The Gas Man | Tortoise Investigates: Recent Episodes
Tortoise Media
Introducing..The Gas Man
It’s the late 1980s and US Special Agent Dennis Bass is warned about a shipment of suspicious chemicals headed to a secret destination. So he follows the lead – and ends up stumbling into a global plot helping fuel a war. The main suspect? The Gas Man.
In the decades since, Special Agent Bass has been locked in an international game of cat and mouse with the man who supplied a dangerous regime with the chemicals to make weapons. Every time Bass thinks he’s got his hands on him… The Gas Man somehow manages to slip the net. And he’s still on the run today.
But after more than 30 years, could his past finally be catching up with The Gas Man?
To find out more about Tortoise:
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If you want to get in touch with us directly about a story, or tell us more about the stories you want to hear about contact hello@tortoisemedia.com
Reporter: Chloe Hadjimatheou
Producer: Claudia Williams
Editor: Jasper Corbett
Narrative editor: Gary Marshall
Sound design: Hannah Varrall
Original theme music: Tom Kinsella
Original artwork: Jon Hill
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In the final episode of the series, is the 40-year game of cat-and-mouse nearly over?
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Reporter: Chloe Hadjimatheou
Producer: Claudia Williams
Editor: Jasper Corbett
Narrative editor: Gary Marshall
Additional production: Imy Harper
Sound design: Hannah Varrall
Original theme music: Tom Kinsella
Original artwork: Jon Hill
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In this episode, Chloe looks into what happened to The Gas Man when he arrived back in Germany as a fugitive – and investigates whether his trade with Iran ever really ended
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Reporter: Chloe Hadjimatheou
Producer: Claudia Williams
Editor: Jasper Corbett
Narrative editor: Gary Marshall
Additional reporting: Marten Hahn
Sound design: Hannah Varrall
Original theme music: Tom Kinsella
Original artwork: Jon Hill
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Chloe makes a startling discovery about another chemical trafficker that has consequences for her investigation. A Kurdish survivor of mustard gas shares her story.
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Reporter: Chloe Hadjimatheou
Producer: Claudia Williams
Editor: Jasper Corbett
Narrative editor: Gary Marshall
Sound design: Hannah Varrall
Original theme music: Tom Kinsella
Original artwork: Jon Hill
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The team persuades The Gas Man to step out from the shadows. He reveals the first big clue in the investigation to how he got away with it – and makes a surprising claim about his role in the case
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Reporter: Chloe Hadjimatheou
Producer: Claudia Williams
Editor: Jasper Corbett
Narrative editor: Gary Marshall
Sound design: Hannah Varrall
Original theme music: Tom Kinsella
Original artwork: Jon Hill
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Special Agent Bass has his target in his sights but he’s on another continent. If he wants him to talk he’ll need a clever plan – and maybe a bit of luck
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Reporter: Chloe Hadjimatheou
Producer: Claudia Williams
Editor: Jasper Corbett
Narrative editor: Gary Marshall
Sound design: Hannah Varrall
Original theme music: Tom Kinsella
Original artwork: Jon Hill
FX credit: Boeing 737-800 Fly Over 3.wav by soundslikewillem at freesound
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In the 1980s Special Agent Dennis Bass received a tip-off that changed the course of his career. 30 years on reporter Chloe Hadjimatheou sets out to solve the mystery of how an international fugitive got away with his crimes – and why he's still on the run.
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Reporter: Chloe Hadjimatheou
Producer: Claudia Williams
Editor: Jasper Corbett
Narrative editor: Gary Marshall
Sound design: Hannah Varrall
Original theme music: Tom Kinsella
Original artwork: Jon Hill
FX credit: Telex by YleArkisto at freesound - License: Attribution 4.0
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Introducing...The Gas Man
It starts with a tip-off.
It’s the late 1980s and US Special Agent Dennis Bass is warned about a shipment of suspicious chemicals headed to a secret destination. So he follows the lead – and ends up stumbling into a global plot helping fuel a war. The main suspect? The Gas Man.
In the decades since, Special Agent Bass has been locked in an international game of cat and mouse with the man who supplied a dangerous regime with the chemicals to make weapons. Every time Bass thinks he’s got his hands on him… The Gas Man somehow manages to slip the net. And he’s still on the run today.
But after more than 30 years, could his past finally be catching up with The Gas Man?
To find out more about Tortoise:
Download the Tortoise app - for a listening experience curated by our journalists
Subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free content
Become a member and get access to all of Tortoise's premium audio offerings and more
If you want to get in touch with us directly about a story, or tell us more about the stories you want to hear about contact hello@tortoisemedia.com
Reporter: Chloe Hadjimatheou
Producer: Claudia Williams
Editor: Jasper Corbett
Narrative editor: Gary Marshall
Sound design: Hannah Varrall
Original theme music: Tom Kinsella
Original artwork: Jon Hill
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
"Misinformation, disinformation, and trolling campaigns are not just a celebrity story. They are everywhere. They affect how we see reality online."
