Sir Samuel Roy Meadow is a British retired paediatrician infamous for facilitating several wrongful convictions of mothers for murdering their babies. He was awarded the Donald Paterson prize of the British Paediatric Association in 1968 for a study of the effects on parents of having a child in hospital. In 1977, he published an academic paper describing a phenomenon dubbed Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSbP). In 1980 he was awarded a professorial chair in paediatrics at St James's University Hospital, Leeds, and in 1998, he was knighted for services to child health.
Angela Cannings was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the UK in 2002 for the murder of her seven-week-old son, Jason, who died in 1991, and of her 18-week-old son Matthew, who died in 1999. Her first child, Gemma, died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in 1989 at the age of 13 weeks, although she was never charged in connection with Gemma's death.
Sarah-Jane Abigail Lancashire is an English actress from Oldham, England. She is known for her roles on screen and stage; her combined acting credits have earned Lancashire various accolades over a career spanning four decades, including two British Academy Television Awards.
Emma Cunniffe is an English film, stage and television actress.
See No Evil: The Moors Murders is a two-part British television serial, directed by Christopher Menaul, produced by Granada Television and broadcast on ITV on 14 and 15 May 2006. The serial tells the story of the Moors murders, which were committed, between July 1963 and October 1965, by Myra Hindley and Ian Brady. The narrative is from the viewpoint of Hindley's sister, Maureen Smith, and her husband David.
The Ipswich serial murders, commonly known as the work of the Suffolk Strangler, took place between 30 October and 10 December 2006, during which time the bodies of five murdered sex workers were discovered at different locations near Ipswich, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom. Their bodies were discovered naked but there were no signs of sexual assault. Two of the victims, Anneli Alderton and Paula Clennell, were confirmed to have been killed by asphyxiation. A cause of death for the other victims, Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol and Annette Nicholls, was not established.
Trupti Patel is a qualified pharmacist from Maidenhead in Berkshire, England, who was acquitted in 2003 of murdering three of her children, Amar, Jamie, and Mia.
Donna Anthony is a British woman from Somerset who was jailed in 1998 after being convicted of the murder of her two babies. She was cleared and freed after having spent more than six years in prison.
It is possible to convict someone of murder without the purported victim's body in evidence. However, cases of this type have historically been hard to prove, often forcing the prosecution to rely on circumstantial evidence, and in England there was for centuries a mistaken view that in the absence of a body a killer could not be tried for murder. Developments in forensic science in recent decades have made it more likely that a murder conviction can be obtained even if a body has not been found.
The trials of the Pendle witches in 1612 are among the most famous witch trials in English history, and some of the best recorded of the 17th century. The twelve accused lived in the area surrounding Pendle Hill in Lancashire, and were charged with the murders of ten people by the use of witchcraft. All but two were tried at Lancaster Assizes on 18–19 August 1612, along with the Samlesbury witches and others, in a series of trials that have become known as the Lancashire witch trials. One was tried at York Assizes on 27 July 1612, and another died in prison. Of the eleven who went to trial – nine women and two men – ten were found guilty and executed by hanging; one was found not guilty.
The Cragg Vale Coiners, sometimes the Yorkshire Coiners, were a band of counterfeiters in England, based in Cragg Vale, near Hebden Bridge, West Riding of Yorkshire. They produced debased gold coins in the late 18th century to supplement small incomes from weaving.
Happy Valley is a British crime drama television series, set and filmed in the Calder Valley, West Yorkshire. Starring Sarah Lancashire and Siobhan Finneran, it was written and created by Sally Wainwright, and directed by Wainwright, Euros Lyn and Tim Fywell. The first series began on BBC One on 29 April 2014, the second on 9 February 2016, and the third and final series on 1 January 2023. It won the 2015 BAFTA Award for Best Drama Series, and won another BAFTA for Best Drama for the second series.
Peter Anthony Scott Farquhar was a British teacher of English who taught at Manchester Grammar School and at Stowe School. He later lectured at Buckingham University. He also wrote three novels. He was murdered on 26 October 2015 by his lover and former student Ben Field.
Lynette Joy Dawson was an Australian woman who disappeared on or about 8 January 1982, leaving two daughters and her husband, former rugby league footballer Chris Dawson. Her whereabouts are unknown, but two coronial inquests found that she had been murdered. On 30 August 2022, Chris Dawson was convicted of Lynette's murder and sentenced to 24 years in prison.
A Fall from Grace is a 2020 American thriller film produced, written, and directed by Tyler Perry and his first to be released by Netflix. The film follows a woman who finds a dangerous new love and the novice attorney who defends her in a sensational court case. This was the final film of actor Cicely Tyson before her death in January 2021. The film was panned by critics with main criticism focusing on the screenplay.
Honour is a two-part British television drama, depicting the investigation into the real-life disappearance and murder of honour killing victim Banaz Mahmod.
David Smith is an English repeat murderer, rapist and suspected serial killer who came to national prominence in 1999 when he was convicted of murdering a sex worker six years after having being acquitted of an "almost identical" murder. Cleared of the murder of 33-year-old west London sex worker Sarah Crump in 1993, Smith was found guilty in 1999 of the killing of 21-year-old Paddington sex worker Amanda Walker. Smith has since been linked to a number of other murders of sex workers across Britain.
The Sixth Commandment is a four-part British true-life crime drama, written by Sarah Phelps and directed by Saul Dibb. Based on the murders of Peter Farquhar and Ann Moore-Martin, it stars Timothy Spall, Anne Reid, Sheila Hancock, Éanna Hardwicke, Annabel Scholey and Ben Bailey Smith.
Maxine Robinson is an English woman who murdered all three of her children between 1989 and 1993. Convicted of murdering two of the children in 1995, Robinson unsuccessfully appealed against her convictions, claiming their deaths had been natural. However, in 2004, she admitted killing them and further revealed that she had, in 1989, murdered her first-born child, whose death until then had been considered a cot death. Her trial judge observed that Robinson's case was a "timely" reminder that "not all mothers in prison for killing their children are the victims of miscarriages of justice."
