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00:01He's been jamming the switchboard, both here and at the instance of the...
00:05Just to remind you, this was the abduction and reno-drop campaign and the handgun debate.
00:12Hello and welcome to Crimewatch.
00:1512 people rang and giving the same of those fantastic resolutions.
00:18Hello and welcome to Crimewatch Live.
00:29We are broadcasting from our studio right here in the heart of Cardiff City.
00:33We have a really packed programme today as we continue to bring you appeals that police need your help to
00:39solve.
00:40Plus, we have a series of exclusive films with the detectives who've cracked some of the biggest crimes in the
00:45headlines.
00:46Today, we've got an exclusive film with the Met Police who busted the real so-called gangster granny,
00:51who along with her children delivered a tonne of cocaine to dealers across the UK.
00:57She has not protected her family at all.
01:02Police! Police! Police!
01:05She has brought them into a life of criminality.
01:09It's a wild film, that one, isn't it? It really is.
01:11It is. Plus, do you recognise this man?
01:13Police want to question him about an assault after a substance was thrown in the face of a transport worker.
01:19And we'll be hearing from other frontline workers about the abuse they are confronted with on a weekly basis for
01:26simply doing their job.
01:29He was throwing bricks at the ambulance, hitting it, kicking it, shouting, screaming.
01:34And my mind was racing, trying to think of a solution.
01:37Because if I didn't, we would have been either seriously injured or killed.
01:43As usual, our phone lines are open and our team are ready to take your calls.
01:48So if you have any information about our cases, then please do get in touch.
01:52You can do that by scanning the QR code below using your phone's camera and following the link for all
01:58of our details.
01:58Or call us on 08000 468 999, text us on 633 99, start with the word crime, leave a space
02:07and then write your message.
02:08Or email us, cwl at bbc.co.uk.
02:13And those details will be on your screen throughout the programme, just down by the clock.
02:18First today, we're going back to 1982 to re-examine the murder of pensioner Esme Hoad.
02:24Do you have any clues that could finally solve this tragic case?
02:31The market town of Tunbridge in Kent was home to pensioner Esme Hoad.
02:39Esme Hoad was 85 years old.
02:42She was born in 1897.
02:47She lived in Havelock Road all her life.
02:50Esme lived alone.
02:53She was very frail.
02:55She walked with a walking stick.
02:58But she was fiercely independent as well.
03:02She had a close friend group who used to check in on her every other day.
03:07Because she was also suffering from breast cancer at the time.
03:18In December of 1982, police were called by worried neighbours who hadn't seen Esme for several days.
03:27The police officers attending, they couldn't get into the address, so they had to force entry.
03:34They sadly found Esme behind the door, at the bottom of her stairs, dead.
03:41And it was clear from the injuries and the amount of blood that she had been murdered.
03:47She had horrific injuries and the pathologist identified 20 injuries mainly to the head and face.
03:56These were significant lacerations which were caused by a heavy round object.
04:02But she was also stabbed through the chest.
04:09It was a brutal attack that shocked the entire community.
04:15The area that Esme lived in was commonly known as the Slade.
04:19It was quite a tight-knit community and every so often they had a market on.
04:25She'd go to the local shops nearly every day and there was one store in particular that Esme used to
04:29go to which was pretty much at the end of her road.
04:34And she was often seen walking to and from that small shop with her pram and walking stick.
04:46Police conducted house to house inquiries and collected witness statements to piece together Esme's final movements.
04:57On the Thursday 2nd of December 1982, Esme was seen in these Slade stores.
05:03And she was seen wearing a green woolly hat, a bit like a woollen tea cosy, a white raincoat, pink
05:11jumper, a beige blouse and brown trousers.
05:15And one of the legs was actually rolled up on the brown trousers.
05:20She was in good spirits and she bought two bars of whole nut, a packet of Maltesers and some other
05:27sweets as well.
05:31The next day, on Friday the 3rd of December, Esme was seen around 1.30pm by a neighbour.
05:39It was the last time Esme was seen alive.
05:47On Saturday the 4th of December, the milkman delivered the milk but noticed that she hadn't left the money out.
05:56Esme would always leave payment on a piece of tin foil for the milkman, but this wasn't there then.
06:03Over the next few days, Esme had several persons visit her address, try to raise her but to no avail.
06:10The milkman returned on the Tuesday morning and he saw that the milk from Saturday was still there and there
06:16was still no payment.
06:19I'm of the firm belief that Esme was murdered between the afternoon of Friday the 3rd of December and the
06:25morning of Saturday the 4th of December.
