In 1868, 19-year-old railway porter Thomas Wells shot and killed Dover Priory stationmaster Edward Walshe after a disciplinary dispute. Wells showed little remorse and offered no resistance during his arrest. He was tried, found guilty, and became the first person executed privately under the new Capital Punishment Act.

I originally created this episode in 2020, but have now enhanced it with additional information

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Music:
"Long Note Three" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Epidemic Sound - Blood Lines

Deborah Gardner joined the Peace Corps in 1976, hoping to make a positive impact in Tonga.
She embraced the local culture and formed close bonds with the community.
But one volunteer, Dennis Priven, developed a disturbing fixation.
What followed would lead to tragedy and lasting controversy.

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Your support means the world to me and helps keep Prash’s Murder Map alive. I truly appreciate it!

Music:
"Long Note Three", “Constance" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

"Melancholia" - Credit: Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

ES_Maximum state - murder

Sources:
Weiss, Philip, ‘American Taboo: A Murder in the Peace Corps’, 2004, HarperCollins
Crimelibrary.org
‘November Member Spotlight: Emile Robert Hons’, FriendsofTonga.org, https://www.friendsoftonga.org/cpages/emilehons
‘Remembering the murder of PCV Deborah Gardner (Tonga)’, March 2023, Peace Corps Worldwide, https://peacecorpsworldwide.org/remembering-the-murder-of-pcv-deborah-gardner-tonga-2/

In July 1938, a woman’s body was discovered on Somerset Road in Wimbledon, just yards from Centre Court. The investigation revealed she had been murdered, prompting a nationwide search for van driver George Brain. In this episode, we explore Brain’s background, how the police tracked him to his hideout, and the revelations that emerged during the investigation.

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Explore the mysteries, folklore, and forgotten stories of Britain. Listen now: https://linktr.ee/curiousbritainpodcast

🙏 Thank You!
Your support means the world to me and helps keep Prash’s Murder Map alive. I truly appreciate it!


Sources:
Ancestry
National Archives
Evening Mail 14 July 1938
Evening Sentinel 14 July 1938
Yorkshire Evening Post, 15 July 1938
Daily Herald 18 July 1938
Daily Mirror 18 July 1938
Daily News (London) -  18 July 1938
Daily Express 19 July 1938
Daily Herald 21 July 1938
Sunday Despatch 24 July 1938
Daily Express 26 July 1938
Daily Mirror 27 July 1938
Daily Herald 20 September 1938  

Music: "Long Note Two" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ES_Even If I Go "Long Note Three" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In the early hours of August 1933, Charles Fox was murdered during a violent break-in at his West Bromwich home. The crime triggered a large-scale police investigation that uncovered a trail of forensic evidence linking the attack to 21-year-old Stanley Eric Hobday. As the manhunt intensified, Hobday’s movements led officers across the country. This episode explores a shocking crime, its swift resolution, and the public reaction that followed.

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🎧 Listen to my new podcast Curious Britain
Explore the mysteries, folklore, and forgotten stories of Britain. Listen now: https://linktr.ee/curiousbritainpodcast


Sources:

Ancestry
National Archives
Birmingham Daily Gazette - Saturday 12 December 1931
Daily Herald - Tuesday 29 August 1933
Leeds Mercury - Friday 01 September 1933
Daily Herald - Friday 08 September 1933
Daily Herald - Wednesday 27 September 1933
Shields Daily Gazette - Thursday 28 December 1933
Black Country Bugle 1 April 1999

Music:
"Long Note Two" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Unusual Suspects

In 1973, the body of a teenage boy surfaced in Shoreham Harbour, weighted down with concrete and secrets. Clive Olive was 16, a dreamer turned drifter, seduced by a violent subculture.
This episode unravels the chilling story of biker gangs, betrayal, and revenge in 1970s Britain.
The motive was personal. The violence, unforgettable.

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Explore the mysteries, folklore, and forgotten stories of Britain. Listen now: https://linktr.ee/curiousbritainpodcast

🙏 Thank You!
Your support means the world to me and helps keep Prash’s Murder Map alive. I truly appreciate it!


Sources:
The True Story of the Ollie Murder by Detective Chief Superintendent Jim Marshall
Angels of Death by Professor Hugh Johnson
Aberdeen Evening Express - 21 April 1973
Wolverhampton Express and Star 21 April 1973
Belfast News-Letter - 24 April 1973
Birmingham Daily Post -03 May 1973
The Scotsman - Wednesday 28 November 1973
Daily Mirror 30 November 1973 Wolverhampton Express and Star 3 Dec 1973
Daily Mirror 7 Dec 1973

Sidney Harry Fox and his mother Rosaline enjoyed staying at expensive hotels up and down the coast of southeast England, although they could rarely afford to pay. The staff at the Hotel Metropole in Paradise Street, Margate, were charmed by Sidney, who seemed so considerate and devoted to his mother. Little did they know that behind this performance, lay a history of fraud and deceit which would lead to the final act of murder.

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Explore the mysteries, folklore, and forgotten stories of Britain. Listen now: https://linktr.ee/curiousbritainpodcast

🙏 Thank You!
Your support means the world to me and helps keep Prash’s Murder Map alive. I truly appreciate it!

