10. Mad, Bad And Dangerous To Know

Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley

BBC

Personal Journals, True Crime, History, Society & Culture

4.7 • 908 Ratings

🗓️ 25 July 2022

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this final episode of Lady Killers, Lucy Worsley and Dr Rosalind Crone look back and discuss the last four cases and the issues and themes they share.

Together they re-examine two of Britain’s most notorious serial killers, Amelia Dyer who’s thought to have killed hundreds of babies and children and Mary Ann Cotton who murdered three of her husbands and numerous children and step-children. Over in the United States they look back at Hannah Mary Tabbs, who killed her lover and back in London delve into the sad case of Esther Lack, the mother who murdered three of her own children.

Lucy and Ros dig deeper into the social issues and circumstances that helped create these murderesses. They look back at an era when newspapers were booming and examine the part the press played in shaping the stories of these women and how they were presented to a scandal hungry public. With that in mind they chat through the new discoveries sweeping through society in terms of toxicology and new understandings around mental health. Finally they scrutinise all eight cases and ask, what has changed today that could have made a difference?

Producer: Alex Baxter Sound design: Chris Maclean

A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Kim Ketrau and I want to tell you about my new podcast a new audio drama telling the history of the CIA from the inside out.
0:09.0	The United States of America was suddenly its worst domestic attack.
0:14.0	He's got to convince Congress to give him an open checkbook now.
0:18.0	America has suffered its worst domestic attack of the 20th century at Pearl Harbor.
0:23.0	How do we make contact with the NKGB?
0:27.0	Central Intelligence, starring me, Kim Kertral, Ed Harris, and Johnny Flynn.
0:31.0	There's $50,000 in it for you if you say yes.
0:34.8	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:38.8	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts. Music Radio Podcasts.
0:55.0	This is Lady Killers, where history meets true crime from BBC Radio 4 with me Lucy Worsley. Amelia Dyer, the serial killer of children.
1:02.0	Amelia Dyer, the serial killer of children.
1:02.8	We don't even know how many of them.
1:05.4	I told them that after I got a baby,
1:07.2	something seemed to say in my ears,
1:09.6	get rid of it.
1:11.6	And when I put the tape around his neck and I saw the poor little thing struggle, I did not
1:16.1	feel what I done. Mary Ann Cotton, the woman who tried to get on in life by killing three out of
1:22.1	four of her husbands for the insurance.
1:25.2	I wish to consult with you about getting me a petition for my life to be spared.
1:28.8	Hannah Mary Tabs, a very cool customer from the States, who boarded a train with the victim's torso in her bag.
1:37.0	Wilson pointed to the body of Gaines and said,
1:40.0	If you will take that part, I'll take all the rest.
	...

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