Just before Christmas 1988, 22-year-old photographer Lorraine Benson vanished after leaving her work party in South London. The next morning, her body was found near Raynes Park station - beaten and strangled.
As police raced to catch a killer, they uncovered chilling links to a string of sexual assaults along the same commuter line. What followed would make history: Lorraine’s murder became the first ever solved by DNA profiling in the Metropolitan Police.
In this Dee-Brief, Dee revisits the case that changed forensic science forever - from the night Lorraine disappeared to the evidence that finally trapped her killer, 17-year-old John Dunne.
We explore the investigation, the impact on Lorraine’s family, and how one brutal crime reshaped policing in Britain.
💀 About Dee-Brief:Your weekly bite-size dose of dark history and true crime from Switchblade Sisters Social Club - smaller stories, same creepy-cute energy.
🛍️ Merch:Creepy-cute fits on RedBubble. Treat yourself and support the show.
🔪 Listen & Subscribe:Find Switchblade Sisters Social Club and Dee-Brief on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere you listen.
📚 Sources
The Times (Feb 1989): Full text via Archive.org
Mirror Online – Devastated dad of murdered photographer warns her killer will strike again if he is moved to open prison https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/devastated-dad-murdered-photographer-warns-8528418
Office of Justice Programs – Murder in South London: A Novel Use of DNA Profiling https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/murder-south-london-novel-use-dna-profiling
They Walk Among Us podcast (2023): Season 8, Episode 34
Crime+Investigation UK – When Missing Turns to Murder https://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/videos/devastating-moment-they-realised-their-daughter-was-dead-when-missing-turns-murder
History by the Yard – DNA https://www.historybytheyard.co.uk/dna.htm
#SwitchbladeSistersSocialClub #DeeBrief #TrueCrimePodcast #LorraineBenson #ForensicHistory #ColdCaseUK #SouthLondonCrime #RaynesPark #DNAProfiling #DarkHistory #WomenInCrime #TrueCrimeCommunity #PodcastShowNotes
Ramon Abbas - better known as Hushpuppi - was one of Instagram’s flashiest influencers. Private jets, designer clothes, luxury cars... but behind all that Gucci was a global network of cybercrime.
In this Dee-Brief mini-episode, Dee traces Hushpuppi’s astonishing rise from poverty in Lagos to superstardom in Dubai - and his spectacular fall, when U.S. investigators and Dubai police uncovered that his fortune came from massive international fraud and money-laundering schemes.
By the time the 'Billionaire Gucci Master' was sentenced to 11 years in prison, his downfall had become a cautionary tale about greed, image, and the blurred lines between online fantasy and real-world crime.
Sources:
U.S. Department of Justice (Central District of California), Nigerian Man Sentenced to Over 11 Years in Federal Prison for Conspiring to Launder Tens of Millions of Dollars from Online Scams justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/nigerian-man-sentenced-over-11-years-federal-prison-conspiring-launder-tens-millions
U.S. Department of Justice (Central District of California), Nigerian National Brought to U.S. to Face Charges of Conspiring to Launder Hundreds of Millions of Dollars from Cybercrime Schemes justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/nigerian-national-brought-us-face-charges-conspiring-launder-hundreds-millions-dollars
Al Jazeera, Nigerian Influencer ‘Hushpuppi’ Jailed in US for Money Laundering aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/8/hushpuppi-gets-prison-term-for-money-laundering-conspiracy
Business Insider, The Instagram-Fueled Rise and Fall of Nigerian Influencer Hushpuppi businessinsider.com/hushpuppi-instagram-rise-fall-nigerian-influencer-cyber-crime-ramon-abbas-2022-12
VICE, ‘He Got Burnt’: How One of Instagram’s Biggest Fraudsters Was Brought Down vice.com/en/article/hushpuppi-ramon-abbas-jailed
BET News, Nigerian Influencer ‘Ray Hushpuppi’ Gets 11 Years In Prison For Money Laundering bet.com/article/4etxi2/nigerian-influencer-ramon-abbas-gets-prison-sentence-money-laundering
💀 About Dee-Brief:Your weekly bite-size dose of dark history and true crime from Switchblade Sisters Social Club - smaller stories, same creepy-cute energy.
🛍️ Merch:Creepy-cute fits on RedBubble. Treat yourself and support the show.
🔪 Listen & Subscribe:Find Switchblade Sisters Social Club and Dee-Brief on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere you listen.
A Christmas bonus mini! Dee revisits the real-life riddle that once gripped Britain: Agatha Christie’s 11-day disappearance in December 1926. We trace Christie’s early life and rise to 'Queen of Mystery', the personal crises that preceded her vanishing, the nationwide manhunt (with Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy L. Sayers in the mix), her reappearance at Harrogate’s Swan Hydropathic Hotel under the name 'Mrs. Teresa Neele'… and the theories that still swirl: amnesia, nervous collapse, publicity stunt, or something else?
