Behind the Crimes with Robert Murphy
Behind the Crimes with Robert Murphy

Behind the Crimes with Robert Murphy

Robert Murphy

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Episodes

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### WINNER 'Outstanding Indie Podcast at the True Crime Awards 2024. ### What makes a criminal? What makes a truly great detective? Award-winning TV crime correspondent Robert Murphy speaks with people involved with some of the most fascinating true crime cases of recent years: detectives, victims, experts and sometimes even the criminals themselves. What drives a person to ignore the morals, laws and conventions of normal society and pushes them to perform the darkest acts? Sex? Money? Revenge? Love? Humiliation? Are criminals born bad or are they a creation of their circumstances? How can detectives catch people who are intent on causing truly dreadful harm to others? What happens when that criminal has done a brilliant job covering their tracks? This podcast and newsletter explores some of our biggest crime stories - and some of the lesser-known, compelling cases which deserve a better understanding. For video interviews, evidence from each case, articles and more, go to https://robertmurphy.substack.com/about

robertmurphy.substack.com

Recent Episodes

Drug Wars
DEC 10, 2024
Drug Wars
<p>Neil Woods spent fourteen years as an undercover police officer, helping dismantle some of Britain’s most notorious drug gangs.</p><p>Yet after his biggest victory he came to the conclusion: was it worth it?</p><p>He started to feel that the problem was helped by repeated failures of governments to tackle the cause of Britain and America’s drugs epidemic. In fact by handing control of drugs supply to criminals governments <em>were </em>the cause.</p><p>‘A doctor controlling it (drugs supply) with a prescription pad has no incentive to find new customers and so the market doesn't develop. So what happened is it becomes a pyramid scheme. If you're organised crime, you want to find new customers, you find someone who's addicted and you say, ‘Look, if you find five more customers and you sell to them, they'll pay for your habit’ and the pyramid scheme explodes.’</p><p>Neil’s views are controversial views. But they are compelling. In this interview Neil describes:</p><p>* How the world used to experience two competing drug policies: The American System and The British System - with the American System winning.</p><p>* How following criminalisation in the 1960s, addicts fell into the hands of organised crime.</p><p>* How some schemes decriminalising drugs have worked in recent years.</p><p>To find out more about Neil and to get copies of his books ‘Good Cop, Bad War’ and ‘Drug Wars’ click here: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.neilwoods.net/">https://www.neilwoods.net/</a></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_2">robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe</a>
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31 MIN
Lord Lucan, his nannies and a fifty-year mystery. A three-part podcast.
NOV 7, 2024
Lord Lucan, his nannies and a fifty-year mystery. A three-part podcast.
<p>On November 7th 1974, a children’s nanny Sandra Rivett was murdered at the home of the family in which she was in service.</p><p>It was the Lucan family.</p><p>Lord Lucan - her suspected killer - may have been targeting his estranged wife. </p><p>But a man who had squandered his family fortune at Belgravia’s gaming tables proved to be as inept at murder as he was at gambling.</p><p>And he killed poor Sandra. </p><p>This is the perceived wisdom - and the finding of an inquest.</p><p>But with so little known for sure, conjecture fills the gaps facts leave behind.</p><p>What really happened on November 7th 1974?</p><p>This is a compendium episode - a trilogy re-released to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Sandra’s murder.</p><p>In the first two episodes, I’ve interviewed the brilliant author <a target="_blank" href="https://laurathompsonwriter.substack.com/">Laura Thompson</a> - who has written a wonderful book <em>A Different Class of Murder</em> about the run up and aftermath of the killing.</p><p>And in episode three, I speak with screenwriter George Kay about the nanny who could have been on-rota that night, managed to swap shifts - and cheated death.</p><p>Yet Christabel Boyce met a dreadful end a decade later - leading some to believe there was a curse of the Lucan nannies. George has a personal connection with this second tragedy.</p><p>You can find out more about Laura, her writing and her books here: </p><p>http://www.laurathompson.co.uk/</p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_2">robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe</a>
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115 MIN
Deep Undercover: Neil Woods
OCT 29, 2024
Deep Undercover: Neil Woods
