8. The Poisoned Children
Assume Nothing10 Mar 2025

8. The Poisoned Children

Casually scanning through old newspaper archives, Ophelia Byrne comes across an odd headline: “Hush hush process in Ballyclare firm.”

The newspaper was printed in 1967. “Strictly no photographs” was the order issued at the opening of the new factory.

“90 guests steered clear of a top-secret process.” What, she wonders, is this factory making?

Then another line takes her down a rabbit hole from which she will not emerge for eight months.

All workers “will have to sign an oath of secrecy.”

Ophelia doesn’t know it when she starts out, but her subsequent investigation into this company, Turner and Newall, will take her from a small town in Northern Ireland across the Irish Sea to places like Rochdale, Leeds and London.

It will bring her to one million documents released for a transatlantic trial – papers which show cover-ups and even corporate espionage.

The product, of course, is asbestos. You may think you know the story – it’s a dangerous substance – it can cause cancer.

But Ophelia marries previous journalistic investigations to new documents which reveal what government agencies knew about its risks, and when.

She combs through company correspondence which the manufacturers claimed did not exist, and clearly never imagined would become public.

This is the story of Killer Dust, from mountains of the material in mines still operating in countries today, to the skyscrapers of Manhattan, and the terraced streets of the north of England.

It is the story too of the people who fought and died for the truth in order to expose the reckless pursuit of profit in the making of one of the most dangerous building materials on the planet.

Presenter/ Producer: Ophelia Byrne Studio Engineer: Gary Bawden Executive Editor: Andy Martin

Episoder(194)

Episode 13: Do the Right Thing

Episode 13: Do the Right Thing

Detective Sergeant James Brannigan has one last chance to convince his bosses to launch an investigation into Katie's death. Working on his own, he compiles a 20-page report of all the evidence so fa...

13 Des 202511min

Episode 12: The Detective Sergeant

Episode 12: The Detective Sergeant

Detective Sergeant James Brannigan is able to speak to this series for the first time. He reveals how a call from journalist Tanya Fowles leads him to review the evidence gathered so far by his poli...

6 Des 202513min

Episode 11: The Recap

Episode 11: The Recap

Jonathan Creswell very nearly gets away with murder. He tells police Katie Simpson had tried to take her own life. He's the hero who'd tried to save her. But he is lying. He's eventually charged w...

29 Nov 202512min

4. Mum

4. Mum

As Cameron Finnigan is sentenced at the Old Bailey his mum speaks out. She offers a rare, painful and deeply revealing insight into families caught in the fallout of 764.The BBC investigation explores...

22 Okt 202529min

3. Taken in 90 Seconds

3. Taken in 90 Seconds

In a chilling look at how screens become crime scenes, we uncover a murder that was plotted in Romania and live streamed to 764 members worldwide.The investigation explores the power of online manipul...

22 Okt 202523min

2. The Lion’s Den

2. The Lion’s Den

Uncovering what happens inside 764’s chatrooms and its devastating toll on victims and families who are caught in the web of a network so dangerous, global law enforcement can barely keep up.We meet a...

22 Okt 202525min

1. The Arrest

1. The Arrest

Teenager Cameron Finnigan from Horsham in Sussex is arrested in a dawn raid. Behind it all is a shadowy online network called 764, so dangerous it’s being hunted by the FBI and global law enforcement....

22 Okt 202525min

Introducing... Creation of a Teenage Satanist

Introducing... Creation of a Teenage Satanist

They are a terrorist organisation who believe ‘no lives matter.’ They search for and extort children and young people, with deadly results. This is the story of the far right Satanist group called 764...

22 Okt 20252min

Populært innen Samfunn

rss-spartsklubben
giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
konspirasjonspodden
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
popradet
rss-nesten-hele-uka-med-lepperod
rss-henlagt-andy-larsgaard
alt-fortalt
wolfgang-wee-uncut
grenselos
synnve-og-vanessa
rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
frokostshowet-pa-p5
rss-dannet-uten-piano
fladseth
den-politiske-situasjonen
rss-frekvens-med-anine-olsen
min-barneoppdragelse