💀 About Dee-Brief:Your weekly bite-size dose of dark history and true crime from Switchblade Sisters Social Club - smaller stories, same creepy-cute energy.
🛍️ Merch:Creepy-cute fits on RedBubble. Treat yourself and support the show.
🔪 Listen & Subscribe:Find Switchblade Sisters Social Club and Dee-Brief on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere you listen.
Robert New - 'The Disappearance of the Best-Ever Selling Author' (2021): https://robertsnew.com/2021/11/11/the-disappearance-of-the-best-ever-selling-author/
Historic UK - 'The Curious Disappearance of Agatha Christie': https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/The-Curious-Disappearance-of-Agatha-Christie/
Wikipedia - The Mysterious Affair at Styles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Affair_at_Styles
Wikipedia - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Murder_of_Roger_Ackroyd
National Geographic - 'Why did Agatha Christie go missing? Four theories': https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/agatha-christie-mystery-disappearance-theories
Old Swan Hotel - 'The Agatha Christie Connection': https://theoldswanhotel.co.uk/the-agatha-christie-connection/
HistoryExtra - 'The Mysterious Disappearance of Agatha Christie': https://www.historyextra.com/period/20th-century/agatha-christie-disappearance-mystery-facts-poirot-miss-marple-detective/
AgathaChristie.com - 'Book of the Month: Murder on the Orient Express': https://www.agathachristie.com/news/2017/book-of-the-month-murder-on-the-orient-express
#SwitchbladeSistersSocialClub #DeeBrief #TrueCrimePodcast #AgathaChristie #Harrogate #OldSwanHotel #NewlandsCorner #MysteryHistory #DarkHistory #WomenInPublishing #CrimeFiction #PodcastShowNotes
📚 Sources
This week on Dee-Brief, Dee explores one of Indonesia’s most horrifying true-crime cases - the story of Ahmad Suradji, the so-called Black Magic Killer.
For over a decade, Suradji was a respected dukun - a traditional healer - in North Sumatra. Villagers sought his help for love, fortune, and healing. But behind that reputation lay an unimaginable secret: between 1986 and 1997 he murdered 42 women and girls in ritual killings he believed would grant him mystical power.
Dee unpacks how faith, fear, and folklore collided in this chilling case - and how it reshaped Indonesian law, exposing the dark side of superstition and trust.
💀 About Dee-Brief:Dee-Brief brings you bite-sized doses of darkness from Switchblade Sisters Social Club — smaller cases, same creepy-cute energy.
🛍️ Shop Creepy-Cute Merch:Support the show (and look spooky doing it) on RedBubble — tees, hats, mugs, notebooks & more.
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Ahmad Suradji – Wikipedia – Background, crimes, and trial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad_Suradji
Indonesia Executes Man for 42 Murders – The Irish Times, July 2008 https://www.irishtimes.com/news/indonesia-executes-man-for-42-murders-1.825761
Indonesia Has Another Shaman Serial Killer – and the Phenomenon Is More Common Than You Think – The Diplomat, 2023 https://thediplomat.com/2023/04/indonesia-has-another-shaman-serial-killer-and-the-phenomenon-is-more-common-than-you-think/
Sejarah Kekejian Dukun AS: Membantai 42 Perempuan Demi “Kesaktian” – Tirto.id, Oct 2018 https://tirto.id/sejarah-kekejian-dukun-as-membantai-42-perempuan-demi-kesaktian-c7Ec
Additional coverage from Detik News, Kompas, and other Indonesian outlets as cited above.
#SwitchbladeSistersSocialClub #DeeBrief #TrueCrimePodcast #AhmadSuradji #BlackMagicKiller #IndonesiaCrime #DarkHistory #TrueCrimeCommunity #WomenInPodcasting #CreepyCute #GlobalTrueCrime #SerialKillerStories #FolkloreAndFear #PodcastShowNotes
Sources
This week on Dee-Brief, Dee sets sail into one of history’s eeriest maritime mysteries - The Ghost Ship Mary Celeste.
A fully stocked, seaworthy ship found adrift in the Atlantic… dinner still on the table… but not a single soul on board. What really happened to Captain Benjamin Briggs, his wife and daughter, and their seven-man crew when the Mary Celeste was discovered in 1872?
From the alcohol-fumes explosion theory to storms, mutiny, and even the supernatural, Dee unpacks the facts, the fictions, and why this “ghost ship” still haunts the world’s imagination 150 years later.
💀 About Dee-Brief:Dee-Brief is your weekly bite-sized true-crime and mystery fix from Switchblade Sisters Social Club — smaller stories, same creepy-cute energy.