Music:
ES_Exile "Long Note Two" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 "Ominous" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

Sources: 
Ancestry
Commonwealth War Graves
Gloucester Citizen 7 December 1929
Daily Herald - Friday 14 March 1930
Western Gazette - Friday 14 March 1930
London Daily Chronicle - Monday 17 March 1930
Lancashire Evening Post - Thursday 27 March 1930
London Daily Chronicle - Tuesday 08 April 1930
Nottingham Evening Post - Thursday 17 April 1930
Hampshire Telegraph - Friday 25 April 1930
Sunday Mirror 2 October 1949
Liverpool Echo 15 December 1959
Tonbridge Free Press 2 January 1959
The Sunday Express, 31 July 1960
Mostly Murder by Sir Sydney Smith
Seaside Murders J.Goodman
Mama’s Boy by Bill Waddell

Charlotte Bryant was at the centre of a rural murder case that shocked an English village in 1935. When her husband died after a series of unexplained illnesses in their Dorset cottage, suspicions turned to poison. This true crime episode explores the investigation, the role of arsenic, and the events that led to one of Britain’s most infamous murder trials.

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🎧 Listen to my new podcast Curious Britain
Explore the mysteries, folklore, and forgotten stories of Britain. Listen now: https://linktr.ee/curiousbritainpodcast

🙏 Thank You!
Your support means the world to me and helps keep Prash’s Murder Map alive. I truly appreciate it!

Music:
"Long Note Two" and “Lightless Dawn” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Unusual Suspects

Sources:
Daily Herald - Thursday 02 January 1936
Sheffield Independent - Friday 20 March 1936
Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser - Wednesday 04 March 1936
Coventry Evening Telegraph - Thursday 28 May 1936
Dundee Courier - Friday 29 May 1936
Gloucestershire Echo - Thursday 28 May 1936
Weekly Dispatch (London) - Sunday 31 May 1936
J.D. Casswell - A Lance for Liberty

When Dawn Viens vanished in 2009, her husband David claimed she’d left after an argument.
Two years later, he confessed to killing her — and offered a chilling explanation.
Despite no body being found, he was convicted of second-degree murder.
This true crime episode investigates control, violence, and a shocking confession.

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🎧 Listen to my new podcast Curious Britain
Explore the mysteries, folklore, and forgotten stories of Britain. Listen now: https://linktr.ee/curiousbritainpodcast

🙏 Thank You!
Your support means the world to me and helps keep Prash’s Murder Map alive. I truly appreciate it!


Sources:
Altman, Larry, ‘Lomita restaurateur who killed wife, allegedly cooked her body denied parole’, June 2021, Daily Breeze, https://www.dailybreeze.com/2021/06/08/lomita-restaurateur-who-killed-wife-disposed-of-body-denied-parole/

Powers, Ashley, ‘Chef says he cooked wife’s body for four days’, September 2012, Los Angeles Times, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2012-sep-18-la-me-restaurateur-20120919-story.html       

‘Yelp Users Review Thyme Cafe, Restaurant Owned By Chef Accused Of Killing And Cooking His Wife’, September 2012, Huffington Post, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/david-viens-lomita-chef-killed-cooked-wife-yelp-review-thyme-cafe_n_1900990

Music:
"Long Note Three" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In Victorian London, Henry Wainwright, a once-respected businessman, leads a double life of deception, infidelity, and mounting debt. When his mistress, Harriet Lane, becomes an inconvenient burden, he devises a gruesome solution.

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Explore the mysteries, folklore, and forgotten stories of Britain. Listen now: https://linktr.ee/curiousbritainpodcast

🙏 Thank You!
Your support means the world to me and helps keep Prash’s Murder Map alive. I truly appreciate it!

Music:
Epidemic Sound - Exile
Epidemic Sound - Terra Firma
Epidemic Sound - Eternal Moment

Sources: 
The Penny Illustrated Paper 25 September 1875
Illustrated Police News - Saturday 23 October 1875
Illustrated Police News - Saturday 27 November 1875
Bondeson, Jan; “Victorian Murders”, 2017, Amberley Publishing
Rowland, David, “Executioners from 1850 to 1964”, 2014,  https://www.oldpolicecellsmuseum.org.uk/content/history/local-historians-history/david-rowland/executioners/part_2

During the blackout nights of WWII London, under the haunting wail of air raid sirens and the devastation of the Blitz, one of the city’s most chilling true crimes was quietly buried beneath the rubble. In this episode, we uncover the twisted tale of Rachel Dobkin, whose dismembered and burned body was discovered in a bombed-out chapel in 1942. As Londoners struggled through nightly raids and rationing, someone used the chaos of war to commit murder—and almost got away with it.

For further information on my latest book Wartime London’s ‘Bonnie and Clyde’: The Crime Spree of Betty Jones and Karl Hulten please visit https://prashganendran.com/the-cleft-chin-murder/

Prefer to watch on YouTube? Check out the video version here

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Explore the mysteries, folklore, and forgotten stories of Britain. Listen now: https://linktr.ee/curiousbritainpodcast

🙏 Thank You!
Your support means the world to me and helps keep Prash’s Murder Map alive. I truly appreciate it!  

Music:
Unusual Suspects

Sources:
Ancestry
Murderous History London Blitz Killer, Channel 5
Evening Despatch - Thursday 27 August 1942
Daily Mirror - Saturday 12 September 1942
Daily Express - Wednesday 18 November 1942
Daily Herald - Friday 20 November 1942
Derby Daily Telegraph 23 November 1942
Daily Mirror - Tuesday 24 November 1942
Daily News 24 November 1942