06:30Police continued to investigate the murder, which at the time they thought could be a robbery gone wrong.
06:40Based on some of the witness evidence, the investigators at the time thought that there were certain items that were
06:47missing from Esme's home.
06:50One of those items was a china ornament of a tiger, an ornament of a girl with a bonnet and
06:58a brass lamp.
07:00Crucially, they were able to recover a print from a boot that was worn near Esme's body.
07:07It was for a style called a banana boot.
07:10Banana boots were not extremely popular but a known brand at the time which thought that they were sold in
07:18local markets.
07:22Despite over 15,000 lines of inquiry and fingerprints taken from nearly 1,000 people, police have never been able
07:32to catch Esme's killer.
07:34There was a clear focus back in 1982 and into 1983 on two individuals in particular.
07:41These were known as antiques knockers.
07:44It was a male and a female, both in their late 30s, early 40s, that drove round in a blue
07:51mini-traveler.
07:52And they were thought to collect antiques from houses in the local area.
08:02Although the investigation has found no evidence to link them to the murder,
08:06they are still two people that we would really want to speak to, to see if they have any information
08:10that can progress this investigation.
08:23Esme Hode was an 85-year-old lady who was extremely frail and vulnerable.
08:29She was brutally murdered in the most horrific way.
08:32This could be your grandmother, your mother.
08:37I believe there is someone out there that has information which can help us get justice for Esme Hode.
08:48For four decades, this unsolved murder has cast a darkness over the town of Tombridge.
08:53And I'm now with D.I. Lee Neals, who you saw from the film there, from Kent Police.
08:58Lee, let's take the viewers back, 40 years to 1982.
09:02Esme, she was a quiet, older, unassuming woman, no harm to anyone.
09:07No, Esme was 85 years old at the time of her murder.
09:11She was particularly frail, had to walk around with the aid of a walking stick.
09:16She was suffering from breast cancer, also at the time of her murder, and she was hard of hearing as
09:22well.
09:23She was often seen in the streets speaking with young children, giving them sweets.
09:29She was just a kind little old lady, really.
09:32Just awful what happened.
09:34And the murder itself, it was particularly brutal.
09:37Yes, when the officers forced entry to Esme's address, they were confronted with an extremely bloody and brutal scene.
09:45The pathologist commented that she sustained over 20 injuries to her body, predominantly to her head and face.
09:54A significant amount of lacerations and skull fractures, which were caused by a rounded, heavy object.
10:02And she was also stabbed through the heart.
10:05Absolutely horrific hearing those details.
10:07Now, you do have one clue, a particularly significant one, and that's the boot print.
10:11It was mentioned in the film. We can see it here.
10:13This was a boot print, a particularly distinctive type of boot, known as a banana boot.
10:17That's how it was referred to.
10:19It was worn at the time by some people.
10:21There is significance in what you've achieved or what your colleagues retrieved from that, isn't there?
10:25Yes, this is extremely significant to the case.
10:28So this is the boot print of the murderer.
10:31This was found in blood at the scene.
10:34So an extremely important piece of information.
10:38Yeah, absolutely, because it's the only way it could have been left there.
10:40So we need some information on that.
10:42Who could have owned boots that look like that?
10:44Certainly at the time, this is what they would look like at the time.
10:48This is the boot.
10:49It would look something similar like that, that others would have owned similar at the time.
10:53So to cast your mind back 40 years.
10:56Now, there's also that other line of inquiry you mentioned with the two people that were seen in the area.
11:01They'd like to know more about them, the male and the female.
11:04Here's an Aoife image of them.
11:06Just tell us about the significance potentially of those as well.
11:08Yeah, it's a female and a male in their late 30s, early 40s.
11:13And they were described as what was known as antiques knockers.
11:16So these were individuals that would go around to houses in the local vicinity asking around for antiques.
11:22And we believe that these people visited Esme's address prior to the murder.
11:29But I have to stress that there's no evidence linking them to the murder at this time.
11:33But they are certainly two individuals that we would wish to identify and speak to.
11:37And you are using a number of techniques that weren't available back then 40 years ago now to help this
11:44investigation, in particular with the forensics.
11:47Yes.
11:48So items that were seized from the scene in 1982 have recently been submitted for forensic analysis.
11:53And we have been able to identify profiles, DNA profiles, from those items which are suitable for direct comparison.
12:03So one of our lines of inquiry today is to visit those individuals that featured in the original investigation and
12:12to obtain their DNA for direct comparison so we can eliminate them from our inquiries.
