Intrigue

It's already late when the BBC team get a tip off that Scorpion's network of complicit lorry drivers might be operating from a new pick-up point. They stay hidden as events unfold.

Barzan Majeed - codenamed Scorpion - leads the Scorpion gang. He's on international most-wanted lists. He started his criminal career in Britain and went on to build a smuggling empire which now spans the globe.

An international police surveillance operation trapped more than 20 of his gang and almost netted Scorpion himself, but he was tipped off and escaped. BBC journalist, Sue Mitchell, and former soldier and aid worker, Rob Lawrie, team up to try to do what the police have been unable to achieve: to find Scorpion, to speak to him, to ask him to account for his crimes and to seek justice to those families he has harmed.

Their investigation takes them to the heart of an organised criminal gang making millions from transporting thousands of migrants on boat and lorry crossings that in some cases have gone dangerously wrong, causing serious injury and putting lives at risk. They witness his operation in action and record as intense situations unfold, where vulnerable people desperate for a better future, put their lives in the hands of ruthless and dangerous criminals.

To Catch a Scorpion is a BBC Studios Audio Production for BBC Radio 4 and is presented and recorded by Sue Mitchell and Rob Lawrie.

Sue and Rob hear transcripts of police surveillance tapes, broadcast for the first time as officers eavesdrop on calls between members of the Scorpion people smuggling gang.

Barzan Majeed - codenamed Scorpion - leads the Scorpion gang. He's on international most-wanted lists. He started his criminal career in Britain and went on to build a smuggling empire which now spans the globe.

An international police surveillance operation trapped more than 20 of his gang and almost netted Scorpion himself, but he was tipped off and escaped. BBC journalist, Sue Mitchell, and former soldier and aid worker, Rob Lawrie, team up to try to do what the police have been unable to achieve: to find Scorpion, to speak to him, to ask him to account for his crimes and to seek justice to those families he has harmed.

Their investigation takes them to the heart of an organised criminal gang making millions from transporting thousands of migrants on boat and lorry crossings that in some cases have gone dangerously wrong, causing serious injury and putting lives at risk. They witness his operation in action and record as intense situations unfold, where vulnerable people desperate for a better future, put their lives in the hands of ruthless and dangerous criminals.

To Catch a Scorpion is a BBC Studios Audio Production for BBC Radio 4 and is presented and recorded by Sue Mitchell and Rob Lawrie.

This is the hunt for a people smuggler, codenamed Scorpion, one of the central characters controlling the transport of migrants from the European mainland into the UK. It is a tense and disturbing investigation, recorded as it happened, in real time.

Barzan Majeed - codenamed Scorpion - leads the Scorpion gang. He's on international most-wanted lists. He started his criminal career in Britain and went on to build a smuggling empire which now spans the globe.

An international police surveillance operation trapped more than 20 of his gang and almost netted Scorpion himself, but he was tipped off and escaped. BBC journalist Sue Mitchell, and former soldier and aid worker, Rob Lawrie, team up to try to do what the police have been unable to achieve: to find Scorpion, to speak to him, to ask him to account for his crimes and to seek justice for those families he has harmed.

Their investigation takes them to the heart of an organised criminal gang making millions from transporting thousands of migrants on boat and lorry crossings that in some cases have gone dangerously wrong, causing serious injury and putting lives at risk. They witness his operation in action and record as intense situations unfold, where vulnerable people desperate for a better future, put their lives in the hands of ruthless and dangerous criminals.

As they edge ever closer they meet the people helping and supporting Scorpion, they unpick the financial side of his business funding his luxury life, they start to understand the man himself and to garner enough clues to trace his whereabouts.

To Catch a Scorpion is a BBC Studios Audio Production for BBC Radio 4 and is presented and recorded by Sue Mitchell and Rob Lawrie.

The dramatic hunt for one of Europe's most-wanted people smugglers, recorded as it unfolds.

BBC journalist, Sue Mitchell, and ex-soldier and aid worker, Rob Lawrie, go on a search for a crime boss: a people smuggler on the run, whose codename is Scorpion. He is one of the central characters controlling the transport of migrants from the European mainland into the UK.

Barzan Majeed - codenamed Scorpion - leads the Scorpion gang. He's on international most-wanted lists. He started his criminal career in Britain and went on to build a smuggling empire which now spans the globe.

