Strange But True Crime

A criminal gang in Cardiff set up an elaborate scheme to import cannabis from the United States.When their insider is arrested, the gang leader has to scramble to keep his illegal operation alive.Get in touch at [email protected]: Rima Ahmed. Reporter: Matt Murray. Produced by Luke de Costa. Researcher: Bethan Davies. Social Media: Fede Marilotti. Online Producer: Rachael Smith. Executive Producer: Luke Eldridge. Commissioning Editors: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin.

Stephen Woodward builds a million-pound business selling access to illegally streamed TV channels. He’s digitally savvy, however, it’s not long before he starts leaving the police clues about his cyber crimes.Get in touch at [email protected]: Rima Ahmed. Produced by Luke de Costa. Researcher: Bethan Davies. Social Media: Fede Marilotti. Online Producer: Rachael Smith. Executive Producer: Luke Eldridge. Commissioning Editors: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin.

Michelle Mills and her ex-Royal Marine lover, Geraint Berry, want to continue their romantic affair. The lovers plot how to remove Michelle’s husband, Christopher, from the picture and cover their tracks.Get in touch at [email protected]: Rima Ahmed Reporter: Meleri Williams Produced by Luke de Costa Researcher: Bethan Davies Social Media: Fede Marilotti Online Producer: Lee Macaulay Executive Producer: Luke Eldridge Commissioning Editors: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin

Gary Hardy, Ronald Knowles and Steven Houston are approaching pension age, but they refuse to settle into their retirement years. Instead, they combine their skills and hatch a deadly plan to make and supply deadly weapons to British gangs. But after a life of crime, is this one job too many for the old boys?Get in touch at [email protected]: Rima Ahmed Reporter: Jeremy Ball Produced by Luke de Costa Researcher: Bethan Davies Social Media: Fede Marilotti Online Producer: Lee Macaulay Executive Producer: Luke Eldridge Commissioning Editors: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin

Herbert Smith, the ‘Handcuff King’, and his girlfriend, Lottie Roberts, are circus performers who secretly buy and sell babies for profit in Edwardian Britain. But they’ll need more than a disappearing act to fight the families who come after them.Get in touch at [email protected]: Rima Ahmed Reporter: Richard Tisdale Produced by Luke de Costa Researcher: Bethan Davies Social Media: Fede Marilotti Online Producer: Lee Macaulay Executive Producer: Luke Eldridge Commissioning Editors: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin

HMP Kirkham Prison governor Kerri Pegg and drug dealing gang boss Anthony Saunderson strike up a dangerous relationship.If they're found out, it will have life changing consequences for Pegg.Get in touch at [email protected]: Rima Ahmed. Reporter: Mat Trewern. Produced by Luke de Costa. Researcher: Bethan Davies. Social Media: Fede Marilotti. Online Producer: Rachael Smith. Executive Producer: Luke Eldridge. Commissioning Editors: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin.

Former zoo worker Bradley Tomes hatches a plan to steal and sell Humboldt penguins Patrick and Penny from South Lakes Safari Zoo in Cumbria.Get in touch at [email protected]: Rima Ahmed. Produced by Luke de Costa. Researcher: Bethan Davies. Social Media: Fede Marilotti. Online Producer: Rachael Smith. Executive Producer: Luke Eldridge. Commissioning Editors: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin.

Criminal mastermind, James ‘Jimmy’ Sheen, steals a world famous golden toilet worth £4.8m from Blenheim Palace. But who’s going to take it off his hands?Get in touch at [email protected]: Rima Ahmed Reporter: Clodagh Stenson Produced by Luke de Costa Researcher: Bethan Davies Social Media: Fede Marilotti Online Producer: Lee Macaulay Executive Producer: Luke Eldridge Commissioning Editors: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin

Gary Youds senses that cannabis drug legalisation is imminent and opens up a cannabis café in Liverpool. The law change doesn’t happen, so police shut it down. Gary goes to jail, however, he continues to fight for the right to keep his cannabis café open.Get in touch at [email protected]: Rima Ahmed. Reporter: Mattha Busby. Produced by Luke de Costa. Researcher: Bethan Davies. Social Media: Fede Marilotti. Online Producer: Rachael Smith. Executive Producer: Luke Eldridge. Commissioning Editors: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin.

Jaswant Chail wants to bring down ‘the empire’ and his first act is to harm a British Royal.Inspired by Star Wars and encouraged by his ‘girlfriend’, he puts his deadly plan into action.Get in touch at [email protected]: Rima Ahmed. Reporter: Maria Zaccaro. Written and produced by Luke de Costa. Researcher: Bethan Davies. Social Media: Fede Marilotti. Online Producer: Rachael Smith. Executive Producer: Luke Eldridge. Commissioning Editors: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin.This programme contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

NHS surgeon Neil Hopper was hailed as a hero when he returned to work after having both his legs amputated, however, he hides a dark secret.His secret? The damage to his legs was self-inflicted.Get in touch via email: [email protected]: Rima Ahmed. Reporter: Tamsin Melville. Written and produced by Luke de Costa. Researcher: Bethan Davies. Social Media: Fede Marilotti. Online Producer: Rachael Smith. Executive Producer: Luke Eldridge. Commissioning Editors: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin.Details of information and support with body image are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

James Parker, from Blackpool in Lancashire stumbles upon a glitch on a cryptocurrency website that generates ‘free’ money.He makes himself a millionaire, at a cost.Wanna get in touch? Email us at [email protected]: Rima Ahmed. Reporter: Jane Downs. Written and produced by Luke de Costa. Researcher: Bethan Davies. Social Media: Fede Marilotti. Online Producer: Rachael Smith. Executive Producer: Luke Eldridge. Commissioning Editors: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin.

