The Halloween Compendium

Four Halloween nights. Four South London stories. None with a happy ending.

This episode brings together the cases of Scotty Kouebitra, Rocky Djelal, Ben Gardner, and Richard Price, four men whose lives ended in acts of violence that should never have happened.

From Croydon to Southwark, pubs to parks, we look at how ordinary nights — fireworks, parties, and quick pints — turned fatal.

Ben, beaten to death after three men stole his girlfriend’s hat.

Scotty, chased down and stabbed while watching fireworks with friends.

Richard, kicked to death outside a pub over a supposed slight.

Rocky, murdered in broad daylight in Southwark Park after an eighteen-year feud.

Each story sits somewhere between chaos and revenge — where a split-second of violence changes everything.

We also somehow find time to talk Rach’s brother’s wedding, her trip to Kraków, and why this one’s a few days late (spoiler: flu and migraines).

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 one with a bit of chaos, as usual, a catch-up about gigs, half term, the price of fireworks and the ongoing trauma of David Walliams audiobooks (because honestly, why is he everywhere?). But once we’ve had our rant, we’re heading back to South London for a story that’s as shocking as it is tragic.

In December 1969, Wimbledon was the picture of quiet suburbia, Christmas lights, family dinners, and that post-holiday haze where no one quite knows what day it is. But on Arthur Road, behind the warm glow of St Mary’s House, something unthinkable happened. When Alick McKay came home, he found chaos, an open door, a torn-off telephone, his wife’s glasses on the carpet, and their dachshund Carly pacing by the fire. Muriel was gone.

What followed became Britain’s first modern kidnap-for-ransom, a crime born from desperation, greed and mistaken identity. Two brothers from Hertfordshire thought they were targeting Rupert Murdoch’s glamorous wife. Instead, they took an ordinary woman from Wimbledon and set off a manhunt that gripped the nation.

We trace the story from Muriel’s quiet life in South London to the police investigation that changed British criminal history, a case without a body, a family’s fifty-five-year fight for answers, and a tragedy that still echoes today.

Sources include:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-67981800
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Muriel_McKay
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-68514150
https://www.personsunknown.net/p/55-years-later-will-muriel-mckay
https://www.itv.com/news/london/2025-09-18/muriel-mckay-im-going-to-kidnap-someone-wealthy-recalls-former-shop-owner
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/jul/15/police-start-new-search-for-remains-of-murdered-muriel-mckay
https://thehistorypress.co.uk/article/the-calm-before-the-storm-the-murder-of-muriel-mckay
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-11/search-for-answers-muriel-mckay/104257842
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/muriel-mckay-mistaken-identity-kidnap-ransom-and-murder/id1776843975?i=1000676681448
https://www.murielmckay.com
https://news.sky.com/story/farm-where-muriel-mckay-is-buried-isnt-worth-market-value-family-says-as-body-remains-unfound
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0021cx6

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 chaotic catch-up involving friendship break-ups, ignored WhatsApp messages, and the glamour of eating Super Noodles in the bath, we take a sharp turn into the gas-lit streets of Victorian Lambeth.

This week, we’re heading back to 1891 to meet Thomas Neill Cream – a doctor with a taste for power, poison, and blackmail. Known to history as The Lambeth Poisoner, Cream left a trail of women dead across three continents, fuelled by arrogance and strychnine. From letters to MPs and absurd ransom notes to his infamous final words on the gallows, this is the story of the man who thought he was cleverer than everyone else — and very nearly got away with it.

Grab a drink (preferably not from a stranger in Lambeth) and join us as we unravel one of South London’s most chilling Victorian murder sprees.

Sources include:

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

https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co179113/metropolitan-police-letter-and-photographs-of-dr-neill-cream-the-lambeth-poisoner-england-1890-1907

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/240221

https://web.archive.org/web/20130806111409/http://www.murderbygaslight.com/2010/08/lambeth-poisoner.html

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/92296172

https://www.canadashistory.ca/explore/politics-law/the-evil-deeds-of-dr-cream

https://thejacktherippertour.com/casebook/suspects/dr-neill-cream/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/true-crime-case-of-murderous-dr-cream-review/2021/08/11/1fd00dc0-f93d-11eb-8a67-f14cd1d28e47_story.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)

On Boxing Day 1988, a 57-year-old woman returned home to her Bermondsey flat after spending Christmas with family. Inside, someone was waiting. Over the next 18 months, four elderly women across Southwark and Rotherhithe would be brutally attacked in their own homes by the same man — Michael John Roberts. The press called him the Praying Rapist and the Beast of Bermondsey, a violent predator who stalked South London’s most vulnerable residents for nearly two years before vanishing without trace. Decades later, a cold-case review and a breakthrough in low-copy-number DNA finally unmasked him.

