FROM THE VAULT - Episode 291 - The Silk Road: Drugs, Data & The Dread Pirate Roberts

Due to a huge number of requests following a new Netflix doc on Thabo Bester, we're re-releasing our 2023 episode on the shocking, shameless, madder-than-fiction South African saga. -- At 2am, on the 3rd of May 2022 – inmates at Mangaung prison in Bloemfontein, South Africa, were woken up by an explosion. Word spread that Thabo Bester, the infamous “Facebook Rapist”, had set himself and his cell on fire. And all that remained after the dramatic blaze were a lighter, and a body, burnt beyond recognition. But that’s far from the end of the story.  With daily revelations from the trial still hitting headlines, expect a farcical morgue-robbing scheme, a massive-scale web of fraud conducted from inside a prison cell, and a glamorous celebrity doctor who’s not quite what she seems. -- Exclusive bonus content: Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHand Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus Episodes Follow us on social media: YouTube TikTok Instagram Visit our website: Website Sources available on redhandedpodcast.com See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

With cyberbullying and catfishing stories back in the news it felt like the perfect time to revisit this early episode from back in 2019. -- Someone was cyberbullying Jenelle Potter: hurling online abuse and threatening her life with claims that she was "too pretty to live". As things escalated, inexplicably, the CIA seemed to become involved and Jenelle's parents felt the only way to save their vulnerable daughter was to take matters into their own hands.  But once her "bullies" were dead questions quickly surfaced about Jenelle's behaviour...   Exclusive bonus content: Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHand Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus Episodes Follow us on social media: YouTube TikTok Instagram Visit our website: Website Sources available on redhandedpodcast.com See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Being in the World Trade Centre when the second plane hit the South Tower; watching her assistant be decapitated; crawling over the bodies of her dead and injured co-workers; and becoming one of only nineteen people to survive being at or above the point of impact: these are all things Tania Head did not experience.  Yet for six years, Tania (real name Alicia) was the 9/11 survivor. She inspired others, worked tirelessly for their cause, and even became a beacon of hope as the president of the World Trade Center Survivors' Network.  This is how the greatest 9/11 story ever told turned out to be a hoax. Exclusive bonus content: Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHand Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus Episodes Follow us on social media: YouTube TikTok Instagram Visit our website: Website Sources available on redhandedpodcast.com See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What do you do with a prisoner so unhinged that he’s been kicked out of 120 prisons to date? How have Britain’s most secure facilities dealt with a man who could explode in a frenzy of brutal violence and destruction at any moment? What happens to a man who spends more than 25 years in solitary confinement? And most importantly: now that Britain’s most infamous inmate has rebranded as an artist, poet, and man of peace, will it ever be safe to let him out? This is the story of the larger-than-life British institution, who once stripped naked, greased himself in butter, and ran at a dozen armed guards – just for the love of the brawl. Exclusive bonus content: Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHand Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus Episodes Follow us on social media: YouTube TikTok Instagram Visit our website: Website Sources available on redhandedpodcast.com See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In 2006, the body of Polish student Angelika Kluk was found hidden in the most unthinkable place: stuffed beneath the floorboards of a Glasgow church. The man who put her there – greyhaired handyman Peter Tobin – was about to have his own sins laid bare. And what police found would reveal a predator whose impact stretched far beyond the church walls: with vanished girls, broken families, and a raft of missed opportunities to stop a prolific offender from slipping through the cracks of the UK justice system. Eventually, Tobin was unmasked as one of Britain’s darkest serial killers, with whispers linking him to the infamous “Bible John” murders. His true victim count? Only God can keep the score. Exclusive bonus content: Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHand Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus Episodes Follow us on social media: YouTube TikTok Instagram Visit our website: Website Sources available on redhandedpodcast.com See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.