In a year when four billion people are heading to the polls, and with the World Economic Forum warning that online misinformation is the most severe risk the world faces, Who Trolled Amber? shines a light on the shady industry of social media manipulation. It reveals how bots and trolls can sway opinions from celebrity trials to general elections.
On June 12th Alexi Mostrous will be joined by Jen Robinson, Amber Heard’s lawyer, and Gina Neff, Executive Director of the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy at the University of Cambridge in the Tortoise newsroom to discuss Who Trolled Amber? and give their insights into the world of online disinformation and its effect on all of our everyday lives.
You can book your place here, to attend in person or online.
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We are partnering with Campside Media, so that we can continue to bring our listeners brilliant investigations like Who Trolled Amber. You can join Tortoise as a member to get early and ad-free access to new series and support our investigations atwww.tortoisemedia.com/invite.
Introducing...The White Devil
Sharing something special this week: A show from our friends at Campside Media, called White Devil.
Late at night in May of 2021, a single gunshot shattered the silence along the beach at Belize’s luxurious Alaia resort. In White Devil, journalist Josh Dean dives into one of the biggest, splashiest, and most perplexing crime stories you’ve never heard of: The shooting death of renowned cop Henry Jemott, apparently by a Canadian property developer, connected to the family of one very influential billionaire: Lord Michael Ashcroft. In investigating, the craggy depths of Belize are brought to the surface: Its quirks, its corruption, and the all pervasive influence of several generations of one family in particular. You can binge the rest of White Devil at https://link.chtbl.com/tortoisewhitedevil.
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Introducing...The Price of Paradise
When ex-Bunny girl Jayne Gaskin spots the desert island of her dreams for sale online, she decides to risk it all. Trading in their English village home, Jayne and her family relocate to their own private paradise, just off the coast of Nicaragua. And a reality TV crew follows them to film a new show, No Going Back. But soon they all discover that paradise has its secrets. The locals claim the island belongs to them, and it’s been sold illegally. Jayne’s not leaving without a fight. A fight that will soon turn deadly.
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Johnny Depp’s maverick lawyer Adam Waldman finally comes under scrutiny. Alexi uncovers Waldman’s links to powerful figures and investigates his role in feeding online abuse. Can the team get to the truth about who trolled Amber?
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Reporter and host: Alexi Mostrous
Producer and reporter: Xavier Greenwood
Editor: David Taylor
Narrative editor: Gary Marshall
Additional reporting: Katie Riley
Sound design: Karla Patella
Artwork: Jon Hill & Oscar Ingham
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Could a nation state have deployed an online army to fight for Johnny Depp? Alexi discovers the curious relationship between the Hollywood star and an authoritarian world leader.
All six episodes of Who Trolled Amber are now available to binge-listen.
To find out more about Tortoise:
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If you want to get in touch with us directly about a story, or tell us more about the stories you want to hear about contact hello@tortoisemedia.com
Reporter and host: Alexi Mostrous
Producer and reporter: Xavier Greenwood
Editor: David Taylor
Narrative editor: Gary Marshall
Additional reporting: Katie Riley
Sound design: Karla Patella
Artwork: Jon Hill & Oscar Ingham
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The astonishing case of a teenage killer helps lift the lid on how bot campaigns work – and offers the team a new path forward in the investigation.
All six episodes of Who Trolled Amber are now available to binge-listen.
To find out more about Tortoise:
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Reporter and host: Alexi Mostrous
Producer and reporter: Xavier Greenwood
Editor: David Taylor
Narrative editor: Gary Marshall
Additional reporting: Katie Riley
Sound design: Karla Patella
Artwork: Jon Hill & Oscar Ingham
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Disinformation experts come back with some startling results. The story begins to cross continents as the team find evidence of a global campaign.
All six episodes of Who Trolled Amber are now available to binge-listen.
To find out more about Tortoise:
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If you want to get in touch with us directly about a story, or tell us more about the stories you want to hear about contact hello@tortoisemedia.com
Reporter and host: Alexi Mostrous
Producer and reporter: Xavier Greenwood
Editor: David Taylor
Narrative editor: Gary Marshall
Additional reporting: Katie Riley
Sound design: Karla Patella
Artwork: Jon Hill & Oscar Ingham
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The team talk to a Hollywood insider and travel to Florida in search of their first big clue: a treasure trove of data that might show what happened to Amber Heard online – and who was behind it.
All six episodes of Who Trolled Amber are now available to binge-listen.
To find out more about Tortoise:
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If you want to get in touch with us directly about a story, or tell us more about the stories you want to hear about contact hello@tortoisemedia.com
Reporter and host: Alexi Mostrous
Producer and reporter: Xavier Greenwood
Editor: David Taylor
Narrative editor: Gary Marshall
Additional reporting: Katie Riley
Sound design: Karla Patella
Artwork: Jon Hill & Oscar Ingham
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Depp v Heard was the celebrity trial of the century. He won, she lost. But was Amber Heard the target of an organised trolling campaign?