An international police surveillance operation trapped more than 20 of his gang and almost netted Scorpion himself, but he was tipped off and escaped.

Sue and Rob, two seasoned investigators, team up to try to do what the police have been unable to achieve: to find Scorpion, to speak to him, to ask him to account for his crimes and to seek justice for the families he has harmed.

Their investigation takes them to the heart of an organised criminal gang making millions from transporting thousands of migrants on boat and lorry crossings that in some cases have gone dangerously wrong, causing serious injury and putting lives at risk. They witness his operation in action and record as intense situations unfold, where vulnerable people desperate for a better future, put their lives in the hands of ruthless and dangerous criminals.

As they edge ever closer, they meet the people helping and supporting Scorpion and unpick the financial side of his business funding his luxury life. As they start to understand the man himself, can they garner enough clues to trace his whereabouts?

To Catch a Scorpion is a BBC Studios Audio Production for BBC Radio 4 and is presented and recorded by Sue Mitchell and Rob Lawrie.

In this last programme of the series, the community of Cayucos is watching on and wondering how things will develop. Is there a way to handle a situation like this, where homelessness and wealth collide. Where a damaged man and a frail older woman come together to share a life?

The unusual romance between Dave and Carolyn captured the attention of the BBC Journalist Sue Mitchell as it was unfolding on her street. She spends a lot of time in California, she married an American and her award-winning journalism has been about the lives of people like Dave who inhabit the dangerous margins of society.

New episodes will be released on Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts. If you’re in the UK, listen to the latest full series of Intrigue first on BBC Sounds. https://bbc.in/3WEQS5W

Million Dollar Lover is produced at BBC Audio by the team behind The Boy in the Woods and is presented by Sue Mitchell.

The series is scripted by Winifred Robinson; the producers are Sue Mitchell and Joel Moors; the dramaturg is Flo Dessau and sound design is by Tom Brignall. The editor is Philip Sellars.

With special thanks to BBC Radio 4's Commissioning Editor Daniel Clarke.

With Carolyn’s daughters powerless to act, it looks like Dave might be on the brink of a receiving a small fortune from his 80 year old lover, Carolyn. She has promised to take care of him and says that he is the best thing to happen in her life. Her daughters do not believe she is in her right mind, but they cannot find anyone prepared to help them.

It is shaping up for a distressing battle when suddenly events take a turn for the worse.

The unusual romance between Dave and Carolyn captured the attention of the BBC Journalist Sue Mitchell as it was unfolding on her street. She spends a lot of time in California, she married an American and her award-winning journalism has been about the lives of people like Dave who inhabit the dangerous margins of society.

New episodes will be released on Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts. If you’re in the UK, listen to the latest full series of Intrigue first on BBC Sounds. https://bbc.in/3WEQS5W

Million Dollar Lover is produced by R&M Production, the team behind The Boy in the Woods and is presented by Sue Mitchell.

The series is scripted by Winifred Robinson; the producers are Sue Mitchell and Joel Moors; the dramaturg is Flo Dessau and sound design is by Tom Brignall

Things are reaching a head as worries grow about Carolyn’s decision to sell two houses, on a single plot. One of the houses is home to her grandson and his family and Carolyn does not appear to be totally sure about her decision. Her daughters are so concerned that they approach the estate agent begging him to stop things.

If he does not and the sale goes ahead, Dave could be looking at a sizeable amount of money being transferred into his name. Carolyn’s daughters could be seeing their worst nightmares coming true. And a homeless man who rode into Cayucos on a bike could soon be on the brink of achieving the sort of stability he could never have dreamed of.

The relationship between Dave and Carolyn captured the attention of the BBC Journalist Sue Mitchell as it was unfolding on her street. She spends a lot of time in California, she married an American and her award-winning journalism has been about the lives of people like Dave who inhabit the dangerous margins of society.

New episodes will be released on Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts. If you’re in the UK, listen to the latest full series of Intrigue first on BBC Sounds. https://bbc.in/3WEQS5W

Million Dollar Lover is produced at BBC Audio by the team behind The Boy in the Woods and is presented by Sue Mitchell.

