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Crimewatch Live S22E03 (8th October 2025)
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00:01Hello and welcome.
00:03This morning, 75-year-old John Murray was fatally assaulted
00:07and left to die on the doorstep of his London home.
00:12John was punched to the face.
00:15He has fallen backwards.
00:18And then there's been an additional sustained assault.
00:23Do you know anything that could help solve his murder?
00:26This is Crimewatch Live.
00:29He's been jamming the switchboard both here and at the instant room.
00:33Just to remind you, this was the abduction and reno drop campaign
00:37and the handgun debate.
00:40Hello and welcome to Crimewatch.
00:4312 people rang in giving the same of those fantastic results.
00:55Good morning and thanks for joining us.
00:57Today, I am thrilled to welcome Jennifer Rioc to the programme.
01:00Thank you so much, Rav.
01:01I'm so delighted to be here as part of the team, working with the police
01:05and hearing from viewers across the series,
01:07really focusing on a really important set of appeals.
01:09It is a total privilege, so thank you for having me.
01:11Great to have you on board. We have got work to do today though.
01:14Today, an appeal from Gloucestershire Constabulary to identify these women.
01:19They are all caught on camera, pinching a vulnerable victim's wallet.
01:24Yeah, we'll also be delving into the dark world of online radicalisation
01:29to see how a teenager, fascinated with Satanism, started to put his words into action.
01:34Cameron had been engaging online with a female and Cameron was actually encouraging her to kill herself in front of his group.
01:43Would that elevate your reputation?
01:45Yes.
01:46And I'll be talking to Luke Taylor from a think tank to find out more about how we can prevent boys from falling into a life of crime.
01:56Now, we have had a great response to our appeals yesterday, particularly the armed robbery at a newsagent.
02:02We'll keep you updated on that.
02:04And our team and the officers from today's programme are currently backstage, ready to take your calls.
02:09You can scan the QR code below using your phone's camera and just follow the link.
02:14You can call us on 08000 468 999 or you can text us on 633 99.
02:20Start with the word crime, leave a space and then write your message.
02:24Or just drop us an email at cwl at bbc.co.uk.
02:30Now, first, in October 2024, 75-year-old John Murray was left unconscious outside his home after being brutally assaulted.
02:39The identity of his attackers remains a mystery.
02:43On Saturday, the 12th of October 2024, a 75-year-old man called John Murray was found unconscious outside his block of flats in West London.
02:57The London Ambulance Service received a call from one of John's neighbours.
03:02They arrived, they moved him into his house so they could try and treat him and save his life.
03:09But sadly, he died at sin.
03:13John was a much-loved family man and popular with his neighbours and had lived happily in Colton Road, Chiswick for around 15 years.
03:30Initially, John's death was treated as an unexplained death under investigation.
03:35There was no signs of a disturbance in the house.
03:38There was no sign of a break-in.
03:40There was nothing to indicate why John was found unconscious and subsequently died, unfortunately.
03:49And due to their level of injury, the pathologist also visited the scene to try and understand what could have happened on that day.
03:57The pathology revealed that likely John was punched to the face.
04:06He has fallen backwards where John has hit his head on a concrete surface.
04:14And then there's been an additional sustained assault, which could have been caused by fists or feet.
04:22That's either been by the same person or another person.
04:30That's resulted in multiple fractures and severe damage to the brain, which subsequently killed him.
04:39This was a sustained and violent attack on a 75-year-old person in their own home.
04:47And he didn't try to put up a fight.
04:51And on the 4th of June, I declared it a homicide investigation.
04:57Officers began to piece together John's movements on the day he was murdered.
05:02Around 11 o'clock in the morning, he returned back from Morrison's, his motorbikes, and one of the neighbours had seen him return.
05:10We don't know what happened between 11 o'clock and around 1.30 in the afternoon, because at that point, one of John's neighbours had seen him in the communal garden.
05:19And he wasn't feeling very well that day.
05:21He said to the neighbour he hadn't slept for around 36 hours.
05:25And then another neighbour at 3 o'clock in the afternoon saw John in the communal garden.
05:32And then around about 3.30, there was a scream that someone had heard.
05:38And that may or may not have come from John.
05:41We don't know.
05:42And then a neighbour has left their house and then had seen John lying unconscious, face down, half inside his flat.
05:54And then at that point, she called the London Ambulance Service.
06:03John lived in an area in West London, in flats.
