The cold-case murder victim who turned up alive. The dopey drug runners who inadvertently filmed their crimes on their own CCTV. And the heart-stopping moment detectives realised a blackmailer they were hunting was one of their own.

They’re just some of the real-life crime thrillers brought to us on 24 Hours In Police Custody, the Channel 4 reality show that’s been dropping viewers slap bang into the middle of cases as they unfold in real time for the past ten years.

The show’s gripping premise is the law that states the clock starts ticking as soon as a suspect is arrested, and that officers have just 24 hours to collect enough evidence to charge them or they have to release them. 

Cameras follow Bedfordshire police officers based in Luton (sometimes working with the neighbouring Cambridgeshire force) as they go about their business, covering all manner of crimes.

‘We can go from major drugs importers bringing in tons of cocaine to poor drug-addicted prostitutes,’ says series creator and executive producer Simon Ford. 

‘You could barely script some of it. We’ve had drug dealers being interviewed with their phones lying on the desk, and suddenly they get calls asking for drugs and the police officer’s going, “Who’s that? Who’s that?”.

‘Crime writers I’ve talked to have said, “You’ve got so many scenes we wouldn’t even dare write because they’d seem too preposterous. Yet they actually happen for you guys.”

Now, as the show celebrates its tenth birthday, there’s no better time to celebrate some of its most astonishing cases…

Channel 4’s 24 Hours In Police Custodyhas been dropping viewers slap bang into the middle of cases as they unfold in real time for the past ten years

THE MURDER VICTIM WHO CAME BACK FROM THE DEAD

One of the most shocking moments came in a 2021 episode, The No Body Murder, when police reopened the case of Lithuanian farm labourer Ricardas Puisys. He’d gone missing in Cambridgeshire in 2015 and police had travelled to Europe in their exhaustive search for him. 

‘They presumed Puisys had been killed by slave masters and buried in the forest and were looking for his body,’ says Simon.

The Major Crimes Unit sifted through clues and followed up new evidence, and were utterly astonished when the trail led them to Puisys, who’d been living rough in the woods all that time. 

‘It was documentary gold to be there when he emerged, blinking into the torchlight and realising that the police were on his side,’ says Simon. 

‘It was like discovering Stig of the Dump [the dishevelled caveman in the children’s book], because he literally hadn’t spoken to anyone for years.’

Having been enslaved by Lithuanian gang masters, Puisys had run away and was living off-grid, feeding himself out of supermarket bins. 

One of the most shocking moments came in a 2021 episode, The No Body Murder, when police reopened the case of Lithuanian farm labourer Ricardas Puisys who had gone missing in Cambridgeshire in 2015

Having been enslaved by Lithuanian gang masters, Puisys had run away and was living off-grid, feeding himself out of supermarket bins

The Major Crimes Unit sifted through clues and followed up new evidence, and were utterly astonished when the trail led them to Puisys, who’d been living rough in the woods all that time

‘It was an amazing human moment and a remarkable solution to a mystery that had everyone confused for years,’ says Simon. 

Puisys was given a new identity and the help he needed to set up a new life elsewhere.

THE BODY THAT TURNED UP 12 YEARS LATER – LIVE ON CAMERA

In the 2018 episode Shallow Grave, cameras were rolling when the body of Luton mother-of-three Natalia Doherty, 50, was found 12 years after she’d disappeared. Police presumed but could not confirm that Natalia had been killed by her ex-husband, who’d committed suicide shortly after.

The whereabouts of Natalia’s remains had remained a mystery until one canny detective had a hunch. 

‘One particularly forensic detective… got permission to dig up the garden of her brother-in-law,’ explains Simon.

Pathologists began exploring the garden of Natalia’s brother-in-law, Daniel Doherty of Luton. ‘Lo and behold, we were filming as they discovered what I think it was the arm bone of the poor woman.

‘It was one of those things where you could spend years hoping to film something like that live and suddenly we’re filming it live. It was like a very expensive reconstruction in a Netflix drama and we had it in real life.’

In the 2018 episode Shallow Grave, cameras were rolling when the body of Luton mother-of-three Natalia Doherty, 50, was found 12 years after she’d disappeared

Pathologists began exploring the garden of Natalia’s brother-in-law, Daniel Doherty of Luton

Police investigators had a hunch and got permission to dig up the garden of her brother-in-lawthen 

Pathologists began exploring the garden of Natalia’s brother-in-law and discovered her body

THE HIGH-PROFILE MURDERER CAUGHT BY A MISSING FENCE

The show has been at the heart of cases that have grabbed national headlines, such as the reopened case of Rikki Neave, the six-year-old schoolboy from Peterborough murdered in 1994. Rikki’s mother Ruth had originally stood trial for his murder and been acquitted, though convicted of child cruelty offences.

