Examination of the police investigation into the murder of Rachel Nickell, who was stabbed to death on Wimbledon Common in 1992. A crime for which, at the time of this programme, no one had ever been convicted. Former Detective Inspector Keith Pedder, who has since left the force, discusses his controversial and widely criticised handling of the case, and one-time suspect Colin Stagg reveals how it affected his life

Ann Ming's campaign to change the ancient double jeopardy law, by which nobody can be tried twice for the same crime, following the acquittal of a Stockton man who later admitted murdering her daughter Julie Hogg

Calculating killers who try to hide their guilt behind brazen public displays of grief and crocodile tears for the victims, often making cynical televised appeals for information and breaking down convincingly in front of the cameras

The story of how double-murderer Colin Pitchfork became the first criminal to be snared by DNA fingerprinting. In the mid-1980s, Pitchfork raped and killed two Leicestershire schoolgirls, but despite exhaustive investigations evaded capture, largely due to a false confession and a bogus blood test which threw police off his scent until a chance remark in a pub redirected them to the true perpetrator of the crimes

For six months, nine-year-old David Stocker had been in and out of hospital with a debilitating but mystery illness. His condition baffled doctors at Great Ormond Street and he was put on a drip - but what the medical staff didn't know was that David was being slowly and systematically poisoned by his attentive but deranged mother, Petrina, a long-term sufferer of Munchausen's Syndrome. After David's death, Petrina was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to five years

How revelations by jailed paedophile Ronald Jebson finally allowed police to close the case of the infamous 'Babes in the Wood' murder in which the entwined bodies of two children were found in Epping Forest in May 1970. Lifer Jebson played an elaborate psychological game with the police, claiming to know the identity of the murderer before the truth finally emerged in 2000

The story of John Bindon, a man who successfully bridged the gap between royalty, the underworld and showbusiness. Mean and moody Bindon was spotted by Ken Loach and given a lead role in Poor Cow. Fame soon followed, but while he enjoyed the high life, Bindon never severed his underworld ties

How the hunt for the killer of Stephen Cameron on a slip road to the M25 in 1996 turned into a worldwide manhunt for notorious criminal Kenneth Noye. The programme follows the police operation to track down Stephen's killer, and the Kent Police officers involved talk for the first time about the final stakeout in Spain.

Documentary telling the story of Lee Harvey's murder at the hands of his fiancee Tracie Andrews, who was jailed for life in 1997. Featuring a dramatised account of their volatile relationship, plus interviews with friends and relatives of the couple, and police officers involved in the investigation

Thirty-year-old Carol Park, a teacher and mother of three, was brutally murdered by her husband in 1976. Gordon Park bludgeoned his wife Carol to death with an ice axe and dumped her weighted body in Coniston Water, one of the deepest lakes in England. Park lived with the secret for a remarkable 21 years. This is the story of a seven year police investigation to bring her killer to justice.

In July 1996, 13-year-old Caroline Dickinson was on a school trip to France, staying at a youth hostel where she was raped and murdered - the killer escaped without anyone raising the alarm. The police arrested a homeless man who confessed to the crime, but by the time DNA tests had eliminated him, the trail had gone cold. This is the story of how Caroline's parents refused to let the case rest, and how a US Customs officer helped track down Francisco Montes, their daughter's killer

The story of Rena Salmon, who shot beauty salon owner Lorna Stewart with a double barrelled shotgun in September 2002. Rena's husband had a history of womanising, and when he refused to end his affair with friend's wife Lorna, Rena became increasingly unstable. She began to stalk Lorna and threatened her with abusive messages before taking the ultimate revenge on her adulterous husband by killing the other woman. She was convicted of murder, but was the verdict too harsh?

The conviction of Antoni Imiela, the man known as the M25 rapist. The programme follows both the police investigation into the attacks across the south of England and the domestic strife that played out in the criminal's home with wife Christine

The story of Canadian man Albert Walker, now serving a life sentence for the murder of Ronald Platt - whose identity he assumed, and who managed to fool close friends and associates for almost a decade. The programme features interviews with the police officers who bought Walker to justice, the murdered man's girlfriend, Walker's friends and the Rev David Hoskins, Walker's vicar

The story of 19-year-old murderer Brian Blackwell, whose confidence, charm and intelligence masked a serious underlying personality disorder which caused him to be obsessed with fantasies of power and brilliance. He took out credit cards in his father's name, and when his parents quizzed him about how much he spent on his lavish lifestyle, Blackwell savagely stabbed and beat them to death before treating his girlfriend to a luxury holiday the following day as if nothing had happened

