This Much is True Crime

Why are there more than the five known victims of the Victorian serial killer Jack the Ripper? What was his real name and what does one of the UK's leading criminologists make of the biggest true crime mystery of all time?Top podcast The Rest is History is broadcasting a five part deep dive into the Ripper and his victims concluding with their reveal of who historians believe Jack was. But is it the same suspect as our crime expert and the national police computer have worked out? Consider this a companion piece to The Rest is....with some fascinating new thoughts.

Paul Doyle, loving husband and dad, rammed his car into crowds of celebrating Liverpool fans at last season's Permier League Trophy parade, but why? In this episode Professor David Wilson explains the little known condition that is likely to have caused Doyle to behave in such a devastating manner. He's due for sentencing later in December and although there will be mitigating factors, the former Royal Marine will be behind bars for several years.

Ever wonder why prisoners, gangsters, generally bad boys attract female attention in disproportionate numbers? It's a condition called Hybristophillia - the sexual interest in and attraction to those who commit crimes.It'll be in the news next week when Luigi Mangione appears in court as he heads towards a full trial for the killing of the boss of a big US Health insurance company a year ago in Manhattan. Mangione has a growing fan base among young women who compare his looks to Jesus Christ and have contributed $2 million to a fighting fund.Are they all consumed by hybristophillia ? or simply put, do some bad men exude a self confidence that nature deems attractive? And has social media made it all worse, or easier to fall for a felon?

How is it possible to be more evil than Jimmy Saville? Step forward prison officer and cook Neville Husband, now regarded as the most prolific sex offender in British history. Hundreds of young men were abused by Husband, mainly at a young offenders detention centre outside Durham. How did he get away with if for years before finally being convicted of abusing just five teenagers in 2003? His real tally of misery runs into several hundreds and all the while a blind eye was turned by colleagues and bosses. In this epsiode we also explore what makes a man become a paedophile and has the world changed since Neville Husband was on the prowl 20 years ago.

Police know of at least 12 women who claim to be Madeline McCann, the most infamous of them all, Polish woman Julia Wandelt is about to be deported having been convicted of harassing the McCann family, including Madeline's siblings.What drives people to believe they are the real deal in the cases of missing persons? Fraudsters, attention seekers or simply mentally ill obsessives who need treatment? This is half an hour of a grown up examination of imposters and the conspiracy theorists who, sadly, may never give up.