06:05He lived on the second floor.
06:07It's not in a high crime area.
06:10It's not easy access.
06:12It wouldn't make any sense why someone would target his particular door.
06:16There's nothing to indicate John had a great deal of wealth.
06:24He's 75 years old.
06:26He lived on his own.
06:28He was retired, but he was very active.
06:31And he liked to collect things.
06:33Watches, lighters, fishing, camping gear.
06:38So he had a wide variety of interests.
06:41And that could bring him into contact with a number of different people.
06:45By understanding who he could come into contact with might help us identify the person that would want to cause him any harm.
06:52But in this case, we've struggled because John was a nice man.
06:58He helped his neighbours.
07:00He didn't, from our understanding, fear anyone.
07:03Often he would keep his door either open or certainly unlocked.
07:07And he also didn't fully believe in banks and kept just under £10,000 in cash in his flat.
07:21Did he tell anyone, because that could be an incentive for a criminal to steal that money.
07:26Now we've recovered that money, but that's not to say that someone wasn't in that flat trying to take that money from him.
07:34Or potentially an opportunistic criminal or someone possibly suffering from an acute mental health episode, for example,
07:41has just stumbled across John at the wrong time at the wrong place.
07:49John didn't have what we would call defensive injuries on him.
07:52There's no weapon involved in this.
07:54So we have to consider that did John surprise someone in the house and they've reacted by violently and repeatedly assaulting John.
08:08The impact of John's death has been really severely felt both by his family and by his neighbours.
08:15Losing a loved one is traumatic enough.
08:17But then we had to tell the family that we're treating it as a murder investigation.
08:24And that really shook the family's world because that's the last thing that they were expecting.
08:30And I'm now with DCI Brian Howie from the Met and I just want to start by reassuring our viewers that this is a very rare type of attack.
08:43But can you just recap, Brian, what you know about what John did that day?
08:47Yeah, so on Saturday, the 12th of October last year, at some point in the morning, John went to Morrison's supermarket in Acton on his motorbike, arriving back into Carlton Road around about 11 o'clock that morning where he met one of his neighbours.
09:03There's then a gap until around about 1.30 that afternoon where another neighbour saw John lying on the floor by his shed.
09:10He was complaining of a sore wrist and had collapsed, but there's no visible injuries and he didn't need any medical assistance at that time.
09:18There's then a further gap until around 3 o'clock, but that could be from 2.45 to 3.30 where another neighbour has seen John again in the communal area, sitting on a wall and then standing up.
09:30And that could be the last sighting of John alive.
09:33And then around about between 3 and 3.30 that afternoon, another neighbour has heard a scream, believing it to be a male's voice, coming from the direction of John's flat, lasting for a few seconds.
09:45And that might or might not be connected with this.
09:48And then sadly around 3.30, another neighbour has found John unconscious, lying in the threshold of his flat with severe injuries.
09:57It really is so sad. And the cause of John's death, it was quite brutal, wasn't it? What do you know about that?
10:04It was. It was a complex crime scene. Initially, people thought John had fallen over due to his illnesses, but he was severely attacked in his own home with no weapon, no defensive injuries on John, which could indicate he surprised the person that done this to him.
10:23And they could have followed him from the communal area up. The scream could be attached to that.
10:30But it was such a severe attack, it could indicate a personal grudge against John. It's just, we don't know enough about his life.
10:38It's an incredibly tricky investigation for you, but have you managed to find any sort of motive for the attacker?
10:46There's no clear motive. John was a nice guy. But he had an eclectic mix of hobbies. He liked to buy and sell lots of different items.
10:55And that could have brought him into conflict with the number of people. We also know he had £10,000 cash in the house.
11:03And therefore, that could be a motive for someone to break in. Has he told someone about that cash? Has someone found out about it?
11:12There was no signs of forced entry. We know John often left his door unlocked or opened and someone watched him that day and tried to find the money and left without having it.
11:22But there's gaps in our knowledge of what John did and his lifestyle that we need the public to help us with.
11:29It's worth saying, Brian, that £10,000 is now in a very safe place.
11:34The family clearly have been deeply affected by John's murder. They gave us this statement. It reads,
11:40It has been 12 months since John was killed. And as a family, we are still struggling to come to terms with how he died.
11:47Someone must know why he was attacked. And we urge anyone who can help in any small way to please contact the police or Crime Stoppers.