All six episodes of Who Trolled Amber are now available to binge-listen.
Download the Tortoise app - for a listening experience curated by our journalists
Subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free content
Become a member and get access to all of Tortoise's premium audio offerings and more
Become a member and get access to all of Tortoise's premium audio offerings and more
If you want to get in touch with us directly about a story, or tell us more about the stories you want to hear about contact hello@tortoisemedia.com
Reporter and host: Alexi Mostrous
Producer and reporter: Xavier Greenwood
Editor: David Taylor
Narrative editor: Gary Marshall
Additional reporting: Katie Riley
Sound design: Karla Patella
Artwork: Jon Hill & Oscar Ingham
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Introducing… Who Trolled Amber?
What comes to mind when you think of Amber Heard? Liar? Survivor? Narcissist? Millions of us watched the celebrity trial of the century, Depp v Heard, in 2022. Amber Heard lost and Johnny Depp was vindicated. But what if Amber was actually the victim of an organised trolling campaign? What if the online hate against her was manufactured?
Alexi Mostrous, the reporter who brought you Sweet Bobby and Hoaxed, investigates what happened to Amber and who might have been responsible. It’s a story about how our own thoughts and opinions can be moulded without us even realising.
All six episodes of Who Trolled Amber are now available to binge-listen.
To find out more about Tortoise:
Download the Tortoise app - for a listening experience curated by our journalists
Subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free content
Become a member and get access to all of Tortoise's premium audio offerings and more
If you want to get in touch with us directly about a story, or tell us more about the stories you want to hear about contact hello@tortoisemedia.com
Reporter and host: Alexi Mostrous
Producer and reporter: Xavier Greenwood
Editor: David Taylor
Narrative editor: Gary Marshall
Additional reporting: Katie Riley
Sound design: Karla Patella
Artwork: Jon Hill & Oscar Ingham
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Things begin to fall apart. Only a few years after Rebellion Defense’s rapid rise, it appears to be in trouble. The rebellion has failed to take off.
In the secretive world of the military and big tech, Basia is met with a wall of silence as she tries to see inside the company… until a few former staffers agree to speak to her, revealing what happened behind closed doors.
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Oliver’s company, Rebellion Defense, is on the rise. In 2019, it is full of promise and pumped with cash, trading on the hype around what’s possible with AI in war. It attracts influential backers and goes after big government contracts. And it becomes even harder to sort fact from fiction – where is the scrutiny, and who is checking that any of this stuff is… real?
As Basia delves deeper into the world of artificial intelligence, she hears from another former girlfriend of Oliver’s who knows about the ‘tissue of lies’ – and why it matters now.
All four episodes are available to Tortoise members on the free Tortoise audio app, and subscribers to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
You can find out more about Tortoise:
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Basia begins unravelling the ‘tissue of lies’, but it becomes clear that some of Oliver’s claims exist in the grey area, and in the secretive world in which he works, it’s hard to sift fact from fiction. Did he serve in the military? Is he an aristocrat? And as she traces his rise in national security, she is pulled into a bigger story – about a company, and a threat that is facing us all.
The first three episodes are available to Tortoise members on the free Tortoise audio app, and subscribers to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
You can find out more about Tortoise:
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This story starts in 2012. Oliver is a dashing young diplomat, working in Afghanistan. Charlie is a graduate newly arrived in London, trying to find her feet in the world. The pair meet online and she falls in love. But only a few months later, she discovers that the story Oliver has told her about his life is not what it seems.
A decade later, this man has climbed to the top of academia, the civil service, and into the world of national security, eventually founding a billion-dollar company selling AI to the military.
But a mystery hangs over Charlie: did the untruths continue, and if they did, why haven’t caught up with him?
The first three episodes are available to Tortoise members on the free Tortoise audio app, and subscribers to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
You can find out more about Tortoise:
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It’s London, 2012. Oliver is a dashing diplomat. Charlie is a young graduate trying to find her feet in the world. They meet online and she falls in love. With his encouragement, Charlie applies for a job in British intelligence. Then, she receives a text message that turns her life - and her relationship - upside down, and 10 years later, a mystery is still hanging over her. Walter's War is an investigation into what happened next – a journey through big tech and national security, hype and hucksterism, where anyone who can tell a good story can go far. But how much is true?
Episode 1 goes live on Tuesday 21st November. The first three episodes will be available to Tortoise members on the free Tortoise audio app, and subscribers to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
You can find out more about Tortoise:
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If you want to get in touch with us directly about a story, or tell us more about the stories you want to hear about contact hello@tortoisemedia.com
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Radicalised by Covid, the anti-vax movement goes mainstream – and RFK Jr emerges as a new figurehead.
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Andrew Wakefield becomes a superstar thanks to the support of celebrities and an army of mothers – and establishes anti-vax as a moneymaker.
This is part 2 of a 3-part series - to listen exclusively to episode 3 today subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts or become a member and listen on Tortoise's audio app.
