*Warning: This episode includes mentions of murder by stabbing and swearing*

What happens when a childhood language game is used to obscure the details of a crime? Well, you call in Dr Nicci MacLeod.

In this episode, Nicci recounts a time when the police approached her to analyse the language of a group of suspects covertly recorded on the way to and from court. At first, it didn’t seem as though the suspects were speaking English, but as Nicci realised, ‘egg’ was being worked in to words in attempt to obscure the true meaning for anyone who may be eavesdropping.

We would like to give special thanks to Andrea Jones for her support of this episode, and dedicate it to the memory of her brother Dolton Powell.

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 during an 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: Sam Cook, Jordan Robertson, Neus Alberich Buera

Sound: Sam Cook

Visual design: George Grant

Additional Voices: Sam Cook

Resources

Links above and:

• Dr Nicci MacLeod’s home page https://research.aston.ac.uk/en/persons/nicci-macleod

• BBC Expert Witness episode about the case:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0024gj1

• Gloucestershire Live ‘s coverage of the case

https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/timeline-how-brutal-murder-gloucestershires-29677

*Warning: This episode contains descriptions of fraud and exploitation*

To what lengths would you go for love? A sweet selfie, thoughtful good morning texts, or late-night phone calls might come to mind. But what about sending over £10,000 to someone you've never met in person?

It might sound far-fetched, but last year alone, more than 8,000 people in the UK fell victim to romance fraud - losing money to scammers who preyed on their hearts.

In this episode of Writing Wrongs, Nicci and Tim are joined by criminologist Dr Elisabeth Carter to unpack the manipulative language of romance scams.

Together, they explore how scammers build trust, how victims are drawn in - and how you can protect yourself in the ever-evolving world of online dating.

More information

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 during an 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: Sam Cook, Jordan Robertson, Neus Alberich Buera

Sound: Sam Cook

Visual design: George Grant

Additional Voices: Sam Cook (Roger), Jordan Robertson (Camilla)

With our thanks to Dr Elisabeth Carter

Resources

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

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

Dr Elisabeth Carter home page: Dr Elisabeth Carter | Kingston University London

Guide to spotting romance fraudsters:

https://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/police-forces/thames-valley-police/areas/c/2020/a-guide-to-spotting-romance-fraudsters/

*Warning: This episode contains strong language and threats of terrorism and other violence.*

In 2018, a crudely made bomb was found in a car park in central Edinburgh. Later, blog posts by an unknown author appeared on a Mexican eco-anarchist website, in both Spanish and English, claiming responsibility for said bomb.

Our own Professor Tim Grant was contacted by Police Scotland to build a profile of the author. Two years later, the police contacted Tim again after identifying a potential suspect.

Dr Isobelle Clarke (Lancaster University) joined Tim in using comparative authorship analysis to determine who may have been responsible for these posts.

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

Resources:

Professor Tim Grant’s home page https://research.aston.ac.uk/en/persons/tim-grant

Dr Isobelle Clarke’s home page https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/linguistics/about/people/isobelle-clarke

BBC Expert Witness episode about the case: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fwyswv

BBC News story about case https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-60402838

Aston University 2022 press release about Karvounakis case https://www.aston.ac.uk/latest-news/linguistics-expert-aston-university-helps-police-scotland-secure-terrorism-conviction

Production Team: Sam Cook, Jordan Robertson, Neus Alberich Buera

Producer: Sam Cook

Visual design: George Grant

Additional Voices: Sam Cook, Neus Alberich Buera

With our thanks to Dr Isobelle Clarke