12:17And that is crucial to say that no one's going to get into trouble if you forward the name of
12:21someone.
12:21They can't get into trouble because you can just eliminate them from the inquiry.
12:24And just briefly, Lee, who do you want to hear from today?
12:28Well, I think it's extremely unlikely that whoever committed this murder has kept this to themselves for over 43 years
12:36now.
12:36They must have confided in somebody.
12:38And it is that somebody that we need to come forward, provide us with that information and help us get
12:44justice for Esme.
12:44Thank you, Lee.
12:46And we should say there's also a Crime Stoppers reward of up to £20,000 so people can report anonymously.
12:51If you've been keeping a secret all these years, now there's time to come forward.
12:55Michelle.
12:57And one of the only clues detectives have in Esme Hode's murder is a boot print recovered from the scene.
13:03Now, footwear analysis is a forensic discipline that can play a really crucial role in building a legal case.
13:10Yes.
13:10I'm now joined by David Moore from Plymouth Marjon University, who's an expert in this field.
13:15So good to have you with us this morning, David.
13:18So when it comes to a theory like this concerning a footprint, how do you put it into practice, that
13:23kind of theory?
13:24It's really important that investigators at a crime scene start building a hypothesis, not only of what has gone on,
13:30but where do they think that a suspect may have walked.
13:32Now, we might have a nice footwear mark in some soil or some snow, something like this, which we can
13:38get a photograph of with a scale.
13:40It'll give us a size, it'll give us a bit of a tread, but also we'll take a cast of
13:43it now.
13:43And the casting materials that we use now can give us a really good sort of a cast of that
13:49print and a good detailed description.
13:51If we have a suspect who's walked some dirt or some blood into the crime scene, then we can use
13:57these things here called gel lifters.
13:58These are adhesive.
13:58We put it over the footwear mark and then we can lift it up and actually take that actual footwear
14:04mark to court.
14:05But again, we'll take photographs of it.
14:06But there are times when we have ones that are non-visible or really difficult to see where we've got
14:11footwear marks.
14:11Yeah. So what kind of methods and techniques do you use then if the footprint isn't as obvious as something
14:16like the one in the mud?
14:18So again, it's important to think where has that suspect walked particularly.
14:21So we've got a piece of lino here and the cameras have got a good angle here because you can
14:25actually see the dust because they're doing something called an oblique angle,
14:28which is an oblique lighting angle. So you can see this, but it's not easy to see in its current
14:34state.
14:34So what we do, we do an electrostatic lifting technique.
14:37We put a piece of foil over the print and then we just turn this little device on.
14:43And as you can see, it's being attracted to that surface.
14:46And it doesn't matter whether it's smooth or rough and even some carpets, it will pick up the dust particles
14:51from underneath.
14:52So it's literally lifting them onto the piece of material?
14:55Absolutely. So if we just pick that up now, we should hopefully have quite a good footwear impression that we
15:01can see.
15:02So what happens next then, David? How do you match that to the suspect in question?
15:07So what we'll do, we'll look at the tread. We'll look at it. It could give us a make and
15:11model, particularly of trainers.
15:12The problem is they might have had thousands of that type of footwear that's been sold.
15:16But as soon as someone starts wearing a piece of footwear, then it starts becoming unique.
15:21So firstly, there'll be the wear pattern that people walk on the outside or the inside of the shoe or
15:25the heel or the sole.
15:27But also you're going to get those individual characteristics like cuts and indentations and holes and foreign items like stones
15:34being stuck in the sole of the shoe.
15:36Yeah. But looking at this as well, with the wear pattern as well, it's really important that with the wear
15:40pattern that you look at this shoe that hasn't been worn too much.
15:43We've got some wear at the outside of the heel and at the front inside of the sole.
15:48And we'll have people who are experts in this who can analyse the gait of that particular person.
15:53And from that size, we can get an estimate of height and especially stride length.
15:56So if there's no CCTV or anything at the scene, we can look on the periphery to see if we
16:00can identify anybody who would match those kind of traits.
16:02It is amazing just how much the footwear can can tell you.
16:06You've actually got a footwear database as well that helps, haven't you?
16:09Absolutely. There are tens of thousands of footwear impressions on the database, both from crime scenes and from suspects.
16:15So if somebody is arrested or is being interviewed with regards to a footwear mark or a crime, then it's
16:22a very simple process.
16:23Someone will come into custody. They will step on this piece of yellow pad and then step on the paper.
16:30And within seconds, we'll have a footwear impression.
16:33And that could be checked against the database to see if it matches any crime scenes.
