Gripping True Crime stories from neighbourhoods across the UK.
Series 8. When a Catfish Kills ‘Chloe’ isn’t a real girl. She’s a catfish and her depraved demands have fatal consequences.
Previously on Crime Next Door:
Series 1. An Assassin Comes to Town Gunshots kickstart an extraordinary tale of state terrorism.
Series 2. Servants and Saints Exploring the story and allegations of a global religious group.
Series 3. Death on the Farm After fifty years the community of Llangolman seek justice.
Series 4. The Salisbury Poisonings Follow the public inquiry into the death of Dawn Sturgess.
Series 5. The Golden Toilet Heist Exploring a story of art, mystery and a solid gold toilet stolen from a British palace.
Series 6: Who Killed The Shakoors? A father is the sole survivor of a house fire that killed his wife and five children. Follow his story of unimaginable loss and the on-going fight for justice.
Series 7. The Ballad of Big Mags A vigilante matriarch with dark secrets comes to regret stepping into the media spotlight.
Gripping True Crime stories from neighbourhoods across the UK.
Series 8. When a Catfish Kills ‘Chloe’ isn’t a real girl. She’s a catfish and her depraved demands have fatal consequences.
Previously on Crime Next Door:
Series 1. An Assassin Comes to Town Gunshots kickstart an extraordinary tale of state terrorism.
Series 2. Servants and Saints Exploring the story and allegations of a global religious group.
Series 3. Death on the Farm After fifty years the community of Llangolman seek justice.
Series 4. The Salisbury Poisonings Follow the public inquiry into the death of Dawn Sturgess.
Series 5. The Golden Toilet Heist Exploring a story of art, mystery and a solid gold toilet stolen from a British palace.
Series 6: Who Killed The Shakoors? A father is the sole survivor of a house fire that killed his wife and five children. Follow his story of unimaginable loss and the on-going fight for justice.
Series 7. The Ballad of Big Mags A vigilante matriarch with dark secrets comes to regret stepping into the media spotlight.
What do you do when someone you trust turns out to not exist?
When ‘Chloe’ starts messaging other teenage girls on social media she is friendly. Fun. Interested. Soon she sends explicit photos, and asks her new friends to send some back. That’s when she changes and the blackmail begins. Because ‘Chloe’ isn’t a real girl. She’s a catfish. And her depraved demands have fatal consequences.
This episode features real online messages, read aloud by an AI voice. Find out more about how the BBC uses AI https://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/reports/policies/approach-to-ai/
What do you do when someone you trust turns out to not exist?
When ‘Chloe’ starts messaging other teenage girls on social media she is friendly. Fun. Interested. Soon she sends explicit photos, and asks her new friends to send some back. That’s when she changes and the blackmail begins. Because ‘Chloe’ isn’t a real girl. She’s a catfish. And her depraved demands have fatal consequences.
This episode features real online messages, read aloud by an AI voice. Find out more about how the BBC uses AI https://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/reports/policies/approach-to-ai/
What do you do when someone you trust turns out to not exist?
When ‘Chloe’ starts messaging other teenage girls on social media she is friendly. Fun. Interested. Soon she sends explicit photos, and asks her new friends to send some back. That’s when she changes and the blackmail begins. Because ‘Chloe’ isn’t a real girl. She’s a catfish. And her depraved demands have fatal consequences.
This episode features real online messages, read aloud by an AI voice. Find out more about how the BBC uses AI https://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/reports/policies/approach-to-ai/
What do you do when someone you trust turns out to not exist?
When ‘Chloe’ starts messaging other teenage girls on social media she is friendly. Fun. Interested. Soon she sends explicit photos, and asks her new friends to send some back. That’s when she changes and the blackmail begins. Because ‘Chloe’ isn’t a real girl. She’s a catfish. And her depraved demands have fatal consequences.
What do you do when someone you trust turns out to not exist?
When ‘Chloe’ starts messaging other teenage girls on social media she is friendly. Fun. Interested. Soon she sends explicit photos, and asks her new friends to send some back. That’s when she changes and the blackmail begins. Because ‘Chloe’ isn’t a real girl. She’s a catfish. And her depraved demands have fatal consequences.
What do you do when someone you trust turns out to not exist?
When ‘Chloe’ starts messaging other teenage girls on social media she is friendly. Fun. Interested. Soon she sends explicit photos, and asks her new friends to send some back. That’s when she changes and the blackmail begins. Because ‘Chloe’ isn’t a real girl. She’s a catfish. And her depraved demands have fatal consequences.
This episode features real online messages, read aloud by an AI voice. Find out more about how the BBC uses AI https://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/reports/policies/approach-to-ai/
What do you do when someone you trust turns out to not exist?