The series is scripted by Winifred Robinson; the producers are Sue Mitchell and Joel Moors; the dramaturg is Flo Dessau and sound design is by Tom Brignall. The series Editor is Philip Sellars

In the idyllic seaside town of Cayucos, on the Californian coast, property is expensive, a home here can easily cost a million dollars or more. The property boom which has made people of Carolyn’s generation well off, has priced so many out of the market and made it expensive to rent. There is a growing problem with homelessness, a world that Dave knows well. Even now that he is living with Carolyn he has not cut his ties with the homeless and is determined to help when he can.

When Dave returns to Riverside, on the outskirts of Los Angeles, he visits some of the friends he lived alongside on the river bottom. There are tarpaulin covers stretching for miles, largely hidden by the trees and it is down there that we meet Rebecca. She is a crystal meth addict and offers him the pipe: he has made so much of leaving this world behind, but has he really?

In that same visit he goes back to the Gavilan mountains, a spaghetti Western landscape that is sun scorched and inhospitable. It was here that Dave lived with a famous Hollywood actress. A story which hardly seems true but which is and one which quickly raises new worries about Carolyn’s safety at his hands.

The relationship between Dave and Carolyn captured the attention of the BBC Journalist Sue Mitchell, an investigative journalist who reports on the lives of people like Dave who inhabit the dangerous margins of society.

New episodes will be released on Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts. If you’re in the UK, listen to the latest full series of Intrigue first on BBC Sounds. https://bbc.in/3WEQS5W

The series is scripted by Winifred Robinson; the producers are Sue Mitchell and Joel Moors; the dramaturg is Flo Dessau and sound design is by Tom Brignall

At first glance Carolyn appears to be a lucky woman who has led a charmed life: loved by her husband and daughters – prosperous and secure. But she has endured great hardship and in this episode it becomes a bit easier to understand why she initially felt so drawn to Dave and what he has come to represent in her life.

For his part, Dave is reluctant to dwell on his childhood, but he undoubtedly had a difficult start in life. Some of that damage has since been repeated in the lives of his children and grandchildren. As the bond between Carolyn and Dave deepens, she is clear about wanting to protect his future by helping him financially.

Relationships in your later years are never going to be plain sailing: there are usually long established patterns, and problems to contend with. Carolyn is on her own with these now that her daughters have been pushed to the side-lines of her life. She is struggling to drive at night and to do her tax returns and she is increasingly frustrated with Dave’s drinking and socialising

The story captured the attention of the BBC Journalist Sue Mitchell as it was unfolding on her street. She spends a lot of time in California, she married an American and her award-winning journalism has been about the lives of people like Dave who inhabit the dangerous margins of society.

New episodes will be released on Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts. If you’re in the UK, listen to the latest full series of Intrigue first on BBC Sounds. https://bbc.in/3WEQS5W

Million Dollar Lover is produced at BBC Audio by the team behind The Boy in the Woods and is presented by Sue Mitchell.

The series is scripted by Winifred Robinson; the producers are Sue Mitchell and Joel Moors; the dramaturg is Flo Dessau and sound design is by Tom Brignall

With Carolyn’s encouragement, Dave is making more effort to see his children, including his daughter, Cody. Like her Dad, Cody has struggled with crystal meth addiction and is sometimes sleeping rough in her car as she waits for a place in a recovery unit. She longs for her Dad’s love, but she has been let down by him in the past and cannot really trust that he has changed

In this episode BBC Journalist, Sue Mitchell, goes with Dave to Riverside, on the outskirts of Los Angeles. This is where Dave has spent a lot of his life and on a walk at a local landmark he discloses that it is also where he was locked up following a violent attack. As more secrets from his past emerge Sue catches glimpses of Dave’s anger and of his more sinister side.

The revelations go to the heart of the question everyone in Cayucos is asking: is Dave really a tender carer who will cherish Carolyn to the end as he promises, or is he a dangerous interloper who will fleece Carolyn – breaking her heart and her family?

New episodes will be released on Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts. If you’re in the UK, listen to the latest full series of Intrigue first on BBC Sounds. https://bbc.in/3WEQS5W

Million Dollar Lover is produced at BBC Audio by the team behind The Boy in the Woods and is presented by Sue Mitchell.

The series is scripted by Winifred Robinson; the producers are Sue Mitchell and Joel Moors; the dramaturg is Flo Dessau and sound design is by Tom Brignall