It’s our Christmas crime compendium, and yes, we’re wrapping South London horror in tinsel again.

Before we get into the cases, there’s a bit of festive nonsense. Questionable Christmas cracker jokes, South London takes on classic Christmas films, and the usual gentle chaos as we attempt to bring some cheer to stories that absolutely do not deserve it.

This year’s main case takes us back to Victorian South London, to Christmas Eve 1836. Hannah Brown was fifty, hardworking, and quietly getting on with life. She believed she was days away from a Christmas Day wedding and a new life abroad. Instead, she was walking straight into one of the most disturbing murders of the era.

What followed unfolded across the Twelve Days of Christmas and shocked London. A crime rooted in deception, money, and manipulation, carried out behind closed doors while the rest of the city celebrated.

Then there's the story of Anastasia Voldina at the hands of yet another man (we know not all men), two stories hundreds of years apart but hauntingly similar!

Thank you for spending part of your Christmas with us. We hope you’re warm, fed, slightly tipsy if that’s your thing, and not listening alone on a dark street.

Happy Christmas from us both, and we’ll see you on the other side 🎄

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in! If you loved diving into the dark corners of South London with us, don't forget to hit that subscribe button to never miss an episode of "Sinister South."

Also, follow us on Instagram @SinisterSouthPodcast for sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and more cheeky banter, or www.sinistersouthpod.co.uk. Remember, every crime tells a story... and South is the best side of the river...

Produced and hosted by Hannah Williams & Rachel Baines
Mixed & edited by Purple Waves Sound (A.K.A Will)

In this episode, we tell the story of Destiny Lauren, a woman whose death in Kentish Town in November 2009 was entirely preventable.

After a brief catch-up that takes in missed episodes, pre-Christmas chaos, questionable food choices and the kind of rambling only we can manage, the conversation shifts to a far more serious place.

Destiny was 29 years old. She was a daughter, a sister, and a woman living openly and authentically with the support of her family. She was careful and routine-driven, taking steps to protect herself while working in a world that already carried risk. On the night she was killed, she followed those routines. She did nothing reckless. She did nothing wrong.

Her killer, Leon Anthony File, travelled from Catford to Kentish Town while out on licence, despite a known history of serious violence. What happened that night was not unpredictable or random, but the result of repeated failures to manage a clearly identified risk.

We focus on who Destiny really was, the life she was trying to build, and the systems that failed her. This episode is about dignity, accountability, and a woman who deserved far more than the fate she was given.

Sources include

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in! If you loved diving into the dark corners of South London with us, don't forget to hit that subscribe button to never miss an episode of "Sinister South."

Also, follow us on Instagram @SinisterSouthPodcast for sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and more cheeky banter, or www.sinistersouthpod.co.uk. Remember, every crime tells a story... and South is the best side of the river...

Produced and hosted by Hannah Williams & Rachel Baines
Mixed & edited by Purple Waves Sound (A.K.A Will)

Three deaths. One family. One quiet corner of South Croydon that suddenly found itself at the centre of a mystery that felt more like a Victorian thriller than the suburbs in the 1920s.

In this episode we dive into the strange chain of events that hit the Sidney and Duff families after three relatives died with the same unexplained symptoms, months apart. Doctors brushed it off, neighbours whispered, and life carried on. But once the Home Office ordered exhumations, everything changed. Each body showed clear signs of arsenic poisoning.

No intruder. No confession. No charges. Almost a century later, the Croydon Poisoning Mystery still sits in a very uncomfortable grey area.

We walk through the family tensions, the red flags and the unanswered questions — all sprinkled with our usual chaos, including the saga of the noise-cancelling headphones that turned Morrisons into sensory deprivation, whether stroking someone’s arm is science or just creepy, a full rant about eight-year-olds with teenage attitudes, and the ongoing diplomatic crisis caused by that comment about cheap suits.