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A British doctor sparks a global health panic about the safety of vaccines. But even though his work is discredited, he lights a fire that becomes the modern anti-vax movement. Hosted by Alexi Mostrous.
This is part 1 of a 3-part series - to listen exclusively to episodes 2 and 3 today subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts or become a member and listen on Tortoise's audio app.
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Introducing Dr Anti-vax: the making of a modern panic
How did the anti-vax movement become so mainstream?
25 years ago, a British doctor Dr Andrew Wakefield sparked a global vaccine panic. Today, Alexi Mostrous, the reporter behind chart-topping hit podcasts Sweet Bobby and Hoaxed investigates how anti-vaxxers have gone from the fringes of public life to the centre of the culture wars that divide America and so many other countries, and the beguiling fall and rise of the man who started it all.
Episode 1 goes live on Tuesday 24th October and all three episodes will be available to Tortoise members on the free Tortoise audio app, and subscribers to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
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Twenty years ago, Rudy Giuliani was “America’s mayor”. Now he’s been indicted, along with Donald Trump, for allegedly attempting to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. Will Rudy die in jail for The Don?
Listen to the three part series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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Twenty years ago, Rudy Giuliani was “America’s mayor”. Now he’s been indicted, along with Donald Trump, for allegedly attempting to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. Will Rudy die in jail for The Don?
Listen to the three part series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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Twenty years ago, Rudy Giuliani was “America’s mayor”. Now he’s been indicted, along with Donald Trump, for allegedly attempting to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. Will Rudy die in jail for The Don?
Listen to the three part series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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The police say they are not looking for any more victims of David Boyd but we met other women who were confronted by the killer. This episode contains descriptions of child sexual abuse.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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Sharon's case should be extraordinary but it isn't. A few miles away from Sharon another mother was left to solve her own daughter's murder after being let down by police.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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The number one suspect is interrogated by police until he confesses but it's not until 30 years later that the right man is put on trial.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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Rumours choke the case and a vulnerable suspect is arrested. The first 48 hours after a crime are crucial: what did the police get so wrong in the days after Nikki went missing?
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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In 1992 on a council estate in Sunderland a seven year old girl is murdered. It took the police 30 years to find the killer, a convicted child sex offender who lived three doors away from where Nikki Allan went missing. What happened on the night of her disappearance?
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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Introducing Three doors down: a murder, a mother and a thirty year investigation
In May in a packed room at Newcastle Crown Court, David Boyd, was found guilty of the brutal murder in 1992 of seven year-old Nikki Allan. Sharon Henderson, Nikki’s mother, called for a public inquiry into why it had taken the police so long to find and convict her daughter’s murderer.
When Nikki was murdered, Sharon was a single mother of four living in Wear Garth, a rundown housing estate in Sunderland. David Boyd lived a few floors above Sharon in the same block. He was known to the police. He was the kind of offender who should have been caught.
Three doors down tells the astonishing story of Sharon Henderson’s thirty year campaign to get justice for her daughter’s killing. It shines a light on police behaviour and their treatment of working class women. It’s a personal tale of trauma and resilience in the face of systemic police failure, that couldn’t be more timely.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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In the final episode, Ceri travels to meet Rob in a peaceful garden in rural Wiltshire. What unfolds is a heated exchange about what Rob's story really is and what adds up to the whole truth.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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When Global Witness out Rob in 2015, things quickly fall apart. He loses everything that matters to him but to this day he believes that if his voice had been heard, it would have all worked out differently.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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Rob is adamant that in all the years he was undercover, he never sent information back to his spymasters that harmed the campaigners. But when you're the only one in control of the decisions, can you always get it right?
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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Rob Moore says he can justify going undercover among anti-asbestos campaigners because he was following a Buddhist principle, turning poison into medicine. To this day he believes that if the people he infiltrated would really listen to his story they'd understand him differently. But does his story really stand up to scrutiny?
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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It’s 2012 and Rob Moore goes 'into the dirt', undercover, to infiltrate a group of campaigners fighting for a ban on deadly asbestos. None of them knew they had a private spy in the camp. But it's hard to stay hidden forever.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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Three years ago a former private spy came to our newsroom at Tortoise. He told an incredible story about infiltrating a campaign group, deceiving people for years but all the while being a 'double agent', before his world fell apart. And it all played out in the opaque world of corporate intelligence.
Since then, journalist Ceri Thomas has been asking who Rob Moore really is and what his motivations were.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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Over three years in the making, Tortoise introduces Into The Dirt – investigating the extraordinary story of private spy, Rob Moore and the shadowy world of corporate intelligence. Rob was tasked with working undercover to extract information from an environmental campaign group but he ended up turning on his employers and supporting the group he was meant to be infiltrating. Only it wasn’t that straightforward. Neither side knew the whole truth.
Was Rob a misunderstood whistleblower or a traitor to a cause?
