When police investigated the disappearance of wealthy widow, Olive Durand Deacon, in early 1949, they could not have imagined the gruesome confession told to them by the man they had brought in for questioning.

The first episode examines the horrifying discovery made in a trunk at the left luggage office of Brighton Train Station on a hot summer's day in 1934. Two days later, a similar case was found in Kings Cross Station, London. A major police investigation began that would take an unexpected turn in the search for a murderer.

The murders of two teens along the River Thames leads to one of Britain's most massive manhunts and ultimately to the capture of Alfred Whiteway.

In 1955, London nightclub manager Ruth Ellis confesses to the murder of her abusive lover, then becomes the last woman to be executed in Britain.