When Life Means Life

Very few people in the UK are convicted of one murder, but David Cook has twice been convicted of killing. Fresh out of prison Cook carries out his murderous plan and attacks pen-pal Beryl Maynard in her own home in the hunt for money. Unlike most convicted murderers, David Cook hadn’t reached the end of his crimes as over twenty years later, in a small Welsh town where no one knows of his past crimes, pensioner Len Hill disappears. We lift the lid on this shocking double-killer’s attack on his vulnerable neighbour.

This is the extraordinary story of bizarre double murderer, Glyn Dix. A man locked up once for murder who couldn’t resist the urge to kill again after he was released. Dix’s first victim was young mother of two, Pia Overbury. After his arrest Dix soon admitted the murder, but when challenged, he produced a series of bizarre and conflicting stories. Twelve years on and free from prison, Dix married Hazel, but the marriage was to end in tragedy when in 2004 he killed Hazel in what Hazel’s family believe was a ritualistic sacrifice.

Stephen Farrow is a man with a violent hatred of the church and in 2012 sparked a nationwide man-hunt, after brutally murdering Reverend John Suddards, in the sleepy Gloucestershire town of Thornbury. Soon after his arrest it became clear that Farrow had in fact been on the run after committing two murders. Weeks earlier he had beaten pensioner Betty Yates to death in her home with her own walking stick. Join us as we meet those who befriended Farrow and tried to help him settle down and as we examine the theories Farrow himself put forward for his campaign of violence against the church, and the evil plans that he failed to see through.

Dubbed “The Beast of Manchester” Trevor Hardy’s shocking crimes left a city living in fear during the 1970s. After first killing a teenage girl as she walked to a New Year’s party and burying her body in a park Hardy struck twice more over the next eighteen months, again killing teenage girls. We reveal how Hardy went to extraordinary lengths to destroy evidence before giving a dramatic confession and finally being brought to justice.

Join us as we tell the chilling and disturbing story of quadruple murderer Mark Hobson – a man guilty of a vicious murder spree in July 2004. After murdering his girlfriend, Claire Sanderson, and hiding her body in their bedroom for almost a week, he then lures her twin sister Diane to the house where she meets a similar fate. Now on the run, Hobson heads north where he strikes again, murdering elderly and frail couple, James and Joan Brittain. Splashed across every front page, this story made the news nationwide, but what drove Hobson to murder four innocent victims during a week of horror?

In October 1983, Arthur Hutchinson brutally murders a mother, father and son in their own home in South Yorkshire and subjects a young woman to a prolonged and vicious rape. Fearing he’ll strike again police launch a manhunt for Hutchinson – a criminal with a violent temper who has previously escaped custody. Whilst on the run Hutchinson revels in his notoriety by sending messages to the local press and even giving himself a nickname – “The Fox”. Join us as we find out how “The Fox” was finally caught.

Michael Roberts, then thirty, brutally assaulted, raped and murdered women who lived alone in his neighborhood - aged 57, 66, 77 and 83 - through the late 80s. He went scot free till 2005, when advancements in forensic sciences led to a DNA match - and his conviction. Roberts was known as the "The Praying Rapist" after a victim recounted him crossing himself and praying.