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Britain's Most Evil Killers S08E03 (Sep 28 2023)
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00:02Jordan Monaghan charmed Laura Gray when the couple was still in primary school in Blackburn,
00:08Lancashire. She trusted him. She loved him. She had no reason to doubt him.
00:14When Monaghan murdered their two children in 2013, Laura didn't suspect a thing.
00:21It's a level of evil that defies description. These are his children, and now they are both
00:27dead. Those murders were all about power control and insecurity. His crimes went undetected,
00:35and six years later, it was new girlfriend Evie Adams who paid the price for Monaghan's jealousy.
00:42It's one of them people who prears on vulnerable people. A serial killer who murdered the very
00:49people he was meant to protect. Jordan Monaghan was finally unveiled as one of Britain's most
00:56evil killers.
01:18In 2013, young dad Jordan Monaghan lost both his children in the space of a year.
01:24The 22-year-old turned to the press to beg for answers about why his family had suffered
01:31such bad luck.
01:33Jordan took part in a number of local and national newspaper articles wanting to understand why
01:39they died. He felt that he could snuff out a life because he wanted attention.
01:47He looked like the poor, bereaved, devastated father. He must have felt invincible at that
01:58point.
01:59So invincible that he went on to murder again, killing his girlfriend Evie Adams.
02:07The next time triple-murderer Jordan Monaghan's name was in the papers, it was when he finally
02:14faced justice for his callous crimes.
02:19This killer's story begins on the 16th of July, 1991, in the northwest of England.
02:26Jordan Monaghan was born in Blackburn, which is East Lancashire.
02:30He lived with his mother, his stepfather, his brother and his sister. He never knew his
02:36biological father. He was, to put it politely, a bad boy from the very beginning. He was
02:41popular, but uncontrollable, unruly, played truant a great deal. And this is at the age
02:47seven, eight, nine.
02:50Detective Pauline Stables would later become very well acquainted with Jordan Monaghan's
02:55criminal history.
02:57In his early years, Jordan came to the attention of the police due to minor levels of criminality,
03:03criminal damage, that sort of thing.
03:05By the time he was 11, he'd started experimenting with cocaine and with...
03:13Mini-adult from almost the beginning.
03:18This was the wayward boy who, around 2003, befriended a local girl called Laura Gray.
03:26So, Laura Gray, she was also born and...
03:29Left to fend for herself.
03:30She met Jordan a year or so.
03:33Fulfilling a need in each fall.
03:35When Laura was 13, she got the first taste of Monaghan's manipulative tactics.
03:41When tired of his erratic behaviour, she tried to end their relationship.
03:46Full of regret, brings her gifts, says, oh, please take me back.
03:52There were other troubling signs in the teenage Monaghan's behaviour.
03:58He terrorises his vision.
04:01He pretends to feed the rabbits and doesn't until one starves to death.
04:06When Monaghan was...
04:07...able to ingratiate himself with people.
04:10Very positive, very bubbly.
04:13No wedding ever took place, but a year later, in 2009, the couple set up home together in Blackburn.
04:22We got the relationship starting at 11, we got a proposal at 16, we got them moving into a house
04:28at 17, 18 years old.
04:31And in that way, both of them have skipped childhood.
04:36They've gone straight into being mini-adults.
04:40It was never going to end well.
04:44Very early on, there were signs that Monaghan was trying to isolate his fiancée.
04:50She wants to see her family, she wants to go out with a friend, he doesn't want her to go.
04:55He's got to stay with me, I've planned something special.
04:58Jordan also monitored all Laura's social media accounts, making sure she didn't have any other boyfriends.
05:05Jordan had full control of the finances, so they had one bank account, all of the money would go into
05:11that bank account,
05:12and Jordan would be in charge of paying the rent and all of the bills.
05:17If Laura wanted to spend some money, Jordan demanded that she give him a day's notice so that he could
05:24get the money out.
05:25She accepted that as part of the relationship, I mean, she loved him, she trusted him.
05:29Around Christmas 2010, Laura got some puzzling news.
05:34She got a letter from the landlord that the rent hadn't been paid and bills weren't paid.
05:40Laura couldn't understand why Monaghan hadn't been keeping up with payments.
05:45He had a good job. He was a site manager for a construction company, well paid,
05:50probably around about £50,000 a year at that time, so, you know, he was earning good money.
05:56He's got a steady job, but he's also addicted to slot machines and online gambling.