He was the double glazing salesman turned killer. What made Kevin Cotterell's crime even more shocking and scary was that he murdered Connie and Janice Sheridan in their own, quiet, Fenland home - they knew and trusted him so they let the killer in. The deaths shocked the world of dog breeding where the Sheridans were popular and hardworking animal lovers, and Norfolk police launched its biggest ever manhunt in the search for the killer who came calling

Dramatic documentary about the police manhunt for David Copeland, the nail bomber who targeted three London minority groups in a series of brutal attacks during April 1999, which killed three people and injured 129. The hunt for the killer soon became a race against time, as authorities tried to track him down before he struck again.

It was a tragedy that would spark national outrage and lead to rumours of conspiracy and corruption at the highest levels of the Belgian judicial system. More than ten years after the paedophile Marc Dutroux was jailed for the kidnap, imprisonment, rape, torture and murder of terrified young girls, questions about the case remain

Documentary chronicling the series of events that led to the arrest of serial killer Dennis Nilsen in 1983 for the murders of 15 men. Including dramatic reconstructions and an interview with one of Nilsen's intended victims

Former Detective Chief Superintendent Bob Booth recalls the hunt for multiple killer Donald Neilson, the so-called Black Panther, whose reign of terror culminated in the kidnap and murder of teenage heiress Lesley Whittle in 1975. Only after Neilson's arrest did it emerge that he had previously killed three sub-postmasters and a security guard, and carried out hundreds of armed robberies.

An examination of the murder of beauty consultant Clare Bernal, who was shot dead in top London department store Harvey Nichols in September 2005 by the ex-boyfriend against whom she had lodged a police complaint for stalking. Featuring reconstructions and statements Clare had given to the police about her former boyfriend.

The inside story of Britain's most famous crime, in the words of the men who carried out the Great Train Robbery, as well as their wives. Although Ronnie Biggs may be the most famous of the gang, the programme reveals that, in fact, he was just a bit-part player. And it explains how the money first brought happiness but then misery.

Police officers and forensic scientists reveal how they traced the killer of eight-year-old Sarah Payne, who disappeared in 2000 while on a family day out to the Sussex seaside. Sarah's mother also talks frankly about her tireless campaign for a change in the law to give parents the right to know if a convicted paedophile is living in their area.

"Who knows how people's minds work?" muses an interviewee here. She's well placed to ask the question, as the former wife of serial killer Colin Ireland. In 1993 Ireland, frustrated with his life, made a New Year's resolution - to become a multiple murderer, a resolution he saw through with chilling efficiency, going on to torture and kill five gay men in south London. It's a gruesome but fascinating story, not for the faint-hearted. Some of the details of Ireland's methods are horrifying, but some are oddly banal: he meticulously cleaned his murder scenes, then sat with the corpses watching TV or listening to the radio. The question that hangs over the programme is: why? To help answer it, there's extensive police video of Ireland calmly describing his activities. This makes him very human, a monster but all too ordinary. "In some moods," he explains, "I'm quite happy to burn the world down."

The story of Lesley Molseed is heart-wrenchingly sad on so many levels and for so many people. Lesley was abducted and murdered in 1975 as she visited the corner shop near her home in Rochdale to buy a loaf of bread. Real Crime does an exemplary job of piecing together the many elements of a complicated case that was to result in an infamous miscarriage of justice when local misfit Stefan Kiszko was convicted of the killing after a botched police inquiry. Only in 2007 was the culprit, Ronald Castree, finally brought to justice after a new investigation secured the breakthrough. The programme features interviews with Lesley's family, the solicitor who took up Kiszko's case after years of campaigning by Stefan's mother, and with the wife and son of Ronald Castree. Of course, there is nothing from Kiszko, who died a broken man in 1993, just 18 months after his release from prison.

Interpol took the unprecedented step of launching a global public appeal for information after Canadian Christopher Neil published pictures of himself on the internet abusing children. Neil had camouflaged his face using editing software, making his features vanish into a swirl pattern. But he was quickly identified by Interpol experts who immediately began a manhunt. The detective who led the inquiry says of Neil's decision to publish pictures of himself committing abuse, "It's a badge of honour [among other paedophiles] ... your stock in the community goes up." The programme interviews Neil's brother, the woman who worked with Neil when they both taught in South Korea (she identified his unscrambled photograph) and Neil's transvestite boyfriend, who was with him when he was arrested in Thailand.

