Totalcrime.co.uk

11/06/2025

At Crimecon at the weekend, recording this interview: https://totalcrime.substack.com/p/jaycee-lee-dugard-the-cleveland-kidnappings

24/01/2025

Axel Rudakubana will not see the light of day for 52 years (if ever) but he has still not explained why he committed the massacre. In today's I look at the murders of Elsie, Bebe and Alice but also explore other infamous massacres of children and look at the reactions, both political and cultural, which followed them. Admittedly it's a tough read. Be prepared. It's free to subscribe but paid subscribers get access to premium content (got some good stuff coming next week).

The 'evil' of Axel Rudakubana

25/10/2024

This is an exclusive - photo released of killer Stasious Scott as Court of Appeal rejects his request for an appeal. In today's I tell the full story and speak with Louisa Bello, whose brother Justin he killed before fleeing to Jamaica

Louisa Bello knows she will never find out the truth about what happened to her brother Justin, whose body was left in a rubbish bin by his killer’s accomplices, who hoped it would be lost forever at a landfill site.

11/10/2024

Today's Substack is an A-Z of London's criminal barristers. I might be committing professional su***de here because some of them may never speak to me again. Bear in mind that it's been updated from when I first compiled it 10 years ago. Enjoy. It's free to subscribe but paid subscribers get access to premium content (I've got a couple up my sleeve for next week).
https://totalcrime.substack.com/p/legal-eagles-an-a-to-z-of-londons

30/08/2024

This week an elected official in Las Vegas was convicted of murdering the city's legendary crime reporter Jeff German. I knew Jeff and had interviewed him twice for articles I wrote about Sin City. In today's Substack I tell the full story. It's free to subscribe but paid subscribers get access to premium content (like this article and another I'm publishing on Tuesday)
https://totalcrime.substack.com/p/fatal-words-how-an-article-led-to

27/08/2024

Was a police informant given a light sentence for drug dealing and then released from prison only to murder his partner in front of their three children? Read my for the full story. It's free to subscribe but paid subscribers get access to premium content (such as this article).

Would you consider it a national scandal if a police informant was given a light sentence and then released, only for him to murder his partner, the mother of his three children, in the most horrific way?

10/08/2024

In my latest Substack I look at the similarities and the differences between the 2011 and 2024 riots. Several people were killed during the 2011 disturbances and one of those crimes remains unsolved. It's free to subscribe but paid subscribers get access to premium content.

The riots of 2011 and 2024 have a lot in common, even though the demographic involved might be quite different.

10/07/2024

In my latest Substack I interview a photographer who specialises in taking pictures at crime scenes about why he does it and what his ethical code entails. It's free to subscribe but paid subscribers get access to premium content (like this article).

Twenty-four hours after Sir Keir Starmer strode into 10 Downing Street as the new prime minister, 33-year-old Josh McKay was stabbed to death in a barber shop in Walthamstow, north east London.

05/07/2024

Today's Substack is all about an infamous mystery and Big Pharma. It's free to subscribe but paid subscribers get access to premium content

In the autumn – or fall – of 1982 seven people in Chicago, including a 12-year-old girl swallowed a Tylenol Extra Strength capsule….and dropped dead. The acetaminophen powder – what we call paracetamol in the UK – inside had been replaced with cyanide.

02/07/2024

Today's Substack (based on my messy shorthand notes) is about a trial which led to the acquittal of three men charged with conspiracy to murder. It was a rare setback for the police who used evidence from Encrochat phones. It's free subscribe but paid subscribers get access to premium content (like this article).
https://totalcrime.substack.com/p/prosecution-miss-open-goal-in-encrochat

04/06/2024

This is Nana Oppong. He beat the rap in THREE separate murder trials. But his luck has just run out and I was the only journalist in court when he was sent down for another murder (that of music manager Robert "Fox" Powell). Read the whole amazing story in my Substack today. This one is available only to paid subscribers. You can subscribe for as little as £5 a month.

After being charged with murder three times and walking free each time, Nana Oppong was something of a criminal Houdini. But when he chanced his luck a FOURTH time he finally struck out. On Friday (May 31) 44-year-old Oppong, (pictured), was jailed for life and given a minimum term of 38 years for t...

21/05/2024

In this week's Substack I went for a walk on Horsenden Hill in west London with true crime blogger Michael Nolan and discussed one of the capital's most enduring mysteries - who killed Hannah Deterville? It's free to subscribe. But paid subscribers get access to premium content and can pitch me true crime stories they'd like me to investigate, like Michael did.

It was a winter’s night, with all that entailed. Freezing cold, inky dark, spots of chilling rain. Hannah Deterville, 15, was in her home neighbourhood on the Harrow Road in Queen’s Park, north west London.Totalcrime Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my...