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Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley

53. Elizabeth Cook - Body Snatcher

Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley

BBC

True Crime, History

4.7908 Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2026

⏱️ 30 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Lucy Worsley is back with a new series of Lady Killers, where true crime meets history - with a twist. In this episode, Lucy travels back to 1831 to Aldgate, then a poor part of East London, to investigate Elizabeth Cook, an Irish woman with a dark criminal background. When Elizabeth’s new lodger, an elderly peddler called Caroline Walsh, goes missing with no sign of her body, suspicions are high. When Elizabeth is discovered selling Caroline’s clothes, she is accused of her murder by her own son in court. With Lucy to find out more about the case of Elizabeth Cook is Jaswant Narwal, the Chief Crown Prosecutor for London North, and the person who would prosecute this case if it came to court today. Jaswant shares her 35 years of experience prosecuting homicides, including ‘no body’ cases. Lucy is also joined by historian Professor Rosalind Crone and they visit Aldgate to find out more about Elizabeth Cook and Caroline Walsh. They also go to the site of the Royal London Hospital to discuss the grisly fate of many of London’s missing persons in the early 19th century. Lucy wants to know what this case tells us about the lives of poor women in London in the 1830s. Can someone today be accused of murder if there is no body? Would Elizabeth Cook’s case go to court today and, if it did, what might the outcome be? Producer: Jane Greenwood Readers: Clare Corbett, Jonathan Keeble and Ruth Sillers Sound design: Chris Maclean Executive producer: Kirsty Hunter A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts.

0:05.7

Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, and I'm Ed Gamble, host of another BBC podcast, The Traitors Uncloaked.

0:12.7

But my show is available only on BBC Sounds, just like Ellis and John's Saturday bonus episodes,

0:18.2

The Pop Top Ten podcast with Scott Mills and Rylan, and comedy specials

0:22.2

from the likes of Harriet Kemsley, Susie Ruffel and Rommashranga Nathan. However, and maybe I'm biased,

0:27.9

it's really all about The Traitors Uncloaked. So for a whole bunch of exclusive scoops and podcasts,

0:33.4

listen only on BBC Sounds. You're about to listen to a brand new series of Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley.

0:40.3

Episodes will be released weekly wherever you get your podcasts.

0:43.6

But if you can't wait, head over to BBC Sounds,

0:45.9

where you can listen to the latest episodes a whole week earlier, first on BBC Sounds.

0:51.1

If you'd like to stay up to date with the latest episodes,

0:53.6

make sure you subscribe to Lady Killers on the BBC Sounds app

0:56.9

and have push notifications switched on.

1:02.1

Welcome to Lady Killers with me, Lucy Worsley from BBC Radio 4,

1:06.7

where true crime meets history with a twist.

1:15.4

Music where true crime meets history with a twist. It's the summer of 1831 in East London, in an impoverished bit of Oldgate.

1:22.7

A young woman called Anne Booton keeps an appointment to visit her much-loved grandmother Caroline.

1:28.5

In the new lodgings, Caroline had moved into the day before.

1:33.1

But when Anne arrives, her grandmother is nowhere to be found.

1:38.5

Where is the old lady?

1:40.0

She has just gone out.

1:41.4

Why?

...

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