11:57And on that note, Brian, there is actually a £20,000 Crime Stoppers reward for information that can lead to arresting conviction.
12:05There is. And we'd encourage people to contact either this show, Crime Stoppers, which they can do anonymously.
12:11But someone must know what happens. So we'd encourage the public to phone in.
12:15Yeah, very, very important to do that. You can contact Crime Stoppers directly on 08000 555 111.
12:22The number is also at the bottom of the screen. So, Brian, who do you want to hear from today?
12:28Who can help with this investigation?
12:30Well, we know John was at Morrison's in the morning. Did someone see him at that supermarket?
12:34Was he arguing with anyone? Had he contacted anyone, including the journey to and from Acton back to his home address in Chiswick?
12:42It's not a long distance. What about people that were in the area? Did they notice anything unusual in the days, the weeks, the months?
12:49Anyone hanging around? His family believed that there was a tradesperson due to visit him that morning.
12:56Did you have an appointment with John? Were you supposed to go there, even if it was to buy or sell some goods?
13:03Are you reconnected with John? Is there a person in his past that he's reconnected with recently? Was that you?
13:10Or have you made a new relationship with him? Have you spoken to John in the months and the days before he was killed?
13:16Did he feel threatened? Someone must know something about what happened to him.
13:20It's now almost 12 months since John was killed and we need to find justice for John and, more importantly, we need to find answers for his family.
13:28We certainly do. It really is a mystery that needs to be solved.
13:32Jen? Indeed.
13:34Now, later, we'll be looking at some of the ways the police are foiling the efforts of those after a five-finger discount.
13:40But first, in March 2024, counter-terrorism were alerted to a possible and imminent attack.
13:50What they found led them into a dark world where a Satanist network were targeting vulnerable people and convincing them to do awful things.
13:58Online extremism has got a huge global reach.
14:09And as a result of that, we don't know what is happening inside people's living rooms and what young people are particularly accessing.
14:17The level of anonymity that exists within the online world means that people are much more willing to express extreme views.
14:26It's really difficult in the online space to understand if somebody is a genuine threat or they're a keyboard warrior.
14:34And they don't have the fear of recourse around that.
14:39We're now also seeing a lot more mixed ideologies, a lot more fixation with violence.
14:46And certainly the case of Cameron Finnegan was one of those.
14:50On the 26th of March 2024, I came into the office like any ordinary day.
15:01And there was some intelligence that related to a threat that somebody was going to commit an attack, potentially a murder, on a homeless individual.
15:12This counter-terrorism officer can't be identified for operational reasons.
15:19They were going to use a firearm to conduct the attack.
15:22And the intelligence was that that attack could take place as early as today.
15:28Officers had picked up the threat of an imminent attack in an online chat room.
15:35We identified that a person by the username of acid was associated to a group called 764.
15:46And he was the person intending to conduct the attack.
15:50764 is an online extremist group with links to terrorism and is centred on violence and the abuse of vulnerable people.
16:00This added weight to the legitimacy of the threat.
16:03So detectives used digital forensic techniques to trace the source of the post to a home in Horsham, Sussex.
16:11When it comes to a lot of social media postings, it is a challenge for police to understand whether actually it is a lot of blustering or whether there is real intent and capability behind it.
16:28We did not have a big time scale in order to investigate that.
16:32And ultimately our priority is public safety.
16:35So we really felt that we needed to act now and get the suspect into custody.
16:43At that point it was really important to obtain an assessment as to who those occupants were.
16:48And where the potential threat may be coming from within that address.
16:56One of the occupants of that house was an 18 year old male called Cameron Finnegan.
17:01The teenager wasn't on the radar of the anti-terrorist unit, but searches revealed he'd shown some troubling behaviour at school.
17:13He seemed to be the person who was most likely to be involved with this group and potentially looking to conduct this attack.
17:21Concerned their suspect might have access to weapons, the team called in specialist firearms officers to assist with the arrest.
17:29I wanted to make sure that this didn't have an overly impactive effect on Cameron or his family.
17:38And for that reason, although we used firearms, we did call Cameron out of the address and try to do that arrest in a compliant way.
17:47But remarkably, he refused to voluntarily come out of the house.
17:54It's quite unusual from my experience for somebody who's had limited interactions with the police and is quite young, you know, only 18.
18:08For somebody not to comply with the orders given by a firearms team. Most people would comply.
18:17Instead, Finnegan remained in his room and attempted to live stream his arrest.
