On the morning of 10th October 2011, 58-year-old Sally Hodkin left her house in Bexleyheath for her usual walk to work. She was 500 yards from her own front door when she was attacked and killed by Nicola Edgington, a woman who had murdered her own mother six years earlier and had been released back into the community by the NHS.

In the hours before Sally's death, Edgington had told police she was dangerous, walked out of a psychiatric unit, and begged multiple services to help her. Nobody listened.

This week Rachel takes Hannah through every missed opportunity, every form that wasn't sent and every door that should have been locked. It's a long one, but every minute of it matters.

Trigger warnings: fatal stabbing, mental health crisis, drug use, miscarriage & graphic violence.

Sources include:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-46022330
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-40378509
https://www.england.nhs.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2017/06/Report-of-the-independent-investigation-into-the-care-and-treatment-of-Ms-A.pdf
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21321005
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicola_Edgington
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-66842327
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-21652436
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21195602
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-24868749
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21653018
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21260313
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21374967
https://www.hundredfamilies.org/independent-investigation-hodkin-family-statement/
https://www.itv.com/news/london/2023-09-20/victims-family-warns-she-will-kill-again-as-conviction-could-be-downgraded
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/mar/09/sally-hodkin-nhs-mental-health
https://www.london-now.co.uk/news/25968695.bexleyheath-killer-nicola-edgington-loses-murder-conviction-appeal/
https://www.channel4.com/news/suspect-left-mental-health-unit-before-stabbing
https://murderpedia.org/female.E/e/edgington-nicola.htm
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-46034803
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/nicola-edgington-meat-cleaver-murder-manslaughter-court-of-appeal-b1107644.html
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2874993/police-in-100k-bid-to-cover-up-murder-of-gran-by-mental-health-patient-who-pleaded-to-be-sectioned/
https://www.hundredfamilies.org/sally-hodkin-memorial-match-2017/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-15280814
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/17/nhs-pays-psychotic-killers-to-give-health-advice/

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in! If you loved diving into the dark corners of South London with us, don't forget to hit that subscribe button to never miss an episode of "Sinister South."

Also, follow us on Instagram @SinisterSouthPodcast for sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and more cheeky banter, or www.sinistersouthpod.co.uk. Remember, every crime tells a story... and South is the best side of the river... 

Produced and hosted by Hannah Williams & Rachel Baines
Mixed & edited by Purple Waves Sound (A.K.A Will)

This week, we go back to 1831 and the Croydon Canal, where two empty boats were found drifting on still water. A week later, the body of a pregnant woman surfaced. Her name, or at least the name history gives us, was Mary Clarke.

Mary had been seen days earlier preparing to meet the father of her unborn child. She was dressed in a fine cotton gown, a black silk cloak and a white straw bonnet, with a small key in her pocket that remains one of the most frustrating details of the case. But despite her injuries, despite the missing companion who vanished from the record, and despite the two unnamed men last seen with her, the inquest returned a verdict of “found drowned”.

Nearly 200 years later, we’re left with a woman no one claimed, a canal that no longer exists, and a question that still hasn’t been answered: who put Mary Clarke in the water?

This episode includes discussion of pregnancy, suicide, violence against women, murder, drowning and historical attitudes towards unmarried pregnant women. 

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in! If you loved diving into the dark corners of South London with us, don't forget to hit that subscribe button to never miss an episode of "Sinister South."

Also, follow us on Instagram @SinisterSouthPodcast for sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and more cheeky banter, or www.sinistersouthpod.co.uk. Remember, every crime tells a story... and South is the best side of the river... 

Produced and hosted by Hannah Williams & Rachel Baines
Mixed & edited by Purple Waves Sound (A.K.A Will)

This week, after a truly chaotic opening involving a pork pie-related road traffic incident, pocket hummus at the Palladium, Paul McCartney’s Meat Free Mondays, and the questionable social etiquette of bringing a meze board into a theatre, we turn to the heart breaking unsolved murder of 16-year-old Andrea Troupe.

In May 1983, Andrea was found dead in Warwick Gardens, Peckham. She had been stabbed more than 12 times and was later revealed to have been pregnant, something her family had not known. More than 40 years later, nobody has ever been charged with her murder.