🛍️ Shop Creepy-Cute Merch:Support the show and look wicked while you’re at it — visit our RedBubble shop for tees, hats, mugs, and notebooks.
🔪 Listen & Subscribe:Find Switchblade Sisters Social Club and Dee-Brief on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your dark delights.
SOURCES:
U.S. National Archives: Inquiry into the Mary Celeste, Gibraltar, 1872–73
Smithsonian Magazine: “The True Story of the Mary Celeste” (Joshua Hammer, 2007)
BBC History: “The Riddle of the Mary Celeste”
Encyclopedia Britannica (Revised 2023 entry on Mary Celeste
New York Times, Dec 1872–Jan 1873 maritime reports
Arthur Conan Doyle, “J. Habakuk Jephson’s Statement”, Cornhill Magazine (1884)
#SwitchbladeSistersSocialClub #DeeBrief #TrueCrimePodcast #MaryCeleste #GhostShip #MaritimeMystery #UnsolvedMystery #DarkHistory #TrueCrimeCommunity #WomenInPodcasting #CreepyCute #HistoricalMystery #SeaLegends #PodcastShowNotes
This week on Dee-Brief, Dee saddles up and takes us back to 17th-century England for one of the most enduring legends in British folklore: The Wicked Lady of Markyate.
Was Katherine Ferrers really a masked highway robber who terrorised Hertfordshire’s roads by moonlight? Or was she an unlucky heiress whose tragic life was rewritten into legend?
From Civil War politics and family fortune to mythmaking, ghost stories, and Hollywood glamour, this episode separates the fact from the folklore — and explores why the idea of the “Wicked Lady” still gallops through popular culture today.
💀 About Dee-Brief:Dee-Brief is your weekly true-crime pit stop from Switchblade Sisters Social Club - smaller stories, same creepy-cute energy. Perfect for your dark commute or candlelit bath.
🛍️ Shop Creepy-Cute Merch:Support the show and look wicked while doing it — visit our RedBubble shop for tees, hats, mugs, notebooks, and more.
🔪 Listen & Subscribe:Find Switchblade Sisters Social Club and Dee-Brief on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere you get your true crime fix.
SOURCES
Katherine Ferrars (1634–1660), later wife of Thomas Fanshawe – Valence House https://valencehousecollections.co.uk/object/katherine-ferrars-1634-1660-later-wife-of-thomas-fanshawe/
Katherine Ferrers Facts for Kids https://kids.kiddle.co/Katherine_Ferrers
The Wicked Lady: A Revision of the Life of Katherine Ferrers https://www.johnbarber.com/katherine-ferrers-the-wicked-lady/
Katherine Ferrers – The Unfairly Named “Wicked Lady”, Heritage Daily https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/12/katherine-ferrers-the-unfairly-named-wicked-lady/150063
Katherine Ferrers, Chilterns National Landscape https://www.chilterns.org.uk/map_marker/katherine-ferrers/
#SwitchbladeSistersSocialClub #DeeBrief #TrueCrimePodcast #KatherineFerrers #WickedLady #Highwaywoman #BritishFolklore #DarkHistory #TrueCrimeCommunity #WomenInHistory #CreepyCute #WomenInPodcasting #PodcastShowNotes #MythVsReality #FolkloreFriday
This week on Dee-Brief, Dee explores one of the darkest cases to ever rock the Royal Navy - Allan Grimson: The Killer Sailor.
A decorated naval instructor. A trusted mentor. And behind that disciplined façade - a sadistic killer.
Between 1997 and 1999, two young sailors disappeared on the exact same date, two years apart. Both had been lured by Grimson, both were murdered with chilling precision. What investigators uncovered would expose a pattern of predation hidden inside one of Britain’s most respected institutions.
Sources:
BBC News, “Navy Instructor Guilty of Two Murders,” June 2001
The Guardian, “Killer Sailor Allan Grimson Given Life for Double Murder,” 2001
ITV News, “Police Re-Examine Claims of More Victims by Killer Sailor Allan Grimson,” 2011
Hampshire Constabulary archives, Operation Anchorage reports (1999–2011)
The Independent, “How the Navy’s Killer Turned Training into Torture,” 2001
David Wilson, A History of British Serial Killing (2009)
💀 About Dee-Brief:Dee-Brief is our weekly bite-sized true crime fix from Switchblade Sisters Social Club - smaller cases, same creepy-cute energy. Perfect for when you need a dose of dark storytelling between full seasons.
🛍️ Shop Creepy-Cute Merch:Show your support (and your sinister side) - check out our merch on RedBubble.
🔪 Listen & Subscribe:Find Switchblade Sisters Social Club on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your true crime podcasts.New Dee-Brief mini episodes every week until the new season launches in January!