18:23That was because, for him, notoriety within the group that he was part of was more important than listening to the police.
18:34As a police officer, you know that you need to do the utmost in order to preserve life.
18:39It gets the heart racing and you feel nervous up until the point that that individual is secured and in custody.
18:49Cameron, this is all police. Come to the door now.
18:52There's nothing in your hand.
18:53Right, subject C. Hands on your head. Hands on your head.
18:57Right, walk towards the kitchen.
18:59That's it.
19:00We solved your fingers.
19:01Can we go down?
19:03Yeah.
19:04Down.
19:05Down.
19:06Yeah, please.
19:07This one down.
19:08Have you got anything on you shouldn't have?
19:09I haven't got anything.
19:10All right.
19:11Once I was made aware that Cameron Finnegan was in custody, it was a relief because then I knew that we had time to investigate and to work through his digital devices and complete the search of his room.
19:23Following the arrest, there's lots of things that happen in tandem. We get him into custody, we start looking at interviewing him and the house search starts.
19:35Police could now establish if Finnegan was a viable threat and it didn't take long to make some alarming discoveries.
19:43There was a lock knife, a practice butterfly knife and a punch bag that had slash marks in it.
19:51That maybe be an indication that he was actually practicing in order to hurt somebody.
19:58There was a banner with the satanic beast on it, which indicated that maybe he was interested in Satanism.
20:07There were defaced Bibles that were covered in blood. There were swastikas and writings that were racist within his bedroom.
20:16When they seized his devices for analysis, they found more grisly evidence.
20:20There was the photo of a dead rabbit within a pentagram.
20:25So Finnegan did have a real interest in extreme Satanism.
20:29But this was just the tip of the iceberg.
20:33The only thing you're concerned about is if she went through with it and you got caught, not about whether she was dead or not.
20:41I don't think I passed off in that moment.
20:42And we will feature the second shocking part of that film shortly.
20:51Now, we have just heard that Lincolnshire Police have arrested a 54-year-old man in connection with the armed robbery appeal that we ran yesterday.
21:00Brilliant news and we'll bring you more on that as soon as we can.
21:04Also hoping our viewers can help Gloucestershire constabulary now who need information about the theft of a wallet from an elderly and vulnerable man in Cheltenham town centre.
21:13So Monday the 21st of July, around about 1.45pm, the victim who was an elderly wheelchair user had been shopping with a friend.
21:21He'd withdrawn a sum of money from his bank and put it into a bag on the back of his wheelchair.
21:27Now, he and his friend then went to a local deli on the high street to get some food.
21:32And the friend had positioned the victim's wheelchair so that he could see what was on offer.
21:37But this is the problem.
21:38Whilst there, two women, you can see it here, they grabbed his wallet and simply walked off.
21:44And they both made a swift exit back onto the busy high street in the direction of a nearby multi-storey car park,
21:50which is sadly where the CCTV trail goes cold.
21:54Now, police have released this image of the two suspects, so do take a look.
21:59Now, they've also asked us to share this clip of CCTV, which was taken prior to the incident.
22:05And they believe it shows the two suspects as well as an unknown male.
22:10And one of the female suspects, you'll notice there, was wearing a pink top, which was actually removed before the theft.
22:16Police would also like to identify the male, you can see in the middle of the image, who was seen with the two women before the event.
22:23So, have a good look. Do you recognise them?
22:25If you have any information, then please do get in touch.
22:28Contact details are at the bottom of the screen.
22:32Now, there is a crime that is on the rise.
22:34It's bold, it's brazen, and it's probably happening on a street near you.
22:38Yes, shoplifting.
22:40Stats around this nationally have reached shocking levels, but officers and retailers are fighting back.
22:46Sergeant Christian Denning from the business crime team at Essex Felice is here to tell us more.
22:50Christian, thank you so much for joining us.
22:53Now, we're going to have a wee look at some examples of shoplifting from Essex.
22:56And people here, I mean, you can watch them.
22:59It's so bold, just walking in, taking what they want, and sauntering back out.
23:03It's quite galling.
23:05Is this typical of what we see now?
23:07Yes, yes, this is very typical of what you'll see these days across the nation.
23:12We have people that effectively are just walking in straight past any sort of security measures and taking.
23:18A lot of our organisations and businesses these days are set up much for that customer journey.
23:23To walk in, see everything, and everything to be obviously able to be able to hold and grab and take.