The story of the investigation into special constable Nisha Patel-Nasri's death in Wembley, 2006. The case initially looked like an attempted burglary gone wrong, but police discovered that her husband Fadi had arranged her murder to claim her life insurance and flee with his prostitute lover. Family and friends of Nisha reflect on the emotional impact behind the headlines.

In July 2000, Lucie Blackman disappeared while working as a hostess in a nightclub in Tokyo. It was the beginning of a desperate seven month search by her family to find her - one that would lead police to a predatory killer.

This is the story of the spate of killings in Suffolk in the run-up to Christmas 2006 that caught the attention of the world's media. A serial killer went on the rampage, targeting prostitutes in the Ipswich area, leaving one of the country's smallest police forces to investigate. As the bodies kept being discovered, media interest mushroomed. The killer became known as The Suffolk Strangler and the pressure on the Suffolk Constabulary to catch the murderer increased dramatically. In all, five women were murdered between November and December 2006. Steve Wright (pictured) was a dark and troubled man. A former steward on the QE2, he was a lorry driver, a barman and, more recently, a fork-lift truck driver. On 21 February 2008 he was found guilty of all five murders and sentenced to life imprisonment. The judge recommended that life should mean life. Wright is currently appealing against his convictions.

In Christmas 1998, 21-year-old mother of two Lynsey Wilson went missing without a trace. Her husband Mitchell Quy quickly became the prime suspect, after he claimed that she had walked out on him. But unlike any murder suspect before him, Quy went to extraordinary lengths to use the media in order to stay out of jail. He taunted police and even allowed a documentary crew to follow him as he spun his web of lies. Almost 10 years on, we revisit the case, and find out how the police finally managed to convict Lynsey's killer.

Documentary following the true story of how the Metropolitan Police's Flying Squad foiled the would-be robbery of the millennium. Using interviews, exclusive archive footage and dramatic reconstruction, the programme investigates how a gang of villains plotted to steal the world's largest perfect diamond from the Millennium Dome and escape up the River Thames, and how they were stopped by one of the most daring police operations ever. But how dangerous was this Hollywood-style heist?

The story of American bodybuilder David Bieber, who became a wanted man in both the UK and the US after the murder of PC Ian Broadhurst. In December 2004 he was jailed for life, but is still trying to escape justice years later.

Nurse Colin Norris murdered four elderly patients, and attempted to murder another by injecting them with massive doses of insulin. If a suspicious colleague had not stopped him in his tracks, police believe he could have gone on to rival Britain's most notorious medical murderer Dr Harold Shipman. Real Crime has exclusive access to their investigation, including taped interviews with Norris.

The killing of two-year-old James Bulger in February 1993 still provokes a sense of horror. Ten-year-olds John Venables and Robert Thompson abducted James from a shopping centre in Merseyside, took him on a three-mile walk, then murdered him on a railway line. Real Crime looks in detail at how the police investigation and trial unfolded. It also interviews James's mother, Denise, who reflects on the impact of the murder. There are chilling details: referring to James's injuries, one police officer notes that "sometimes it's best not to know exactly what happened". He also recalls that during questioning, Thompson's legs would waggle under his chair when he was lying. At first, nobody could believe such young children had done what they did deliberately, but gradually the truth emerged. It's a story that has been told and re-told, but it retains its power to disturb and fascinate.

Programme investigating the deaths of twenty-three Chinese cockle pickers on Morecambe Sands. This shocking case revealed part of the hidden world of human trafficking and the awful conditions for the victims, and sparked a government investigation. But who were the people who had drowned? And who had sent them to their deaths? The tragedy led detectives to China, and to the heart of a people-smuggling operation here in Britain.

Investigating the mystery of the Earl of Shaftesbury, who went missing on the French Riviera in November 2004. A colourful character, the Earl was a frequent visitor to hostess bars and lap dancing clubs, and his third wife - a former nightclub hostess living in Cannes - soon had the finger of suspicion pointed at her. But with no body, the case drew a blank. Was this the perfect crime?

