This week, Iain looks at a Parisian prison escape with more flair than Celine Dion singing on the Eiffel Tower. In 1986, Michel Vaujour made one of the most daring prison escapes in French history. One that he and his wife Nadine had been carefully planning for almost three years. But can this couple (and their two children!) stay hidden? Or will their penchant for outlandish criminal escapades come back to bite them? Murder They Wrote with Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling is available weekly...

This week, Laura looks at a 180-year-old murder mystery that served as inspiration for Margaret Atwood’s novel ‘Alias Grace’. When Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery (his housekeeper and mistress) are found dead in the basement of Thomas’ grand mansion, suspicion immediately falls on his two young servants, Grace Marks and James McDermott. But when Grace and James are caught crossing the border from Canada to America, their conflicting confessions leave the authorities completely confused....

In September, 1935, two tourists make a gruesome discovery on the banks of a Scottish stream. When the police arrive, they know immediately that there’s been a brutal murder. But catching the killer won’t be easy, as they have used meticulous, surgical-like precision to hide their victims’ identities and cover their tracks. Iain takes a look at a case that came to be known as The Jigsaw Murders – and delves into the pioneering forensic techniques that helped bring the killer to...

With Halloween just around the corner, Laura looks at a 1920s murder case involving high-society parties, heartbreak… and hauntings. This is the story of William Francis Rattenbury, a well-respected (but pretty unpopular) architect who found himself in the middle of a deadly love triangle. Murder They Wrote with Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling is available weekly on BBC Sounds. Subscribe now so you never miss an episode. Email us at [email protected] Details of help and support with...

Find out the real life story before the 2015 movie ‘Masterminds’. When $17 million goes missing from a Loomis Fargo vault in October 1997, the FBI are tasked with unravelling a complex case that culminates in a murder-for-hire plot. Murder They Wrote with Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling is available weekly on BBC Sounds. Subscribe now so you never miss an episode. Email us at [email protected]

Laura is travelling to Germany this week to look at a 1906 murder case involving love, betrayal, family tensions… and a couple of very mysterious telegrams! Murder They Wrote with Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling is available weekly on BBC Sounds. Subscribe now so you never miss an episode. Email us at [email protected]. Details of help and support with suicide and feelings of despair are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

This week, Iain takes a look at a movie-esque showdown in a New York diner. It’s December, 1927, when two men hold up an establishment on Kossuth Place in Brooklyn. Hear how one police officer manages to save the day – even after being fatally wounded on the job. Murder They Wrote with Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling is available weekly on BBC Sounds. Subscribe now so you never miss an episode. Email us at [email protected]

Laura looks at the 170-year-old mystery of Maria Kirwan’s death, which took place on an uninhabited island off the coast of Dublin. Murder They Wrote with Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling is available weekly on BBC Sounds. Subscribe now so you never miss an episode. Email us at [email protected]

Iain looks at a kidnapping case involving one of Aldi’s co-founders. Learn what happened when Theo Albrecht was snatched by two men – and how he managed to get a bargain for his own ransom fee. Murder They Wrote with Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling is available weekly on BBC Sounds. Subscribe now so you never miss an episode. Email us at [email protected].

Laura looks at the case of Vere Thomas Goold, an Irish tennis champion who experienced a dramatic fall from grace. After losing an important match at the Irish National Championships, Vere gave up on his tennis career. He turned to a life of drink, drugs, gambling and – eventually – murder. Details of help and support with addiction are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline. Murder They Wrote with Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling is available weekly on BBC Sounds. Subscribe now so you never miss...

This week, Laura looks at a 1922 murder case involving a married couple – Percy and Edith Thompson – and the man Edith was having an affair with, Freddy Bywaters. When Percy is fatally stabbed by his wife’s lover on a dark October evening, it doesn’t take long for the public to exonerate Freddy – and blame Edith instead. But did Edith really play a part in her husband’s murder? Or was she simply punished for being a woman living outside the cultural norms? Details of help and support with...

Iain looks at one of the most legendary escapes in Alcatraz history. An escape that involved DIY drills, papier-mâché heads and even a raft made out of raincoats. It’s a case that inspired Clint Eastwood’s ‘Escape From Alcatraz’ (as well as one of Iain’s favourite video games) and still manages to mystify investigators, historians and true crime aficionados to this day. Murder They Wrote with Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling is available weekly on BBC Sounds. Subscribe now so you never miss...

