon had vanished off of the face of the earth. The community reaction was a beautiful display of tenacity, as many locals assisted with the search. However, everyone's fears worsened, as it is discovered that 1,400 registered sex offenders live in a 20 mile radius around Shannon's home. We don't want to spoil the twists and turns in this episode, but we will say this case has one of the most sinister twists you'll hear in a true crime kidnapping. Which person in Shannon's life isn't being truthful about their involvement? 

Why does Jodi Arias feel far more sinister than your regular murderer? Jodi's trial captured the attention of people across the World as they tried to wrap their heads around the details of this case. Travis Alexander, a devout Mormon, had the misfortune of meeting Arias in 2006. From that point on, she embedded herself into his life, torturing his emotions for years. On this episode of G&G, we talk through this case and the strange relationship Jodi and Travis had, before she savagely murdered Travis in his own home.