This Much is True Crime

The Post Office Scandal is one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British history, yet for years it unfolded quietly behind the counter of ordinary village post offices. Hundreds of sub-postmasters were accused of theft, fraud and false accounting after a faulty computer system made it look like money was missing.
Lives were ruined, reputations destroyed, and some victims were even sent to prison. Now, after decades of campaigning and a landmark ITV drama that reignited public outrage, the scandal is finally getting the attention it deserves.
But how did the Post Office get away with it for so long? Who was really responsible for the catastrophic failures of the Horizon system? And why did it take so many years for the truth to come out?

Produced by Podcast House.

Hannibal the Cannibal has never really gone away, he's remained a pop cultural icon despite being a coldblooded serial killer. Now, thanks to Donald Trump and a new book on the elusive author Thomas Harris, the chianti supping monster is back in the news. But what was the origin of the fictional character brought to chilling life by Anthony Hopkins and Brian Cox? And why does he remain our favourite cannibal killer?

His daughter had wanted him dead, his mum Lydia wanted peace for her family but she was still his mum. However, following a bedside visit she reportedly gave permission to unplug his ventilator.
Ian Huntley was fighting for his life after a ferocious attack by a fellow inmate in jail where the former school caretaker had been serving 40 years for the murders of schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. Huntley’s injuries made him unrecognisable, catastrophic head and brain trauma, doctors reportedly said he was in a vegetative state.
If he had a better prognosis ,he' would have served his time in Ashworth Prison Hospital where a bed per year costs as much as £335,000!
In this episode , recorded as Huntley stared at death’s door, we debated should such killers be resuscitated and how did the prison system fail to protect its most marked man?

Exclusive hour long chat with the remarkable Jason Rothwell who says he connected with the dead body of the Lancashire mum of two Nicola and led police to the stretch of river where she was eventually found. Jason says Nicola told him where to find her and she followed his instructions to free her foot allowing her corpse to rise to the surface. Police divers and search teams had looked in vain for 23 days before Jason intervened.
If you are sceptical or think it all sounds far fetched then have a watch or a listen and see if you can be convinced. Jason also shares his feelings, literally, on the very strange disappearance of Nancy Guthrie in Arizona and what he believes happened to her.

We each have a foot in both camps in this episode. I, broadcaster and journalist Martin Frizell, have spent much of my career in breakfast and daytime tv, indeed I'm married to a former morning show anchor, Fiona Phillips. Professor of Criminology David Wilson has studied the reasons behind kidnapping and the typical profile of abductors. And yet there's something about the kindnap of NBC Today host Savannah Guthrie's 84 year old mum that is puzzling. Three weeks in and no sign of life from Nancy, no confirmation of a ransom note but a very amateurish break in at her home in Tucson, Arizona. And a statement from the Sheriff that no members of the wider Guthrie family are being questioned as part of the inquiry.
All very strange according to our expert criminologist...