16:37But also, if we get a lift from a crime scene, that could be checked against the database to see
16:40if it matches any suspects or any other crime scenes.
16:42So that might give us a lead of sort of serial kind of offences.
16:45Yeah.
16:46But one of the things we've noticed is over the years, criminals have become a lot more aware forensically.
16:51So they'll try and do things to cover up, like wear gloves to not leave fingerprints.
16:54But it's really obvious if someone tries to cover their shoes up.
16:58So until such time as criminals can levitate, then they're going to be in contact with the ground in crime
17:02scenes.
17:03And they're going to leave some evidence for investigators.
17:05Yeah.
17:05I don't think that's happening anytime soon.
17:07Fingers crossed.
17:07Levitation.
17:08Absolutely fascinating work.
17:10Thank you so much for telling us more, David.
17:11Pleasure.
17:12Raph.
17:13It really was.
17:14Now, you may have read over the weekend that there were almost 10,500 reports of abuse
17:20against London's transport workers recorded in just one 12-month period.
17:25I'm now with DC Victoria Callaghan from the British Transport Police, who is investigating
17:30one of these assaults where a substance was actually thrown in the face of a transport worker.
17:36Victoria, good morning.
17:37What can you tell us about this incident?
17:40Good morning.
17:41So the attack we're investigating happened just before 6pm on Saturday the 17th of May 2025
17:48at London Blackfire Station.
17:51Four men alighted from a train that had come in from Sevenoaks and attempted to barge through
17:56the ticket barriers.
17:57One of the men was stopped by two members of rail staff working on the gate line and the
18:02other three ran away.
18:04The one left became abusive to the staff members.
18:07The three men who ran off then returned and one pulled out a Lucozo bottle and squirted
18:12liquid into the face of one of the staff members.
18:15That sounds absolutely awful.
18:16So, whatever was squirted into the face of the staff member actually caused some injuries.
18:23Yeah.
18:24So the victim was sprayed with a chemical.
18:27He felt immediate pain in his eyes and lost vision.
18:30He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was treated for chemical burns to his face
18:36and in his eyes.
18:37As a result, he still to this day has got pain in his eyes and requires ongoing hospital
18:42treatment and he's still not got 100% vision.
18:46Absolutely dreadful.
18:47Well, you have provided us with some CCTV that we can take a look at now.
18:52Victoria, just talk us through what we're seeing here on this footage.
18:55Yeah.
18:56So that is the group barging through the barrier at Blackfire Station to exit the station and
19:01running away shortly followed by the victim and his colleague.
19:05And then this is the same group again at the top of the escalators just seconds before
19:10the incident happened.
19:12And we've got another clip now that we can see.
19:15How would you describe the man in the light blue top that you'd like to speak to?
19:21Yeah.
19:22So we're keen to identify and speak to the man in the footage here as we believe he has
19:26information that could assist our ongoing investigation into the attack.
19:30On the day, he was wearing a light blue jacket and black Nike shorts.
19:34And the victims described the man as being in his around 20 years old.
19:39He's a slim build and has light brown hair.
19:42Now, you mentioned that there was a small group that were traveling.
19:46And you've managed to piece together their movements that day.
19:49Tell us what you've what you've discovered there.
19:53Yes.
19:53So the group were on a Thameslink service that arrived at Blackfriars from Sevenoaks
19:58at 5.50pm on the day of the attack.
20:01We don't know which one of the stops they got on, but the train goes from that part of Kent
20:06through southeast London to the stops that we can see here on the screen.
20:10After the attack, the group ran out of the station and headed north towards Fleet Street.
20:16OK, we've got a good description of where they went.
20:19There was reports of them potentially causing havoc at the station,
20:22a young mum and children being knocked over at one of those there.
20:25How can the public help you today?
20:28So we're urging anyone who recognizes this man to let us know who he is.
20:33As I say, he may have vital information that will help our ongoing inquiries.
20:37This was such a horrific attack on a man that was simply doing his job
20:40and he's still suffering as a result of it.
20:42We're determined to identify the person responsible and get justice for the victim.
20:47Victoria, thank you.
20:49That image will be on our Facebook page and also website.
20:52So do get in touch if you recognize him.
20:55Now, it's estimated there are 433 incidents of abuse towards paramedic and ambulance workers
21:01every week in the UK.
21:03In our next film, we'll see how a regular shift for one of them took a terrifying turn.
21:11He was throwing bricks at the ambulance, hitting it, kicking it, shouting, screaming.
21:16My mind was racing, trying to think of a solution.