#SwitchbladeSistersSocialClub #DeeBriefed #TrueCrimePodcast #AllanGrimson #KillerSailor #RoyalNavyCrimes #DarkHistory #TrueCrimeCommunity #SerialKillerStories #CreepyCute #WomenInPodcasting #PodcastShowNotes
This week on Dee-Brief, Dee dives into one of the most extraordinary courtroom dramas of Victorian England — the case of The Tichborne Claimant.
When Sir Roger Tichborne vanished at sea, his grieving mother refused to believe he was gone. Over a decade later, a butcher from Australia stepped forward, claiming to be the missing heir — sparking one of the longest and most sensational trials in British history.
Was he a conman, a delusional dreamer, or a symbol of class rebellion? This is the story of Arthur Orton — or Sir Roger, depending on who you asked — and the bizarre, heartbreaking, and utterly human saga that captivated a nation.
Part scandal, part tragedy, part early celebrity circus — the Tichborne case is proof that truth can sometimes be stranger than fiction.
Sources:
Rohan McWilliam, The Tichborne Claimant: A Victorian Sensation (Continuum, 2007)
Christopher Hilliard, The Claimant: A True Story of a Man Who Would Be King (Penguin, 2024)
The Times archives (London, 1871–1874)
British Library: Tichborne Trials Collection
BBC History Magazine, “The Butcher Who Claimed to Be an Aristocrat” (2015)
The National Archives, UK: CRIM 1/51, R v. Castro (The Tichborne Case)
💀 About Dee-Brief:Dee-Brief is a mini-episode series from Switchblade Sisters Social Club — bite-sized true crime stories to keep you entertained while the main show’s on a season break. Smaller cases, same creepy-cute energy.
🛍️ Check Out Our Merch: Support the show and look creepy-cool doing it. Visit our RedBubble shop for tees, hats, notebooks, and more.
🔪 Follow & Subscribe: Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your true crime fix. Leave a review, share with your fellow creeps, and stay tuned for next week’s Dee-Brief.
#SwitchbladeSistersSocialClub #DeeBrief #TrueCrimePodcast #VictorianCrime #TheTichborneClaimant #IdentityTheft #Conman #VictorianScandal #TrueCrimeCommunity #PodcastShowNotes #DarkHistory #CreepyCute #WomenInPodcasting
Dee and Isla dive into one of the wildest intersections of crime and literature ever recorded: the case of Krystian Bala, the Polish writer whose debut novel Amok appeared to confess - in shocking detail - to a real murder.
This is a story that combines postmodern philosophy, pathological narcissism, a jealous ex-husband, police detective brilliance, and one extremely unpleasant book we have absolutely no desire to read. Think Marquis de Sade meets Reddit, but with actual bodies.
In December 2000, fishermen discovered the body of Dariusz Janiszewski, a respected advertising executive, in the River Odra near Wrocław. He’d been missing for a month. With no clear suspects and almost no evidence, the case went cold. For years, it looked like the killer had pulled off the perfect crime.
Investigators discovered Bala had published a novel in 2003 titled Amok - a grotesque, violent book filled with sadism, misogyny, and philosophical ramblings. Buried in the filth was a murder that matched Janiszewski’s killing in disturbing detail.
This was either: A) the worst coincidence in crime history or B) the most arrogant confession ever written.
Elizabeth Day, “Stranger Than Fiction,” The Guardian (2007).
David Grann, “A Postmodern Murder Mystery,” The New Yorker (2008).
Andrew Purvis, “Polish Murder Stranger Than Fiction,” TIME (2007).
Reuters, “Truth Stranger Than Fiction as Polish Author Jailed” (2007).
Katherine Ramsland, “Murder, They Wrote,” Psychology Today (2018).
Conchology.be: “Krystian Bala.”
Sources
In this week’s episode of Switchblade Sisters Social Club, Dee and Isla dive into one of the most disturbing true stories ever published in The New Yorker - the tale of a motel owner who turned his business into a real-life panopticon.
Meet Gerald Foos, the man who secretly watched his guests through hidden vents in his Colorado motel attic, meticulously documenting their most private moments for decades - all under the guise of “research.” And meet Gay Talese, the celebrated journalist who took Foos’s confession and turned it into The Voyeur’s Motel, a story that would later blow up into one of journalism’s biggest ethical scandals.
From voyeurism and obsession to journalistic complicity and moral failure, this episode explores the tangled relationship between watcher and storyteller - and asks the question: how far is too far in the pursuit of truth?
Dee and Isla unpack Foos’s twisted “experiments,” the murder he claimed to witness, the media circus that followed, and the fact-checking fiasco that exposed the cracks in Talese’s decades-long reporting. Along the way, they also spotlight real-life cases of hidden cameras and privacy violations in hotels and Airbnbs that make you think twice before hanging your Do Not Disturb sign.