23:29But this has obviously left us with a further crime element to it, where people can come in and get what they need.
23:35You've done a lot of work around this type of criminality, and you've identified three different types of shoplifting.
23:41Tell us about those.
23:43So, breaking it down on a national level, we sort of looked into it, and we saw that you've got, like you said, three types.
23:50You've got your opportunists, which are people that will take things just as and when they feel that they're owed it, they're entitled to it.
23:58You know, my price of my shopping's gone up, I'll have that loaf of bread.
24:01But then you've also got your prolific offenders, and you've also got your organised crime groups.
24:05Now, prolific offenders and organised crime groups are the people we're really interested in,
24:09because we're talking about mass repeat victimisation towards our businesses and the staff that work in them.
24:14So, we have to look at all those different elements and problem solve them in a different way.
24:20So, how does that characterisation actually help you combat that crime that is so varied, really?
24:25Well, like I said, problem solving's the main thing for this.
24:28You know, we need to understand what each of those problems is.
24:31Instead of just looking at shoplifting as a whole, break it down into those three.
24:34But look into why the suspects and those different things, why are they doing it?
24:38What are their actual motives for it?
24:40We look at the locations that are doing it, because a lot of them, when it comes to prolific offenders,
24:44they deal with the same place over and over again, because they're used to the security measures there.
24:49And obviously, with our organised crime groups, we need to make sure we're working with other forces
24:54to ensure that we're getting that message out there.
24:56So, we look into that, and by doing that, what we try and do is when we problem solve anything,
25:01I always equate it to a fire.
25:03Fire has three elements, and those three elements, if you remove one, the fire goes out.
25:07If we can do that, destabilise one element, we're quitted.
25:10Yes, I like that.
25:11It is, it's good.
25:12It's a good theory, but how does that actually help shopkeepers in practice, like, day-to-day?
25:15Yeah.
25:16So, my team, what we do is we tend to give advice and guidance on shop layouts.
25:21We give advice and guidance on evidence collection, because obviously,
25:24if people are getting arrested from certain areas a lot more, they tend to go back.
25:28But it's all about, for us, getting that information in and using it appropriately.
25:34So, we try and speed up that information coming in as well.
25:36We've got a rapid video response team that we use at this precise moment in Essex.
25:39We're trialling it, where we're trying to get our contact management staff to speak to shop,
25:46well, to victims in shops straightaway, so we can get that evidence into the chain quickly
25:51whilst that person's under arrest and being brought into the police station.
25:54So, we're finding that's speeding up our efficiency.
25:57But we're also finding that it's helping us understand where shop workers are,
26:01because some of them need further technology.
26:03Yeah.
26:04And it's also about how you deal with any offenders that are brought into custody as well.
26:08It's trying to streamline that process as well.
26:10That's right, yeah.
26:11We've done some work, which happens on a national area as well,
26:15where we've done some work on what you call Operation Retail,
26:17which is removing the need to actually interview suspects
26:22if we've got all the evidence in place.
26:24Effectively, we're turning around and saying,
26:25look, this is you on the video here.
26:27We can see you doing the offence.
26:28The offence is completed.
26:29We don't need to talk to you.
26:30If you want to talk to us, by all means do, but we don't need to.
26:33You can go straight to court.
26:34It's working out really well.
26:35It's saving officers lots of time.
26:37It's meaning we're getting much more arrests going on,
26:40or much more, well, process going through.
26:42So much more you can do with your time,
26:44because these things take a massive amount of time.
26:46So much more efficient.
26:47So I presume it has been quite successful then.
26:49It has, yeah.
26:50And certainly in the last year, I think we've now managed about,
26:54well, we've solved about 1,600 further offences as we did two years ago.
26:59We've also led on to criminal behavioural orders,
27:01where we've got over 100 criminal behavioural orders in Essex
27:04against our most prolific people,
27:06which stops them going into certain stores as well.
27:09So there's really good stuff.
27:10It's having an impact, which is actually so important.
27:13It is having an impact.
27:14Now, I have to ask this, Christian.
27:15There's going to be lots of people that might think,
27:17well, it's just a bit of shoplifting.
27:19There's these big companies.
27:20They can afford it.
27:21It's not really hurting anyone.
27:23What would you say to those?
27:25Well, that really annoys me, if I'm honest.
27:28It gets my goat, if I'm totally honest.
