This week starts with the usual...tattoo double-bookings, a very inebriated weekend, Will doing himself a mischief in the pit at The Offspring, and a knife-wielding, mozzarella-eating stand-off with the ghost of Luther. Standard.

In the early hours of 28th May 2021, a young woman answered a FaceTime call from her partner, Jack Forde. What she saw on the screen was him attacking his own grandfather, 74-year-old Christopher Martin, in the New Cross home they shared.

This week Hannah tells Rach the story behind the headlines, a man who'd just lost his wife of 55 years, a grandson the system already knew was dangerous, and the safety net that was never more than one grieving widower. It's a story about supervision orders, disengagement from mental health services, and what happens when the only thing standing between danger and disaster is love.

Content warning: this episode discusses a violent killing, mental illness, addiction, bereavement and the Covid-19 pandemic.

If you or someone you know needs support, resources can be found below.

Mental health support & crisis
Samaritans – 116 123, free, 24/7. For anyone struggling to cope, not just suicidal crisis.

SANEline – 0300 304 7000, 4.30pm–10pm daily. Emotional support for anyone affected by mental health problems.

Shout – text 85258, free 24/7 confidential text support.

NHS 111 – select option 2 for 24/7 urgent mental health support.

Rethink Mental Illness – 0300 5000 927 (Mon–Fri, 9.30am–4pm). Support and advice for people living with severe mental illness such as schizophrenia, and their carers.

Rethink Carers Hub – online advice for people caring for a loved one with mental illness, including what to do in a crisis.

SAMM (Support after Murder and Manslaughter) – national charity offering peer support to people bereaved through homicide, including a confidential helpline (0121 472 2912) and non-religious retreats. All volunteers have been bereaved this way themselves.

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)

Once we've covered the essentials (Hannah's official unemployment era, a Duran Duran Father's Day card with some truly phoned-in puns, and the ongoing scandal of Rach absolutely not saying the words "Henry Cavill"), we get into the actual case.

In the spring of 1954, a box of sweets went round a London office. By the end of that night, two of the young women who took a piece were dead. This week Rach takes us back to the Arthur Ford case, and to the woman at the heart of it: Betty Grant, a 27-year-old typist from Wimbledon. Betty had told her married boss, more than once, that she wasn't interested. His answer was to lace her sweets with Spanish Fly, an old "love potion" that is really one of the most savage poisons known to man. Betty and her 19-year-old colleague June Malins never stood a chance.

We get into what Spanish Fly actually is, and why its giggling aphrodisiac reputation is a two-thousand-year-old lie, taking in ancient Rome, the Marquis de Sade, and a poisoning at the very same Old Bailey where Ford would later stand, more than 200 years before he got there. Then we follow the thread right up to the present, because the myth, and the men who hide behind it, never really went away.

It's a story about a rare and horrible poison, yes. But underneath it sits the same story we seem to tell every week. A woman said no, and a man decided her no didn't count.

Content warning: this episode includes discussion of drink spiking, sexual violence, and graphic descriptions of poisoning.

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)

One hundred episodes. We genuinely can't believe it either.

To mark the milestone we've torn up the format. There's no case this week. Instead, Rachel and Hannah are in the hot seat, and for one episode only their long-suffering editor Will steps out from behind the desk to host.

Expect Sinister South by the numbers, including the oldest case we've ever covered and exactly how many days of true crime you'd need to binge to catch up. Then a batch of questions sent in by the people who've stuck with us from the start: why we started, the cases that affected us most, who'd play us in the film, and which haunted corner of south east London we'd least like to spend a night in. After that, Will runs a quiz to find out how well we actually remember our own back catalogue.

Stay to the end for a reel of our most unhinged outtakes, a fresh batch of gloriously context-free voice notes from Rachel's sister Becky, and a proper thank you to you, the Trevors.

Here's to the next hundred. Normal service, and a new case, returns next Wednesday.

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)