AKA the episode that will make you never stay in a hotel again.
This episode includes discussions of voyeurism, sexual assault, and murder. Listener discretion is advised.
Gay Talese, The Voyeur’s Motel (The New Yorker, April 2016)
The Guardian reviews and features on The Voyeur’s Motel
Vox: “Why Gay Talese disavowed (and then reavowed) his book”
University of Florida: “The Murky Ethics of Gay Talese’s The Voyeur’s Motel”
Westword: “Steven Spielberg, Sam Mendes Bail on Movie About The Voyeur’s Motel”
Available wherever you get your podcasts - just search Switchblade Sisters Social Club. 🔗 Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you listen to your episodes.
#TrueCrimePodcast #SwitchbladeSistersSocialClub #TheVoyeursMotel #GayTalese #JournalismEthics #CreepyCuteCarnival #TrueCrimeStories #Voyeurism #PrivacyScandal #HotelHorror
Content Warning
Sources
Listen Now
This week, Dee and Isla take on a story that truly crosses borders - from the assassination of Sweden’s Prime Minister to a double murder in small-town North Carolina.
When 40-year-old Swede Victor Gunnarsson moved to the US in search of a fresh start, he had no idea his past as a one-time suspect in the killing of Prime Minister Olof Palme would follow him. But in 1993, he was found shot dead in the Blue Ridge Mountains - and the investigation would expose a tangle of jealousy, obsession, and revenge involving a North Carolina police officer.
Join us for a wild, twist-filled case that links Cold War politics, true-crime passion, and one of the strangest coincidences in criminal history.
🎧 Available now on all platforms - just search Switchblade Sisters Social Club.
Sources:
OXYGEN True Crime - Buried in the Backyard, Season 6 Episode 1: "The Swedish Connection" (Jax Miller, July 2025)
Associated Press (Winston-Salem Journal) - “Ex-officer convicted in 1993 slaying of Swedish man dies” (Dec 28, 2018)
Salisbury Post / Catawba College News - “A Case About Death Comes Back to Life: The Swedish Connection” (Aug 2025)
Court records: North Carolina v. Underwood (Court of Appeals, 1999 & 2011 rulings)
Oxygen.com - “Former Accused ‘Swedish Hitman’ ... ‘Had to Be Destroyed’” (Crime News article, Jul 2025)
This week on Switchblade Sisters Social Club, Dee and Isla saddle up for a story straight out of a movie – but this one’s all true.
Meet Peggy Jo Tallas: devoted daughter, quiet cashier… and the cross-dressing Texan bank robber who outsmarted the FBI. For years, they hunted the mysterious 'Cowboy Bob' - a calm, silent, and oddly polite bandit in a Stetson. What they didn’t know was that behind the fake beard and oversized boots was a 46-year-old woman caring for her sick mother.
From her first heist in 1991 to her tragic final showdown in 2005, Peggy Jo’s story is part Thelma & Louise, part Robin Hood, and all heartbreak.
Dee and Isla unpack the loneliness, the thrill, and the quiet rebellion of a woman pushed to extremes by circumstance - and why her story still fascinates writers, filmmakers, and feminists today.
💋 No guns, no gangs, no fear - just a towel, a cowboy hat, and a whole lot of guts.
Skip Hollandsworth, The Last Ride of Cowboy Bob, Texas Monthly
Skip Hollandsworth, She Kills: The True Stories of Women Who Kill (2024)
Associated Press and Dallas Morning News archives, 2005
FBI case records on 'Cowboy Bob,' Irving TX
Court transcripts via Texas Department of Criminal Justice
🎧 Find Switchblade Sisters Social Club on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and wherever you listen. 🛍️ Shop our creepy-cute merch on RedBubble.
#SwitchbladeSistersSocialClub #DeeBrief #TrueCrimePodcast #CowboyBob #PeggyJoTallas #TexasCrime #WomenInCrime #TrueCrimeStories #OutlawWomen #FBI #TrueCrimeCommunity #FemaleOutlaw #CrimePodcast #CreepyCute #ThelmaAndLouiseEnergy #TrueCrimeHistory #PodcastAddict #WomenWhoKill #AmericanTrueCrime #TrueCrimeObsessed
📚 Sources
fter last week’s heavy case, Dee takes us out to sea - and straight into one of the eeriest unsolved crimes in maritime history.
In August 1993, the German cargo ship Bärbel was found drifting off the Danish coast: bloodstains across its decks, signs of fire, the crew missing - except for one man. When 28-year-old Russian sailor Andrei Lapa was rescued in a lifeboat nearby, carrying 60,000 Deutsche Marks in cash, investigators immediately suspected foul play.