21:19Because if I didn't, we would have been either seriously injured or killed.
21:25My name's Harvey.
21:26I'm a trainee emergency medical technician with the London Ambulance Service.
21:30It was approximately midnight.
21:32I was working with my colleague and we were reaching the end of our shift.
21:36We were given information that there was a road traffic collision possibly involving a bicycle.
21:41It was a category one call, which is the most urgent.
21:46The initial scene didn't display any kind of obvious evidence of an RTC.
21:52There was no evidence of a bicycle or a motorbike or whatever were on scene.
21:56The patient was sat on the floor, didn't appear to have any severe injuries.
22:02Following the assessment, my initial plan was to try and get a bit more communication going,
22:07try and figure out what happened.
22:09Eventually, he mentioned his bike, spoken in English, bike, bike.
22:13But it was quite difficult for us to get any kind of like indication of what the patient was talking
22:18about.
22:19The patient became quite agitated.
22:21And at this point, he started to become aggressive.
22:25And I remember him standing up in the back of the ambulance and kind of approaching me and getting in
22:30my face.
22:31So our initial concern was, let's just get him off the ambulance.
22:35So I opened the door and my colleague left to kind of supervise him, look for his bike.
22:42I'm in the back trying to get some paperwork down, try and figure out what we're going to do next.
22:47But soon enough, the situation escalated.
22:52My colleague pressed the red button on his radio to send out a distress call.
22:57When I hear that, I know that he's in danger.
23:01I immediately step off the ambulance to try and check up on him.
23:04And that's when I see the patient essentially trying to attack my colleague, swinging at him, running at him.
23:13I thought to myself, you know, I can't let this happen.
23:16His attention then turned to me.
23:18His demeanor was very focused, hyper fixated on us.
23:21You know, there was that underlying kind of fear of this is serious and, you know, this man, you know,
23:26intends to really harm us.
23:28The patient at one point left the immediate scene.
23:32And that was when we decided, this is our time, let's get in the ambulance.
23:36And we intended to leave at that point.
23:40It's one of those things where, you know, you get almost a moment of calm to process what's happened.
23:46This is when he turned back round to us and he ran towards the front of the ambulance and climbed
23:50up on top of it.
23:55It started to kick it in.
23:58I remember me and my colleague just shouting at each other like, oh, what do we do, what do we
24:02do?
24:03At the point where he puts his foot through the windscreen and breaks it completely.
24:13This is when we think, oh, we have to get out of it.
24:16So we use the, um, dividing door behind us to get into the back of the ambulance cab.
24:21Um, in which case we ensure the doors are locked and we just try and stay, stay there.
24:31I remember him banging and I heard him, like, throwing stuff.
24:35He threw bricks at the windows and eventually they smashed.
24:38He was running round the ambulance.
24:40He was hitting it, kicking it, shouting, screaming.
24:42Kept throwing bricks through the window.
24:44It was all very intense and it didn't really cool down at all.
24:48The point I remember most vividly was him throwing a brick at me and hitting me on the side.
24:53I remember looking down at the brick and seeing it was covered in blood.
24:55I checked myself, I was okay.
24:57But it made me realize that this was his blood.
25:00I kind of thought to myself that this needs to end very quickly.
25:02My mind was racing, trying to think of a solution the whole time.
25:07Because, in my mind, if I didn't find a solution, we would have, you know,
25:11we would have been either seriously injured or killed.
25:15I can't say for sure how long it went on for.
25:17It was maybe between five and ten minutes.
25:20But it felt like hours.
25:24When we saw blue lights outside, I thought, okay, this is fine.
25:28The police are here.
25:29We've kind of survived.
25:31And the adrenaline was still there.
25:33You know, still kind of very much on edge.
25:37He was caught that night and ordered to pay a £114 fine,
25:42150 hours or 20 days of community service and a four-month ban on alcohol.
25:48Which, in my opinion at the time, was not kind of reflective of what we experienced that night.
25:56The incident hasn't really put a dampener on my kind of career progression.
26:01There was a period, you know, immediately afterwards where I was perhaps a bit kind of apprehensive.
26:06But this is a very, very rare occasion.
26:08And most days, people are lovely.
26:11It's very motivating to go to someone and end up leaving them in a better state than they were when
26:16we found them.
26:18As long as that happens, it always keeps you going.
26:23I mean, that whole experience must have been absolutely terrifying.
26:27And it was so drawn out.
26:29It went on and on.
26:30As you say, absolutely terrifying for anyone involved.