06:01He spent a lot of time trying to hide it from Laura,
06:06trying to deny that there was any issues or any problems.
06:10They continued to argue about Monaghan's gambling problem,
06:15but in spring 2011, Laura pushed her misgivings aside when she discovered she was pregnant.
06:22Becoming a mother was all Laura had ever wanted.
06:25Logan was born in November 2011.
06:28Natural birth, healthy young boy, and they obviously were, on the face of it,
06:34as far as Laura was concerned, a happy family.
06:36Laura wanted to enjoy her time with the baby, but Monaghan had other ideas.
06:43Within two weeks of Logan's birth, Jordan is pestering Laura Gray to become pregnant again.
06:51By the time Logan is just five months old, Laura is pregnant again.
06:58Later, Laura told police that Jordan Monaghan may have engineered this happy accident.
07:05Jordan made a joke about putting a needle through a condom
07:10because he wanted me to get pregnant, and I kept saying, no, no.
07:14On the 22nd of September 2012, Laura received another complaint from the landlord,
07:21saying that she and Monaghan were behind with their rent.
07:25Heavily pregnant and caring for 10-month-old Logan,
07:29the news was the final straw for Laura.
07:32They were obviously having problems with Jordan not paying the bills,
07:35and at that time, she decided that enough was enough,
07:38and she wanted to end the relationship.
07:41The following day, Laura's gone out shopping when Jordan Monaghan calls her
07:47and says that Logan has swallowed lots of paracetamol.
07:51That he was drowsy, that he was floppy, that he wasn't responding.
07:55Logan is rushed to hospital, Laura is worried sick,
07:59but it turns out, in fact, that Logan hasn't taken any paracetamol,
08:04and, in fact, he's perfectly all right.
08:05But as a result of that and the shock of that situation,
08:08Jordan spoke to Laura about not wanting to break the family up.
08:13They agreed to stay together at that point.
08:15Though Laura didn't know it, this was the beginning of a sinister pattern.
08:21Baby, Logan, starts getting hurt.
08:26It's always around the time that Laura is saying she's going to leave.
08:31She is worried and vulnerable and she will turn to the father
08:38and they can come together and worry about the baby together,
08:43and this gives him an in to claw back all of that control.
08:49Could the unimaginable actually be true?
08:52Was Jordan Monaghan mistreating his own son
08:55in a plot to keep his relationship alive?
08:58Laura once again tried to break off their toxic partnership,
09:02this time with even more devastating consequences.
09:13In December 2012, days before their second baby was due,
09:18Jordan Monaghan, his pregnant partner, Laura Gray,
09:22and their 13-month-old son, Logan,
09:24moved into a new, larger home in Blackburn, Lancashire.
09:28On the 8th of December 2012, Ruby Julie Monaghan,
09:33the couple's second child, is born.
09:36Again, natural birth, no issues at all,
09:40lovely, healthy, healthy young baby.
09:43But Laura's happiness was short-lived.
09:4721 days, three weeks, after Ruby's birth.
09:52Monaghan calls Laura downstairs,
09:54she's been upstairs with Logan,
09:57saying that something wrong with Ruby, her lips are blue.
10:01What's happened?
10:03It's my daughter.
10:04She's struggling to breathe really badly.
10:07She's going blue in the face.
10:08Just play the line with me.
10:09I'll give you some instructions what to do next.
10:11Paramedics arrived.
10:13The oxygen level in Ruby's blood was low.
10:16They took Ruby into hospital.
10:19Variety of different tests.
10:21Ruby had been displaying viral-type symptoms,
10:25wheezing, blocked nose, et cetera.
10:28She's kept in for observation,
10:29and she's eventually discharged on the 31st of December,
10:33New Year's Eve.
10:34Jordan and Laura have a quiet night in.
10:38Laura, about midnight, goes to bed,
10:40and Jordan says that he'll stay up
10:42and he'll do the next feed.
10:46About 2am in the morning, Jordan wakes Laura.
10:49He's shouting up the stairs to Laura
10:51to say that Ruby is, again, she's not responding.
10:56Lips have gone blue.
10:57She's not breathing at all.
10:58OK, did you see what happened?
11:00She's not breathing.
11:01She's not breathing.
11:02I'm organising help for you now.
11:05They rush Ruby back to hospital, into A&E,
11:10but this time, she doesn't survive.
11:12She's just 24 days old.
11:17Laura Gray would later recall
11:19Monaghan's unusual response to Ruby's death.