Was this a mutiny turned massacre? A lone killer’s rampage? Or something far stranger on the North Sea? Dee and Isla unpack the bizarre twists of this “ghost ship” mystery - from conflicting stories and courtroom drama to the chilling reality that no one was ever convicted of the murders.
It’s part nautical thriller, part true-crime enigma, and 100% Switchblade style. Buckle up - or rather, batten down the hatches.
Available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or on our website - just search Switchblade Sisters Social Club.
SOURCES:
Russian sailor 'not guilty' of murder, TradeWinds, 1995
[Unresolved Disappearance] A ship is found adrift in the North Sea, covered in blood, partially burnt out and with no sign of its crew. A lone survivor is found in a life raft with suitcases of cash and keeps changing his story. What happened on the Bärbel? (North Sea, 1993) : r/UnresolvedMysteries
Sailor in empty ship charged with murdering rest of crew | The Independent | The Independent, 1993
The Russian sailor and the axe-killings - Crime Writer Jens Henrik Jensen
🎧 Listen Now
S5E17 Remembering Rachel Corrie
Dee and Isla take on one of the most moving and painful cases we’ve ever covered: the story of Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old American activist who was killed in Gaza in 2003.
We explore Rachel’s life, her activism with the International Solidarity Movement, and the legacy she left behind in Palestine and beyond. From her haunting diary entries to the international reaction - and the lack of justice for her death - we trace how her name became a symbol of solidarity and resistance.
This episode is heavy. It’s about loss, injustice, and the fight for dignity. But it’s also about courage, solidarity, and refusing to stay silent in the face of oppression.
And as always, an Ink-Quisition submission, this time from a fellow true crime podcast host. Who could it be?!
🎧 Available now on YouTube, all podcast platforms, and on our website. Just search Switchblade Sisters Social Club.
#TrueCrimePodcast
#RachelCorrie
Sources:
Explainer: The First Intifada, The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU): https://imeu.org/resources/resources/explainer-the-first-intifada/240
Israel may expel foreign peace activists, News | Al Jazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2003/5/2/israel-may-expel-foreign-peace-activists
Rachel Corrie - Americans Who Tell The Truth: https://americanswhotellthetruth.org/portraits/rachel-corrie/
23-year-old peace activist Rachel Corrie is crushed to death by Israeli bulldozer, March 16, 2003, HISTORY: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/march-16/rachel-corrie-activist-crushed-israel-bulldozer
FACTBOX - 15 most prominent foreign activists killed by Israel over last 2 decades: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/factbox-15-most-prominent-foreign-activists-killed-by-israel-over-last-2-decades/3323455
21 years after her death in Gaza, Palestinians remember U.S. activist Rachel Corrie, WUNC: https://www.wunc.org/2024-03-30/21-years-after-her-death-in-gaza-palestinians-remember-u-s-activist-rachel-corrie
Photostory: Israeli bulldozer driver murders American peace activist, The Electronic Intifada: https://electronicintifada.net/content/photostory-israeli-bulldozer-driver-murders-american-peace-activist/4449
Al Jazeera: https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/Gazaunderattack/index.html
Fact Sheet: Israel’s “Operation Cast Lead” (2008-09), The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU): https://imeu.org/resources/resources/fact-sheet-israels-operation-cast-lead-2008-09/411
Human Rights Violations during Operation Pillar of Defense, BtSelem: https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20130509_pillar_of_defense_report
Key figures on the 2014 hostilities, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Occupied Palestinian Territory: https://www.ochaopt.org/content/key-figures-2014-hostilities
Israeli air raid on al-Ahli Arab Hospital kills 500, Gaza officials say, Al Jazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2023/10/17/photos-an-israeli-air-raid-on-al-ahli-arab-hospital-kills-an-estimated-500
Israel-Gaza war: A timeline of key events, Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/major-moments-israel-gaza-war-2025-01-15/
Protesters march in major cities to demand Gaza ceasefire, Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/world/pro-palestinian-protesters-demand-gaza-ceasefire-european-marches-2023-11-04/
Gaza: World Court Orders Israel to Prevent Genocide, Human Rights Watch
Gaza experiencing 'what international law defines as genocide’: Slovenian foreign minister: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/gaza-experiencing-what-international-law-defines-as-genocide-slovenian-foreign-minister/3695639
1 Million March for Palestine, London's Largest Ever, Palestine Studies: https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1654765
Shooting of British cameraman by Israeli soldier cold-blooded murder, inquest told, The Guardian
American, 19, Among Gaza Flotilla Dead, ABC News
My Name is Rachel Corrie by Rachel Corrie, edited by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner
After weeks of heavy, murder-laden cases, Isla takes us in a different, yet still crime-ridden, direction: the audacious world of rare book forgery.
