The Black Widow: 5. Spilt Milk

Gangster

BBC

True Crime, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.8 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 5 September 2025

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After being released from prison, Linda's living the quiet life catching up on lost time with her two kids.

Trouble soon finds her again as Ronnie Cook's sentence also comes to an end. When Linda brings Ronnie home for a visit, the couple are confronted by a hitman and Linda's small kitchen is turned into a brutal murder scene.

But as police begin to question Linda, they discover that the 'The Black Widow' could have her boyfriend's blood on her hands in more ways than one.

Credits Presenter: Livvy Haydock Series Producer: Kate West Producers: Patrick Kiteley and Matthew Bone Journalism Assistants: Tim Fernley and Ellie Dover Drama Writer: Paul Jones Sound Design: Richard Hannaford Assistant Commissioner: Lorraine Okuefuna Commissioning Editor: Richard Maddock Editors and Executive Producers: Carl Johnston and Clare Fordham

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Rory Stewart and I grew up wanting to be a hero and I'm still fascinated by the ideas of heroism.
0:09.0	In my new series, I'm taking in the long sweep of history from Achilles to Zelensky and asking, what is a hero?
0:16.0	Simply doing your job, being a decent human being.
0:20.0	A true hero is someone who just kind of shines by
0:23.1	their own light and that light is to be recognised by others. The long history of heroism with me,
0:28.6	Rory Stewart. Listen on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts. You're about listen to Gangster, the story of the Black Widow.
0:41.7	Episodes will be released weekly wherever you get your podcasts.
0:45.8	But if you're in the UK, you can listen to the full series right now, first on BBC Sounds.
0:53.4	A quick warning.
0:54.9	This episode contains strong language and some descriptions of violence.
1:02.3	I just collected my daughter from nursery.
1:05.5	So when I was walking back, there was a man sitting on the park bench across the road.
1:10.8	And my neighbour came out, and she said to me, I've been watching that man.
1:14.3	He's just sitting there.
1:15.9	It's a Monday afternoon in November 1990.
1:20.3	We're on King George Avenue, a sleepy cul-de-sac in Canning Town.
1:25.6	Next-door neighbours, Doreen and Sylvia,
1:28.3	are watching a man in the park opposite.
1:31.1	He's huge, wearing a black track suit
1:33.7	with a white baseball cap pulled down over his face.
1:37.8	Something about the way he's acting
1:39.4	keeps the women drawn to the curtains.
	...

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