Into the Dirt is a wild story about truth, spies and the stories we tell ourselves.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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Polly Curtis returns to investigate the world of private trans healthcare, and speaks to Gender GP and its founder Helen Webberley, labelled by one newspaper as one of Britain’s most controversial doctors.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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Polly Curtis investigates why NHS England accelerated the closure of GIDS and what the future of the service could look like for children and young people.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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The public debate around the work of the Tavistock is getting louder. Kiera Bell wins a landmark ruling at the High Court which halts all new referrals for puberty blockers for under 18s on the NHS in England and Wales. She was prescribed puberty blockers at 16 but later decided she wants to detransition. The Tavistock appeals and the ruling is overturned. But for many people the narrative of the Gender Identity Development Service is now set in stone.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable
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The internal divisions at GIDS and the wider Tavistock centre spill out into the open. Whistleblowers are publicly critical of GIDS. One accuses the service of fast tracking young people onto puberty blockers after just one meeting with clinicians. The senior leadership team at GIDS desperately tries to hold the team together. Meanwhile the numbers on the waiting list tick up and up.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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As the increase in referrals to the Gender Identity Development Service increases, the profile of the young people seeking treatment changes too. There are now two natal girls for every natal boy, a complete reversal of what it had been a decade before. Polly Curtis tries to make sense of this change and goes to Blackpool which has the highest referral rate of anywhere in England.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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Polly Carmichael became the director of the Gender Identity Development Service at the Tavistock in 2009. “I remember our office was literally a room that had probably been a broom cupboard at one stage”, she recalls. But the decision in 2011 to start offering puberty blockers to under-16s, and in 2016 to widen the professionals who could refer a child to GIDS had a major impact. The numbers of people on the waiting list ticked inexorably up, until the clinic felt it could barely cope.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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In the summer of 2022 the NHS announced it was winding up the Gender Identity Development Service for children and young people at the Tavistock. Critics of the service celebrated, its supporters were left in despair. Journalist Polly Curtis has spent months trying to understand what happened. Why has it attracted such criticism and what is the best way going forward of treating young people with gender dysphoria?
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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This is the story of the Gender Identity Development Service for children and young people at the Tavistock. The Tavi, as it’s known is the only clinic in England and Wales which has treated children suffering from body dysphoria. Its critics have accused it of fast-tracking young people into changing gender. Its supporters argue it has provided help and support, even a lifeline. Now, the clinic will close. This is the story of what happened.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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In the last episode of the series, the team finally hears from a man they’ve been chasing for months. And they return to Maine, to tell Christopher’s parents what they have discovered about their son's life and death.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
The team tries to understand the connection between Chris's trip to South Sudan, and one taken by a group of American fighters just weeks before. Could this explain why Chris was called a white rebel? And after months investigating, Basia finally speaks to the fighter who fascinated Chris, and she asks – how close really were you?
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
Months after Jeremy first approached Basia, the team fly to Nairobi to sit down with the mysterious essay writer. And it turns out that he is not the only person ready to share what he knows about who killed Christopher Allen.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
There is a new layer of horror to Chris's story – and in trying to understand it, Basia investigates the evidence that Chris was killed on purpose. The team figures out how to get to South Sudan – and how to finally meet the essay-writer.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
Basia traces Chris's career as a young freelancer. By now, it's clear his death is tied to his life as a reporter. But who was he trying to be? Just how close was he to a group of fighters? And after years in Ukraine, how did he end up in a remote corner of South Sudan?
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
At just 22 years old, Chris travels to Ukraine for his spring break, keen to see war up close. For the first time, he experiences the thrill and horror of the frontline. He's hooked. Five years later, Basia, along with Chris's cousin, Jeremy, visit Chris's parents in America to piece together who he really was. There they learn a troubling new detail about Chris's time in Ukraine.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
Five years after his death on a distant frontline in South Sudan, the truth about what happened to Christopher Allen is still a mystery. Was he a reckless freelancer? A mercenary? Or a young and ambitious reporter, caught in the crossfire? Approached by a family member looking for answers, journalist Basia Cummings begins investigating.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
Christopher Allen was trying to make it as a war reporter when, aged just 26, he was shot and killed on the frontline in South Sudan. But as news of his death began to spread, suspicion grew. Some claimed he was really there as a mercenary, a fighter. Others said he was a reckless freelancer, in over his head. And there was another question: was he killed on purpose, or was this another accident of war? From Tortoise and the team behind Sweet Bobby, Pig Iron is a dark adventure in war and journalism – and into what really happened to Christopher Allen.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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In the final episode of Hoaxed, Alexi confronts Abraham and Ella. about what they. did in Hampstead - and why. And the police give Alexi some surprising news.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
Alexi and his producer fly to Morocco to confront Abraham Christie - and learn dark secrets about his past.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
For a conspiracy to spread, important people need to be listening. Alexi discovers that the perpetrators of the Hampstead hoax have friends in high places, while he and the team close in on Abraham's location.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
The perpetrators of the Hampstead hoax meet their match in an unassuming mystery novelist, who is determined to expose their lies and bring them to justice.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
Seized upon by conspiracy theorists, Ella’s list of alleged cult members spreads like wildfire across the Internet. Hampstead parents start receiving death threats and lives are torn apart.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
Two young children make horrific allegations in a London police station, lighting the fuse on the most serious British conspiracy theories in decades.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
In 2014, two children told police a shocking story: that they were being abused by a Satanic cult; a cult headed by their father and by parents and teachers at their school in the wealthy London suburb of Hampstead. The story was a lie. But on the internet, that didn't matter.