11:23As soon as I looked at Ruby,
11:25I knew that there was something wrong with it,
11:27and I just wanted to get her out and cuddle her.
11:30But why won't he do that?
11:32That was his daughter.
11:35And he was so calm.
11:38He just stood over her.
11:42Postmortem revealed that Ruby,
11:44the cause of death,
11:46was acute bronchial pneumonia.
11:49Sadly, children do die in these circumstances.
11:52There were no suspicions whatsoever.
11:55Only later did Laura recall another strange detail
11:59about the day Ruby had died.
12:01Laura had travelled in the ambulance with her newborn
12:04while Monaghan stayed at home with Logan.
12:07When he finally arrived,
12:09Laura broke the tragic news to him.
12:11Laura told him that Ruby had passed away.
12:15He said, I know.
12:16And Laura thought that was really strange in relation to,
12:19well, how could you know?
12:21Medics who'd come to Ruby's aid at the family home
12:24had also noted something troubling.
12:27Monaghan said he'd raised the alarm
12:29the moment Ruby had become unwell.
12:32The paramedics noted that rigor mortis
12:36had started to set in at that point
12:38with the suggestion that Ruby had been deceased
12:43for a lot longer than potentially that Jordan was indicated.
12:49For a few months,
12:50the couple were brought closer by their shared bereavement.
12:54But by that summer,
12:55Laura once again had grave concerns about Monaghan's behaviour.
13:00On the 26th of July, 2013,
13:03again, Laura got to the point where
13:07she decided that she couldn't continue
13:10with Jordan constantly lying to her.
13:12Laura Gray tells Monaghan,
13:15look, I've absolutely had enough of this.
13:17I've had enough of your gambling.
13:19So she told Jordan that the relationship was over.
13:23Monaghan appeared to accept the breakup,
13:25but the following day,
13:27he asked to spend a few final hours with his son
13:30before moving out.
13:31So Laura went out shopping.
13:35History was about to repeat itself.
13:38Monaghan calls her up on her mobile phone and says,
13:40Logan's gone all floppy.
13:43And she rushes back.
13:45Laura called the ambulance.
13:46The ambulance came.
13:48And they took him to hospital
13:49and checked him out.
13:51Absolutely no issues with him whatsoever.
13:54Laura was completely distracted and distressed.
13:56And I think Jordan's obviously convinced her
14:01to stay in the relationship.
14:03And the fallout around the money
14:05got forgotten about
14:06because they were just relieved that Logan was okay.
14:10Just three weeks later,
14:12Laura caught Monaghan out in another lie about money.
14:15He claimed he hadn't been paid,
14:17but she witnessed him using an ATM
14:19to withdraw money from a second bank account
14:22she knew nothing about.
14:24That was the final straw for Laura.
14:27He'd lied to her time and time again.
14:30She couldn't trust him around the finances.
14:33So at that point, she said,
14:35that's it, enough is enough.
14:37So again, Jordan said,
14:39okay, well, let me spend the day with Logan
14:42and then I'll go.
14:44I'll pack me things and I'll leave.
14:46That afternoon,
14:48Jordan Monaghan takes Logan out
14:49in his pushchair
14:51to a public swimming bath in Blackburn
14:53and he goes into a cubicle
14:56to, quotes, change.
15:00He's in the cubicle for half an hour,
15:03but he doesn't change.
15:05And Jordan leaves without swimming.
15:08So when he leaves at that point,
15:11the rain cover is over the pram,
15:14the blanket is pulled up over Logan
15:16and there's no movement of Logan in the pram.
15:20Monaghan takes the little boy home
15:22and leaving him in his pushchair,
15:24he pushes him into the dining room
15:26with his face to the wall.
15:28Monaghan told Laura to let the toddler sleep a while.
15:32A couple of hours later,
15:33he left to pick up a pizza for dinner,
15:35asking Laura to wake Logan while he was out.
15:39So Laura goes to the pram,
15:43pulls away the rain cover and the blanket
15:45and it's quite clear that Logan has died.
16:01Logan Monaghan passed away on the 17th of August 2013,
16:06less than nine months after his sister Ruby.
16:10He was just 21 months old.
16:14Laura was devastated.
16:16The police once again were informed of the sudden death.
16:20Logan was subject to a post-mortem
16:23and there was no natural cause that could be identified
16:29and ultimately the cause of death was unascertained.
16:38Broken by the unthinkable tragedy that had befallen them,
16:42Laura Gray at first clung even closer
16:45to her fiancé, Jordan Monaghan.
