Final day shooting on Dark Son

Originally posted on robinjarossi.com 2 9 18 Last Tuesday saw the conclusion of evidence being presented and filmed for Dark Son, the forthcoming BBC documentary about 1960s serial killer Jack the Stripper. It a was a big day’s filming: for me 12 hours long, but for the Monster Films’ team much longer. I was interviewed in the morning and was later on hand for a long session of afternoon-evening filming. Fascinating research from contributors, former police officers and others was […]

Murder in Soho: Who Killed Freddie Mills?

Originally posted on robinjarossi.com 31 7 18 ‘To this day, the case has puzzled me.’ These are the words of Professor Brian J Ford during BBC4’s Murder in Soho: Who Killed Freddie Mills? And the death of Britain’s former boxing hero has certainly attracted rumour, legend and some wacky theories since his apparent suicide in 1965. I was pleased that this documentary took a fairly sober approach to the case. It is far better than the recent irritating and overlong Ruth […]

Murder by the Sea: Paul Longworth

Originally posted on robinjarossi.com 17 6 18 Paul Longworth thought he had committed the perfect crime. He strangled his wife, Tina, with a rope and left her dangling from the banisters. He then left the scene of the crime, their home. He went to Southport Sailing Club, where he was the commodore, to celebrate his 37th birthday party. Back at home, he left his two young children asleep in their beds, while their dead mother was downstairs. No one at […]

Murder by the Sea

First posted on robinjarossi.com 2 4 18 I spent Good Friday working on a documentary being made for CBS Reality called Murder by the Sea. The setting was a chilly boatyard in Cardiff. The premise of this 12-part series is fascinating. It is about how the seaside has been the setting for a spectrum of homicides down the years. Coastal towns can be quiet and idyllic, faded and in decline, or well-off and socially conservative. But they are often shaken […]

Documentary puts Harold Jones on trial for Jack the Stripper crimes

First posted  1 10 17 on robinjarossi.com Despite the huge difficulties in unmasking the man who got away with the murder of at least six women in 1960s London so long after the event, efforts are still ongoing in 2017 to unravel this chilling mystery. Since the publication of The Hunt for the 60s’ Ripper in July, I’ve been in touch with author Neil Milkins. In his 2011 book Who Was Jack the Stripper? he makes an interesting case for Harold […]

Murder by the Sea on CBS Reality

Originally posted on robinjarossi.com  1 5 18 Oh, we do love to be beside the seaside. Beaches, piers and perhaps a summer romance… But Britain’s resorts do have a dark side, and this is explored in a series starting this month. Murder by the Sea is a six-part documentary on CBS Reality. I got a bit of an insight into the series and the cases featured when I was invited to be interviewed on it. Crimewriter Geoffrey Wansell Presented by crime […]

Filming day with BBC documentary team

Originally posted on robinjarossi.com 12 2 18 Saturday was a fascinating glimpse into the world of documentary making – and the progress of the BBC team’s investigation into the 1960s Nude Murders. I spent three chilly hours on the Thames between Chiswick and Hammersmith, talking to forensic psychologist Dr Mike Berry. Victims Hannah Tailford and Irene Lockwood were found on this stretch of water in 1964. We were then filmed under Hammersmith Bridge before setting off to Masonians Bowls Club […]

BBC documentary talks to geo-profiler Kim Rossmo about Nude Murders

Originally posted on robinjarossi.com 6 11 17 The BBC producers of the new documentary about the 1960s Nude Killer have asked me to put them in touch with an investigative expert I know. Dr Kim Rossmo is a former detective inspector with Vancouver police. It was his most recent work as a geographic profiler that fascinated me. He provided me valuable analysis for The Hunt for the 60s’ Ripper. The personal geography of criminals can be what condemns them. We […]

Voice of a Killer Special: The Colonel

I was lucky to holiday in Burgundy this summer. Every afternoon I ignored the heatwave and pool outside, however. I was watching killers being interviewed on my laptop. This was homework for the new series of Voice of a Killer Special, on which I am a contributor. This CBS Reality programme takes an intriguing look at how the police interview murderers. Using real-life interviews, lip-synched by actors, the episodes bring to life the psychologically twisting encounters between detectives and suspects. […]

Written in Blood: Karin Slaughter

I became a fan of author Karin Slaughter when I was a judge for the Crime Writers’ Association Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award a couple of years ago. This is for the year’s best thriller and her entry in 2015 was Cop Town. The story is set in Atlanta in 1974, a time when the police force is segregated on racial and gender lines. I was one of the judges who loved the book and was delighted when it was […]