From the team who brought you Sweet Bobby, Hoaxed is an investigation into one of Britain's most serious-ever conspiracy theories. A story about a modern-day Satanic panic; about the victims whose lives were destroyed and about the conspiracists who spread the lie around the world.
Oh, and it's about our hunt for the perpetrators - the people who forced the kids to lie - the ones who started it all.
Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
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Welcome to Tortoise Investigates, where we curate the best of our chart-topping investigative series in one place. Over the last three years we’ve covered everything from extraordinary tales of deception to suspicious deaths to one mother’s decades-long fight against the police. There's Sweet Bobby, Hoaxed, Pig Iron and more. Keep an eye on the feed, we’ll be updating it regularly with all of our best and most ambitious stories.
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Nikki Allan was 7 years old when she was brutally murdered. Her mother never gave up the hunt to find her killer.
David Boyd was a convicted child sex offender who lived three doors down from where Nikki first went missing. So how did it take the police thirty years to find him?
This is a story of class prejudice, police corruption and a shocking miscarriage of justice.
We are partnering with Wondery, so that we can continue to bring our listeners brilliant investigations like Sweet Bobby. You can join Tortoise as a member to get early and ad-free access to new series and support our investigationsat www.tortoisemedia.com/invite
Introducing... Suspect: "Five Shots in the Dark"
Leon Benson spent 24 years in an Indiana state prison for the 1998 murder of a young man named Kasey Schoen. His conviction hinged on the testimony of two eyewitnesses – but what if their memories turned out to be wrong? And what if the people who knew what really happened had never been allowed to speak?
Suspect Season 3: Five Shots in the Dark is the story of two victims: one murdered, one sentenced to life. Follow host Matt Shaer and attorney Lara Bazelon as they investigate how the justice system failed both Leon and Kasey, and who the real killer might be. Join this unprecedented look inside the attempt to overturn a wrongful conviction and find out if justice will finally be served.
Listen to Suspect wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge Suspect ad-free on Wondery Plus. Find Wondery Plus in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts: Wondery.fm/SuspectS3_SB
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From the team that brought you Sweet Bobby, and over three years in the making, Tortoise introduces Into The Dirt – a story about truth, spies and the stories we tell ourselves.
Misunderstood whistleblower or traitor to a cause? Our latest six-part podcast series explores the extraordinary story of private spy, Rob Moore.
Listen today. Follow Into The Dirt wherever you get your podcasts.
We are partnering with Wondery, so that we can continue to bring our listeners brilliant investigations like Sweet Bobby. You can join Tortoise as a member to get access to more of our stories, support our investigations and get invites to exclusive newsroom events, using the code Slow60 at www.tortoisemedia.com/invite
Introducing Against the Odds: Alaska Bear Attack
Against the Odds is a podcast from Wondery about regular, everyday people who found themselves fighting for their lives against unthinkable odds. old from the point of view of the survivors, you’ll feel first-hand what it was like for them to fight to stay alive. Like the Alaska Bear Attack, a backcountry ski trip with three friends that turned into a living nightmare when they unknowingly skied over a den and awoke a mother bear and her cub from hibernation. Bleeding and hypothermia were imminent, but his friends had to try their best to keep him alive while waiting for rescue – and hoping the bear wouldn’t come back for them. This is just a preview of Against the Odds, but you can listen to the full episode at Wondery.fm/SB_ATO
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We are partnering with Wondery, so that we can continue to bring our listeners brilliant investigations like Sweet Bobby. You can join Tortoise as a member to get access to more of our stories, support our investigations and get invites to exclusive newsroom events, using the code Slow60 at www.tortoisemedia.com/invite
Introducing Wondery Presents: Stolen Hearts
Sergeant Jill Evans is a small-town cop in Wales with an impressive record in her job, and a less than impressive record in her love life. After three engagements, two divorces and one affair, she’s beginning to worry that love is only true in fairy tales. That is until she meets: Dean. He’s a wealthy beauty entrepreneur with his own range of toiletries. Girl meets boy. Boy meets girl. They kiss and fall in love. Roll credits. But that would be boring, wouldn’t it? Instead, this is a love story like no other. It’s all going so well for Jill and Dean, until Halloween night, when Dean disappears. And Sgt. Jill is left to pick up the pieces.
From Wondery and Novel, comes a new series. Hosted by Kerry Godliman.
Follow Stolen Hearts on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and ad-free by subscribing to Wondery+ in Apple Podcasts or the Wondery App.