16:48But in September 2016,
16:51three years after the tragic death of Logan,
16:54Laura ended the relationship for good.
16:56And this time, no amount of threats, cajoling
17:00or manipulation by Monaghan could win her back.
17:03Less than a year later,
17:06Monaghan entered the life of 21-year-old Evie Adams.
17:11She was working in a pub in Blackburn
17:16and they met and then started a relationship.
17:20And as I understand it,
17:22very charming toward Evie,
17:25showered her with gifts, presents, attention.
17:29Evie was a shy, slightly naive, impressionable girl.
17:34Evie's start in life had been tough.
17:37Then she was fostered by Bernard Adams and his wife, Yvonne.
17:42Evie came to us with her brother.
17:46He was three and she was six, nearly seven.
17:50She didn't have best upbringing, really.
17:52Just really, really thin.
17:55And scraggly hair and they'd never really have hot nails.
18:02Evie and her brother arrived as young children
18:05for a temporary foster placement.
18:07But from that day forward, they never really left.
18:10In 2008, when Evie was 12 years old,
18:14Bernard and Yvonne became the siblings' legal guardian.
18:18The couple enjoyed watching Evie flourish
18:21into a happy teenager with a unique personality.
18:24Just Dippy, you know, and I mean Dippy.
18:29Always happy singing, you know.
18:33All the dances, all the silly dances to the songs and everything.
18:37It just, she's really funny.
18:39Age 17, Evie found a kindred spirit
18:42in her best friend, Holly.
18:45The first time I met Evie, we was at Blackburn College.
18:47We were both studying level one hairdressing together.
18:50And then we were just inseparable after that.
18:52She was bubbly, happy.
18:55She was never down and sad.
18:58She was just a really happy girl.
19:01But in 2017, after meeting Jordan Monaghan,
19:05Evie's relationships with her friends and family began to change.
19:10And the positive cause her life had taken
19:12was tragically derailed.
19:23When 26-year-old Jordan Monaghan met Evie Adams in 2017,
19:29he was, as far as the world was concerned,
19:32a grieving father who'd lost two infant children
19:36in tragic circumstances.
19:3821-year-old Evie quickly fell for the plausible,
19:42charming young man.
19:44Evie rang me up and said,
19:46I've met someone and he's really nice.
19:48And she was really excited about it.
19:51But something wasn't right.
19:53Evie fell, hook, line and sinker
19:56for this manipulative, controlling man.
20:00Evie thought that Jordan would do anything for her.
20:04He'd bend over backwards.
20:07And he were enjoying that, that she needed him.
20:11Love bombing her, taking her out on nice dates,
20:14paying for her friends to go out with her,
20:16paying for friends and acts away with her.
20:19I would say that Jordan used his money
20:22as a way to control Evie.
20:23He was the sort of dominant partner in the relationship.
20:28Their relationship started really quickly.
20:31And that would be his M.O.
20:33Let's get the control as quickly as possible
20:35because all this love bombing stuff
20:37where I've got to convince you that I'm Prince Charming,
20:39I can't keep that up for very long.
20:41And that's what happens in abusive relationships.
20:43That's how practically all of them start.
20:46Evie's loved ones witnessed first-hand
20:49Monaghan's volatile behaviour.
20:52I went out with him a few times.
20:54He'd cause arguments and storm off
20:56and then she'd go after him.
20:59I've seen Evie have a couple of blockaders.
21:01I did ask her about her injuries,
21:03but I just got the same.
21:05I walked into a lamppost
21:07or I've hit it on a door
21:09or I've fell downstairs.
21:12Unusually for Evie,
21:13she told Bernard very little about her new boyfriend,
21:17but her adoptive parents heard enough
21:19on the local grapevine to worry them.
21:21I tried to find out a lot about him first,
21:24but nobody would say,
21:25hey, he's a bad one.
21:26And then I heard he got a good eye in town.
21:29Somebody had glassed him.
21:31A few months into the relationship,
21:33it finally became obvious to Bernard
21:35exactly why Evie's boyfriend
21:38had attracted so much hatred in the local area.
21:41On the 13th of April, 2018,
21:45Monaghan was arrested on suspicion
21:46of murdering his children,
21:48Logan and Ruby, five years earlier.
21:51Do you understand?
21:52You're under arrest.
21:53It's all kinds of things.
21:55It's all kinds of things.
