"How To Murder Your Husband" - an essay by Nancy BrophyThat's how it started...with an online essay written by an aspiring romance author named Nancy Crampton-Brophy. But Nancy is not John Grisham or J.K. Rowling or E.L, James. Nor is she Barbara Cartland or, for that matter, Jackie Collins. But she aspired to be as successful as these names from popular literature. No doubt, she would have loved to see her works on stands in airport bookshops or brightening the plate glass windows...

Scott Peterson sits on death row in California's notorious San Quentin jail. He claims innocence of the appalling crime which resulted in his current predicament. If Peterson is one of those unfortunates who has been wrongly convicted, it is hard to imagine a more horrendous situation than the one he is facing.Because, according to the jury that found him guilty, he murdered his wife. A wife who was eight months pregnant at the time. Which means he also murdered his unborn child, a boy. A ...

Is Wayne Williams one of the most evil men to have ever walked the earth, or are the Atlanta child murders the cause of one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in the judicial history of the United States? It is a tough question, and one to which we are even further from answering today than we were back in the early 1980s. That was the time when Williams was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder. It also marked the closure of the files on at least twenty-nine, arguably unsolv...

They were some of the coldest, most savage crimes in the entire history of the United States; murder, rape, assault and burglary. Victims were tracked and stalked; the violations committed against them vicious and merciless. Men, women, children; none were safe from his deadly attacks.But the Golden State Killer, as he came to be known, had another wicked, callous side. Not only would he destroy his victims' lives, but he would then taunt them, make them relive what they had been th...

Ardeth Woods - The victim whose death 'touched the heart of a city'.'She turned out to be the smartest one of the bunch, ' said Ardeth's dad, Brendon. 'She managed to get scholarships through Masters and PHD programs.' Neither he, nor his wife, nor her brothers could conceive of the tragedy which was to follow when twenty-seven-year-old Ardeth decided to go for a bike ride through one of Ottawa's extended parklands. They could not envisage that she would be dragged from her bike, abducted,...

Nearly six weeks after Lynette Dawson disappeared, on February 18th, 1982, her husband Chris finally reported her missing. He stuck to his story. There was nothing to be worried about. She had left to join a religious group after they had argued about her spending addiction. It was sad, but these things happen. He would get over it. Don't worry.Yet the notion that Lynette would abandon her two children seems impossible to swallow. She was a loving mom, and nothing suggested that she...

From the side angle of his most recent mugshot, Harvey the Hammer still looks like the murderer he is. Flat of nose, shaven headed, protruding chin on his jowly, hanging face, this now old man still retains the features of a childhood nightmare.But from front on, we see his eyes. They are overhung by flabby eyebrows, and sitting deep inside their sockets, seem dark and broody. There is a half-smile on his face. Not a smirk, not a smile of smugness, but a smile of acquiescence. The f...

A Crime Where Everyone Is a VictimHas an alcoholic committed themselves to a life choice for which they must pay any penalties that, as a result, come their way? Or are they subject to a compulsive behaviour disorder which should be taken in mitigation against any consequences that end up at their door? Perhaps, just as importantly, is this a question about which the authorities care?These are questions that will trouble anybody connected to the sad case of former glamour mod...

'OK, here's the plot. A oman - let's make her an ex-prostitute - sets out to marry a man. She gets fed up with him and decides to have him murdered.''Whoa, slow down a bit here. How long have they been married?''I don't know, umm, we'll make it five years. No, too long. How about six months? But here's the twist - you're going to love this...'The commissioning executives are already looking at each other in resignation, and surreptitiously glancing at their watches. 'So, she picks on a guy...

Her orange and white striped jump suit beneath long, blonde, flowing locks suggests a children's entertainer, a professional party host for a gathering of eight-year olds. In a different setting, we could expect to hear the screams of joy and laughter, the party poppers going off, the moms and dads enjoying a glass of wine in the middle class kitchen of their middle class homes, bi-fold doors open to the gardens where the children have been placed to avoid the slightest risk of custard pie...

David Berkowitz, aka the Son of Sam, plead guilty to eight separate attacks that terrorized New York City in the hot summer of 1976. His weapon of choice was a .44 caliber revolver which he used to kill the six and wound seven others. The attacks put the entire city on alert and Berkowitz managed to elude New York's finest for over a month as he taunted them with letters. After his arrest, he confessed to the crimes but maintained he was under orders from a demon named "Sam". He would late...

It was September 14th 2015 when Jack Taylor, a 25 year old gay man was found dead in St Margaret's church in East London. 'If that's where Jack's been found, someone's put him there,' said Jack's sister, Jen. 'The Police could have put a stop to it, and Jack would still have been here.'Three previous murders had been committed in 2014. In each case, a body was found within a short distance of the others – sometimes in the exact same spot. Yet police assumed there was no connection b...