Series 2 - Episode 6

* Warning: Today’s episode contains descriptions ofharassment and stalking. We’ll explore themes related to verbal and emotional abuse, intimate partner abuse, highly offensive communications, and fraud.

Listener discretion is strongly advised, as some content may be distressing. *

August 2020, Darlington, North East England. A woman begins to receive vast numbers of abusive messages, which she believes are coming from her ex-partner Stuart Bell. It was not a straightforward matter for the police to establish whether it was Bell who was behind the messages.

Investigating officer Kerris Dawson approached Dr Nicci MacLeod for help.

Join hosts Professor Tim Grant and Dr Nicci MacLeod in unravelling the linguistic features that contributed to determining the authorship of the abusive messages.

For a list of our sources and more information about this case, please visit https://www.aston.ac.uk/writing-wrongs

Have a question for Nicci or Tim? Email us at writingwrongs@aston.ac.uk and we may answer it duringan upcoming episode!

Check out the official AIFL blog for more forensic linguistic goodies here: https://medium.com/@AIFLblog

If you have been affected by any of the themes in this week’s episode, please contact one of these free sources:

https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/

https://www.helpguide.org/find-help

Production Team: Mark Round, Jordan Robertson, Neus Alberich Buera, Karolina Placzynta

Sound: Mark Round

Visual design: George Grant

Additional Voices: Mark Round, Sam Guerin

With special thanks to Robbie Love.

Professor Tim Grant’s home page: Tim Grant - Aston Research Explorer

Dr Nicci MacLeod’s home page: Nicci MacLeod - Aston Research Explorer