27:30With the business I've been doing this for the last two or three years,
27:33it's not about faceless people miles away.
27:37This is about our actual friends and family that work in these stores
27:41that have to put up with this kind of abusive behaviour every day.
27:44You know, these people are on low wages and they have to stay at...
27:49Well, effectively, they go to work, crime happens to them,
27:52and they have to go back to the crime scene every day.
27:54Yeah.
27:55They have to suffer that,
27:56worrying if someone's going to come through the door,
27:58they're going to hurt them, harm them, or do something.
28:00They're going to have to get involved.
28:01And they're worried about their jobs and their finances.
28:03That's what I would say to people, you know.
28:05It's certainly what I'd say.
28:06I'd even say that to people that are buying second-hand goods
28:08that they think may be stolen.
28:10Certainly not a victimless quote.
28:11Impact is huge.
28:12Exactly. It really is.
28:13It's massive across society.
28:14Christian, thank you so much and good luck with everything.
28:16Thank you very much.
28:17Now, back to the work of the counter-terrorism police
28:20who have arrested a teenager they believe is plotting to attack
28:23to increase his kudos with an online Satanist group.
28:26Again, this film has some upsetting themes.
28:3118-year-old Cameron Finnegan was tracked down
28:34and arrested at his home in Sussex.
28:37Have you got anything on you you shouldn't have?
28:42His devices had been seized and sent for analysis.
28:47We had about two and a half terabytes of data
28:51that we extracted from his devices.
28:53And to put that in context,
28:55if I was to print off all of that data
28:58onto sheets of A4 and piled it on top of each other,
29:01that would be about 50 miles high.
29:05Police found that Finnegan, who suffered poor mental health,
29:08had joined an online extremist group called 764,
29:12which had links to terrorism just six months previously.
29:15Ash, what do you know about 764?
29:20I told you the other day, it's just an online terrorist group.
29:25It's about all I know.
29:27They extort people of race, mental health problems,
29:32or if they're just mentally vulnerable for anyone to really use.
29:39So 764 was a real mix.
29:41We had people that were interested in cybercrime,
29:45that were interested in indecent images of children,
29:49people that were interested in violence.
29:51764's ultimate aim is to change society through violence,
29:56and they've got a huge global reach,
29:59which is why they are such a concerning group.
30:03What stood out with Finnegan is he was really driven by violence.
30:08During the investigation, we did identify a manual on Finnegan's devices.
30:14This manual was basically an instructional manual on how to kill people
30:19and how to cause mass casualty events.
30:22The violence of the group really appealed to him,
30:26and he looked to rise through that group in terms of his status.
30:33And one of the ways that he would do that would be to post content.
30:38One of the pieces of evidence that we found was Finnegan going out,
30:45identifying a vehicle,
30:48and then using a knife to damage that vehicle.
30:53He filmed it, he posted it, and he tried to get notoriety from that.
31:00Officers viewed over 700 hours of footage,
31:03finding indecent images of children an extremely violent incident.
31:07But he wasn't just a passive receiver of other people's content,
31:12as their next disturbing discovery would reveal.
31:17We became aware that Cameron had been engaging online with a female.
31:25She was a vulnerable individual who had been self-harming,
31:28and Cameron was actually encouraging her to kill herself.
31:32But not only to do that, but to also do it whilst online,
31:35in front of his group.
31:38This type of material, encouraging somebody or helping them kill themselves,
31:43you've obtained that content.
31:46Then posting it on the 764 group, would that elevate your reputation?
31:53Yes.
31:54He didn't see, I don't think in my view, her as a person.
32:00What he saw was an opportunity for him to escalate his standing in the group.
32:04The only thing you're concerned about is if she went through with it,
32:07and you got caught.
32:08Not about whether she was dead or not.
32:18I don't think about stuff at that moment.
32:20This is somebody who wants to see death, and he wants to be responsible for that death.
32:23Police believed that he then viewed another user's post where they'd murdered a homeless person.
32:33Finnegan had gone to a park where he located a tent, believing that a homeless male was living there.
32:40He has then posted that online in order to show the rest of the group.
32:45And he's made it quite clear that he intends to come back the next day in order to kill that individual.
32:52He then returns two days later, and he takes another photo saying that he's waiting for the person to return.
32:59Later on that day, he posts on the group that he's getting cold, but he will come back and he will kill that person.
33:13Thankfully, it was at this point that Finnegan was arrested.