21:56Three kinds of things.
21:58Three months earlier,
22:00the police had launched a formal investigation
22:02into Ruby and Logan's deaths.
22:06That involved a full review
22:08of all of the witness testimony,
22:12CCTV, forensics.
22:15And as a result of that,
22:16her review of the cause of death for Ruby
22:20was changed from acute bronchial pneumonia
22:24to unascertained.
22:25This meant that both Ruby and Logan's deaths
22:29were now considered to be unexplained
22:31and therefore potentially suspicious.
22:34By April, 2018,
22:36the police had still not been able
22:38to conclusively rule out a genetic disorder
22:41that would explain Ruby and Logan's deaths.
22:45Despite this,
22:46they recognized a clear pattern
22:48that pointed firmly at the children's father,
22:51Jordan Monaghan.
22:52The main area of suspicion
22:54was around the fact
22:56that he was the only person present
22:58on each occasion of collapse.
23:02And on the vast majority of occasions,
23:04it was preceded by Laura telling Jordan
23:10that the relationship was over.
23:12By now,
23:12even Ruby and Logan's mother, Laura,
23:15suspected that Monaghan
23:17could have harmed his own children.
23:19You're obviously quite angry.
23:21I can see that.
23:22I think I've just realized
23:24that it's a big possibility
23:26that he's done something to her.
23:30What evidence are you doing this?
23:32He's going to be explaining to you.
23:33He is going to be explaining.
23:35OK.
23:35He was arrested in April of 2018
23:38in relation to the death of his children
23:41and he spoke freely throughout each interview,
23:45gave really comprehensive explanation,
23:49gave plausible, on the face of it,
23:52explanations in relation to the deaths of the children
23:55and the preceding collapses.
23:58Do you understand where we're coming from with this, though?
24:02There's two occasions with Ruby
24:06that she's a fit and healthy child.
24:08She's fit and healthy in hospital.
24:10She's returned home.
24:12Again, she develops another medical episode.
24:17Not a medical episode, is it?
24:18She died of pneumonia.
24:20Well, that's right.
24:24In interrogation, he's very relaxed,
24:27very cocky, very arrogant.
24:30Seemed quite confident in his account,
24:34when actually, when we started to scrutinize his account,
24:38didn't hold water, didn't stand up.
24:40But are you responsible, you know,
24:42for the 10th murder of Lauren, on 27th July 2013,
24:47the murder of him on the 17th of the hour, 2013?
24:50No.
24:51Is there anything to explain the reasons
24:53why he suffered from what he did?
24:55No, I'm not a doctor or anything, so I'm going to say.
24:58Though their suspicions were strong,
25:01detectives did not, at that time,
25:03have enough to charge Jordan Monaghan
25:05with the murders of his children.
25:07Because there is no firm evidence,
25:10the police have no alternative
25:11but to release him, pending further investigation.
25:15These really were cold cases.
25:18No suspicions were really raised at the time.
25:21There was no crime scene.
25:24They need Monaghan to trip himself up,
25:26and they need to have those cause of death.
25:31Evie Adams refused to believe
25:33her boyfriend was capable of murder.
25:36Evie did talk to me about Jordan and his past.
25:40I went round, she was like, social service had been round,
25:43and then Evie went on to tell me that
25:45Jordan's been accused of killing two of his kids.
25:48Evie Adams is warned that it's being investigated
25:54and advised to take out a non-molestation order
25:57so that he can't see her.
25:59However, it seemed apparent that she really had no intention
26:04of ending her relationship with Jordan.
26:07More than once, Evie was persuaded to move into a women's refuge
26:12to get away from Monaghan,
26:14and more than once, he tracked her down
26:16and persuaded her to take him back.
26:20After that, I was just there for her.
26:22Like, there wasn't much else I could do,
26:24because whatever I was saying about Jordan,
26:26she didn't want to listen.
26:28For over a year, Evie and Monaghan
26:31maintained a volatile on-off relationship.
26:34But by October 2019,
26:37the young woman was tiring
26:38of his controlling, narcissistic behavior.
26:42She texted saying,
26:43I'm leaving Jordan for good.
26:45I'm going back to my mum and dad's tomorrow.
26:47But Evie never made it back to her mum and dads.
26:51A couple of days later,
26:52as he's done so many times before,
26:54he worms his way back into her life.
26:56A few days after this,
26:58Evie called her adopted parents,
27:00Bernard and Yvonne,
27:01because she was feeling increasingly unwell.