26:33And as we heard earlier, there are 433 attacks against ambulance and paramedics every week in the UK.
26:39That is a huge number.
26:41We're now with Nathan Holman, who spent over two decades as an ambulance paramedic
26:45and represents frontline workers at the GMB union.
26:49Sadly, Nathan, this is something that you've witnessed firsthand time and time again, isn't it?
26:55Yep. I've been punched, kicked.
26:58I've had colleagues have knives drawn on them.
27:00It's horrendous.
27:02It's absolutely horrendous when it happens.
27:03How does it make you feel?
27:07It prevents us from doing our job.
27:09So, you know, it's a mixed response.
27:12We're absolutely petrified when these things are happening for our own lives.
27:16But at the same time, in the back of our minds, we're thinking about the person that we're there trying
27:21to save their life.
27:22And you're just pulled in different directions.
27:26You know, you've got to protect yourself.
27:29But at the same time, you're trying to deal with the situation that's happening.
27:35And trying to give life-saving care all at once.
27:37It's, yeah, absolutely terrifying.
27:39I mean, some of the statistics when we look into this, Nathan, are absolutely staggering, aren't they?
27:44We can see here.
27:45So 38% experienced physical violence.
27:4852% experienced abuse from the public.
27:51And just talking to you before we started, before we came on air, you actually think those numbers are not
27:57a true reflection.
27:58Yeah.
27:58I think those numbers are small compared to the reality that's actually happening.
28:03There are so many incidents that do not get reported.
28:07You know, you don't want to report things because you're scared of putting the person into a difficult position.
28:15But at the same time, those figures need to be highlighted to get the supports in place that are needed.
28:23Of course.
28:23And when we talk about the reality, I mean, what kind of things have your colleagues and members told you
28:29about what they've experienced?
28:30Yeah, so, you know, spat at, sworn at, kicked, punched, verbally abused.
28:38I've had colleagues had a knife drawn on them.
28:40I've had another colleague that was sexually assaulted in the back of a vehicle.
28:44And you actually had to barricade yourself inside a house once, didn't you?
28:48Yes.
28:49So I was dealing with a cardiac arrest late at night.
28:53I went back out to the vehicle to get another piece of equipment and discovered that there was about 20,
29:0025 people had turned up at the address, all relatives of the individual, shouting and screaming.
29:06That was frightening.
29:07Barricaded ourselves into the house, waiting for the police to arrive.
29:11Shocking.
29:11Absolutely terrifying to find yourself in that situation.
29:14But it can also have an impact on the service in a wider way as well.
29:19Just not the individual turning up at the time.
29:21Yeah.
29:21But it's going to affect you.
29:22The ripple effect is going to be bigger.
29:23Yeah.
29:24So first of all, it affects you mentally.
29:27So you're not prepared when you go to the next job, you're still thinking about these things.
29:31But it's the knock on impact to the public as well.
29:34If we're tied up because somebody's smashed the vehicle up, like in the film that was shown, that vehicle is
29:41then off the road.
29:42So that child that's been knocked over by a car around the corner doesn't get a prompt response because we
29:48can't attend.
29:49Well, Nathan, we really appreciate you coming in because it's important to raise awareness around the subject.
29:53Hopefully that will help affect some change.
29:55So thank you so much.
29:58Now, our next film is about a family business with quite a difference.
30:03A network of criminals run by a grandmother and her children.
30:08A female-led organised crime group is highly unusual.
30:14Police!
30:15She has not protected her family at all.
30:18She has brought them into a life of criminality.
30:20Get on the floor!
30:23Get on the floor!
30:24Please!
30:24Please!
30:26What is going on?
30:33In May 2023, Metropolitan Police received a tip-off.
30:39For operational reasons, we've kept the officers in this case anonymous.
30:45West Yorkshire Police, they had just witnessed what they believed was a drug deal in their area where they arrested
30:51a male with five kilos of cocaine.
30:54The handover wasn't seen itself, but they did see a car in the area that they believed was involved in
31:00that drug deal.
31:02The police believed the car that they suspected to be involved was hired in London and would be of interest
31:08to their colleagues at the Met.
31:11We ran checks on the hire car and they came back to being hired by Roseanne Mason, who resides in
31:18London.
31:19And we could see that she had previously been convicted of a serious assault.
31:25Police decided to monitor Roseanne Mason's movements.
31:30In multi-kilo drug supply, there's usually more than one person involved.
31:34And we wanted to take that opportunity to develop the intelligence around Roseanne.
31:39Police identified her phone number and accessed her call data.