Farmer Walter Renwick finds himself in the eye of a social media storm after the famous Sycamore Gap tree is felled.The tree had stood along Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland until September 2023.Wanna get in touch? Email us at [email protected]: Rima Ahmed. Reporter: Jane Downs. Written and produced by Luke de Costa. Researcher: Bethan Davies. Social Media: Fede Marilotti. Online Producer: Rachael Smith. Executive Producer: Luke Eldridge. Commissioning Editors: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin.

Mark Christopher lured followers into his 'anti-establishment cult’ by promising to save them money. The movement quickly took a sinister turn.Wanna get in touch? Email us at [email protected]: Rima Ahmed. Reporter: Lewis Adams. Written and produced by Luke de Costa. Researcher: Bethan Davies. Social Media: Fede Marilotti. Online Producer: Rachael Smith. Executive Producer: Luke Eldridge. Commissioning Editors: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin.

A group of workmen dig up roads and pavements to re-connect derelict buildings to the UK power grid. Local residents soon suspect that all is not as it seems and what‘s discovered is greater than they could have imagined.Wanna get in touch? Email us at [email protected]: Rima Ahmed. Reporter: Jonny Humphries. Written and produced by Luke de Costa. Online Producer: Lee Macaulay. Executive producer: Luke Eldridge. Commissioning Editors: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin.

A man living in the quiet town of Fakenham, Norfolk is warned a hitman has been hired to kill him.He discovers a story of obsession and revenge.Wanna get in touch? Email us at [email protected]: Rima Ahmed. Reporter: Robby West. Written and produced by Luke de Costa. Online Producer: Rachael Smith. Executive producer: Luke Eldridge. Commissioning Editors: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin.For information and support for issues covered in this episode, visit bbc.co.uk/actionline.

People living in Newport, Pembrokeshire, start spying on some interesting, wealthy but slightly suspicious visitors. Wanna get in touch? Email us at [email protected]: Rima Ahmed. Reporter: Matt Murray. Written and produced by Luke de Costa. Online Producer: Rachael Smith. Executive producer: Luke Eldridge. Commissioning Editors: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin.

£3m of Ming Dynasty treasures vanish from Geneva’s Museum of Far Eastern Art. After what was a peculiar heist, suspicion falls on the Ahearne brothers who are being watched by police in the UK and Switzerland.An undercover cop meeting is set in an attempt to recover the stolen artefacts, before they're gone for good.Wanna get in touch? Email us at [email protected]: Rima Ahmed. Reporter: Thomas Mackintosh. Written and produced by Luke de Costa. Online Producer: Rachael Smith. Executive producer: Luke Eldridge. Commissioning Editors: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin.

Arthur Knight claimed he was an Irish orphan during a police interview in a hospital in Glasgow, Scotland.The Police were tipped off that the patient could actually be American fugitive Nicholas Rossi, who was wanted in Utah to face rape charges.Wanna get in touch? Email us at [email protected]: Rima Ahmed. Reporter: Steven Godden. Written and produced by Luke de Costa. Online Producer: Rachael Smith. Executive producer: Luke Eldridge. Commissioning Editors: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin.To watch on BBC iPlayer - search for: Big Cases ‘Unmasking a Fugitive’.

The McDonagh’s from Port Talbot in South Wales go out for a steak dinner in Swansea and leave without paying. The restaurant posts to social media to try and track the family down, only to find that this wasn't their first 'dine-and-dash' meal. Wanna get in touch? Email us at [email protected]: Rima Ahmed. Reporter: Meleri Williams. Written and produced by Luke de Costa. Online Producer: Rachael Smith. Executive producer: Luke Eldridge. Commissioning Editors: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin.

'Army medic' Tanya Nasir’s CV lands her a prestigious job on the neonatal unit at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, Wales, but all is not as it seems. Wanna get in touch? Email us at [email protected]: Rima Ahmed. Reporter: Colette Hume. Written and produced by Luke de Costa. Online Producer: Rachael Smith. Executive producer: Luke Eldridge. Commissioning Editor: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin.

Two Welsh metal detectorists make an astonishing discovery in a farmer’s field and try to secretly sell the treasure before the authorities track them down. Wanna get in touch? Email us at [email protected]: Rima Ahmed. Reporter: Nicola Goodwin. Written and produced by Luke de Costa. Online Producer: Rachael Smith. Executive producer: Luke Eldridge. Commissioning Editor: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin.

Patrick O’Hara lives a comfortable life with his partner in Newcastle. But a routine visit from a suspicious community nurse is about to put him on life support. Wanna get in touch? Email us at [email protected]: Rima Ahmed. Reporter: Peter Harris. Written and produced by Luke de Costa. Online Producer: Rachael Smith. Executive Producer: Luke Eldridge. Commissioning Editors: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin.

Carolyn Woods starts fresh in the quaint town of Tetbury, Gloucestershire. She falls for the charming Mark Conway, an ‘MI6 spy’. He says he’s not normal. After moving in to his apartment in Bath she finds out what that really means. Wanna get in touch? Email us at [email protected]: Rima Ahmed. Reporter: Martin Jones. Written and produced by Luke de Costa. Online Producer: Rachael Smith. Executive Producer: Luke Eldridge. Commissioning Editors: Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin.

Dive into a world of bizarre crimes with brazen criminals that will leave you scratching your head for answers.Rima Ahmed explores audacious heists, secret drugs bunkers and stolen identities with reporters who have lived and breathed these criminal cases.Presenter: Rima Ahmed. Written by Luke de Costa. Produced by Luke de Costa and Luke Eldridge. Online Producer: Rachael Smith. Commissioning Editors : Gareth Hydes and Alistair Miskin.