#321 - 'Fat Fred' - Part 1 of 2 (Frederick Joseph Sewell, Blackpool / Islington)

Murder Mile UK True Crime

Murder Mile UK True-Crime Podcast

True Crime, English, Nglish, E, Uk, Crime, London, Society & Culture, Murder, Killer, True-crime, History, Personal Journals, British

4.7 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 23 October 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This is Part One of Two of 'Fat Fred'. This is Part One of Two of 'Fat Fred'.

On Tuesday 29th of September 1971, Malcolm Heaysman, co-owner of a fancy-dress shop in Islington was brutally murdered outside of his remote farmhouse in Gwynfe near Llangadog, Carmarthenshire. Being 40 days into a 45 day man hunt, Police were seeking Britain’s no1 villain infamously known as ‘Fat Fred’ having stolen £3.2 million in a jewellery heist, and in a 3 mile car chase, he sparked a national outrage by killing a policeman, and attempting to kill three others. But what connected him to the murder of this mild-mannered fancy-dress shop owner?

· Location #1: Beck’s Carnival Novelties, 139 Upper Street, Islington, London, W1
· Location #2: Godre Waun, Llangadog, Carmarthenshire, Wales, SA19
· Date: Tuesday 29th of September 1971, post 9pm (murder)
· Victims: Malcolm Heaysman
· Culprits: ?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Always True Crime, a podcast network bringing you gripping real-life stories that you won't be able to stop thinking about.
0:08.2	Discover your next true crime obsession at alwaystruecrime.com.
0:13.6	How did a Playboy car dealer become Britain's most hated man?
0:18.3	Find out on Murder Marl.
0:24.9	Yeah. most hated man. Find out on murder mile. Today I'm standing outside of 139 Upper Street in Islington N1.
0:30.8	Two roads north of the spat which ignited the golden goose killing.
0:35.0	Two roads east of the last lunch of Ginger Ray, and three roads west
0:39.5	of the unsolved Christmas Day murder of the Kentish Town Copper, coming soon to murder
0:45.0	mile.
0:47.2	At 139 stands a four-story Brown-B terraced house with an Italian eatery called
0:55.2	Terra Nova on the ground floor.
0:58.6	Like all Italian restaurants, we believe this authentic cuisine is centuries old, having been
1:03.6	passed down from Mama Maria to Uncle Luigi to Papa Giuseppe in a Naples kitchen, when in truth, garlic bread, spaghetti meatballs,
1:13.6	Caesar salad and pepperoni pizza is not from Italy.
1:19.6	We believe it because we want to believe it, as life is about truth, but it's also about secrets and lies. Back in 1971, 139 Upper Street was a
1:33.0	fancy dress shop called Beck's Carnival Novelties, which rented and sold costumes, buntings,
1:38.5	magic masks and makeup all around the world, with its factory at the back where the Almida
1:43.8	Theatre now stands,
1:45.0	it had storage space in the attic, and above the shop was the home of 46-year-old Malcolm
1:50.6	Haysman, his wife Rose, and occasionally their stepson Roy. This was the home where Malcolm
1:59.0	and Rose had lived as man and wife.
2:01.6	And on the night of the 28th of September, 1971, where Malcolm began his ill-fated drive to Wales.
	...

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