Listening to the Dead - Forensics uncovered

By: Lynda La Plante and Cass Sutherland
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  • Summary

  • If you want to know what criminal investigation is like in real life, then get ready for a podcast that puts YOU at the crime scene. This series will look at the latest developments, the famous cases and how the forensic scientists are meeting the challenge laid down by a criminal who is forensically aware. Lynda La Plante has always been fascinated by criminality and the people that solve crime. Her books are celebrated for their authentic depictions of crime scenes and police procedures – something she achieves through meticulous research with her colleague, CSI Cass Sutherland. Over six episodes, Lynda and Cass will investigate six branches of forensics: discussing their own experiences, talking with experts, hearing how real life crime scenes are worked, exploring the latest innovations and demonstrating how CSI fact is even more thrilling than CSI fiction. Episodes will reveal how plant regrowth can be used to track a killer’s path months after a crime was committed; how a fly on the wall can be more than an observer; why the ‘sibling defence’ can unravel DNA evidence; and why a dog’s nose can sniff out cases of arson that the scientists miss. A murderer is 20% more likely to be convicted if forensic evidence can be presented in court by the prosecution. Yet fingerprints are currently recovered from only 40% of crime scenes, and DNA at a mere 10%. Now more than ever, forensic scientists are under pressure to improve their success rate – their challenge is to advance their crafts and uncover the hidden clues that are left at every crime scene. Join author Lynda La Plante and former detective Cass Sutherland for a series that reveals the real secrets of CSI.
    Bonnier Books UK
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History Science Social Sciences True Crime
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Episodes
  • S4 Ep2: Fraud Forensics with Tony Sales

    S4 Ep2: Fraud Forensics with Tony Sales
    Mar 18 2024
    For twenty years, Tony Sales was Britain's biggest fraudster. From cloning credit cards and identities to emptying cash machines and being a confidence trickster, Tony knew how to make money. In this first episode of the new series of Listening to the Dead, Lynda and Cass are joined by Tony and his colleague, former Head of the Fraud Squad Andy McDonald about fraud, to discuss fraud: how investigating it has evolved, the current threats, the impact on victims and the devastating iSpoof case of 2023.

    As a fraudster, Sales could make people believe whatever he wanted them to. As analogue crime turned digital, Sales adapted his skills and became a prolific online fraudster, quickly identifying and exploiting loopholes and weaknesses in the system. And so he continued until one day a mistake on a job in Sheffield saw him arrested. While serving time, Sales decided to turn his life around. As Frank Abagnale Jr. had done in the US, Sales went from poacher to game-keeper and set up We Fight Fraud, a company dedicated to helping governments and financial institutions to prevent fraud.

    And it was well timed. Fraud has become bigger than ever in the UK. Scammers were responsible for nearly 1.4m cases of fraud in the UK during the first half of 2023.
    Overall, criminals stole £580m in the first six months of the year, suggesting households are likely to have lost more than £1bn to fraudsters in the year.

    How do we stop fraudsters? What investigative and forensic tools do the police have? Join Lynda and Cass as they explore the most prolific crime in the world.


    Lynda La Plante's final Jane Tennison thriller Whole Life Sentence is available to pre-order now in all formats. To find out more about upcoming episodes of Listening to the Dead and Lynda's other books, visit www.lyndalaplante.com

    Tony Sales’ memoir The Big Con is out now in audiobook.

    Credits:
    This podcast was made by Bonnier Books UK
    Hosts: Lynda La Plante, Cass Sutherland and Jon Watt
    Director: Jon Watt
    Producer: Laura Makela
    Theme Music: Game Over by Magic in the Other
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    48 mins
  • S4 Ep1: Live at Crime Con 2023

    S4 Ep1: Live at Crime Con 2023
    Jun 30 2023
    The Listening to the Dead crew return to Crime Con in London for another live recording.
    In this episode the team are joined by renowned forensic podiatrist Haydn Kelly to discuss his remarkable career and the first use of forensic gait analysis as expert evidence in criminal law at The Old Bailey in the trial of jewellery thief John Saunders.
    From Shakespeare to the Usual Suspects, a person's gait is mentioned time and again. But how much can you really tell from a person's gait? More than you might think! 
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    39 mins
  • S3 Ep7: Forensic searches and the murder of April Jones

    S3 Ep7: Forensic searches and the murder of April Jones
    Mar 23 2022
    In this final episode we’re discussing forensic searches: searches for bodies, searches for evidence, searches for criminals.
    Lynda and Cass focus on the tragic case of April Jones, the 5-year-old who went missing in Wales in 2012. The police search was one of the largest ever mounted. It lasted six months, and though an arrest was made, of Mark Bridger, April’s body was never found. In this episode we reunite two forensic search experts who worked in different capacities on this harrowing and challenging case.
    Julie Roberts is a hugely experienced forensic anthropologist and archaeologist with some 20 years of practitioner experience in the location, recovery and identification of human remains from scenes of crime, war zones and mass fatality incidents. She and her team examined bone fragments that were suspected to be April’s, recovered from Mark Bridger’s house. Julie is currently Scientific Advisor at Alecto Forensic Services: https://alectoforensics.com/  
    Peter Faulding is a world-leading confined space rescue and forensic search specialist. Peter has worked on many high-profile missing person and ‘no body’ murder investigations including the serial killer Peter Tobin and the mysterious death of MI6 officer Gareth Williams. In 2012 he helped to coordinate the search of the woods around Mark Bridger’s house. https://www.specialistgroupinternational.com/
    Lynda's new novel Vanished is out on March 31st 2022 in hardback, ebook and audiobook. 
    Discover more at: www.lyndalaplante.com/listening-to-the-dead/
    Credits
          This podcast was made by Bonnier Books UK
      Host & Director: Jon Watt
      Producer: Laura Makela
      Sound Engineer: Chris Attaway
      Theme music: Game Over by Magic in the Other
      End music: Sweeney by Mike Relm 
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    47 mins

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