33:18I think he was going to do it because I don't think he left himself any options but to do it or be disgraced on the group,
33:25which is the worst thing that I think in his head could have happened to him.
33:29In October 2024, he pleaded guilty to a string of offences.
33:39Finnegan was charged with possession of material of a kind likely to be useful to a person conducting or preparing for an act of terrorism.
33:50He was charged with doing an act capable of encouraging or assisting suicide.
33:56He was charged with two counts of criminal damage and possessing indecent images of children.
34:04In January 2025 at the Old Bailey, he was sentenced to six years in prison.
34:11This investigation for me was a real eye-opener in terms of the link between crime offences and terrorism.
34:20And how we protect the public is very difficult when there's such a large amount of activity in the online space that's targeting really vulnerable people.
34:29The case of Cameron Finnegan has really shone a light on the grip that these online groups have.
34:37And I think it was really difficult to judge with Cameron himself how he had fallen within this group.
34:44And then actually started to act as a perpetrator himself.
34:47And part of this is just trying to make parents, carers, guardians more aware of the threat and what young people are actually being drawn into.
34:59If you have any concerns about someone you know who's expressing extreme views or hatred, you can call the anti-terrorism hotline on 0800 789 321 or you can report them to actearly.uk.
35:16Now, I'm joined in the studio by Luke Taylor from the Centre for Social Justice, a think tank who have been conducting research into why young men and boys are being drawn to organisations like the one Cameron Finnegan was fixated by.
35:29Luke, thank you so much for joining us. So can you tell us about some of the work you've been looking at?
35:34Yes, thanks for having me. So we work with about 700 charities across the UK and for the last year or two, they've really been telling us the same thing.
35:41And that is that something is going on for our boys. So we wanted to try and see if we could quantify this feeling.
35:47So we've analysed over 100 data sets. We've spoken to over 100 charities.
35:51We've polled over 3000 people and done lots of different focus groups and produced this report called Lost Boys.
35:57So there's been a lot of research done. What has it found?
36:00So I think increasingly, a lot of young men are becoming isolated, socially excluded.
36:05I mean, we found now that young boys are more likely to have a smartphone in their pocket than a father at home.
36:11And particularly for these vulnerable boys, we might have found that 20 or 30 years ago, they would have been introduced into something like a gang.
36:19We know that belonging is the number one currency of a gang. It gives them an opportunity to have a community, to build some reputational status, earn some money, get some direction.
36:28And it might not be a very good direction, but it is there. But what we're finding now is that these communities and spaces are increasingly being found online.
36:37And that's a real challenge because they are ever present. We don't know who's doing it, where they're doing it from, but also that they are just unchallenged echo chambers.
36:45Yeah, it is tricky. It's really difficult stuff. And this is all sorts of different radicalisation and toxicity as well. It's not just what we saw in the film there.
36:52And we actually even saw sort of a showcase of that in adolescence, the TV film. We got to see a wee bit more about that whole topic. Everyone's sort of aware of it now.
37:01Yeah. I mean, in the conversations we'd have about what's going on with young men, nine out of 10 of the charities would talk about someone like Andrew Tate or the adolescence show.
37:09And I think it's really important to mention that, like, why are young men finding this content so appealing? Why is it drawing them in?
37:16And part of that is that it's explicitly talking to young men. It's giving them guidance.
37:20But also it's because some of what they're saying is generally pretty good, right? It's work hard, get a job.
37:25It's look after yourself, go to the gym, don't watch pornography. All these things are pretty good for young men.
37:30Absolutely. But the challenge is that they weave in these misogynistic or regressive narratives and that can really shape the way that boys are thinking.
37:38I think it's particularly worth pointing out that, you know, for young boys who don't have that kind of love or stability and consistency at home or, you know, their school environment is not a positive one.
37:48They don't enjoy it. They don't feel like they're good at anything or actually their kind of future opportunities are limited.
37:54So they can't look, say, in 10 or 20 years time, I want to do that or I could be here.
37:58If they don't have those kinds of things, then the messaging that is online becomes so much more alluring and powerful.
38:03And this is a message that's a problem that's seen not just here in the UK, but around the world, doesn't it?
38:08Yeah. So, I mean, we've been talking with people in the US, Australia, France, Germany.
38:12It's certainly happening in a lot of different places.
38:14And I think it's those two things of kind of men in communities, but also the online world.
