If he was not Roger Tichborne, he had committed a deliberate fraud, and supported it by perjury, forgery and the most abominable means...’ 

In the autumn of 1886, the widowed Lady Tichborne received a curious letter signed ‘Sir Roger Tichborne, your son’. But Roger had perished in a shipwreck off the coast of Brazil over a decade before. The grieving mother welcomed Roger back with open arms – but with growing suspicions and accusations of fraud, the joyous reunion wasn’t all that it seemed. Was it the real Roger Tichborne, or a fraudster after the family’s fortune? 

In this episode, Jen and David trace the scandalous story of a shipwrecked son risen from the dead to reclaim his inheritance. From Australia to Hampshire, the headlines take them on a journey full of unexpected twists, as they analyse the case’s wealth of first-hand testimonies. 

Discover the details for yourself in the episode's Case Files - a collection of all the key newspaper reports - available to browse for free on Findmypast: www.findmypast.co.uk/wasjusticeserved 

Was justice served? Share your judgement with the WJS community: 

@wasjusticeservedpod #wasjusticeserved 

Producer - Madeleine Gilbert 

Assistant Producer - Daisy Goddard 

AV Editor - Callum Main 

Video Lead - Andrew Farrell 

Researcher - Jen Baldwin 

Voiceover - Tanya O’Sullivan 

AV Lead - Mark Asquith 

Executive Producer - Helen Kaye