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1:10

The 29th of July, 1981. Prince

1:13

Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer. An

1:16

8-year-old boy watches a fairy

1:18

tale unfold. An hour later, he's missing.

1:21

Then, one day in 2020, a

1:24

BBC reporter gets a call from

1:26

a mysterious source. Vishal.

1:29

The extraordinary true story of a boy

1:31

who went missing while the world looked the other way. All

1:34

lives

1:34

are not treated the same. Listen to Vishal.

1:38

Hello, it's Jack Loudon. And

1:40

I'm just dropping into this feed to let you know of a new

1:42

audio

1:45

drama I've been presenting for Radio 4 called An Eye for a Killing.

1:59

This is An Eye For A

2:02

Killing. The true story of Scotland's

2:04

most notorious serial killers, Burke

2:06

and Hare.

2:11

Episode 1, The Trial

2:13

On Christmas Eve.

2:19

It's Christmas Eve, 1828. It's

2:22

night. The High Court in

2:25

Edinburgh is packed with people. The

2:27

stink from the public benches is so strong,

2:30

the court ushers shove open the windows, despite

2:32

the winter cold. The

2:34

gawping crowds pull scarves over their

2:37

heads in a vain attempt to keep warm.

2:39

Silence and cold silence.

2:42

This is no ordinary murder trial. An

2:45

old woman's body has been found stuffed in a

2:48

box.

2:50

All eyes on the short, stocky man in

2:52

the dock. His name

2:55

is William Burke. At

2:57

his side, his co-accused Helen

2:59

McDougall. Head down, she

3:02

fidgets constantly.

3:04

Burke puts his hand on her arm, reassuring

3:06

her. Now, in

3:08

the flickering light, they're waiting.

3:12

Waiting for a witness. Waiting

3:14

for his words. Waiting

3:17

for the one man who knows what he saw.

3:21

Because he was there.

3:23

He was definitely there.

3:26

Welcome to hell. My

3:29

name is William Hare. I'm 21, yes. He

3:32

looks older

3:33

than that, the sharp-faced man in

3:35

the witness box. William

3:37

Hare has had a hard life. Burke

3:40

and Hare.

3:42

You might have heard their names.

3:44

You might also have heard that they were 19th

3:46

century grave robbers. They

3:49

weren't. They didn't dig up

3:51

a single body. They simply

3:54

murdered for cash, 16

3:55

times.

3:58

But only one of them ended up on... trial.

4:06

I swear by Almighty God and as

4:08

I shall answer to God at the great day of judgment

4:11

that I will speak the truth, the whole

4:13

truth and nothing but the truth.

4:15

William here looks round all the faces.

4:19

He seems unconcerned by what he's about to

4:21

say and admit to. A warning.

4:25

His evidence is graphic and brutal.

4:28

It comes directly from the transcript of

4:30

the trial.

4:32

From nearly 200 years ago William here

4:35

speaks. Quietly

4:37

he begins. The

4:39

woman was on the floor and William

4:42

Burke got strayed legs on top of her. In

4:45

the dock Burke glows

4:47

at her who maintains

4:49

a hundred-yard stare.

4:51

She cried out a little

4:54

and he kept in her breath. Did

4:57

he lay himself down upon her? Scotland's

5:00

chief law officer, the Lord Advocate

5:03

Sir William Wray. Yes,

5:06

he pressed down her head with his breast. He

5:08

put one hand under her nose and the other under

5:11

her chin.

5:13

He stopped her breath. For

5:15

how long? Ten

5:18

or fifteen minutes. Did

5:21

she appear dead then? She

5:23

wasn't moving. You

5:26

were in the room William here. Tell

5:28

the court what you were doing all the time this was happening.

5:33

I was sitting in a chair.

5:36

William here is not on trial. He

5:38

will never be on trial

5:40

despite his complicity in not just one

5:42

premeditated murder but so many

5:44

more. This trial

5:47

for the murder of Margaret Dokerti comes

5:49

at the end of a ten-month killing spree

5:52

that left 16 people dead and

5:54

all for money.

5:57

This is a haunting story of murder on an

5:59

entire

5:59

industrial scale. It's dark, frightening

6:03

and plums the terrible depths of human behaviour.

6:08

But there's also light and life

6:12

and good people. There's

6:15

a bright girl dancing. She

6:18

hopes for a new beginning. I

6:23

present to you me, the one

6:25

and only Mary Patterson.