Sources include:

https://beardyhistory.com/2025/08/10/unsolved-arsenic-murders-in-croydon
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/53486769#:~:text=,Croydon%20%28England
https://www.insidehook.com/adventure/hidden-venom-famous-unsolved-poisonings
https://beardyhistory.com/2025/08/10/unsolved-arsenic-murders-in-croydon
https://insidecroydon.com/2022/01/08/did-the-south-croydon-poisoner-really-get-away-with-murder/
https://historywiki.therai.org.uk/index.php?title=Edmund_Creighton_Duff
https://www.everand.com/book/897323633/Poisonous-Lies-The-Croydon-Arsenic-Mystery-Great-Unsolved-Murders-of-the-20th-Century
https://forum.casebook.org/forum/social-chat/other-mysteries/6176-the-croydon-poisonings

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in! If you loved diving into the dark corners of South London with us, don't forget to hit that subscribe button to never miss an episode of "Sinister South."

Also, follow us on Instagram @SinisterSouthPodcast for sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and more cheeky banter, or www.sinistersouthpod.co.uk. Remember, every crime tells a story... and South is the best side of the river...

Produced and hosted by Hannah Williams & Rachel Baines
Mixed & edited by Purple Waves Sound (A.K.A Will)

This week we’re in Streatham, looking at one of the most significant and most debated cases in recent South London history: the shooting of 24 year old Chris Kaba. An unarmed man, a single police shot, and a city that still hasn’t shaken off the impact. We walk through who Chris was, the world he was moving through, the police intelligence that shaped that night, and the split second decision that changed everything. It’s a case full of contradictions, complexity and questions that don’t sit neatly on either side of a line.

And yes, before we get there, there’s also the usual chaos involving Rachel’s hatred of Sunday nights out, Hannah sniffing her own armpit, and an alarming amount of chat about shepherds. It’s Sinister South, Trevors. You know the drill.

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in! If you loved diving into the dark corners of South London with us, don't forget to hit that subscribe button to never miss an episode of "Sinister South."

Also, follow us on Instagram @SinisterSouthPodcast for sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and more cheeky banter, or www.sinistersouthpod.co.uk. Remember, every crime tells a story... and South is the best side of the river...

Produced and hosted by Hannah Williams & Rachel Baines
Mixed & edited by Purple Waves Sound (A.K.A Will)

This week we’re diving into one of South London’s darkest and most infamous stories. The rise and fall of the Richardson Gang. A firm built on scrap metal, long-firm frauds, fruit machines, corrupt officers, brutal punishments and a level of violence that made even seasoned detectives say the Richardsons were far worse than the Krays.

We take you all the way from wartime Camberwell and the brothers’ chaotic childhood, through their early crimes, the building of the firm, the feud with the twins, the chaos at Mr Smith’s, the murder of George Cornell, the South Africa connection and the enormous police operation that followed. And of course, we walk through one of the most notorious trials the Old Bailey has ever seen – the Torture Trial – with its pliers, generators, witness protection deals and a judge whose own family history caused controversy for decades.

It’s one of the biggest stories we’ve ever covered. Brutal, complicated, and rooted deep in the real South London we know far too well.

But before all that, we've got the usual nonsense… Business as usual.

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in! If you loved diving into the dark corners of South London with us, don't forget to hit that subscribe button to never miss an episode of "Sinister South."

Also, follow us on Instagram @SinisterSouthPodcast for sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and more cheeky banter, or www.sinistersouthpod.co.uk. Remember, every crime tells a story... and South is the best side of the river...

Produced and hosted by Hannah Williams & Rachel Baines
Mixed & edited by Purple Waves Sound (A.K.A Will)

A plausible-looking PhD student at University College London, living the student life — until the mask slipped. Zhenhao Zou invited women to his flat under the guise of study or drinks, used drugs to incapacitate them, then filmed the assaults.

In this episode, we trace how the investigation unfolded — dating apps, his flat in London, hidden cameras, SD cards full of footage. We dig into how trust was weaponised, how the predator hid in plain sight, and what that means for us who never expected this from someone who looked so normal.

And yes — we’ve got our usual back-and-forth banter (Rach vs Han, you know how it goes) sprinkled throughout. Brace yourselves for a dark ride.

