Prisoner of the War on Encryption

Prisoner of the War on Encryption

In this episode I have an exclusive interview with Thomas Herdman, who is awaiting trial in France four years after he was arrested and accused of being behind an international criminal enterprise at the encrypted app Sky ECC. Herdman tells me he is innocent and is the victim of France's war against privacy. During the French Revolution, Cardinal Richelieu said: "If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him." Herdman tells me: “That’s what’s happening to me.”

Beyond Depravity: The Death of Preston Davey

Last week Jamie Varley was given a whole life sentence for the murder of Preston Davey, a 13-month-old boy he was in the process of adopting with his boyfriend John McGowan-Fazakerley. I covered the trial, which heard shocking evidence that the little boy was sexually abused for weeks or months prior to his death. In this episode I tell you the full story, including the moving words of Preston's biological mother, but I have deliberately omitted the most obscene and disturbing evidence.

The Suiciders

This is an exclusive interview with Zac Law, from Yorkshire, who tells me how he discovered one day that one of his American friends on the app Discord, Travis Dyer (pictured), had killed himself and then later found out that three other people he knew on the app - including "Jimmy" - had played an active part in encouraging Travis to shoot himself and had even watched it on a videocall. Dylan Phelan - who was "Jimmy" - was jailed for six years on Friday (12 June) at Leeds Crown Court for encouraging Travis's suicide.

The Turks of London

I have been following the machinations of the Turkish and Kurdish underworld in London for almost a quarter of a century and this seems like the perfect time to tell the story. The reason I am doing this episode now is because of the conviction (on Friday 5 June) of Beytullah Gunduz, one of the leaders of the Hackney Turks - one of two violent feuding gangs in London. The other being the Tottenham Turks. So come with me as I explain the bitter history behind this feud and tell you about the recent extortion trial which ended with a guilty verdict for Gunduz.

Groomed: The Murder of Katie Simpson

Nicola Tallant, top Irish crime journalist and author of Groomed: Coercion, Control and a Cold-blooded Murder, joins me to discuss the horrific murder of Katie Simpson, a 21-year-old showjumper in Northern Ireland who fell into the clutches of Jonathan Cresswell, a horse trainer (pictured) who was also her brother-in-law. This is the government review she mentions in the episode: https://www.justice-ni.gov.uk/publications/katie-simpson-review