Walking home from football practice in Liverpool in August 2007, 11-year-old Rhys Jones was shot dead. The incident caused an outpouring of sympathy and re-ignited fears that gun crime and gang-related violence were blighting Britain's streets. But behind the headlines lay a human tragedy as Rhys's parents Melanie and Stephen struggled with bafflement and grief. Real Crime's Mark Austin interviews the couple, whose decency shines amid the depressing details of the feckless lives led by Rhys's murderer Sean Mercer and his fellow gang-members and protectors. Melanie Jones recalls a blase Mercer and his cocky little group in the dock in court during their trial: "You'd think they were up for shoplifting." Mercer, 18, was jailed for 22 years. His co-accused were convicted of helping him to evade justice. They whooped with delight as they were sent down, says Stephen Jones, and his wife still cannot get to grips with their lives: "Why don't they aspire to be someone?"

Walking home from football practice in Liverpool in August 2007, 11-year-old Rhys Jones was shot dead. The incident caused an outpouring of sympathy and re-ignited fears that gun crime and gang-related violence were blighting Britain's streets. But behind the headlines lay a human tragedy as Rhys's parents Melanie and Stephen struggled with bafflement and grief. Real Crime's Mark Austin interviews the couple, whose decency shines amid the depressing details of the feckless lives led by Rhys's murderer Sean Mercer and his fellow gang-members and protectors. Melanie Jones recalls a blase Mercer and his cocky little group in the dock in court during their trial: "You'd think they were up for shoplifting." Mercer, 18, was jailed for 22 years. His co-accused were convicted of helping him to evade justice. They whooped with delight as they were sent down, says Stephen Jones, and his wife still cannot get to grips with their lives: "Why don't they aspire to be someone?"

In 1992, the TV news constantly ran footage of an attractive young woman dancing gaily across Wimbledon Common. It was Rachel Nickell, who had been brutally murdered in front of her two-year-old son. The police became convinced that she was killed by Colin Stagg, a loner who fitted the profile suggested by forensic psychologist Paul Britton. It took 16 years, a revolution in DNA technology and another, even more violent murder of a young mother before the real killer, Robert Napper, was convicted. Mark Austin pieces together the string of staggering mistakes and oversights by the investigation team that led to the wrongful conviction. What we will probably never know is whether it was mainly Britton's input or the police's determination to get a result that almost let Napper get away with it.

In 2005, Sally Anne Bowman, an 18-year-old model, was stabbed to death and sexually assaulted outside her south London home. Her boyfriend had dropped her there after an argument. But he wasn't her killer -- his DNA didn't match that found at the scene. A media appeal for help produced no suspect. Neither did a voluntary DNA-screening programme in the area. Instead, a brawl the next summer outside a local pub showing World Cup football led to an arrest and a chance DNA match that caught the killer.

Hannah Foster was a bright, happy and good-hearted 17-year-old who was looking forward to pursuing a career as a doctor. But her promising life was cut short when she was raped and murdered by Maninder Pal Singh Kohli as she walked home after a night out in Southampton in 2003. Real Crime outlines the long and complex police investigation that followed, and that ended only last October when Kohli was jailed for a minimum of 24 years. After the murder he had fled to India, assumed a new identity and even bigamously married. He was tracked down after Hannah's parents went to India to make a series of emotional media appeals for information. Detectives are unstinting in their praise of Trevor and Hilary Foster, and of Hannah, who had the presence of mind, even during her extreme terror, to dial 999 on her mobile phone after her abduction, thus giving police vital clues.

A look at one of the most mysterious murder cases in recent years - the apparently motiveless shooting of his wife and baby daughter by 30-year-old Midlands-born computer engineer Neil Entwistle at their home in Massachusetts in 2006. The film has unique access to murder case files, plus testimony from friends, police and defence lawyers. It also provides the first credible explanation for the murder by an eminent forensic psychiatrist who believed Entwistle may have suffered from the autism-related condition Asperger's Syndrome.

When thieves broke into Tony Martin's remote Norfolk farmhouse, three shots were fired, killing a 16-year-old burglar and wounding his accomplice. Martin was convicted of manslaughter but went on to become an unlikely tabloid hero. Mark Austin looks at the case and investigates how it sparked a national debate on self-defence. Featuring exclusive testimony from Martin, interviews with his family and friends, insights from the professionals involved in the case, and access to police footage.

Exclusive archive footage, police and witness testimony and reconstructions of key events tell the story of the hunt for the Tesco Bomber, who attempted to extort millions of pounds from the UK's biggest retailer through a campaign of bombings in Autumn 2000.