27:06When she was ringing up,
27:07she had in her head, she had stomach flu.
27:09Jordan took control of the situation.
27:13He says, don't worry,
27:15I'll get you the proper medication
27:16to look after you.
27:20Hello, you're through to the NHS 111 service.
27:22He's been on well for the last few days.
27:25And they said it could be possibly stomach flu.
27:27She's not getting any better.
27:29Some witnesses will describe seeing a brown bottle,
27:34a brown medicine tablet-type bottle
27:37with no label on it,
27:38that he was seen giving Evie tablets.
27:41Also made appointments
27:42and then didn't tell Evie about the appointment
27:44and didn't take her.
27:46Over the next few days,
27:4823-year-old Evie,
27:49by now staying with one of Monaghan's relatives,
27:52became more and more sick.
27:54But she refused any offers of help from her family.
27:59She'd been ringing our house,
28:01been ringing wife for three days since she was ill.
28:04And wife said, look, I'll come down to it.
28:06Oh, no, I've got an appointment.
28:07Doctor's coming to see me.
28:09Said, look, if you're not just ringing ambulance mum
28:12at your hospital, oh, no, no, no.
28:14And then she'd be falling asleep when she got the phone.
28:16And she gets progressively worse.
28:19The pain's terrible.
28:20On the 24th of October, she's barely able to walk.
28:24Jordan planned to go out for the day to Wigan.
28:29And during that time,
28:31Evie deteriorated significantly
28:33to the extent that his family,
28:35they were phoning Jordan to say
28:37that she's really, really poorly.
28:39And he tried to put his family off ringing the ambulance
28:43until he arrived at the address.
28:47He arrived at the address, the ambulance were called,
28:50and sadly, Evie was pronounced deceased.
28:56When the police attended reports of a sudden death,
29:00they were struck by Monaghan's demeanour.
29:03I can't see any empty wrappers or packets of medication.
29:07I gave the paramedics,
29:09and it was on the floor, I called them, and they've already took them.
29:12As he has been at the death of his two children,
29:17Jordan Monaghan is icy calm.
29:23Doesn't seem all that disturbed.
29:26Doesn't seem traumatised.
29:29He also indicated that on the days leading up to her death
29:33that she had intimated that she wanted to commit suicide
29:40and showed text messages from Evie's phone
29:46that suggested that she didn't want to be here anymore.
29:51This was the version of events Bernard and Yvonne heard
29:55from the police that night.
29:57It was about ten past ten on the night she died.
30:00Some bad news for you.
30:01Your daughter's dead.
30:02She's taken over to us.
30:04We had to go over and identify her in prison.
30:06It was very nice.
30:09And then the morning after, Bernard texted me saying,
30:13Evie's dead.
30:14And I'm like, no, she's not.
30:15She's going to ring me today.
30:16She's coming up.
30:16He's like, no, Holly, she's dead.
30:18None of the people close to Evie Adams believe she would take her own life.
30:24She had good parents.
30:25She had good friends.
30:26She had no reason to commit suicide.
30:29I honestly thought that he'd done something to her.
30:31I said to her wife soon.
30:33I said, but he's done something to her.
30:34It wasn't just Bernard who was having suspicions about Jordan Monaghan.
30:39Lancashire police already suspected he was involved in the death of his two children.
30:45And now began to question Monaghan's version of events in the lead-up to the death of Evie Adams.
30:52Investigators were certain Monaghan was responsible.
30:56Now they had to prove it.
31:06In October 2019, following the death of Evie Adams, her on-off boyfriend, Jordan Monaghan,
31:13was arrested on suspicion of giving her the prescription drugs they believed had killed her.
31:19Despite the dreadful tragedy, it provided an opportunity for the team of police officers
31:25investigating the deaths of Monaghan's children.
31:28The police link the deaths together.
31:32Rumi, Logan and Evie Adams.
31:35The one common factor is, of course, Jordan Monaghan.
31:40And so the same inquiry team took on both investigations.
31:45Jordan's behaviour during the interview with Evie was, as it has always been,
31:49very unemotional, matter-of-fact, cocky, confident.
31:56I think he was convinced that there was nothing going to come of the investigation,
32:02and he was confident that he was going to get away with it.
32:05Monaghan was released on bail once again.
32:08While the police began what they knew would be the difficult task
32:12of proving what they believed Monaghan had done,
32:15he was playing the grieving partner.
32:18Posting it all over social media, so he looked like the victim in it all.