Andrea’s case sits against the backdrop of 1980s South London, a time of deep mistrust between Black communities and the police, following the New Cross house fire and the Brixton uprising. It also becomes tangled in the disturbing story of convicted double murderer Michelle Smithyman, whose reported confessions raised even more questions than they answered.

This is a story about a young girl whose life was brutally taken, a family left without answers, and a case that still deserves attention.

Sources include: 

https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/brother-pleads-for-help-to-find-killer-of-sister-37-years-ago/

http://www.blackkalendar.nl/c/4016/John%20Michael%20Smithyman

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-34712868

https://www.mylondon.news/news/south-london-news/murderer-confesses-part-fire-killed-22027197

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/double-murderer-confessed-killing-girl-25561274

https://crimeimmemorial.com/2024/09/11/andrea-troupe/

http://www.unsolved-murders.co.uk/murder-content.php?key=8371&termRef=Andrea+Troupe

https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/13944316.michael-smithyman-who-murdered-the-mother-of-his-child-in-meopham-may-have-killed-13-others-according-to-bbc-report/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/audio_video/programmes/panorama/transcripts/transcript_03_03_97.txt

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-13324293/Double-murderer-hold-key-solving-1981-New-Cross-fire-Killer-serving-life-told-cops-mystery-teen-started-house-blaze-killed-13-black-partygoers-Britains-notorious-unsolved-mass-murder.html

https://www.meopham-pc.gov.uk/content/meopham-chronology-0

http://www.tmg-uk.org/did-met-police-halt-new-cross-fire-investigation/

https://www.voice-online.co.uk/news/uk-news/2017/03/01/new-cross-fire-victims-cousin-demands-new-enquiry/

https://www.newsdons.com/2021/10/31/double-murderer-confesses-part-in-unsolved-new-cross-fire/

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in! If you loved diving into the dark corners of South London with us, don't forget to hit that subscribe button to never miss an episode of "Sinister South."

Also, follow us on Instagram @SinisterSouthPodcast for sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and more cheeky banter, or www.sinistersouthpod.co.uk. Remember, every crime tells a story... and South is the best side of the river... 

Produced and hosted by Hannah Williams & Rachel Baines
Mixed & edited by Purple Waves Sound (A.K.A Will)

Welcome back, Trevors! It's season four and we are BACK, although you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise given the chaos of recording this one (third intro, second go at the case, Hannah's suitcase touring Luton solo). Stick with us.

This week, Hannah takes us to a quiet Wednesday night in October 1993, when a 44 year old former maths teacher turned beat bobby cycled onto Cato Road in Clapham. PC Patrick Dunne never made it home. Neither did his neighbour William Danso, a Ghanaian doorman and father of five, gunned down in his own hallway for being good at his job.

The man who pulled the trigger was Gary Lloyd Nelson, a 24 year old gangster nicknamed Tyson, with a fuse so short he'd fired five shots at a van driver for overtaking him. The evidence was staggering. The CPS dropped it anyway. What followed was a 12 year fight by two families who refused to let the system forget.

Settle in.

Sources for this case include:

https://thepolicememorialtrust.org/pc-patrick-dunne/

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/feb/18/ukguns.rosiecowan

https://www.londonremembers.com/subjects/pc-patrick-dunne

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4717168.stm

https://x.com/metpoliceuk/status/1065279526656241664

https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/52225/pc-patrick-dunne

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1510792/Gangster-who-gunned-down-Pc-is-sent-to-jail-for-35-years.html

https://murderpedia.org/male.N/n/nelson-gary-lloyd.htm#google_vignette

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/roadrage-driver-gets-eight-years-for-gun-attacks-1596553.html

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/gangster-jailed-for-pc-death-may-have-killed-four-others-a3293531.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hijVRJrS9VA

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kQCD9LFV2Qs

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4703356.stm

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in! If you loved diving into the dark corners of South London with us, don't forget to hit that subscribe button to never miss an episode of "Sinister South."

