June: Voice of a Silent Twin

June Gibbons chats with programme maker Jessica Gunasekara about the experience of creating their podcast 'June, Voice of a Silent Twin', after 30 years of shying away from the spotlight. They discuss everything from how the twins have been portrayed in the media before, to June’s hopes for the future.

First Broadcast on BBC Radio Wales 30th January 2024.

For the first time, June sees bundles of her clinical notes, records and correspondence from Broadmoor, shedding new light on her time there. The documents include letters from doctors and solicitors, test results, tribunal decisions, Home Office correspondence and even fan mail. Consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Chinwe Obinwa helps us decode this material and sheds some light on the system at the time including the cultural context.

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The now infamous twins are finally transferred from Broadmoor to a clinic nearer their home in Wales. They’re excited to be moving closer to their family and have hopes and dreams for their eventual release and their future lives. But what should have been a joyous occasion ends in unimaginable tragedy. Former Caswell Clinic psychiatrist Dr Tegwyn Williams speaks about his memories of that fateful day.

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After many years languishing in Broadmoor Secure Psychiatric Hospital, the twins continue their desperate fight to get out. June and Jennifer meet notorious fellow patients Ronnie Kray and the Yorkshire Ripper. And the now infamous sexual predator Jimmy Savile is a regular visitor to the hospital. The twins are given drugs which help them talk, but which have other undesired consequences. For the first time, June reveals how she wrote to doctors begging for her medication to be reduced so she could “be herself” once again.

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Aged just 19, June and Jennifer are given an indefinite sentence to Broadmoor Secure Psychiatric Hospital. They’d hoped for a short sentence to get the help they needed, and they have a childish excitement about going to Broadmoor. The reality of living alongside serial killers and rapists turns out to be a far cry from their idealistic expectation.

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June and Jennifer’s crime spree comes to an end after their biggest and most dangerous crime leads to arrest. Life behind bars is unbearable – the twins can’t cope when they’re apart and fight when they’re together. A visit from a journalist will change their lives forever. With insights from the twins’ diaries, and her own recollections, June takes us through their time in Pucklechurch Remand Centre as their big day in court approaches when their future will be decided.

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Fed up with being shut away in their room and with frustrations boiling over, June and Jennifer venture out in search of love and excitement. They’ve become obsessed with some American brothers and are determined to find them. June recounts how she and her sister started to turn against each other as they competed for the brothers’ affections, taking risks to impress the boys. When the brothers leave suddenly, the twins are bereft and take revenge on the world, with disastrous consequences.

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June and Jennifer have left school and shut themselves away in their room, living their lives through their dolls. They record their innermost thoughts in their diaries – feelings they felt unable to communicate to those around them. The twins dream of becoming famous authors and write vividly imagined stories, plays and novels. After some publishing success, they fear they’re wasting their youth and yearn for more teenage adventure – but at what cost?

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June and Jennifer’s elective mutism and slow synchronised movements lead to bullying and isolation at school. Teachers and experts try to help, but with little success. The twins leave school more isolated than ever, with few prospects, wondering what will become of them and fearing for their future. June now looks back on how these early experiences contributed to the tragic outcomes later in their lives.

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The story of identical twins June and Jennifer Gibbons, growing up in the 1970s, speaking only to each other and isolated from the outside world. After a short infatuation with some boys, they’re driven by heartache and a quest for revenge to a five-week crime spree. Aged just 19, they become the youngest women in Broadmoor Secure Psychiatric Hospital. The day of their release ends in tragedy.

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