Listen to Stolen Hearts: Wondery.fm/SH_SB
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We are partnering with Wondery, so that we can continue to bring our listeners brilliant investigations like Sweet Bobby. You can join Tortoise as a member to get access to more of our stories, support our investigations and get invites to exclusive newsroom events, using the code Slow60 at www.tortoisemedia.com/invite
Introducing Wondery Presents: Frozen Head
Hosted by Ash Kelley and Alaina Urquhart from the hit show Morbid. When 90-year-old Laurence Pilgeram drops dead on the sidewalk outside his condo, you might think that’s the end of his story. But, really, it’s just the beginning. Because Laurence and others like him have signed up to be frozen and brought back to life in the future. And that belief will pull multiple generations of the Pilgeram family into a cryonics soap opera filled with dead pets, gold coins, grenades, fist fights, mysterious packages, family feuds, Hall of Fame baseball legends, and frozen heads — lots of frozen heads. From Wondery, comes a story about life, death, and what comes next.
Follow Frozen Head on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge early and ad-free by subscribing to Wondery+ in Apple Podcasts or the Wondery App.
Listen to Frozen Head: Wondery.fm/FH_SB
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Introducing...The News Meeting from Podimo and Tortoise.
In every newsroom around the world there’s a daily meeting to decide what leads the news, what follows and in what order. As editor of The Times newspaper, director of BBC News and now editor-in-chief of Tortoise, James Harding has been in countless news meetings behind closed doors. But in this podcast, we’re flinging the doors open so you can hear the argument for yourself. Three journalists pitch the story they think mattered most this week and James decides the running order.
New episodes are released every Friday.
Follow The News Meeting wherever you get your podcasts
We are partnering with Wondery, so that we can continue to bring our listeners brilliant investigations like Sweet Bobby and Hoaxed. You can join Tortoise as a member to get access to more of our stories, support our investigations and get invites to exclusive newsroom events, using the code Sweet50 at www.tortoisemedia.com/invite
Introducing Suspect Season 2: Vanished In The Snow
For more than three and a half decades, the disappearance of 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews was a mystery – a riddle neither authorities nor her family members could solve. The residents of her cloistered Colorado hometown had scoured every inch of prairie. Jonelle’s face had been on milk cartons nationwide. Even the President of the United States had appealed to the public for help. Still, every lead had fizzled. Every person of interest had turned out to be a dead end.
Then, in 2019, Jonelle’s remains were unearthed near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. With the discovery came a troubling new question: Had the truth been hiding in plain sight the entire time? Was the man who couldn’t stop obsessing over Jonelle’s disappearance also the person who took her? From Campside Media and Wondery comes season two of SUSPECT. Former CNN reporter Ashley Fantz and executive producers Matthew Shaer and Eric Benson (Suspect, Over My Dead Body) dig into one of the most mind-bending cold cases in modern history, in an attempt to separate fact and fiction, compulsion from guilt, and true-crime fandom from a motive for murder.
Listen to SUSPECT: Vanished in the Snow early and ad- free by subscribing to Wondery Plus in Apple Podcasts or the Wondery app.
https://wondery.app.link/suspect-sb
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If you haven't listened already, Hoaxed is the new series from Alexi Mostrous and Tortoise. All 6 episodes are now available to listen for free.
Hoaxed is an investigation into one of Britain's most serious-ever conspiracy theories. A story about a modern-day Satanic panic; about the victims whose lives were destroyed and about the conspiracists who spread the lie around the world.
Search for Hoaxed or follow the link: https://podfollow.com/hoaxed
We are partnering with Amazon Music, so that we can continue to bring our listeners brilliant investigations like Sweet Bobby and Hoaxed. You can join Tortoise as a member to get access to more of our stories, support our investigations and get invites to exclusive newsroom events, using the code Sweet50 at www.tortoisemedia.com/invite
Introducing COLD: The Search for Sheree:
Sheree Warren left her job in Salt Lake City on a mild October evening in 1985. She told a coworker she was headed to meet her estranged husband, Charles Warren, at a car dealership. But she never made it, Sheree vanished. When her car mysteriously surfaced weeks later, hundreds of miles away in Las Vegas, no one could say how it got there.
When a young mother disappears under unexplained circumstances, police always turn suspicious eyes towards the husband. And although there was distrust around Charles Warren, he wasn’t the only suspect when Sheree went missing. She also had a boyfriend, a former cop named Cary Hartmann, who lived a sinister double life.
Season three follows two suspects– men who both raised suspicion for investigators. But with two strong persons of interest with competing facts and evidence, it muddied the murder investigation. This season, host Dave Cawley, digs into the lives of these two men, the details of the case and examines the intersections between domestic abuse and sexual violence. The COLD team seeks to answer the question: what really happened to Sheree Warren?
Listen to the Amazon Music exclusive podcast, COLD, in the Amazon Music App. Download the app today: www.amazon.com/COLD_us_pfd_AA_110122.