When ‘Chloe’ starts messaging other teenage girls on social media she is friendly. Fun. Interested. Soon she sends explicit photos, and asks her new friends to send some back. That’s when she changes and the blackmail begins. Because ‘Chloe’ isn’t a real girl. She’s a catfish. And her depraved demands have fatal consequences.
This episode features real online messages, read aloud by an AI voice. Find out more about how the BBC uses AI
Journalist Mark McGivern endures a chilling face-to-face encounter with Mags as the Haneys are backed into a corner. With the public’s attention firmly fixed on the crime family, the police are forced to act.
Presenter: Myles Bonnar Written by: Chris Cruickshank, Marisha Currie, Myles Bonnar and Graham Russell Additional Scripting: Jack Kibble-White Producer: Chris Cruickshank Assistant Producer: Marisha Currie Executive Producers: Graham Russell, Susie Crumless Sound Design and Mixing: Fraser Jackson Commissioning Editor: Heather Kane-Darling
A BBC Scotland production for BBC Sounds
The Daily Record launch a high profile campaign. After receiving numerous tip offs, undercover journalists find evidence that may bring matriarch Mags and her empire down.
Presenter: Myles Bonnar Written by: Chris Cruickshank, Marisha Currie, Myles Bonnar and Graham Russell Additional Scripting: Jack Kibble-White Producer: Chris Cruickshank Assistant Producer: Marisha Currie Executive Producers: Graham Russell, Susie Crumless Sound Design and Mixing: Fraser Jackson Commissioning Editor: Heather Kane-Darling
A BBC Scotland production for BBC Sounds
Hounded out, the Haneys struggle to find a new home. In a new town, they can’t escape their past as they face violence and anger on the streets once again.
Presenter: Myles Bonnar Written by: Chris Cruickshank, Marisha Currie, Myles Bonnar and Graham Russell Additional Scripting: Jack Kibble-White Producer: Chris Cruickshank Assistant Producer: Marisha Currie Executive Producers: Graham Russell, Susie Crumless Sound Design and Mixing: Fraser Jackson Commissioning Editor: Heather Kane-Darling
A BBC Scotland production for BBC Sounds
As her public profile rises, Mags falls foul of ‘tall poppy syndrome’. It becomes clear the Haneys have numerous skeletons in their closet and, not for the first time, the community rises up.
Presenter: Myles Bonnar Written by: Chris Cruickshank, Marisha Currie, Myles Bonnar and Graham Russell Additional Scripting: Jack Kibble-White Producer: Chris Cruickshank Assistant Producer: Marisha Currie Executive Producers: Graham Russell, Susie Crumless Sound Design and Mixing: Fraser Jackson Commissioning Editor: Heather Kane-Darling
A BBC Scotland production for BBC Sounds
Mags positions herself as an ‘anti-paedophile campaigner’ and appears on national TV. Back home on the Raploch estate, anger begins to boil as she hogs the headlines.
Presenter: Myles Bonnar Written by: Chris Cruickshank, Marisha Currie, Myles Bonnar and Graham Russell Additional Scripting: Jack Kibble-White Producer: Chris Cruickshank Assistant Producer: Marisha Currie Executive Producers: Graham Russell, Susie Crumless Sound Design and Mixing: Fraser Jackson Commissioning Editor: Heather Kane-Darling
A BBC Scotland production for BBC Sounds
In the midst of a ‘paedophile panic’, residents of a Stirling housing scheme take matters into their own hands and one woman grabs the nation’s attention.
Presenter: Myles Bonnar Written by: Chris Cruickshank, Marisha Currie, Myles Bonnar and Graham Russell Additional Scripting: Jack Kibble-White Producer: Chris Cruickshank Assistant Producer: Marisha Currie Executive Producers: Graham Russell, Susie Crumless Sound Design and Mixing: Fraser Jackson Commissioning Editor: Heather Kane-Darling
A BBC Scotland production for BBC Sounds
It’s the mid 1990s. On the Raploch estate in Stirling, a local community is living in fear.
This is a place with many young families, and word is spreading that a convicted paedophile is living among them, placed there anonymously by the local council.
Residents worry the streets are no longer safe for their kids, and outraged they weren’t told or consulted.
It’s an outrage felt beyond the Raploch estate, and it doesn’t take long for a name and address to find its way into the public domain.
Armed with this information, the Raploch rises – as a mob, led by Margaret Haney, known locally as Big Mags.
An imposing matriarch, charismatic with a voice like gravel, she’s more than happy to take on the authorities and speak to the media. She becomes a figurehead and spokesperson for a movement devoted to driving the ex-offender out of the area.
She succeeds, but for the Big Mags, that that’s just the start, and as her campaign continues, the media become obsessed with this diamond in the rough.