Also, follow us on Instagram @SinisterSouthPodcast for sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and more cheeky banter, or www.sinistersouthpod.co.uk. Remember, every crime tells a story... and South is the best side of the river... 

Produced and hosted by Hannah Williams & Rachel Baines
Mixed & edited by Purple Waves Sound (A.K.A Will)

In October 2009, two men were brutally murdered inside a flat in West Norwood, South London. Donald MacPherson, a Scottish chef and grandfather, and Luciano Schiano, a familiar face on Streatham High Street where he sold The Big Issue, were attacked with a level of violence detectives later said “beggared description.”

Before we get into the grim detail though, there’s the usual warm-up: Han having to tense herself up all over again after our trip to what can only be described as a home for the bewildered – complete with ratatouille and couscous. Then we dive into the case itself, side quests and all.

Sources for this episode include:

https://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/4705627.daughters-of-west-norwood-double-murder-victim-make-appeal-to-find-killer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-10644912

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10379097

https://stevekeogh.com/books

https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/south-london-double-murder-flat-looked-like-an-abattoir-6723775.html

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/murdered-chef-in-wrong-place-at-wrong-time-55ht0v3ss3q

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/family-tell-of-heartbreak-at-murder-of-chef-1064391

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/two-guilty-of-savage-murder-of-chef-and-flatmate-2026332.html

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in! If you loved diving into the dark corners of South London with us, don't forget to hit that subscribe button to never miss an episode of "Sinister South."

Also, follow us on Instagram @SinisterSouthPodcast for sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and more cheeky banter, or www.sinistersouthpod.co.uk. Remember, every crime tells a story... and South is the best side of the river... 

Produced and hosted by Hannah Williams & Rachel Baines
Mixed & edited by Purple Waves Sound (A.K.A Will)

In February 2003, nineteen-year-old Marsha McDonnell stepped off a bus yards from her front door in Hampton and never made it home. Eighteen months later, twenty-two-year-old Amélie Delagrange was found dying on Twickenham Green after missing her stop on a late-night bus. Two women. Two streets we know. One man responsible for both — and for so much more besides.

This week Rachel tells the story of Levi Bellfield: the wheel-clamper and nightclub bouncer who stalked bus stops across south-west London for years before anyone caught him, and whose crimes would eventually bring down one of the most powerful newspapers in the world. We hear from the women who survived him, the ex-partner whose courage finally got him arrested, and the daughters who had to rebuild their lives in his shadow.

A content warning before you listen: this episode contains descriptions of violence, sexual abuse, and coercive control.

Sources include:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/feb/08/vikramdodd

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2736407.stm

https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/the-man-who-killed-amelie-and-marsha-6615651.html

https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/marsha-killing-new-clue-7223992.html

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/mar/13/ukcrime

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8122841/marsha-mcdonnell-levi-bellfield-murder/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46787240

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/oct/17/ukcrime.france

https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/reports/a25746134/milly-dowler-killer-caught-manhunt-amelie-delagrange/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Bellfield

https://news.sky.com/story/manhunt-detective-who-caught-milly-dowler-murderer-levi-bellfield-reveals-tricks-police-used-in-battle-with-serial-killer-12354796

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/nov/22/ukcrime

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-37926858

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/marsha-mcdonnell-died-yards-from-her-home/a/119479412.html

www.bbc.com/news/uk-13455748

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jun/27/levi-bellfield-defence-milly-dowler

https://www.richmondandtwickenhamtimes.co.uk/news/271777.marshas-murder-link-to-strawberry-hill-attack/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-41652456

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_npFjpBJjw

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in! If you loved diving into the dark corners of South London with us, don't forget to hit that subscribe button to never miss an episode of "Sinister South."

Also, follow us on Instagram @SinisterSouthPodcast for sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and more cheeky banter, or www.sinistersouthpod.co.uk. Remember, every crime tells a story... and South is the best side of the river... 

Produced and hosted by Hannah Williams & Rachel Baines
Mixed & edited by Purple Waves Sound (A.K.A Will)

This week’s episode comes with a very serious warning.

We’re covering the case of Ellie Butler, a six-year-old girl whose death shocked the country and exposed devastating failures within the child protection system.