‘The police never really went after the person responsible until cold case detectives from the Major Crime Unit got back onto it in 2016,’ explains Simon. 

‘It became a job they cared about so much, and it was actually solved by a really clever piece of detective work.’

Police discovered that new technology had enabled them to match the DNA on Rikki’s clothing to another local boy, James Watson, who was 13 at the time of Rikki’s murder. 

When Watson was reinterviewed by police in Portugal, where he’d fled, he explained that his DNA had been transferred to Rikki when he’d lifted him up to look over a fence.

The show reopened case of Rikki Neave, the six-year-old schoolboy from Peterborough murdered in 1994

Police discovered that new technology had enabled them to match the DNA on Rikki’s clothing to another local boy, James Watson, who was 13 at the time of Rikki’s murder

When Watson was reinterviewed by police in Portugal, where he’d fled, he explained that his DNA had been transferred to Rikki when he’d lifted him up to look over a fence

Rikki’s mother Ruth (pictured) had originally stood trial for his murder and been acquitted, though convicted of child cruelty offences

‘Then this detective found a piece of video which demonstrated the fence didn’t even exist at the time of the crime, so you see the detective working that out on camera and you feel like, “Wow, what a good bit of detective work”, because the guy’s alibi completely collapses,’ says Simon. 

Watson’s conviction for Rikki’s murder was finally secured in 2022.

THE DOPEY DRUG RUNNERS WHO FILMED THEMSELVES ON THEIR OWN CCTV

Watching detectives outsmart suspects is one of the show’s great joys. In a 2020 double episode called The Home Counties Cartel, a sophisticated police investigation saw officers watch cocaine and heroin being shipped from Holland to the Hertfordshire farm of drugs kingpin Robert Brooks.

Needing more evidence to condemn Brooks and his cronies, police were astonished when it turned out that Brooks, who was also a part-time driving instructor, and had inadvertently filmed one of his drugs transactions on his own car dashcam. 

The footage enabled police to identify and arrest a courier transporting the drugs to the north of England.

In a 2020 double episode called The Home Counties Cartel, a sophisticated police investigation saw officers watch cocaine and heroin being shipped from Holland to the Hertfordshire

The operation was being carried out by drugs kingpin Robert Brooks form his farm in Hertfordshire

Needing more evidence police were astonished when it turned out that Brooks had inadvertently filmed one of his drugs transactions on his own car dashcam

Then detectives ramped up their investigation in a way that humiliates the drugs gang. Police intercepted one drugs shipment destined for the gang and stuck a camera inside one of the boxes before sending it to Brooks’s farm.

‘The criminals go to open up the box in their garage to find the drugs and actually see themselves being filmed by the camera,’ says Simon. ‘Although they’re big gangsters, they’re such idiots. They also had their own CCTV, which filmed them running away in full detail.’ 

All involved were convicted, with Brooks receiving the longest stretch of 21 years in prison.

THE YOGA FAN BEGGING TO BE ARRESTED FOR MURDER

Sometimes it feels like suspects are just begging to be arrested by acting in a suspicious manner.

In 2018 episode Body In The Grass, police investigating the death of 45-year-old Bedfordshire woman Sharon Fade – who had bled to death after her throat was slashed – pulled in her partner Dean Robinson for questioning.

His behaviour at the station was so bizarre that initially cops were sure they’d found their man. ‘This was a deeply eccentric man who behaved so suspiciously that everyone thought he must be a murderer,’ explains Simon. 

‘He started doing full yoga moves while he was being checked in, like putting his leg behind his neck.’

In 2018 episode Body In The Grass, police investigating the death of 45-year-old Bedfordshire woman Sharon Fade pulled in her partner Dean Robinson for questioning but he shocked them by pulling off a series of yoga moves

When Sharon’s family describe Robinson as a controlling partner and a Walter Mitty character, exaggerating his accomplishments, detectives grow more suspicious. However, tests confirmed that only her own DNA was on the bottle that killed her, and her death was ruled a suicide.

‘But you couldn’t blame the police for thinking Robinson was guilty,’ says Simon. ‘He nearly ended up going down for something he didn’t do.’