31:43And with the use of ANPR, were able to start tracking her movements.
31:49The activity we were seeing looked suspicious to us.
31:53We could see that she was doing unusual trips.
31:57It looked like she was going to Harwich Port early in the morning and then driving into London and then
32:02other bits of the UK straight from the port.
32:06Just before she was going to Harwich Port, she was receiving phone calls at 4am.
32:12It wasn't regular like you would be working.
32:14It was whenever she was called upon.
32:17So it might be that one week she would do it once and then other weeks they would get two
32:21or three runs.
32:21One number that repeatedly came up on Roseanne's phone was significant.
32:27That number came back to Debra Mason.
32:32Her mother.
32:37It's not unusual for mothers and daughters to speak, but the pattern with the phone calls at 4am always went
32:45with Roseanne then doing the trips.
32:49Roseanne Mason and Debra Mason were both unemployed.
32:52The trips that they were doing all around the country raised our suspicions.
32:57Police started looking more closely at Debra's phone records and a pattern started to emerge.
33:04We could see that she was making calls out to various other numbers at around 4am, which made us think
33:11that the network was a lot bigger than just her and Roseanne.
33:15And the network that police uncovered was shocking.
33:23We had her daughters, Lily Bright, Roseanne Mason, Demi Bright, her son, Reggie Bright.
33:35Reggie Bright's partner, Demi Kendall.
33:38We had Chloe Hodgkin, which was Lily Bright's partner.
33:42And Debra's sister, Tina Golding.
33:46It was quite shocking to see how many females were involved, but also how tight they were keeping their network.
33:57We decided to mount a surveillance operation to see with our own eyes what they were up to.
34:02We could see from the call data, from ANPR and from surveillance that the network were travelling up to Leicester,
34:12to Bolton, to Wales.
34:14They would travel all over the country, which to us made us suspect that they were doing a drop off
34:18and then carrying on to the next drop off.
34:23On the 15th of September, 2023, police were deployed to Debra's house and instructed to wait for movement.
34:32It was around 6am when we have seen her son, Reggie Bright, collect her.
34:37And they have driven from Islington to Harwich Port.
34:44At that point, we have seen them meet with a van where they have collected boxes into their vehicle.
34:59We followed Reggie's vehicle.
35:02They went up to Leicestershire, where they met a male in a red Peugeot.
35:07That male approached Reggie and Debra's boot of their vehicle and removed one of those large cardboard boxes
35:13and put it in the boot of his own vehicle before leaving the car park.
35:20Detectives requested their colleagues stop and arrest the driver of the car.
35:26Get on the floor! Get on the floor! Give me your arms! Give me your arms!
35:31Cuff, cuffs, cuffs.
35:32She's got it!
35:34At the moment, you're arrested by the 10th supply class A drug.
35:38In the rear of that red Peugeot, they found 10 kilo blocks of cocaine.
35:49Police!
35:50On the 9th of May, 2024, over 200 officers were involved in a simultaneous dawn raid
35:58to arrest the family and search their homes.
36:04I'm not all right! This takes the firstерт's �.
36:06proportional to court.
36:07In explains.
36:07The firstcher was off!
36:10Please!
36:17It's right!
36:20That's it, that's it!
36:22Police!
36:22Police!
36:23Oh, subject!
36:25Stay there for me!
36:27We got a Section 8 PACE warrant, OK, to come here.
36:29Police!
36:30Bier!
36:31Oh, my God, please, what's going on?
36:34Just confirm your name for me.
36:37What's your name?
36:38Rosa. What's your name?
36:40Lily. Lily? Yeah.
36:42And your surname? Bri. Bri.
36:44At the moment, you're going to be under arrest.
36:46For concern and supply of class A, you do not have to say anything,
36:50but may harm your defence if you do not mention the wrong question.
36:53Something which you may come rely on and caution.
36:55Anything you do say, maybe give it a hand.
36:57I don't think any of them are aware of any police activity.
37:01And I think all of them were quite shocked
37:03that they were getting arrested for these offences.
37:05So, madam, with police officers, we've got a warrant here, OK?
37:09For what? Under Section 8 of the case, all right?
37:11So, there's a warrant at the moment.
37:12You're going to explain to you by the officers in five seconds, all right?
37:14For what?
37:16For what?
37:18For what?
37:20The family were clearly shocked.
37:23Police arrested them and seized their phones.
37:26The messages that we found,
37:28that they had all said,
37:30we need to delete these,
37:32but none of them had,
37:33were damning.
37:37We identified another female that was involved.
