Back in August 2007 – the murder of Sophie Lancaster ‘shook the nation’ – in part, because of the savagery of the assault that her and her boyfriend Rob Maltby endured – but equally because of the young age of the offenders. The case was treated as a hate crime and nearly 20 years later there are still questions around whether youth violence could ever be eradicated.

Dermot is joined by criminologist and expert in hate crimes Professor Jon Garland from the University of Surrey to understand where youth violence still exists and if hate crime can be prevented.

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In 2017 Cathy Burke, a 55-year-old retired civil servant, was violently murdered in her own home and six weeks later, 22-year-old Iuliana Tudos disappeared on her walk home from work on Christmas Eve. Iuliana’s story gained huge traction, and the MET very quickly tracked down the killer – Kasim Lewis, who, to the MET’s shock, had Cathy’s DNA at his home as well as Iuliana’s. Only half of this story made the headlines and if Cathy’s murder had been resolved sooner there’s a chance Iuliana’s death might’ve been prevented.

Dermot Murnaghan is joined by former Met Police Detective Superintendent Shabnam Chaudhri, to understand why it is that some cases get more coverage than others and what learnings the Police need to take to protect women’s safety.

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In January 2019, Lee Pomeroy boarded a train along with his 14-year-old son. Another man was also on the train – Darren Pencille. Shortly after they boarded, Pencille clashed with Lee and some angry words were exchanged, Pencille pulled out a knife and violently stabbed Lee in the neck and torso, 18 times in 25 seconds. Tragically, Lee died in his son’s arms, before the train reached the next stop. Pencille is a paranoid schizophrenic and had a history of not taking his medication, this along with the fact this all happened in the middle of the day lead many to question not only their safety on public transport but whether this could have been prevented.

Nikki Mitchell, BBC South Home Affair Correspondent, joins Dermot Murnaghan to discuss what went wrong.

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