Before we get into the case, we talk honestly about how difficult this one has been for us to research and record, and why we felt it was important to flag that upfront. This is not an easy listen.

Ellie was known as a bright, creative little girl, raised by her grandparents from just weeks old. But after a controversial court decision, she was returned to her parents, despite years of warnings, evidence, and concern from professionals.

What follows is not just the story of one man’s violence, but a sequence of decisions that left a child unprotected.

We cover:

•  The early signs that something was wrong 
•  The legal battle that led to Ellie being returned home 
•  The systemic failures that followed 
•  And the events of the day Ellie died 

This episode contains discussions of child abuse, domestic abuse, and the death of a child.

Please take care while listening. If this isn’t one you can face right now, that’s completely okay.

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in! If you loved diving into the dark corners of South London with us, don't forget to hit that subscribe button to never miss an episode of "Sinister South."

Also, follow us on Instagram @SinisterSouthPodcast for sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and more cheeky banter, or www.sinistersouthpod.co.uk. Remember, every crime tells a story... and South is the best side of the river... 

Produced and hosted by Hannah Williams & Rachel Baines
Mixed & edited by Purple Waves Sound (A.K.A Will)

This week, we start where we always do… somewhere between a rant about marketing “safe spaces” and a full-blown identity crisis over snake trousers 😅

But very quickly, things take a turn.

We’re telling the story of 23-year-old Natalie Jarvis, a young woman from Swanley who went out for what she thought was a casual late-night drive… and never came home.

Natalie was loud, funny, warm, and deeply loved by her family. She was rebuilding her life after heartbreak, spending time with friends, and starting something new with a man she thought she could trust.

But behind the scenes, that man was saying something very different.

In this episode, we unpack a case built on weeks of text messages, tweets, and group chats that should have set alarm bells ringing… but didn’t. A story where warning signs were laughed off, threats were treated as banter, and no one stepped in.

We walk through the timeline of what happened that night in October 2012, the brutal reality of Natalie’s murder, and the devastating impact on a family still living with that loss every single day.

This episode contains discussions of graphic violence and murder. Please listen with care.

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in! If you loved diving into the dark corners of South London with us, don't forget to hit that subscribe button to never miss an episode of "Sinister South."

Also, follow us on Instagram @SinisterSouthPodcast for sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and more cheeky banter, or www.sinistersouthpod.co.uk. Remember, every crime tells a story... and South is the best side of the river... 

Produced and hosted by Hannah Williams & Rachel Baines
Mixed & edited by Purple Waves Sound (A.K.A Will)

After a bit of chat about pub quizzes, questionable general knowledge, and why some people should never be trusted with a quiz answer sheet, we turn to a story that is anything but light.

In March 2025, 16-year-old Lethanial Burrell was shot dead on his own street in Stockwell, in the middle of a Tuesday afternoon. What followed was the unravelling of a calculated attack involving a stolen moped, a modified firearm, and a network far bigger than it first appeared.

This episode looks at who Lethanial was, what happened on Paradise Road, and the wider questions his death leaves behind about exploitation, violence, and the systems that failed to stop it.

Sources in this episode include:

https://news.met.police.uk/news/two-found-guilty-of-murder-following-stockwell-shooting-505941
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8e70g57d2xo
https://www.cps.gov.uk/london-north/news/two-convicted-murder-16-year-old-shot-south-london
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr5752jpz5po
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/mar/05/teenager-shot-dead-in-south-london-named-as-lathaniel-burrell
https://www.itv.com/news/london/2025-03-06/this-cant-happen-to-anyone-else-says-aunt-of-boy-shot-dead-in-south-london
https://hounslowherald.com/yearold-charged-with-murder-of-lathaniel-burrell-in-stockwell-p27553-249.htm
https://news.sky.com/story/second-person-charged-with-murder-after-shooting-of-teenage-boy-in-south-london-13326917
https://southwarknews.co.uk/area/peckham/teenager-from-peckham-arrested-over-shooting-of-16-year-old-in-stockwell/
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/two-guilty-murder-stockwell-shooting-b1269986.html
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/stockwell-shooting-london-latest-victim-police-update-murder-121341630.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAGEZC2Yl4PFFaM_0HkI3z6C7xWu5TWTMGgO0bS1XUTknm0DhxMjN0dJOEQTlMh5XtvTudJ46xpzJirwZ2_h6hZIGaK6M4or6xZja26LFroWAxPVQr1b7ucd0zRkUzwTw7XtQoKvFYpV3VanHPCzuZQYUY9juEwqEX67YKBEdzcDB
https://www.wandsworthguardian.co.uk/news/25039283.lathaniel-burrell-stockwell-shooting-two-arrests/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c871el85x02o
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iUeaVe5NOwc
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/stockwell-shooting-lathaniel-burrell-murder-arrest-b1215371.html