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Introducing...Pig Iron. A story about the mysterious death – and life – of a young war reporter on the frontline. At first, it looked like another tragedy of war… a young journalist caught in the crossfire. Until, just hours after his death, his story splintered. The government claimed he wasn’t a journalist at all, but a foreign fighter – a legitimate target. Other evidence suggested he was killed on purpose for being a reporter. In this new series from Tortoise and the team behind Sweet Bobby, Pig Iron is a journey into the dark seduction of war, and what really happened to Christopher Allen.
Listen to episode one today. Search Pig Iron and follow the feed to be the first to know.
To access the first three episodes ad-free, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts or join Tortoise as a member, where you will also get invites to exclusive events. Visit the Tortoise website and use the code Basia50 for half price membership for £50 per year.
Introducing... Hoaxed, the new series from Alexi Mostrous and Tortoise.
In 2014, two children told police a shocking story: that they were being abused by a Satanic cult; a cult headed by their father and by parents and teachers at their school in the wealthy London suburb of Hampstead. The story was a lie. But on the internet, that didn't matter.
Hoaxed is an investigation into one of Britain's most serious-ever conspiracy theories. A story about a modern-day Satanic panic; about the victims whose lives were destroyed and about the conspiracists who spread the lie around the world. Oh, and it's about our hunt for the perpetrators - the people who forced the kids to lie - the ones who started it all.
Here's a sneak preview of episode one, to find it follow the link: https://podfollow.com/hoaxed
To access the first three episodes now subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts or join Tortoise as a member. Visit the Tortoise website and use the code Alexi50 for half price membership for £50 per year.
Introducing... Hoaxed, the new series from Alexi Mostrous and Tortoise. It's the story of a lie and how far it can spread. It's about a modern day crusade, a Holy War - online and off, and our search for the perpetrators of one of Britain's worst-ever conspiracy theories.
Launching on 15th September, but you can listen to the full length trailer today. Search for Hoaxed wherever you get your podcasts and follow the feed to get an alert when the first episode drops.
Link here: https://torto.se/3cxu7yf
Introducing the true crime podcast Persona: The French Deception - the story of Gilbert Chikli, one of the greatest con artists of all time. What does it feel like to pick up the phone and scam someone out of $50 million? Host and award-winning journalist, Evan Ratliff, investigates how Chikli successfully duped some of the world’s most powerful people into handing over their fortunes. He explores how Chikli evaded the law for years and became a Robin Hood-like hero. More than just a tale of criminal genius, this is a show about the moment we’re living in right now - the golden age of scammers - and the power of seduction. But what happens when the fantasy we’ve been lured into finally crumbles away? For all that and more, follow “Persona: The French Deception” wherever you get your podcasts. Or you can listen early on Amazon Music or early and ad-free by subscribing to Wondery Plus in Apple Podcasts or the Wondery app: wondery.fm/SB_Persona
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From the makers of Sweet Bobby comes Left to Die. When Islamist insurgents attacked a town in Mozambique in March 2021, civilians and foreign contractors raced to a local hotel for safety. Over three agonising days, they waited for a rescue. But no one came. In this extraordinary story of extremism, corruption and bravery, Tortoise journalist Basia Cummings investigates what happened at the Amarula Hotel, and speaks to the people who were trapped inside – and made it out alive.
Listen to all episodes by clicking the link: https://podfollow.com/1575743851
Free to listen. In the final episode of Sweet Bobby, Kirat’s case against the catfisher takes an unexpected turn. As Alexi is putting the finishing touches to the series, he gets a phone call that changes everything.
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After the confession, Kirat goes to the police. But their reaction to her case isn’t what she’s expecting. Plus: Alexi tries a new approach with the catfisher...
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Kirat deals with the fallout from the confession. Alexi’s investigation reveals the startling true beginnings of the scam, as he tries to unravel the catfisher's motivation.
To get early, ad-free access to each Sweet Bobby episode, become a Tortoise member. Just download the app: https://torto.se/3lJbRn7.
Bobby is now closer than ever – and yet he keeps slipping through Kirat's grasp. After being pushed to breaking point, she makes the life changing decision to confront him – and discovers the truth...
To get early, ad-free access to each Sweet Bobby episode, become a Tortoise member. Just download the app: https://torto.se/3lJbRn7.
Bobby finds his way back into Kirat's life, and their relationship grows closer – with devastating consequences. Meanwhile, Alexi investigates the sophistication of the catfishing scam.
To get early, ad-free access to each Sweet Bobby episode, become a Tortoise member. Just download the app: https://torto.se/3lJbRn7.
Kirat is a successful marketer and radio presenter. Online, she’s contacted by a man she vaguely knows called Bobby, and they start chatting. Slowly, they become close… and she’s reeled in to a scam of epic proportions.
To get early, ad-free access to each Sweet Bobby episode, become a Tortoise member. Just download the app: https://torto.se/3lJbRn7.
Premiering 28 October, 2021. How much do you know about the person you love? From the makers of Finding Q, Sweet Bobby is alive investigation, in six parts, in search of one of the world's most sophisticated catfishers.
To get early, ad-free access to each episode, join Tortoise Media. For a 30-day free trial, just download the app: https://torto.se/3lJbRn7.