True crime

Many years ago, we paid a visit to Jim Swire and his wife in their lovely, rambling house, which was full of comfortable clutter; there were family photos on the walls and a smell of baking in the kitchen. Our daughters played with their two dogs in the sun-drenched garden, among fruit trees and flowering shrubs. Jim Swire was a practising GP then; he was also, and very famously, a campaigner.  Read more

I've done Durst, I've done the Menendez bros, I've done BTK and the Golden State killer. I've covered Bundy (duh), Cunanan, the Dating Game Killer, and even the lesser-known John Edward Robinson, who killed at least three people, but as an Eagle Scout in 1957, sang for Queen Elizabeth. As the Senior Writer for ABC's iconic 20/20 for over a decade, I've become an expert on murder.  Read more

True crime is having a moment. But then, one could say true crime has been having a moment for more than three centuries, since the New England-based minister Cotton Mather published his execution sermons for eager Puritan audiences, then, with an altogether different pamphlet, laid the groundwork for the Salem Witch Trials in 1692.

A crime biography with a page marked outlining a jewellery raid "exactly like Hatton Garden" was found at the home of a man accused of taking part in the £14m heist, a court has heard.