A special episode to celebrate the Bank Holiday. Laura and Iain dive into the Murder They Wrote inbox and share some of their favourite emails. Murder They Wrote with Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling is available weekly on BBC Sounds. Subscribe now so you never miss an episode. If you want to be in with a chance of featuring in our next mailbag episode, email us at [email protected].

This week, Laura looks at how a 30-year-old cold case was solved thanks to some impressive detective work, a few exciting advances in DNA technology, and… a piece of chewing gum. Murder They Wrote with Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling is available weekly on BBC Sounds. Subscribe now so you never miss an episode. Email us at [email protected]. Details of help and support with addiction are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

In October 1969, Raffaele Minichiello boarded a flight in LA with an M1 rifle disguised as a fishing rod. He told the pilot that they weren’t going to San Francisco, as planned. They were going to Italy. What followed was one of the longest and most elaborate plane hijackings in history. Check out this article for photos of Raffaele Minichiello and more information about the case: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48069272 Murder They Wrote with Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling is...

In the second of this two-part special, Laura looks at the details surrounding the Tate–LaBianca murders, the downfall of the Manson family, the infamous court case, and the lasting impact that Charles Manson and his followers had on LA – and the world. Murder They Wrote with Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling is available weekly on BBC Sounds. Subscribe now so you never miss an episode. Email us at [email protected].

In the first of a two-part special, Laura takes us back to the very beginning of the Charles Manson story. This week’s episode starts by looking at Charles Manson’s mother, Kathleen, before unravelling the details of Charles’ childhood, his troubled teenage years, his time in and out of prison, and what led him to establish his ‘family’, which would later become a murderous cult. Murder They Wrote with Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling is available weekly on BBC Sounds. Subscribe now so you...

This week, Iain looks at the unbelievable true story of a bank heist that was inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘Sherlock Holmes: The Red Headed League’. This story includes an outlandish break-in, an intercepted radio frequency, and even a potential royal scandal. Murder They Wrote with Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling is available weekly on BBC Sounds. Subscribe now so you never miss an episode. Email us at [email protected]

This week, Iain tells the story of Gregor MacGregor, a 19th-century trickster who took con artistry to a whole new level. In 1820, Gregor invented his own country – complete with a national flag and even a currency – and managed to convince hundreds of British people to uproot their lives and move thousands of miles away, under the false pretence of a prosperous new life in South America. Murder They Wrote with Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling is available weekly on BBC Sounds. Subscribe now...

This week, Laura looks at perhaps one of the most unbelievable cases we’ve covered yet. When a missing boy from Texas turns up halfway around the world, no one can quite understand what happened to him. But, once the story starts to unravel, the answer is more shocking than we could have ever imagined… Murder They Wrote with Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling is available weekly on BBC Sounds. Subscribe now so you never miss an episode. Email us at [email protected]. Details of help and...

This week, we’re in Boston, where Iain is digging into the mysterious circumstances surrounding the Isabella Gardner heist. Murder They Wrote with Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling is available weekly on BBC Sounds. Subscribe now so you never miss an episode. Email us at [email protected].

Laura looks at the crimes of ‘Jolly’ Jane Toppan, the woman believed to be America’s first female serial killer. Murder They Wrote with Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling is available weekly on BBC Sounds. Subscribe now so you never miss an episode. Email us at [email protected].

This week, Iain looks at an extortion plot involving a homemade bomb, a confusing ransom note and an unusual father-son dynamic. Murder They Wrote with Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling is available weekly on BBC Sounds. Subscribe now so you never miss an episode. Email us at [email protected]. Details of help and support with domestic abuse, gambling addiction and some other issues raised in today’s episode are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

This week, Laura looks at a murder case involving a possessive lover, a diabolical brotherly pact, and a mysterious cooler box bobbing in the Atlantic ocean. Murder They Wrote with Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling is available weekly on BBC Sounds. Subscribe now so you never miss an episode. Email us at [email protected]. Details of help and support with domestic abuse are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.