<p>Neil Woods spent years as an undercover police officer. He says his techniques in included ‘weaponising empathy’ - using the good nature of society’s most vulnerable.</p><p>And as Britain was being hit by a wave of cheap drugs and a rise in heroin and crack cocaine addicts, Neil had the most staggering results.</p><p>In just one operation against Britain’s most notorious gang - The Burger Bar Boys - his work led to 96 arrests.</p><p>But what impact did living a double-life have on this family man? What was it like having knives held at his throat?</p><p>And why does he now believe undercover policing should only be used in the rarest and most extreme cases?</p><p>Neil Woods has written two thought-provoking books. Links to them and him are here: </p><p>https://www.neilwoods.net/</p><p></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_2">robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe</a>
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43 MIN
In Cold Blood - A century of Truman Capote
SEP 25, 2024
In Cold Blood - A century of Truman Capote
<p>Subscribe for free: robertmurphy.substack.com</p><p><em>In Cold Blood</em> started as a study in how a heartbreaking killing impacted a Mid-West community. But Truman Capote got sucked into the story.</p><p>At first, the folk of Holcomb, Kansas, distrusted the flamboyant writer.</p><p>But slowly, he won the small city round.</p><p>And when the killers were caught, he built an unbelievable and controversial bond with them.</p><p>In this episode, Capote’s friend and biographer, Gerald Clarke, describes the awful murders of the Clutter family in 1959, how Capote spent six years writing his masterpiece and its legacy on true crime and non-fiction literature.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cold-Blood-Vintage-International-ebook/dp/B000FC1IRM?ref_=ast_author_mpb">You can get a copy of </a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cold-Blood-Vintage-International-ebook/dp/B000FC1IRM?ref_=ast_author_mpb"><em>In Cold Blood</em></a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cold-Blood-Vintage-International-ebook/dp/B000FC1IRM?ref_=ast_author_mpb"> here</a>.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Capote-Biography-Gerald-Clarke-ebook/dp/B07H1921NB/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1VUW3449VIZQW&#38;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.9IlspQTFfn9tnKKaf4joOYRskrUxyME76rJkXhUjzqo.3EbLXfhplQ0WJ7DktdfHSNtaiOcH9nOQ4umQptbJERo&#38;dib_tag=se&#38;keywords=gerald+clarke+capote&#38;nsdOptOutParam=true&#38;qid=1727209826&#38;s=digital-text&#38;sprefix=gerald+cla%2Cdigital-text%2C94&#38;sr=1-1">You can get a copy of Gerald Clarke’s </a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Capote-Biography-Gerald-Clarke-ebook/dp/B07H1921NB/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1VUW3449VIZQW&#38;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.9IlspQTFfn9tnKKaf4joOYRskrUxyME76rJkXhUjzqo.3EbLXfhplQ0WJ7DktdfHSNtaiOcH9nOQ4umQptbJERo&#38;dib_tag=se&#38;keywords=gerald+clarke+capote&#38;nsdOptOutParam=true&#38;qid=1727209826&#38;s=digital-text&#38;sprefix=gerald+cla%2Cdigital-text%2C94&#38;sr=1-1"><em>Capote</em></a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Capote-Biography-Gerald-Clarke-ebook/dp/B07H1921NB/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1VUW3449VIZQW&#38;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.9IlspQTFfn9tnKKaf4joOYRskrUxyME76rJkXhUjzqo.3EbLXfhplQ0WJ7DktdfHSNtaiOcH9nOQ4umQptbJERo&#38;dib_tag=se&#38;keywords=gerald+clarke+capote&#38;nsdOptOutParam=true&#38;qid=1727209826&#38;s=digital-text&#38;sprefix=gerald+cla%2Cdigital-text%2C94&#38;sr=1-1"> here.</a></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_2">robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe</a>
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41 MIN
The crime writer who made £1 million from Nicole Kidman
SEP 11, 2024
The crime writer who made £1 million from Nicole Kidman
<p>Subscribe for free at Robertmurphy.substack.com</p><p>Maxim Jakobowski has sold millions of books. But you may not have heard of him.</p><p>After releasing a book aged 16, he moved into publishing and worked with Patricia Highsmith (‘an incredible talent… a very difficult lady…’) he then turned to crime writing.</p><p>When ‘50 Shades of Grey’ was released, he was drafted into writing a series of erotica - which sold millions of books.</p><p>And how did he sell the rights of a novel to Nicole Kidman… for a fortune?</p><p>A quick warning… if True Crime is your thing, this episode may not be for you. But fiction fans may find it fascinating.</p><p>But Maxim speaks in detail and depth about how to publish crime, the state of the book industry and fiction trends which have come and gone.</p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_2">robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe</a>
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38 MIN