32:22When it comes to the funeral, he wanted to run everything.
32:25Monaghan was told in no uncertain terms
32:28that he would not be attending Evie's funeral.
32:31That didn't stop him engineering a bizarre discovery at her home.
32:36He instigated he and Evie's friend
32:41going through some of Evie's belongings.
32:44He'd got her around to decide which floor to put in coffin.
32:49There's a picture frame that they'd bought,
32:52and there was a picture within the frame.
32:55And he opened the back of the picture frame up
32:57and showed the friend was a note in the back of the picture frame.
33:01And it was a type note, gave the appearance
33:05that it was a suicide note that Evie had written.
33:08And there was a signature on the bottom signed by Evie.
33:13It looked like Evie had indeed taken her own life,
33:17as Monaghan claimed.
33:19Detectives suspected, however, that it could be proof
33:22that something even more sinister had taken place.
33:26They called in forensic linguistic consultant Dr. Isabel Picornal.
33:31I was contacted by the Lancashire police in March 2020
33:36to conduct an authorship analysis on a note of disputed origin.
33:43So I was asked if I could determine
33:46whether or not Evie Adams was the author of this note.
33:52Our suspicions were immediately aroused
33:55by the fact that it was a typewritten note.
33:57It was in the back of a picture frame.
33:59The signature looked like it had been photocopied.
34:02It was provided with samples of Evie Adams' linguistic style
34:07from formal letters she had written to the police
34:10to pages from her diary,
34:13as well as other writings that the police had discovered.
34:18And what I did find is that Evie Adams' style
34:21was stable across her writings.
34:24She always did certain things and never did other things.
34:28I then did the same linguistic profiling of the suicide note.
34:32And what I did find was that it didn't agree
34:36with the patterns in Evie Adams' material.
34:41If Evie did not appear to have written a note,
34:44the next task was to find out if their suspect had.
34:48I then turned to Jordan Monaghan's material
34:51and I did the same process.
34:54I was provided with two or three letters written by him
35:00and several excerpts from his Facebook postings.
35:08The results of Dr. Piconel's analysis were damning.
35:12In my opinion, the style of the note
35:14was closer to Jordan Monaghan's style than to Evie Adams'.
35:19On further examination of the note for fingerprints,
35:23there was no evidence of Evie's fingerprints on the note,
35:27but Jordan's fingerprints were recovered.
35:30Gathering expert evidence that Monaghan had faked Evie's suicide note
35:35was another step towards proving he deliberately killed her.
35:38The next breakthrough came when they accessed his devices.
35:42When the police examine Jordan Monaghan's phone,
35:45they discover that he's been on WhatsApp group
35:48searching for prescription medication.
35:51We've identified conversations between Jordan
35:55and other members of that group at that time
35:57where he is trying to source the exact medication
36:02that were found in Evie's system.
36:05The cause of death was ultimately a fatal toxic overdose
36:08of prescription medication,
36:11which included amidazepam, tramadol, amitriptyline, and zopiclone.
36:16And all of those drugs were drugs
36:21that Jordan Monaghan, on the days preceding her death,
36:25he was actively trying to source.
36:28By tracking where Evie's phone had been
36:31and where she had been in the days leading up to her death,
36:35police were also able to prove it was Monaghan, not Evie,
36:39who'd sent messages from her phone claiming to be suicidal.
36:43Next, they turned their attention
36:46to proving Monaghan had killed his children, too.
36:51One of the problems confronting the police investigation
36:55is that they had to discover that Ruby and Logan
37:00had not died from any kind of genetic problem
37:03that might have caused their sudden infant deaths.
37:07Investigators needed a DNA sample for Logan Monaghan,
37:11and after painstaking efforts,
37:14were able to track down a blood sample
37:16that had been taken at birth.
37:19We were able to extract a DNA profile from that
37:23and do the relevant testing,
37:25which essentially eliminated any potential genetic disorder.
37:29We were able to feel confident
37:32that there was no natural cause for the deaths of the children.
37:36By January 2021,
37:39the police and the Crown Prosecution Service
37:41believed they had the body of evidence they needed.
37:47Jordan Monaghan is charged with the deaths
37:49of his daughter Ruby, aged 24 days,
37:53his son Logan, aged 21 months,
37:56and his girlfriend Evie Adams, aged 23.
38:00He was also further charged
38:02with two further attempted murders
38:04and two child cruelties,
38:06and he was remanded in custody pending trial.