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in! If you loved diving into the dark corners of South London with us, don't forget to hit that subscribe button to never miss an episode of "Sinister South."

Also, follow us on Instagram @SinisterSouthPodcast for sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and more cheeky banter, or www.sinistersouthpod.co.uk. Remember, every crime tells a story... and South is the best side of the river... 

Produced and hosted by Hannah Williams & Rachel Baines
Mixed & edited by Purple Waves Sound (A.K.A Will)

We start this week as we usually do, a bit of chaos, questionable life updates, and an Oreo milkshake that frankly had no business being that big… before we move into one of the most difficult cases we’ve ever covered.

Shirley Oaks was meant to be a safe place. A village of cottages in Croydon, designed to give children in care a sense of normal life. Instead, it became the centre of one of the most disturbing child abuse scandals in British history. Over decades, hundreds of children were subjected to sexual, physical and racial abuse by those trusted to protect them (staff, volunteers, carers) within a system that repeatedly failed to act

In this episode, we look at what was really happening inside Shirley Oaks, how multiple perpetrators were able to operate unchecked, and how survivors eventually forced the truth into the open.

Trigger warning: This episode contains discussion of child sexual abuse (including very young children), grooming, rape, physical abuse, racial abuse, institutional failure, suicide, self-harm, and substance misuse. 

If you need support, you can contact:

NSPCC Helpline: 0808 800 5000
Rape Crisis England & Wales: 0808 802 9999
Samaritans (24/7): 116 123

Please take care while listening.

Sources for this episode include:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-53258596
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/616d627fd3bf7f5604d83c8c/Lambeth-care-IICSA-investigation.pdf
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jun/25/over-46m-paid-to-survivors-of-abuse-at-lambeth-childrens-homes
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jun/25/survivors-tell-of-abuse-shirley-oaks-childrens-home
https://www.shirleyoakssurvivorsassociation.co.uk
https://news.sky.com/story/shirley-oaks-man-who-was-repeatedly-sexually-abused-at-childrens-home-reveals-why-he-kept-dark-secret-for-nearly-six-decades-12364798
https://www.iicsa.org.uk/reports-recommendations/publications/investigation/lambeth-council/part-b-reality-life-care-lambeth/b2-case-study-shirley-oaks.html
https://www.leighday.co.uk/news/press-releases/2020-news/survivor-of-abuse-at-shirley-oaks-childrens-home-awarded-125-000-by-the-lambeth-redress-scheme/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-53314290
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKp4LLRNh8o
https://www.itv.com/news/london/2022-10-20/lambeth-childrens-home-survivor-it-was-abuse-on-an-industrial-scale
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/oct/21/we-have-to-deliver-justice-the-man-who-fought-for-the-survivors-of-shirley-oaks
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/child-abuse-inquiry-london-care-homes-shirley-oaks-croydon-lambeth-council-compensation-millions-pounds-victims-a7478016.html

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in! If you loved diving into the dark corners of South London with us, don't forget to hit that subscribe button to never miss an episode of "Sinister South."

Also, follow us on Instagram @SinisterSouthPodcast for sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and more cheeky banter, or www.sinistersouthpod.co.uk. Remember, every crime tells a story... and South is the best side of the river... 

Produced and hosted by Hannah Williams & Rachel Baines
Mixed & edited by Purple Waves Sound (A.K.A Will)