38:19So it's not just fathers in the UK. We have a third of primary schools with no male teachers at all.
38:26And then universally, almost social media and smartphones are just adopted by all young people now.
38:31So what are you advocating for them? What can we do?
38:34So we're continuing with our research. We're trying to actually come up with some ideas that can help with this.
38:39We're focusing on particularly young boys. What can we do in their lives to increase the kind of protective factors that surround them?
38:46And also working with kind of adolescents and young men.
38:49How can we inject some purpose and some resilience and direction into their lives too?
38:54And I think there's a few ways we're thinking of particularly trying to do this.
38:57One is working with family hubs. They're a little bit like short start centres.
39:01They provide advice or guidance for parents with young children and best practice.
39:06Other things like youth clubs. So how can we get spaces in communities for young men, particularly those men that might be in those situations I mentioned.
39:15They can find those trusted adults. Also, how do we use the idea of sport and to really reengage young men, particularly in a schooling environment?
39:24And then I think the final thing we're really trying to think about is how we can put a call out to men to stand up and help raise the next generation of young boys into good men.
39:33Great advice there. And if someone's watching at home, they want to get involved, be that positive role model.
39:37Luke, thank you so much for talking to us.
39:39Thanks for having me.
39:41Now it's time for today's Wanted Faces.
39:43And first we've got John Casey, though he also calls himself John O'Rourke, Michael Casey and John Joyce.
39:54He has breached the conditions of his licence from prison and police say he has connections in Ireland, Essex, Surrey, Luton, Sussex and also Lincolnshire.
40:03They also say he may have left the country and gone to America or Canada.
40:07Well, have you seen this man? This is John Bresnahan. Police in Surrey want to talk to him about an assault in a pub that left a man with injuries.
40:15He's 34 with dark hair and may have a beard now. He has links to London as well as Surrey.
40:20What about this man? We've got Anton Newell here.
40:23Sometimes he calls himself Ashley and goes by the surname Williams in July 2025.
40:28He went missing from prison and has been urgently recalled. So if you see him, just call 999.
40:34And finally, for today anyway, have you spotted Gregory John Pawsey?
40:38Surrey police want to locate him in relation to a burglary of a valuable watch.
40:42He's 56, has white hair and often wears glasses. Police say he has connections to London, Surrey and also Spain.
40:50If you know where any of these men are, do pick up the phone. The number to call is 08000 468 999.
40:57Now we've just got time to bring you a few quick updates.
41:04In October 2023, police were asking for help to locate this man, Ewan Corbett.
41:09North Yorkshire police had charged him with causing death by dangerous driving
41:13after he crashed a car in the North York Moors National Park, killing a 21-year-old passenger.
41:18Well, we are pleased to report that the authorities caught up with him earlier this year
41:23when Corbett was arrested trying to cross the border between Turkey and Iran.
41:27Corbett was returned to the UK by Turkish authorities in May
41:30and officers were waiting for him at Heathrow Airport, where he was promptly arrested.
41:35He has since pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and awaits sentencing at York Crown Court.
41:40Also in 2023, we ran an appeal with Norfolk Constabulary who wanted to track down this man, John Debbage, for a conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
41:51He had been linked to the supply of cocaine to Norfolk in 2022 and was also wanted by the Northwest Regional Organised Crime Unit
41:58for large-scale importation and supply of class A drugs.
42:02He was identified on CCTV, leaving the country via Newcastle Airport, and we are pleased to say he was arrested in Belgium last month.
42:10He's now been extradited to the UK and is currently under remand.
42:14Now, it's not just your calls that are important, but also sharing the appeals with people who live in the towns and cities these crimes take place in.
42:23You can get links to lots of the appeal films that we've covered on our website and, of course, our Facebook page, so check it out.
42:29And that is all we have time for this morning.
42:32Thank you so much for watching.
42:33And remember, you can catch us on iPlay for up to 30 days after broadcast.
42:37Well worth another look.
42:39Details of organisations that can provide support with some of the issues raised today are available at bbc.co.uk slash action line.
42:47And you can reach Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
42:53Yeah, tomorrow a manhunt for a murderer of 22-year-old Rycard Siafa, who was fatally stabbed in Croydon.
43:00The three meds around him, he's attacked and suffers multiple stab wounds before they then run.
43:12Can you help track down one of his killers?
43:14I hope so. We'll see you tomorrow, same time, 10.45 for that and more. Goodbye for now.
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