4.2 • 2.9K Ratings
🗓️ 17 December 2025
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
A man believed to be the UK’s most prolific romance fraudster, who conned a number of women into giving him almost a million pounds, has been jailed for seventeen years - the longest sentence ever handed down for romance fraud in the UK. Anna Rowe, founder of Catch the Catfish and a former victim of romance fraud joins Nuala.
It’s 50 years this month since the Sex Discrimination Act was passed - a cause and campaign which united women across classes and generations. Historian Dr Lyndsey Jenkins tells us about the struggle to make it law, and the impact it had on women’s lives.
This morning we reveal that the Home Office is planning to expand a pilot scheme where domestic abuse specialists are embedded in police 999 control rooms to advise officers handling calls. They listen in, provide feedback, run training sessions for call handlers and ensure victims are pointed to support services. This pilot was introduced earlier this year under "Raneem's law" after Raneem Oudeh and her mother Khaola Saleem were murdered by Raneem's ex partner. Raneem had called West Midlands police 14 times to report concerns about her safety. Her aunt Nour Norris has campaigned for this change and joins Nuala in the studio.
We celebrate the phenomenon of female tribute acts to male bands. Gobby Holder, aka Danie Cox of Slady and Lolo Wood of The Fallen Women and Ye Nuns tell us how their audiences have grown.
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| 0:35.7 | Hello, I'm Neula McGovern and welcome to Woman's Hour from BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:40.4 | Just to say that for rights reasons, the music in the original radio broadcast has been removed for this podcast. |
| 0:46.6 | Hello, this is Nula McGovern and you're listening to The Woman's Hour podcast. |
| 0:51.2 | Hello and welcome to the programme. |
| 0:53.3 | Well, a man has been sentenced to 17 years in prison |
| 0:56.8 | for romance fraud, the longest ever sentence imposed for that crime in the UK. We're going to |
| 1:02.8 | hear all about that case and also why romance scams are on the rise, costing UK victims |
| 1:07.6 | £106 million in 2024. |
| 1:12.6 | That is according to the Financial Conduct Authority. |
| 1:15.7 | Also today, let us go back in our time machine. |
| 1:18.8 | Now, not to the Jane Austen era, which was just wonderful yesterday. |
| 1:22.2 | Thanks for everybody who got in touch. |
| 1:24.0 | But to 50 years ago before the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975. |
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