We look at the incredible true story of Thomas James Wise, the celebrated 19th-century bibliophile who fooled collectors, museums, and even the British Museum itself. For decades, Wise posed as a gentleman scholar, building a reputation as England’s foremost rare book expert - while secretly forging first editions, inventing non-existent pamphlets, and even tearing pages out of priceless library books to perfect his scams.
Plus: Dee and Isla take a detour into book-world quirks (yes, vellum, watermarks, and antique quiz questions all make an appearance), and wrap up with a themed Ink-quisition featuring author Claire Wilson’s Stephen King tattoo tribute.
This one proves that true crime doesn’t always need murder to shock and intrigue.
👉 Listen now on all podcast platforms, YouTube, or via our website.SOURCES:
The Book Forger by Joseph Hone
Wikipedia
University of Oregon Book Blogs
Happy recognition of the State of Palestine!
So now that most of us have some of our inalienable rights, let’s get on with the case.
In Part 1, we recounted the devastating events of the Port Arthur Massacre in Tasmania on 28 April 1996, when Martin Bryant murdered 35 people and wounded dozens more. In this follow-up episode, Dee and Isla explore what came next: the grief of survivors, the trial of Bryant, and how this tragedy sparked one of the most sweeping gun reforms anywhere in the world.
We also look at how Prime Minister John Howard’s government moved within 12 days to introduce the National Firearms Agreement, as well as comparisons with the UK’s reforms after the Hungerford and Dunblane massacres - and why the United States has not followed suit despite daily mass shootings
This episode is heavy, but it’s also about change, resilience, and the possibility of saying never again and meaning it.
Plus, we end with a lighter palate cleanser: an Ink-quisition story about henna tattoos, melonball cocktails, and a punk rock holiday.
🎧 Listen now on all podcast platforms, watch on YouTube, or on our website. Just search for Switchblade Sisters Social Club.
SOURCES:
Report of the Port Arthur Implementation Advisory Committee (Tasmanian Government, 1996)
Carcach, Carlos & Mukherjee, Satyanshu. Suicide and Firearm Mortality in Australia (Australian Institute of Criminology, 1996).
Chapman, Simon, et al. Australia’s 1996 gun law reforms: faster falls in firearm deaths, firearm suicides, and a decade without mass shootings (Injury Prevention, BMJ Journals, 2006).
R v. Martin Bryant [1996] – trial documentation and legal proceedings.
The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age coverage of the massacre and trial.
ABC News Australia (archival reporting and retrospectives on anniversaries).
BBC News and The Guardian (international perspective on the massacre and reforms).
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) – firearm death and crime statistics.
GunPolicy.org (University of Sydney, hosted by the Sydney School of Public Health).
60 Minutes Australia episodes reflecting on the massacre and reforms.
⚠️ Trigger Warning: This episode discusses gun violence and includes details of mass shootings and child victims.
In April 1996, the peaceful historic site of Port Arthur, Tasmania, became the scene of one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern history. Thirty-five people were killed and 23 injured when Martin Bryant opened fire, shocking Australia and the world.
In this first part of our two-part deep dive, Dee and Isla take you through the background to the massacre: the life of Martin Bryant, the social and political context in Tasmania, and the events that led up to that fateful day.
Along the way, they untangle the myths and misinformation, explore Bryant’s disturbing early behaviour, and set the stage for how a quiet tourist site turned into a crime scene that would change Australian society forever.
Stay tuned for Part 2, where we cover the massacre itself, the trial, and the extraordinary political response that reshaped gun laws in Australia.
🔪 Listen now on all podcast platforms, watch on YouTube, or find us at www.switchbladesisterssocialclub.com
The following is a list of those killed in the Port Arthur massacre.
Winifred Joyce Aplin, 58
Walter John Bennett, 66
Nicole Louise Burgess, 17
Sou Leng Chung, 32
Elva Rhonda Gaylard, 48
Zoe Anne Hall, 28
Elizabeth Jayne Howard, 26
Mary Elizabeth Howard, 57
Mervyn John Howard, 55
Ronald Noel Jary, 71
Tony Vadivelu Kistan, 51
Leslie Dennis Lever, 53
Sarah Kate Loughton, 15
David Martin, 72
Noelene "Sally" Joyce Martin, 69
Pauline Virjeana Masters, 49
Alannah Louise Mikac, 6
Madeline Grace Mikac, 3
Nanette Patricia Mikac, 36
Andrew Bruce Mills, 39
Peter Brenton Nash, 32
Gwenda Joan Neander, 67
William Xeeng Ng, 48
Anthony Nightingale, 44
Mary Rose Nixon, 60
Glenn Roy Pears, 35
Russell James Pollard, 72
Janette Kathleen Quin, 50
Helene Maria Salzmann, 50
Robert Graham Salzmann, 57
Kate Elizabeth Scott, 21
Kevin Vincent Sharp, 68
Raymond John Sharp, 67
Royce William Thompson, 59
Jason Bernard Winter, 29
Sources:
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News – Coverage of Port Arthur massacre and aftermath (2016 retrospective articles and interviews with survivors and officials).
