Murder Maps

In 1849, a man suddenly disappeared in Bermondsey. The discovery that he had been brutally murdered enraptured the press and the public. Even Charles Dickens was totally engrossed in the story of the sinister Marie Manning.

At the time of Jack The Ripper, London was home to some of the most terrible individuals the city has ever seen. One of the very worst was the elusive Borough Poisoner, George Chapman.

Having killed his wife and buried her in the basement, Dr Crippen believed he had escaped on a ship to Canada. But the police managed to hunt him down and bring him to account for his terrible crime.

George Smith had many aliases. He needed them for his many wives who he would soon murder in order to claim the inheritance. Catching this chameleon would be a gargantuan challenge.

Edith Thompson and Frederick Bywaters were in love but the young couple were convicted for murdering Edith's husband. The case would shock this changing society and highlight the horror of the death penalty.

It was WWII and London was rocked by the Blitz. In this blacked out city another terrible danger lurked in the shadows. A serial killer was on the loose.

As Europe recovered from the damage of WWII, soldiers made their way home from the front line. One man however brought back all the savagery and brutality of the fighting.

John Christie killed at least eight women during the 1940s and 1950s, including his wife. Hear more about his shocking crimes in this two-parter.

WWI veteran John Christie later turned to a life of crime and killed at least eight women. Hear how his murderous spree ended at the gallows.

The first episode examines the horrifying discovery made in a trunk at the left luggage office of Brighton Train Station on a hot summer's day in 1934. Two days later, a similar case was found in Kings Cross Station, London. A major…

When police investigated the disappearance of wealthy widow, Olive Durand Deacon, in early 1949, they could not have imagined the gruesome confession told to them by the man they had brought in for questioning.

The murders of two teens along the River Thames leads to one of Britain's most massive manhunts and ultimately to the capture of Alfred Whiteway.

In 1955, London nightclub manager Ruth Ellis confesses to the murder of her abusive lover, then becomes the last woman to be executed in Britain.

Peter Manuel was a Scottish serial killer who killed at least eight people between 1956 - 1958 around the Greater Glasgow area in Scotland. Manuel had prison for a string of sexual attacks but on his release it didn't take long for his…

Born in 1832 the story of the Black Widow is a tale of classic Victorian murder. Cotton travelled around the north east of England marrying lonely men getting them to take out life insurance and then murdering them. Arsenic was her…

Dr Ruxton was an Indian born physician. He lived a quiet, respectable life in Lancaster but had a violent jealous streak. He had accused his wife of infidelity for years but in September 1935 Ruxton's jealousy got the better of him. He…

Three police officers were murdered in Shepherds Bush on Friday 12th August 1966 by Harry Roberts and two others. After the killing they went on the run and a huge manhunt ensued. One assailant was captured within hours, the second was…

We all think we know the story of Jack the Ripper. The most famous serial killer in history, the man who murdered five women on the streets of Whitechapel - and got away with it. In this two-part Murder Maps special, we re-examine those…

We all think we know the story of Jack the Ripper. The most famous serial killer in history, the man who murdered five women on the streets of Whitechapel - and got away with it. In this two-part Murder Maps special, we re-examine those…

In December 1910, the murder of three City of London Police officers and the wounding of two others was, and continues to be, one of the largest multiple murders of police officers on duty carried out in Great Britain. The three officers…

The First World War took the lives of countless soldiers on the front line. But one man in Paris too old for combat saw this as an opportunity. Henri Landru targeted the lonely and vulnerable women left behind by the war. He seduced them…

Herbert Rowse Armstrong went down in history as The Hay Poisoner. Convicted in 1922 of murdering his wife with arsenic, he was the first and only solicitor to be hanged in the UK. But was he guilty? Was he a cunning poisoner, or was he a…

Amelia Dyer was perhaps the most prolific killer in British history. She earned a living through murder, and her victims were babies. There was a grim trade which flourished in the Victorian age. In a time when unmarried mothers were…

Cleveland, Ohio was a notorious city in the 1930s. The Great Depression had hit it hard. Crime and corruption were rife. And there was a serial killer on the loose. This episode investigates the unsolved murders committed by the Butcher…

It was a crime which shocked Britain. In 1878, a widow was killed in her own home - and the killer was her own servant. This was a murder which struck at the heart of Victorian society, at the sanctity of the home and the rigid divides…

Here we reveal how the notorious killer Mary Pearcey began an affair with her victim's husband, how she inserted herself into the family's life.