And because we know you come here for both the horror and the human, Rach and Han chat about bowling disasters, tall-girl energy, new specs, and the difference between “pronto” and “quickly.” (Spoiler: it’s not what you think.)

Sources for the episode include:

https://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/beast-of-bermondsey

https://squaremilenews.blogspot.com/2012/01/twenty-two-year-hunt-for-southwark.html

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/serial-rapist-michael-john-roberts-caged-cold-280829

https://www.the-independent.com/news/uk/crime/serial-rapist-michael-roberts-given-four-life-sentences-6288646.html

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/rapist-should-not-have-been-sentenced-to-wholelife-term-8206033.html

https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/JCO/Documents/Judgments/r-v-david-oakes-and-others.pdf

https://www.thelawpages.com/court-cases/index.php?res=1

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16531390

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/nov/21/murderer-whole-life-sentence-judges

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/uk-news/man-raped-elderly-disabled-women-living-alone-court-told-1935833

https://www.newssniffer.co.uk/articles/478970/versions/834446

https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/uk-england-1989599

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 this week's episode, we cover the devastating case of three-year-old Daniel Evbuomwan, who was murdered in a house in Downham by his own uncle, Ben Igbinedion. It's a case that shocked the local community, not only because of Daniel's young age but because of the disturbing circumstances behind his death.

We talk through who Daniel was, what happened in the lead up to that terrible day, and how the investigation unfolded. Trigger warning right off the bat... this ones desperately upsetting!

Sources include:

https://news.sky.com/story/boy-3-murdered-after-he-wet-the-bed-10429008

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Murder-Investigation-Team-Steven-Keogh/dp/1789466423

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-25058488

https://metro.co.uk/2013/11/22/killed-for-wetting-the-bed-uncle-jailed-for-beating-nephew-3-so-badly-it-was-like-hed-been-trampled-by-horses-4198322

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 the summer of 1998, 30-year-old mother and DJ Avril “Miss Irie” Johnson was brutally murdered in her own home in Tulse Hill. Armed men forced their way in, tied up her family, and executed Avril in front of her husband and two young daughters. Her death became part of a wider spree of violence that shook London and helped shape the launch of Operation Trident.

In this episode, we walk through Avril’s life, her love of music, the terrifying events of that night, and the trial that followed, while also unpicking the wider panic about so-called “yardie gangs” in the late 90s.

And yes, alongside the horror, you’ll still hear our slightly delirious pre-holiday ramblings about Justin Timberlake, Potter’s Bar, and accidental cinema merch purchases.

Sources include:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/572113.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/526538.stm
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/aug/28/ukcrime.ukguns
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12224108.two-get-life-for-execution-of-woman-dj/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tippa_Irie
https://www.tippairie.com/
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/dec/22
https://www.mojuk.org.uk/2011/HyroneHart.html
https://www.mojuk.org.uk/2011/HyroneHart-2.html
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/yardie-gang-members-get-life-for-murder-and-rape-spree-1134068.html
https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/6501258.police-believe-deaths-linked

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're back in Victorian South London with a case so grim it became known as the Barnes mystery. In March 1879, widow Julia Martha Thomas hired a new servant, Kate Webster - a decision that would prove fatal. Within weeks Julia was dead, dismembered in her own kitchen copper, and Kate was strutting around Richmond in her employer's clothes, even trying to sell off the furniture.

In this episode we unravel the murder, the cover-up, and the sensational Old Bailey trial that made Kate infamous as the "Richmond Murderess". Along the way, we talk about whether we thrive under our own jurisdiction (spoiler: no), how not to make coffee when you're already in a mood, and the ongoing curse of smashed plates and dead mice.

Sources include:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14034969

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9dORAA9Ll4

https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/file/5536ba5a-c8d3-4492-ae2d-2836a0f6cad3/1/Chapter%206%20Kilday%20%28True%20Crime%20Histories%29.pdf

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/104299579/julia_martha-thomas

https://historianandrew.medium.com/why-kate-websters-murder-of-julia-martha-thomas-captivated-london-in-1879-adbc17dd0b63

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0lfwfjc

https://truecrimearchives.blog/kate-webster-axe-murderess-of-richmond/

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna43653402

https://www.irishpost.com/features/ten-facts-kate-webster-irish-maid-hanged-dismembering-employer-victorian-london-131185

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)