CBS News, Sunday Morning – “What can Australia teach us about guns?” (Interview with Port Arthur survivor Carolyn Loughton and former PM John Howard, broadcast May 29, 2022).
Council on Foreign Relations – “U.S. Gun Policy: Global Comparisons” (Backgrounder updated June 10, 2022, by Jonathan Masters).
ABC News (Apr 2024) – Interview with Walter Mikac on gun reform advocacy and reflections 28 years later.
ABC News – Survivor accounts (Australian Story/7.30 reports, e.g. Pauline & Peter Grenfell interview, Lynne Beavis interview).
Dee takes Isla (and you, sexy listeners) deep into one of the most bizarre and tragic cases of the early internet age: the Mark and John case.
In 2003, two teenagers from Manchester – known only by the pseudonyms Mark (16) and John (14) – became caught in a web of online lies, fabricated personas, and manipulative storytelling that spiraled out of control. What began as a teenage flirtation in MSN chat rooms turned into a labyrinth of fake characters, wild plots, and ultimately, a shocking attempted murder.
Was it a case of catfishing gone too far, a desperate cry for help, or both?
This is a case where both victim and perpetrator blur together, and the line between fiction and reality becomes dangerously thin.
SOURCES:
Helen Carter, “Bizarre tale of boy who used internet to plot his own murder”, The Guardian, 29 May 2004
Manchester Crown Court Proceedings (comments, transcripts)
Crime and Investigation Channel – summary and coverage of the case
Judy Bachrach, “U want me 2 kill him? How a 14-year-old planned his own execution in MSN chat rooms”, Vanity Fair
Greater Manchester Police Statements
Sally Hogg, computer forensic analyst (her work reported in Vanity Fair and The Guardian)
Casefile: True Crime Podcast – episode on Mark and John
In 1922, a suburban love triangle exploded into one of Britain’s most sensational murder trials. When Frederick Bywaters stabbed Percy Thompson to death, his lover - Percy’s glamorous and outspoken wife, Edith - was also accused of murder.
What followed was a media frenzy: scandalous love letters read aloud in court, a prurient press, and a justice system all too eager to punish a woman who refused to conform. Though Bywaters confessed to the killing and insisted Edith knew nothing of his plans, both were condemned to hang.
Dee and Isla explore the tragic story of Edith Thompson and Frederick Bywaters, the trial that gripped a nation, and the executions that shocked the world. Was Edith guilty of murder - or merely of loving the wrong man? And how did her death help fuel the movement to abolish capital punishment in Britain?
Sources:
Rex v Edith Thompson: A Tale of Two Murders by Laura Thompson
Trial transcripts and commentary in Trial of Frederick Bywaters and Edith Thompson (Notable British Trials series, 1923).
Contemporary newspaper accounts (e.g., The Times, Daily Sketch, Daily Express reports from 1922–23).
Adam Lusher, “Laid to rest at last: Edith Thompson, victim of a 'barbarous, misogynistic' death penalty,” The Independent (Nov. 22, 2018).
René Weis, Criminal Justice: The True Story of Edith Thompson (1988) and quotes in The Independent (2018).
David Bingham, “The Messalina of the Suburbs: Edith Jessie Thompson” (The London Dead blog, Dec. 13, 2024).
“Edith Thompson and Frederick Bywaters” entry on Murderpedia and other archival sources summarizing the case.
Dee and Isla dive into one of the most infamous cases in British criminal history: the disappearance of music hall performer Cora Crippen, better known by her stage name Belle Elmore.
When Cora vanished in 1910, her formidable friends from the Music Hall Ladies’ Guild refused to accept the explanations given by her husband, Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen. Their persistence led to a Scotland Yard investigation that uncovered a grisly discovery in the cellar of the Crippens’ London home - and triggered the world’s first transatlantic manhunt using wireless telegraphy.
We explore: 🔪 Cora’s life, career, and tragic end. 📜 The pioneering role of the Ladies’ Guild in pressing the police to act. 🧪 How scar tissue and early forensic science helped identify the remains. 🚢 Crippen’s ill-fated escape attempt with his secretary-turned-lover, Ethel Le Neve, disguised as his “son.” ⚖️ The sensational trial that captivated Edwardian Britain.
From medical malpractice and deception to a historic police chase across the Atlantic, this case has everything: scandal, innovation, and a chilling legacy that still echoes in true crime history.
✨ Sources include The Story of a Murder by Hallie Rubenhold, Scotland Yard’s Bloody History by Simon Read, and contemporary reports.