37:40She had been recruited by Demi Bright,
37:43a female by the name of Anita Slaughter.
37:47From the messages, we could see her directly messaging Debra Mason,
37:51where Debra Mason tells her to delete all her text messages.
38:05Anita Slaughter was arrested in November 2024.
38:11Debra Mason was directing each of the family members
38:15about meeting with lorries.
38:22Going with empty bags for life.
38:30Making sure that they had gloves.
38:35During an argument, Chloe Hodgkin sends text messages to Lily Bright.
38:47They had to take a look at it.
38:47There is no way out of that.
38:54We could see that they were getting paid around £1,000 per trip,
38:58sometimes £1,500 a trip,
39:00depending on how far they had to go
39:02and how many drops they had to do.
39:04Debra had sent Tina a photo of a large amount of cash in her hands
39:09right at the start of the investigation period.
39:12Tina responds to her that Debra is basically mad
39:14and that she should do one trip and get out of it.
39:17It's clear that Debra is trying to corrupt Tina
39:19and recruits her to be involved within the drug supply.
39:24It was quite shocking, the flippant nature
39:27that she would talk about this.
39:28It just really did reveal the fact that they thought
39:32all of this was a bit of a joke,
39:33considering what they were doing.
39:40I think the only motivating factor was money.
39:43It was pure greed.
39:45Debra Mason was going on luxury holidays.
39:48She was spending a lot of money on luxury household items.
39:52She also bought a very expensive kitten,
39:56who she bought a Gucci cat collar and a Gucci cat lead for.
40:04For the seven months after that first tip-off from West Yorkshire Police,
40:09the gang were responsible for distributing almost a tonne of cocaine.
40:13A street value of £80 million.
40:20On the 18th of July, 2025,
40:23the gang were convicted of conspiracy to supply cocaine
40:27and received a combined sentence of 118 years in prison.
40:34With Debra Mason herself receiving a 20-year sentence for her actions.
40:42In this investigation, we saw individuals who claimed they were unable to work,
40:46yet were perfectly capable of getting up at 4 o'clock in the morning,
40:50driving for up to 16, 20 hours a day,
40:54and earning £1,000 to £1,500 in cash for each drug run.
40:59I would say one of the most shocking elements of the case was they were taking babies,
41:04toddlers, children on these trips.
41:07Transporting that amount of cocaine around the country comes with huge risks.
41:12They might have been ripped off by other drug dealers that know the routes and patterns,
41:16or the people that they are meeting with, and they have put their children at that risk.
41:20The sentences they received reflected the scale and seriousness of their offending.
41:29Quite an unbelievable case.
41:31Now, though, it's time for Wanted Faces.
41:38First, do you know Pablo Marc Jarrett?
41:41He sometimes uses the name Marc Berry.
41:43Police in Northampton want to speak to him about a range of offences.
41:47He's 52, with a tattoo of a shark on his lower back and a scar on the left side of
41:52his forehead.
41:52Police say he has connections in Bradford, Lincolnshire, Somerset and also France.
41:56Next, we have Robert William Jones.
41:59He also uses the names Gary Babin and William Duncan.
42:02He's a registered sex offender who has been recalled to prison after breaching the strict conditions of his licence.
42:08Officers believe he is likely living under a false identity, possibly in London or the South Coast.
42:14Originally from Cleveland, the 58-year-old has a slight North East accent
42:18and has previously worn a hearing aid in his left ear.
42:20He has a number of tattoos, including a distinctive masked woman, a swallow with a name underneath, faded barbed wire
42:27and the word Bopper.
42:29Police say he may have new tattoos over these in an attempt to disguise himself.
42:35What about this man? This is Rafiq Ahmed Kaid, who goes by the shortened name of Raf.
42:40He's been recalled to prison after an arson attempt.
42:4335-year-old has links to Grangetown, Roath and Hlanishan in South Wales.
42:48If you see any of these men out and about, please do pick up the phone and report it.
42:53I'm afraid that's all we've got time for today.
42:57And remember, you can catch us on iPlayer or go back to our Facebook page where you can share some
43:01of the appeals from the series.
43:02Tomorrow, we're with the detectives who hauled the biggest Bitcoin seizure in the world
43:07in a fraud orchestrated by the so-called crypto queen.
43:14The amount of Bitcoin seized in this case is enormous.
43:19Police! Police!
43:21You can't comprehend it.
43:25It is another wild story.
43:28She's gone to 100,000 victims. You don't want to miss that one.
43:30See you tomorrow at 10.45. Bye for now.
43:32Bye.
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