38:10It was a welcome moment for Evie's loved ones.
38:14He must have thought it took that long.
38:16He must have thought he'd got away with it.
38:18In October 2021,
38:21Jordan Monaghan goes on trial at Preston Crown Court
38:23for the murders of Logan Ruby and Evie Adams.
38:27It was the first time Bernard Adams
38:30had laid eyes on the man
38:32accused of killing his daughter, Evie.
38:35The trial, we went every single day.
38:38I knew we were, I'd seen it,
38:40but I'd never met him or anything.
38:44Pauline Stables and her team
38:46were confident the case they had built
38:49was strong enough to convict.
38:51The main evidence supporting Jordan Monaghan
38:54him being responsible for the murders
38:56of his two children and Evie
38:59was the fact that he was the sole person
39:02in control of the situation
39:06during each collapse
39:08and also at the time of each individual's death.
39:11The prosecution put forward their theories
39:14about how the two children had died.
39:17Medical experts on reviewing all of the information
39:20came to the conclusion
39:21that the only explanation
39:24is likely to have been an obstructed airway.
39:28On the witness stand,
39:3030-year-old Jordan Monaghan
39:32became his own worst enemy.
39:34Monaghan gave evidence throughout the trial
39:38and again was cocky, arrogant,
39:42essentially just accused all of the witnesses as lying,
39:46showed no remorse, showed no emotion.
39:50He was just a horrible, horrible animal.
39:53You can't know her wrong
39:54and you can't prove him wrongly.
39:56Most importantly, when he was giving evidence
39:59talking about reliving the last moments
40:01of his children's lives,
40:02no emotion whatsoever.
40:04You know, when you compare that
40:06to how hard it was for Laura
40:09to talk about those times
40:11and talk about the deaths of her children,
40:14he showed absolutely no emotion whatsoever.
40:19After a 10-week trial,
40:21the jury retired to consider their verdict.
40:25They deliberated for six days.
40:29Very nervous about the outcome.
40:31We obviously felt that we had put
40:35the absolute best possible case forward
40:37that we could,
40:38that the evidence was strong,
40:40but ultimately it's a decision for the jury.
40:44On the 17th of December 2021,
40:47Jordan Monaghan is actually found guilty
40:49of all three killings.
40:52It was overwhelming.
40:55I think everybody was relieved.
40:56Justice for the children and for Evie
40:58was ultimately our main aim and our goal
41:01and justice for Laura
41:03and for Evie's family.
41:06And it was, it was a relief.
41:10Monaghan is given three life sentences
41:13with a minimum term of 40 years.
41:17The Home Secretary appealed to the Court of Appeal
41:22in relation to the sentence
41:25in the fact that it was felt
41:27that it was unduly lenient.
41:29And indeed, the Court of Appeal
41:31then decide that it was unduly lenient
41:35and Monaghan is given three life sentences,
41:39but with a minimum term of 48 years.
41:45The verdict and the sentence brought some measure of justice
41:50for Evie Adams' grieving family and friends,
41:53as well as for the mother of Ruby and Logan Monaghan.
41:58After the verdicts and the sentencing,
42:01Laura Gray said,
42:04and it's impossible not to feel moved.
42:07No punishment would ever be enough.
42:11What he did was beyond human understanding.
42:22Laura Gray says poignantly
42:27that she hopes one day to have another family.
42:31I will always be a mum, she said,
42:34after Monaghan's conviction.
42:36It's all I ever wanted.
42:39And Jordan can't take that away from me.
42:43The outcome of the trial was a vindication
42:45for the police officers who'd left no stone unturned.
42:49A dangerous man who presented a risk
42:52to any woman or child who entered his life
42:54was finally behind bars.
42:57He's gone from murdering his children
43:00to murdering his partner to get what he wants.
43:03It's hard to imagine what else he could have gone on to do
43:06if he hadn't have been incarcerated.
43:12Monaghan was a heartless killer
43:14who showed no emotion throughout his series of horrendous murders.
43:19We'll never know why he chose to take the life of Evie Adams,
43:23nor the reason for the unforgivable murders of his own children.
43:28But thankfully,
43:29a meticulous and relentless police investigation
43:32finally exposed the callous crimes of Jordan Monaghan,
43:36one of Britain's most evil killers.
43:42We'll be right back to Earth now.ftm.
43:43back to Earth. We'll be right
43:43back to Earth now... Then, next time,
44:09Take Homeinä