Totalcrime

In this episode I am joined by Loukas Ntanos, a criminologist from Birmingham City University and an expert on murderabilia - which is the collection of items related to homicide cases. Yes, believe it or not, there are people out there who collect and trade in ghastly souvenirs of serial killers such as Frederick Deeming (pictured) and infamous crimes. It's a fascinating subject which Loukas has been researching. 

In Episode 13 of the Totalcrime podcast my special guest is Adam Lloyd, the host of the UK True Crime podcast, which has been going for almost 10 years. We talk mainly about the murder of Robert "Fox" Powell in June 2020 and the amazing criminal career of Nana Oppong (pictured), a drug dealer who beat three separate murder raps before finally being convicted of killing Fox. I was in court for Oppong's trial and his sentencing.

Daniel Kinahan - the alleged head of the Kinahan drugs cartel - was arrested in Dubai on 17 April. But why has it taken nearly a decade to arrest a man who had been hiding in plain sight in Dubai for a decade and had put his head above the parapet in 2020 to facilitate a world title fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua? In this episode I go into detail about Kinahan's activities - starting with his being mentioned at a race-fixing trial I covered in 2007 - and the infamous feud with Gerry "The Monk" Hutch and bring the story right up to date.

I speak to Sir Ivan Lawrence KC, who as a barrister in the 1960s and 70s specialised in proving that police officers were liars. He represented numerous gangsters, including the Kray brothers – twins Ronnie and Reggie, and also their less famous sibling Charlie.Among his other clients were “Mad” Frankie Fraser, Joey Pyle, serial killer Dennis Nilsen, and Babes in the Wood murderer Russell Bishop - who was acquitted at his first trial in 1987 when Sir Ivan defended him, but was convicted and jailed for life 30 years later. Just sit back and listen to some of his fascinating stories.

Michael O'Brien spent 11 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. His case, the Cardiff Newsagent Three, was one of several with a "common thread" - a vulnerable person being cajoled into a confession upon which South Wales Police built a flawed case. In this special episode I interview him at length about the case and about how he coped in prison and upon his release. He has triumphed over adversity and become a prominent campaigner against miscarriages of justice. 

In today's episode I have an exclusive interview with John Burke-Monerville who has the unwanted distinction of being the father of three sons who were all murdered - in 1994, 2013 and 2019 - in London. But as if John's story was not tragic and shocking enough, it has emerged in recent years that he and his family were spied on for years by undercover officers. 

In today's episode I visit the Metropolitan Police Museum, where they have artefacts from 150 years of crime. I interview Dr Clare Smith, the museum's curator, about the collection and focus on "The Brides in the Bath" case in 1915, which involved a bigamous serial killer who managed to turn bathtubs into murder weapons. The interview took place in the same room as an exhibition which includes one of the bathtubs (pictured).  

Tommy Silverstein - one of the leaders of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang in the United States - killed three men behind bars in the space of two years, one of whom was a prison guard. The federal Bureau of Prisons reacted by locking him up in solitary for decades. 20 years ago I wrote to Silverstein in a supermax prison. Find out what happened next in this episode, in which I tell the full story of "Terrible Tommy" Silverstein and the Aryan Brotherhood.

In today's episode I interview Lee Marvin Hitchman, who was born in a prison and taken into care as a baby. He explains the terrible reputation of his birth father Eric Rogers - which includes supposedly taking part in the killing of PC Keith Blakelock in the Broadwater Farm riots in 1985 - and recounts how his dad had bragged about forcing women into taking drugs and going on the game. We go into a bit of detail about how Eric was killed in his flat in 2024 but ended on a brighter note, talking about how Marvin turned his own life around.     

In January 2002 Jacqueline Nyeko, 24, went missing, leaving behind a young daughter, Lexi. Three days later her body was found - with horrific injuries - in a bin store on an estate in Kennington, south London. All these years later the case is still unsolved. I recently interviewed Jacqueline's uncle, Samuel Olara, about her and why he believes her murder can still be solved. This is his first interview with any media.

Lola Doll is a sexy and popular singer and influencer in Guyana, so why was she shot in September 2025? Today's episode is all about drugs, corruption and politics in Guyana, a former British colony on the Caribbean coast of South America. Spoiler alert - Lola Doll survived the shooting and at the end of the episode she points the finger at the man she believes was behind it.  

Fifty years ago a couple in their 50s were sitting in their council flat, not far from London's West End, watching an episode of Kojak when four armed IRA desperadoes burst in. It would turn into a six-day siege - which was broadcast on the nation's television screens - one of the most dramatic events of The Troubles. In this episode I explain who the Balcombe Street gang was and what role some peaches and cream played in the ending of the siege. The episode also features expert analysis by Oisin Feeney, host of The Troubles podcast.    

When Thomas Campbell was tortured and stabbed to death at his home in Manchester in July 2022 his ex-wife, and mother of his children, Coleen, posted on Facebook that he had been: "The best dad anyone could wish for." But her grief was fake and in this episode I will explain how Coleen had secretly helped Thomas's killers, one of whom later fled to South America, and how the police caught her and the gang.

This is the first episode of my podcast Totalcrime. In May 2006 Nisha Patel-Nasri, a hairdresser and part-time special constable in the Metropolitan Police, was stabbed to death outside her home in London. It initially appeared as if she had been killed while disturbing a burglar or car thief. But the real motive for her killing would only emerge later and it would involve a cheating husband and a cast of sinister characters from London's underworld. I covered the trial and in this episode I tell the full story, complete with readings from my own notebooks.

I am Chris Summers, a veteran crime reporter who has covered some of the biggest trials in recent British criminal history. I have been writing a Substack blog for two years and now I am launching a podcast. This is a trailer for my Totalcrime podcast which I am launching in March 2026.