FROM THE VAULT - Thabo Bester: Twisted Firestarter

Sold into slavery at just four years old, Iqbal Masih’s future was not bright. He was set to be one of the millions of children and adults across Asia trapped in bonded labour. But Iqbal was no ordinary child: he would escape slavery, campaign tirelessly to free fellow children, be recognised on the global stage – and then tragically be assassinated by the “Carpet Mafia” – all before his thirteenth birthday. Here is his unthinkable story.Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

14 Aug 54min

In 2016, ex-footballer Andy Woodward revealed on live TV that he and countless other boys were sexually abused by their former youth coach, Barry Bennell, whilst training in Manchester City and Crewe Alexandra’s acclaimed “football factories” as youngsters in the 1980s and 90s. In doing so, he blew the whistle on one of the UK’s most prolific child abusers – and triggered a scandal that went deeper than anyone could’ve imagined…Because Barry Bennell wasn’t the first – or the last – paedophilic predator to muddy the pitch of the beautiful game. The widespread child abuse scandal tore through the heart of British football, revealing a toxic culture more interested in collecting trophies than protecting children.Support links:The Offside Trust – Survivor-led support organisation dedicated to safeguarding children & young people across sportNSPCC – The UK Children’s CharityExclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

7 Aug 1h 15min

In our second and final part on Erin Patterson’s deadly beef Wellington dinner, we focus on the jaw-dropping trial.So: did she purposefully forage for death cap mushrooms, then cook and serve them to her extended family with the express purpose of giving them a slow and painful death? Did she really lie about having cancer? Or was it all just an innocent mistake?The video version of this episode will be on our YouTube channel from 31st July.Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

31 Jul 1h 23min

Jeffrey Epstein – the billionaire financier-turned-serial-sex-trafficker – is back in the news, in another new guise that no one saw coming: political football.So let's take a look at what we know (and, more pertinently, what we will never know) about the so-called “Epstein files”.Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

29 Jul 1h 1min

NOTE: Our update on the Epstein files will be released TOMORROW (Tuesday July 29th) to everyone. In the meantime, for all the context, here’s our two-parter in full!--The story of Jeffrey Epstein – the billionaire financier with an industrial-scale web of child abuse implicating some of the most powerful people in the world – sounds like some half-baked conspiracy theory. But it’s all true.We tell the story from the very beginning – from Epstein’s grifting origins to sex-trafficking minors over to his private island. And how Epstein kept on getting away with it, despite there being hundreds of people that knew what he really was: a dangerous, influential and insatiable child rapist with a sophisticated network of fixers. And finally, we take a look at what kind of justice – if any – was served. Plus: what really happened in that jail cell in 2019?Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

27 Jul 2h 23min

At lunchtime, a family in southeast Australia sat down for beef wellington with a mushroom duxelles, creamy mash and buttery green beans. The next morning, most of the guests would be violently ill. A week later, three of them would be dead. Only one diner was totally unaffected: the host, Erin Patterson… who later would stand trial for murder by poison mushroom.In part one of our post-trial evaluation of this case, we take a look back at that fateful lunch, and Erin’s increasingly evasive and bizarre behaviour in the weeks after it – all while her family members fought for their lives.The video version of this episode will be on our YouTube channel from 24th July.Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

24 Jul 1h 31min

On Wednesday 2 July 2025, a jury found Sean Combs NOT GUILTY of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy – his two most serious charges, which carried a potential sentence of life in prison. He was found guilty on lesser charges of transportation to engage in prostitution.So, despite all the clear evidence of guilt, how did the jury come to this decision in just two days of deliberation? We take a closer look at how the trial went down, what part Cassie Ventura played, and where the defence went so very wrong…Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

17 Jul 49min

This week, Constance Marten and Mark Gordon were found GUILTY of gross negligence manslaughter. So, on top of our rereleased episode from last year, here is everything you need to know from the bizarre retrial: unbelievable revelations about Mark Gordon's past crimes, an answer on Constance's mysterious 'fall' from a balcony, and more delays and fired barristers than we ever thought possible.--When the body of a weeks-old baby was found in a plastic bag in a shed, covered in soil and rubbish, it marked the end of one of the UK’s strangest and most tragic criminal manhunts. The baby’s parents were Constance Marten and Mark Gordon – an aristocratic heiress and an American convicted rapist.As a jury wrestled for months over the couple’s guilt, more and more shocking details came out. Details of nights spent in a cheap tent out on the freezing moors. Of Gordon’s brutal criminal history. And the heartbreaking image that stuck in the nation’s mind more than anything else: the accusation that the baby had spent its short life carried around, in the depths of winter, in nothing but a plastic shopping bag.Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramXVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

16 Jul 1h 28min