Sources include:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g8dy38qxjo

https://www.cps.gov.uk/london-south/news/phd-student-given-life-sentence-raping-10-women

https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/R-v-Zhenhao-Zou.pdf

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jun/19/serial-rapist-zhenhao-zou-jailed-for-life

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c79l4z3v3p3o

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/mar/ucl-statement-following-criminal-conviction-zhenhao-zou

https://news.met.police.uk/news/met-detectives-thank-victim-survivors-who-have-come-forward-following-conviction-of-serial-rapist-zhenhao-zou-495737

https://www.psni.police.uk/latest-news/public-appeal-potential-victims-serial-rapist-zhenhao-zou

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/zhenhao-zou-rape-trial-inner-london-court-b2691147.html

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8rkj8k6my8o

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/mar/05/zhenhao-zou-phd-student-who-filmed-attacks-on-women

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0lz8r9d

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynhard_Sinaga

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in! If you loved diving into the dark corners of South London with us, don't forget to hit that subscribe button to never miss an episode of "Sinister South."

Also, follow us on Instagram @SinisterSouthPodcast for sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and more cheeky banter, or www.sinistersouthpod.co.uk. Remember, every crime tells a story... and South is the best side of the river...

Produced and hosted by Hannah Williams & Rachel Baines
Mixed & edited by Purple Waves Sound (A.K.A Will)

This week, we kick things off with talk of fireworks, chaotic bonfire night crowds, and Hannah dropping some insanely awesome news (the kind that actually makes us both a bit emotional). But after that burst of brightness, we take a sharp turn — back to South London in the summer of 1986.

When a neighbour forced open the door to a flat on St Alphonsus Road, she walked straight into a scene of horror. Inside were the bodies of Susan Tetrault and Brian Price, brutally murdered as they slept. What first looked like a senseless act soon revealed a tangled story that stretched from Cornwall to Morocco, Cyprus to Clapham — a web of drug smuggling, unpaid debts, and brutal retribution.

In this episode, we unravel how their murders may be tied to another double killing three years earlier, and a mysterious “accident” that followed soon after. Five deaths. One network. And a case marked as “detected” — even though no one was ever found guilty.

Nearly forty years later, the files are closed. But the questions still aren’t.

Sources include:

https://inews.co.uk/culture/brian-price-susan-tetrault-axe-murder-3806356?srsltid=AfmBOooD1Sm6Qt59PBfdhibH6zfs77cdqvo28wFiJ3GJFkGz3x4RZl2u
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/grisly-gangland-axe-murder-couple-33722065
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/35831704/brian-price-susan-tetrault-murdered-axed
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/in-the-footsteps-of-killers/on-demand/76436-006
https://helios.iframe.thesun.co.uk/news/35831704/brian-price-susan-tetrault-murdered-axed

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in! If you loved diving into the dark corners of South London with us, don't forget to hit that subscribe button to never miss an episode of "Sinister South."

Also, follow us on Instagram @SinisterSouthPodcast for sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and more cheeky banter, or www.sinistersouthpod.co.uk. Remember, every crime tells a story... and South is the best side of the river...

Produced and hosted by Hannah Williams & Rachel Baines
Mixed & edited by Purple Waves Sound (A.K.A Will)

The Halloween Compendium

Four Halloween nights. Four South London stories. None with a happy ending.

This episode brings together the cases of Scotty Kouebitra, Rocky Djelal, Ben Gardner, and Richard Price, four men whose lives ended in acts of violence that should never have happened.

From Croydon to Southwark, pubs to parks, we look at how ordinary nights — fireworks, parties, and quick pints — turned fatal.

Ben, beaten to death after three men stole his girlfriend’s hat.

Scotty, chased down and stabbed while watching fireworks with friends.

Richard, kicked to death outside a pub over a supposed slight.

Rocky, murdered in broad daylight in Southwark Park after an eighteen-year feud.

Each story sits somewhere between chaos and revenge — where a split-second of violence changes everything.

We also somehow find time to talk Rach’s brother’s wedding, her trip to Kraków, and why this one’s a few days late (spoiler: flu and migraines).

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in! If you loved diving into the dark corners of South London with us, don't forget to hit that subscribe button to never miss an episode of "Sinister South."

Also, follow us on Instagram @SinisterSouthPodcast for sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and more cheeky banter, or www.sinistersouthpod.co.uk. Remember, every crime tells a story... and South is the best side of the river...

Produced and hosted by Hannah Williams & Rachel Baines
Mixed & edited by Purple Waves Sound (A.K.A Will)