Great Crimes and Trials

In October 1989, Tracey Wigginton and her lesbian lover Lisa Ptaschinski together with another couple, lure a drunk, 47 year old Edward Baldock, into their car before driving him to a park on the banks of the Brisbane River. With the promise of showing him ‘a good time’, Wigginton, aided by Ptaschinski, stabbed Baldock 15 times in an attack so brutal it practically severed off his head.

In March 2004, the European trial of the century begins: Marc Dutroux is accused of unspeakable crimes against young girls amidst allegations of official incompetence and cover up which have shaken Belgium to its core.

On June 28th 2005, Joan Porco arrives for the trial of the man accused of murdering her husband and attempting to murder her. But the strange thing about this trial is that the accused man is her son, Christopher Porco, and she is walking into court arm in arm with him. This is the story of one of the most famous murders in New York State.

This is a film about one family’s fight for justice against the might of the mafia. The death of Peppino Impastato on the night of 8th May 1978 was initially dismissed by the Italian police as a case of either a suicide or a bungled bomb attack by a left-wing terrorist - the remains of Peppino’s body were discovered on a railway line, blown up by TNT explosives.

An unassuming family doctor stands trial for murdering 15 of his former elderly patients. Harold Shipman pleads not guilty to all charges and the investigation into his crimes is dramatically played out in court. The story starts when the daughter of Kathleen Grundy, becomes suspicious when her mother dies unexpectedly having suddenly changed her will and leaving all her money to Shipman.

Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo were married in a picture perfect wedding by a lake in Niagara, Canada, right near the falls. They rode off in a horse-drawn carriage, the very image of romantic bliss. But despite their Ken and Barbie appearances, this couple had murder on their minds.

In July 2000, Sara Payne and her husband hear the news they have been dreading: the body of their 8 year old daughter, Sarah, has been found in a shallow grave. Sarah had been snatched from a country lane some 2 weeks before, while playing in a field near her grandparents’ home. Her disappearance sparks a massive police effort and the missing schoolgirl’s face had been splashed across the media.

Truro, Cape Cod, is a place where people go to escape the grind of city life. Few could imagine anything really horrible happening in such an idyllic place. However, on January 26, 2002, perceptions are drastically altered.

In 2001 a British couple, Joanne Lees and Peter Falconio, head off into the wilderness of the Australian outback in their orange VW Kombi on the final leg of their exciting round the world trip. They are travelling in the dark when a man in a white 4x4 utility truck flags them down.

Rising NFL star Rae Carruth's girlfriend is shot in a drive-by shooting and implicates him before dying. Rae goes on the run and search is launched.

16 years after Martha Moxley is found dead in an exclusive New York suburb, her neighbour is brought to trial after new evidence is uncovered.

When a British student is found murdered in Italy, Police turn their attention to her housemate and her boyfriend in a trial that gripped the world.

In 1993, Colin Ferguson boarded a train and began shooting passengers, killing 6 people. At his trial, he defended himself, claiming his innocence

In September 1987, elderly, reclusive, near blind, eccentric, Simon Dale, is found bludgeoned to death in his home Heath House, Shropshire, England. His ex-wife, Susan Wilberforce, quickly becomes the prime suspect in his murder.

Peter Bergna, and his bubbly wife, Rinette were involved in a terrible accident. Peter drives their car off a mountain road, and it plunges some 800 feet down. Rinette is killed but, miraculously, Peter Bergna survives with just a sprained ankle and a bruise on his head. The police are suspicious of his account of what happened but have no proof that he crashed his car deliberately.

In 1991 Ray and Faye Copeland become, at the ages of 76 and 69, the oldest couple ever sentenced to death in the USA. They are convicted of killing five drifters on their farm in Missouri as part of bad cheque scam. To this day their son, Al Copeland professes his mother’s innocence in the crimes.

Australian heiress, Janie Shepherd, goes missing from a smart area of central London. At first police think she may have been kidnapped as her stepfather is a wealthy businessman. One policeman’s intuition leads him to suspect David Lashley, a known rapist of having abducted her but before he can be questioned, Lashley is arrested and found guilty of a different attack.

In Paris, France, 1995 a beautiful young nurse, Hélène Frinking is found dead in her apartment. She is just one of the victims of the serial killer who becomes known as the “The Beast of the Bastille”. To track down the killer, the police enlist the new science of DNA, even to the point of, controversially, asking French forensic laboratories to search all the DNA they hold on record.

On June 27th 2005, Dennis Lynn Rader appears in court. He works as an enforcement officer for the local authority, is a boy-scout leader and a prominent member of the Lutheran church. He’s accused of the brutal murder of ten people.

In 1996 a ten year old boy, Zachary Ramsay, disappears on his way to school. The police suspect Nathaniel Bar-Jonah was a known paedophile from Massachusetts but with no hard evidence, they can do nothing. Zach’s mother, Rachel Howard, never gives up hope of finding her son alive.

This is a story of a mother who murdered her children. The question is, was she a cold blooded murderess or a deluded victim? In late October 1994 distraught mother, Susan Smith of Union City, South Carolina appears on local TV and Radio, with her husband David Smith to appeal for the safe return of their two missing children, 3 year old Michael and 14 month old Alex.

Ashley Pond disappears on her way to school and 2 months later her best friend Miranda Gaddis also vanishes. A major hunt for the girls is launched by the FBI, and a media circus descends on the small suburb of Portland, Oregon. Then the case takes a bizarre turn when Ward Weaver III neighbour and family friend to Ashley and Miranda, tells a local paper that he is the FBI’s prime suspect.

In August 1997 university students Holly Dunn and Chris Maier are attacked while taking a short cut home along railway tracks. Maier is bludgeoned to death and Holly is savagely beaten and left for dead. But amazingly she survives and vows to bring her attacker to justice. By 1999 8 victims had been attacked and the police investigation leads them to Angel Maturino Reséndiz, an itinerant Mexican.

Graeme Cunningham leaves his home and vanishes. His panicked mother, Shona calls the police. After they fail to shed any light on his disappearance, veteran detective Don Bell is enlisted to work on the case. After several dead ends Don is alerted to a mild mannered bookkeeper, Arthur Bishop. Don discovers Bishop is a thief, a fraudster, and has been molesting Graeme’s friend.