She’s on TV. In the papers. Becomes something of a celebrity.
Big Mags is always good for a soundbite, and she in turn, seems to enjoy the attention.
She doesn’t know it now, but she’s made a huge mistake.
As Big Mags has secrets of her own.
It’s not that long ago that one of the most serious problems faced by the Raploch Estate were the Haney family themselves.
And as Big Mags enjoys the glare of media attention, she will all too soon regret grabbing the limelight.
Her 15 minutes of fame will soon become little more than a chapter within in a legacy of infamy. This is the Ballad of Big Mags.
Presenter: Myles Bonnar Written by: Chris Cruickshank, Marisha Currie, Myles Bonnar and Graham Russell Additional Scripting: Jack Kibble-White Producer: Chris Cruickshank Assistant Producer: Marrisha Currie Executive Producers: Graham Russell, Susie Crumless Sound Design and Mixing: Fraser Jackson Commissioning Editor: Heather Kane-Darling
A BBC Scotland production for BBC Sounds
Dr Abdul Shakoor lost his wife and five children in a house fire in Harlow, Essex.
He shares his shock at the discoveries we've uncovered relating to the investigation.
Dr Shakoor still hopes that one day those responsible will be brought to justice.
Written and produced by Gabby Colenso Presenter: Sonia Watson Sound Design: John Cameron-McIntosh Story Consultants: Barney Rowntree and Ben Robinson Online Producer: Rachael Smith Series Editor: Shahid Hussain Commissioning Editor: Alistair Miskin
A BBC Essex production for BBC Sounds.
Police believe someone broke into their home that night and a fire was started, but no-one has ever been charged.
With claims of evidence compromised, mistakes made and missed opportunities. We turn our attention to the crime scene forensics.
Hear from people closest to the case, speaking for the first time about their concerns.
Written and produced by Gabby Colenso Presenter: Sonia Watson Sound Design: John Cameron-McIntosh Story Consultants: Barney Rowntree and Ben Robinson Online Producer: Rachael Smith Series Editor: Shahid Hussain Commissioning Editor: Alistair Miskin
A BBC Essex production for BBC Sounds.
Police get a breakthrough when something was found dumped near the Shakoor family home, eleven days after the fatal house fire.
The discovery means the fire is now officially a murder investigation.
As enquiries increase there's a problem, which could provide a reason why this case remains unsolved.
Written and produced by Gabby Colenso Presenter: Sonia Watson Sound Design: John Cameron-McIntosh Story Consultants: Barney Rowntree and Ben Robinson Online Producer: Rachael Smith Series Editor: Shahid Hussain Commissioning Editor: Alistair Miskin
A BBC Essex production for BBC Sounds.
The town of Harlow is in shock after a house fire left Dr Sabah Usmani and her four children dead.
A fifth child is on life support in hospital. The father, Abdul Shakoor, is by his daughter's bedside praying for her to pull through.
As the community in Essex tries to come to terms with what’s happened, detectives reveal the Shakoor's home wasn’t the only fire in the street that night and the search for answers begins.
Written and produced by Gabby Colenso Presenter: Sonia Watson Sound Design: John Cameron-McIntosh Story Consultants: Barney Rowntree and Ben Robinson Online Producer: Rachael Smith Series Editor: Shahid Hussain Commissioning Editor: Alistair Miskin
A BBC Essex production for BBC Sounds.
A normally quiet residential street in Harlow is woken in the middle of the night to screams for help. Doctor Abdul Shakoor jumps from the bedroom window of his Essex home as fire rages through the living room downstairs. His wife and five children are still inside.
What Adbul didn't know then is that he’ll be the only family member to survive and also that someone else may have been in the house.
Written and produced by Gabby Colenso Presenter: Sonia Watson Sound Design: John Cameron-McIntosh Story Consultants: Barney Rowntree and Ben Robinson Online Producer: Rachael Smith Series Editor: Shahid Hussain Commissioning Editor: Alistair Miskin
A BBC Essex production for BBC Sounds.
A father is the sole survivor of a house fire that killed his wife and five children.
On 15 October 2012, Dr Abdul Shakoor jumped from an upstairs window of his house in Harlow, Essex. It was a desperate attempt to get help.
His wife Dr Sabah Usmani and their five children died in the fire and police opened a murder investigation.
Dr Shakoor has been fighting for answers and justice ever since.
Written and produced by Gabby Colenso Presenter: Sonia Watson Sound Design: John Cameron-McIntosh Story Consultants: Barney Rowntree and Ben Robinson Online Producer: Rachael Smith Series Editor: Shahid Hussain Commissioning Editor: Alistair Miskin
A BBC Essex production for BBC Sounds.
