Scotland Yard Confidential

In 1891, just three years after the serial killer known as Jack the Ripper carried out his horrific crimes in Whitechapel, another sadistic murderer began targeting sex-workers in a different area of London. The Lambeth Poisoner had killed four young women before Scotland Yard detectives began to suspect murder. This time they were determined that the prolific killer would not escape justice. The task of catching the poisoner eventually fell to one of Scotland Yard's star detectives, as Inspected John Bennett Tunbridge began the most challenging and high-profile case of his career.

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In the leafy suburb of Richmond, on 5th March 1879, a strange box washes up on the banks of the Thames near Barnes Railway Bridge. Inside, the dismembered remains of a woman kick off a case that will become known as the Barnes Mystery. At first unable to even identify the victim, Scotland Yard are at a loss — until a couple of concerned witnesses step up, and the whole gruesome case unravels.

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In the 1980s, London was rocked by a wave of violent armed robberies. One of the most daring was the raid on the Brink’s Mat security warehouse in Hounslow. It was also the most lucrative by far, netting the thieves a cool £26 million in gold bullion, and leaving in its trail a wake of violence and death. An elite unit was tasked with bringing the gang to justice, Scotland Yard’s Flying Squad. From the outset, Flying Squad officers suspected the robbers had inside help. But which of the guards was responsible, and how to prove it?

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In February 2011, police on patrol in Blackheath, London, spot a burning car half-hidden up a quiet lane. When the fire is put out and they’re able to investigate, they discover the burned body of a young man in the boot. With no way to identify him from the charred remains, they set about tracing the vehicle registration and find it belongs to a young man called Gagandip Singh. Gagandip told his family he went to a party the night before, but he didn’t come home and hasn’t been seen since. Is the body in the car the missing Gagandip? Or has he committed a terrible crime and fled the scene? DCI Damian Allain knows that the next 24 hours will be crucial to finding the killer. What they uncover is a chilling tale of a love triangle, a honey-trap, and a plot for revenge taken too far.

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Investigating the murder of 3-year-old Saville Kent in Wiltshire in 1860, Inspector Whicher of Scotland Yard couldn’t help ruffling feathers. His theory about the killer’s identity brought him into conflict with the local police, but his hunt for a crucial piece of evidence ended in frustration. Although he believed he knew who the murderer was, the case remained unsolved when he retired from the force four years later, his reputation in tatters. Then a startling confession blew the case wide open and vindicated the great detective.

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When the body of 3-year-old Saville Kent was found with his throat cut at his home in Wiltshire, local magistrates appealed for a detective from London to solve the case. In 1860, Inspector Jonathan Whicher was Scotland Yard’s star detective, making him the natural choice for the job. But by the time he arrived on the scene, much of the evidence had either been removed or destroyed. And Wiltshire police had already arrested a suspect. The only problem was, Inspector Whicher was not at all convinced they had the right person.

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The Fingerprint Department at Scotland Yard was established in 1901, growing out of a system of detailing body measurements to validate evidence at crime scenes. Despite early enthusiasm for the ground-breaking technique and some good support from leading detectives, by 1905, the department had still only managed to secure one conviction using the technique — for a burglary that took place in 1902. So when police find a clear thumbprint at the scene of a double murder, they throw their best men at solving the case and getting their first-ever murder conviction using fingerprint technology. Three Scotland Yard heavyweights — Detective Chief Inspector Fox, a leading detective at the Yard; Inspector Charles Stockley Collins, head of the fingerprint department; and none other than Assistant Commissioner for Crime, Sir Melville Macnaghten — are about to make history.

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In 2010 the body of young MI6 agent Gareth Williams was found locked inside a holdall. Scotland Yard was called in to investigate, but from the beginning it was clear that MI6 wanted detectives to keep their distance. Some claim that Gareth somehow climbed into the bag and died by accident...but that doesn’t explain how it got locked from the outside. Was Gareth Williams’ death the result of a foreign intelligence hit? And if so, how could Scotland Yard possibly investigate it without upsetting the most powerful espionage agencies in the world?

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Early in his career, the great Scotland Yard detective Robert Fabian pitched himself against a suave and daring cat-burglar. Robert Augustus Delaney was responsible for a one-man crime wave targeting London’s wealthiest homes in the 1920s. His exploits even gained the admiration of the police who were chasing him. But behind the glamorous exterior of the gentleman thief, lay the secrets of a dark past. For Fabian, capturing the elusive thief was an opportunity not just to put a master criminal behind bars, but also to make his own reputation.

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Once, Anthony Hardy’s life seemed to be going along conventional lines. He married his university girlfriend, got a good job after graduating, and settled down to have a family. Then something went wrong. Just how wrong became clear in 2002 when a homeless man made a grisly discovery in a Camden bin. Police followed a trail of body parts to Hardy’s sinister lair, where they found the remains of his latest victim. They knew that he had killed before. If they didn’t stop him, he would certainly kill again.

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