6:32

There's a boy on the street with no shoes

6:35

and a rain man mind. Wait

6:37

now, wait now. My

6:40

brain's clicking. The clack,

6:43

it's coming, how do I click?

6:45

January the 4th this

6:47

year. It was a Friday,

6:51

on May 6th. Can you hear it? Clickity

6:54

clickity. That was a Tuesday.

6:56

That's two pennies sir, thank you. He's right,

6:58

he's got it. That's in my almanac.

7:02

I'm iright sir and I'm right up here in

7:04

my head. Remember my name. I'm Jamie

7:06

Wilson.

7:07

And

7:12

there's Margaret Dougherty who told

7:14

fortunes. God protect

7:17

you, God serve

7:19

you. Your hands

7:22

cold. Here, let

7:25

me hold it and warm it

7:27

while I read your lines.

7:31

See,

7:32

this is your heart. Oh,

7:35

there's happiness there for

7:38

you. And this is

7:40

your big line. Now

7:44

Alanya, oh,

7:47

I see your future clear.

7:51

Maybe she could, but she never

7:53

saw her own. In that,

7:55

she was lucky. We are going

7:57

to journey down into a world of sudden violence. violent

8:00

death, bodies in sacks and

8:02

shiny blades wielded in high ceiling

8:05

lecture theatres. Where

8:07

there's big money and no questions asked.

8:10

A world of posh talk, good reputations

8:13

and fancy Dan dressing. Vast

8:16

houses with big gardens and low

8:18

filthy lodging rooms swarming with vermin.

8:22

Does the class divide? Corruption?

8:24

Distain for the poor? Mass immigration?

8:28

And an acceptance that life is

8:30

cheap when lived but profitable

8:33

when you're dead.

8:39

In the name of God, police! Keep going!

8:43

Eight weeks before William Pears' performance

8:45

at the High Court, a man and

8:47

a woman hurry through the streets of Edinburgh. It

8:50

is the

8:51

evening of Saturday the 1st of November 1828. We

8:55

know from the trial transcripts what happened

8:57

that night and the following days. Lord

9:00

blood's on me!

9:01

Police! Help! They

9:04

present themselves at a police station in the

9:06

Fountain Bridge area, a few hundred yards

9:08

from the Westport.

9:10

What they tell John Fisher, the criminal

9:13

officer at the desk, sets in

9:15

train a series of events that will engulf

9:17

not only Edinburgh but horrify Britain

9:20

and the world

9:22

and change the law of the land forever.

9:25

Superintendent John Fisher, criminal

9:27

officer, Edinburgh. He

9:30

told me that he'd found the dead body

9:32

of an old woman stuffed under a bed in a

9:34

house in the Westport. I

9:36

went with him to the building in Tanner's Close. Dear

9:41

God. I'm

9:45

William Burke. Yes,

9:47

I live here. Hey.

9:50

I have reason to believe something

9:52

untoward has happened in this house. Yes,

9:55

yes. I'll ask the questions, Mr Burke,

9:57

and you will answer me. Nothing's happened here.

9:59

You're a singin' and dancin'.

10:02

A gatherer. A kaley. Will

10:06

I dispel that for ye? Yeah,

10:10

Burke was a small man with a big mouth on him. He was insulin.

10:14

I thought he was cocky. I

10:18

asked him what he'd become of the little woman who'd been at his house

10:20

the day before. Mrs.

10:26

Daugherty? She left

10:28

about seven this mornin'. Who saw her

10:30

go? Oh, loads of people. You

10:33

wouldn't know them. Careful.

10:37

That's my thanks. Get

10:40

off them. What are you

10:42

looking for? Looking for a body.

10:45

What kind of body? Where have you moved

10:48

it? You've found

10:50

nothing like that here.

10:54

That's a clip from an Eye for a Killing, a

10:56

new audio drama about Scotland's most

10:58

notorious serial killers, Burke and Hare. If

11:02

you like what you heard, you can subscribe

11:04

to an Eye for a Killing on BBC Sounds to hear

11:06

all episodes from the series. The 29th

11:15

of July 1981, Prince Charles marries Lady

11:17

Diana Spencer. An

11:23

eight-year-old boy watches the fairy tale

11:26

unfold. An hour later, he's missing.

11:28

Then, one day in 2020, a

11:31

BBC reporter gets a call from

11:33

a mysterious source. Vishal,

11:36

the extraordinary true story of a boy

11:38

who went missing while the world looked the

11:40

other way.

11:41

All lives are not treated the same. Listen

11:44

to Vishal.