An insight into the plight of police who came face to face with terror suspect Yassin Omar following the attempted bomb attacks that disrupted part of London's transport network on July 21, 2005. Just two weeks after the July 7 bombings, four men wearing rucksacks packed with explosives tried to commit mass murder, but when their devices failed to detonate, officers faced a race to capture them before they could strike again.

As Peter Tobin faces sentencing for the murder of Dinah McNicol, Mark Austin speaks to criminologists, psychologists and those who have come face-to-face with the man to deduce whether Tobin is Britain's worst serial killer. The programme examines Tobin's past to see what drove the man to become a monster, talking to his two ex-wives and the women he befriended in the months before he killed Angelika Kluk. It also explores the first crime he was convicted of - the double rape of two young girls in 1993.

Mark Austin takes a look at the undercover police operation to bring Nottingham crime boss Colin Gunn to justice, which also exposed corruption at the heart of the police force. Gunn was jailed for life in June 2006 after staying one step ahead of the law for years by using informants within the force to feed him valuable information about investigations.

The story of how a Taxi driver John Worboys's crimes went undetected for more than five years, during which time he used the cover of his profession to drug and rape numerous victims. This documentary uncovers Worboys's past, interviews some of his victims and charts the investigation that belatedly brought him to justice.

The story of the biggest cash heist in British history, when thieves stole £53million from Securitas's Kent depot in February 2006. The programme also shows how the police worked through the night to track down the money and the gang. As one commentator wryly notes, the £53 million raid in 2006 on a Kent cash depot, Britain's biggest cash robbery yet, was more Ealing comedy than Ocean's 11, with a gang that comprised "a bunch of idiots, bruisers and chancers". But there was nothing remotely amusing about the attack, or the robbers who kidnapped Securitas depot manager Colin Dixon at gunpoint while threatening his family, who were being held hostage. Real Crime talks to Dixon, who gives his first TV interview, to the police officers involved in tracking the gang members (there were prosecutions, though the inquiry is still open and £30 million of the stolen money is still missing) and to Securitas staff who were on duty that night. These are haunted men. One still has nightmares: "It's very real and present to me. It's still not in the past."

How a specialist police team used hi-tech surveillance, DNA evidence and CCTV footage to bring the leaders of a notorious Manchester gang to justice. The programme uses police videos, interview tapes and forensic materials to offer an insight into the investigation, and reveals how the arrest and subsequent sentencing of Colin Joyce and Lee Amos led to a 90 per cent reduction in gun crime in the city.

The conviction of Antoni Imiela, the man knows as the M25 rapist. The programme follows both the police investigation into the attacks across the south of England and the domestic strife that played out in the criminal's home with wife Christine.

Peter and Gwenda Dixon were enjoying a hilltop walk in Pembrokeshire in 1989 when they were accosted, tied up and executed at point-blank range with a shotgun. In May this year their killer, John William Cooper, was found guilty of their murders and the 1985 slaying of siblings Richard and Helen Thomas. Real Crime looks at the forensic work that finally brought Cooper to justice. There are so many victims. Cooper had tried to shift blame for the Dixonsí murders on to his brutalised son, who says: ìOf all the things that he ever did to me, that was the lowest.î About this programme New series. The documentary returns, beginning with the case of John William Cooper, who murdered four people in Pembrokeshire in the 1980s. The crimes remained unsolved for more than 20 years, but Cooper was convicted in May following painstaking research and forensic analysis, which included the use of footage from his 1989 appearance on game show Bullseye.

The case of `jigsaw killer' Stephen Marshall, who murdered businessman Jeffrey Howe in March 2009 and scattered his body parts in locations around Hertfordshire and Leicestershire. Featuring interviews with police officers involved, the programme reveals how the grisly case was solved, with Marshall sentenced to life imprisonment in February 2010 and his girlfriend Sarah Bush jailed for three years and nine months for perverting the course of justice.

The case of Hells Angel Gerry Tobin, who was murdered by members of rival motorcycle gang the Outlaws on the M40 while travelling back from the Bulldog Bash festival in August 2007. With access to the police investigation and CCTV footage, as well as interviews with Tobin's family, the programme pieces together the events that led up to his death.

July 2010. Armed with a sawn-off shotgun, the former bouncer began his campaign of terror after being released from prison, murdering Chris Brown - his ex-girlfriend Samantha Stobbart's partner - and shooting policeman David Rathband, which left the officer blind. Following a manhunt that lasted almost a week, Moat was found in Rothbury, Northumberland, where he eventually took his own life after a stand-off with police.