THE PAEDOPHILE WITH A POLICE SIREN RINGTONE

There are moments of pathos too. Officers’ eyebrows shot up when they were interviewing Bedfordshire pensioner Bruce Davison for alleged sex crimes committed in the 1970s against a minor.

Simon takes up the story. ‘A paedophile is being interviewed for horrible offences and halfway through the interview, and this quite often happens, his phone goes off… and it’s a police siren! It’s at the denouement of the interview. You could barely script it.’ Davison eventually pleaded guilty and went down for six years.

Officers’ eyebrows shot up when they were interviewing Bedfordshire pensioner Bruce Davison for alleged sex crimes committed in the 1970s against a minor

After the episode was shown in June 2017 another man claiming to be a victim of Davison came forward, having recognised him from the show and Davison was sentences to a further 15 months

But the story didn’t end there. Astonishingly, after the episode was shown in June 2017 another man claiming to be a victim of Davison came forward, having recognised him from the show. 

The victim had been about 13 in the mid-1990s when he alleged he was abused. Luton Crown Court found Davison guilty of indecent assault and sentenced him to a further 15 months.

THE ARROGANT SURGEON WHOSE OWN PHOTOGRAPHS CONVICTED HIM

One of the most delightful on-camera encounters occurred in a lighter episode devoid of murders. In 2019’s The Detective And The Surgeon, no-nonsense DC Dave Brecknock outsmarts arrogant surgeon Anthony McGrath, who’s accused of staging a break-in and mortgage fraud.

McGrath claimed antiques worth £250,000 had been stolen from his cottage at Luton Hoo, but Brecknock is immediately suspicious that McGrath’s narrative doesn’t fit the evidence. 

Then McGrath slips up spectacularly when he sends Brecknock photos of some of the stolen items and the time stamp on the photo of one particular antique fireplace showed it was taken after McGrath had reported it stolen. 

In 2019’s The Detective And The Surgeon, no-nonsense DC Dave Brecknock outsmarts arrogant surgeon Anthony McGrath (pictured), who’s accused of staging a break-in and mortgage fraud

McGrath claimed antiques worth £250,000 had been stolen from his cottage at Luton Hoo, but Brecknock is immediately suspicious that McGrath’s narrative doesn’t fit the evidence

Brecknock then travels to the family stately home in County Meath, Ireland, where he locates the fireplace. McGrath is sentenced to eight years and ordered to pay back more than £500,000 (Anne McGrath pictured)

McGrath slips up spectacularly when he sends Brecknock photos of some of the stolen items with a time stamp showing it had been taken  after McGrath had reported it stolen

Brecknock then travels to the family stately home in County Meath, Ireland, where he locates the fireplace. McGrath is sentenced to eight years and ordered to pay back more than £500,000.

‘Dave Brecknock has got immense charisma and is hilarious on screen,’ says Simon. ‘The thing is, he also has an interest in antiques and he spent months looking into this case. When he travelled to Ireland and posed next to this marble fireplace and sent the photo back to his colleagues, it was a hilarious moment.

‘It was a class battle between the working-class cops and this posh, arrogant bloke, and the viewers absolutely loved it, because they brought him down. ‘Every time we repeat it people say, ‘This is my favourite one ever.’

THE BLACKMAILER WHO TURNED OUT TO BE A CORRUPT OFFICER

And then there was a blackmail case that shocked even the police. In 2018 episode Sex And Corruption, a citizen reported to Bedfordshire Police that he was being blackmailed over photos taken of him visiting a prostitute.

‘I was at the police precinct one morning and I was watching this case unfolding, and I thought, ‘There’s something really wrong with this case, it doesn’t add up,’ says Simon. 

A blackmail case shocked Bedfordshire Police after it was discovered  was being DC Gareth Suffling (pictured) had blackmailed someone with photos taken of him visiting a prostitute

‘I actually had the thought that the victim might be being blackmailed by a police officer so I rang the Chief Constable and said, ‘I think we’re witnessing a piece of police corruption here.’

The Chief Constable allowed the cameras to keep filming as cops honed in on DC Gareth Suffling as the blackmailer, who was actually one of the officers working the case. ‘We’d previously filmed him quite a lot,’ explains Simon. 

‘He’d worked out that he could go onto the Police National Computer, find details about people and then start blackmailing them. We were able to show him being arrested by his colleagues.’ Suffling was sentenced to 18 months, later increased to three years.

24 Hours In Police Custody continues on 20 and 27 January at 9pm on Channel 4.