The Pitcairn Trials

Following the release of The Surgeon of St Helena, Luke has updates. Producer Louisa Adams joins him in the studio to ask some of your questions. This episode is also available as video - to watch, and see some of the footage from Luke's time on St Helena, visit https://www.youtube.com/@AlwaysTrueCrime or patreon/alwaystruecrime.com The Surgeon of St Helena is an Always True Crime Production for Audio Always. This series contains graphic descriptions of medical trauma. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Back in the UK, Ruth and co take their fight against the St Helena government to court. But there is another twist. Luke also tries to find out where Dr Sergio is now. Got questions for Luke? Email luke.jones@alwaystruecrime.com To listen to episodes early and ad free subscribe now on Patreon at patreon/alwaystruecrime.com An Always True Crime Production for Audio Always. This series contains graphic descriptions of medical trauma. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Luke is on the island, but getting a meeting with those in charge is proving almost impossible. With Ruth, he digs into how the bureaucracy of St Helena works, and why it appears the government is trying to block Sergio’s victims from receiving compensation. Got questions for Luke? Email luke.jones@alwaystruecrime.com To listen to episodes early and ad free, subscribe now on Patreon at patreon/alwaystruecrime.com An Always True Crime Production for Audio Always. This series contains graphic descriptions of medical trauma. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Solicitor Ruth travelled to the island to see Sergio sentenced, but nothing went the way she expected. Luke meets The Peters, one of the families Ruth is representing on St Helena, and learns of the profound impact Dr Sergio has had on their lives. To listen to episodes early and ad free subscribe now on Patreon at patreon/alwaystruecrime.com An Always True Crime Production for Audio Always. This series contains graphic descriptions of medical trauma. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Luke plans to travel to St Helena to meet Dr Sergio Villatoro Bran’s victims, but unexpectedly the airport closes. Leaving the population of the island stranded. He takes us back to 2023, when the criminal charges against Sergio were mounting. But would they stick? To listen to episodes early and ad free subscribe now on Patreon at patreon/alwaystruecrime.com An Always True Crime Production for Audio Always. This series contains graphic descriptions of medical trauma. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Could Dr Sergio be part of a bigger picture? Why are some of the doctors who came before him on the island also dogged by horrible stories of malpractice? Luke hears the story of two women on St Helena who suffered badly at the hands of a different surgeon, long before Dr Sergio arrived. To listen to episodes early and ad free, subscribe now on Patreon at patreon/alwaystruecrime.com An Always True Crime Production for Audio Always. This series contains graphic descriptions of medical trauma. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Sergio Villatoro Bran was arrested, but someone seemed intent on helping him get off the island. Meanwhile, Bernard and Sandra started speaking to Sergio’s patients, and a troubling pattern emerged. Why would some hospital staff not speak to them? And would they be able to help the victims? To listen to episodes early and ad free, subscribe now on Patreon at patreon/alwaystruecrime.com An Always True Crime Production for Audio Always. This series contains graphic descriptions of medical trauma. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After the release of The Pitcairn Trials, Luke received emails about another British Overseas Territory - St Helena. They told a shocking story of medical negligence, criminality and social divide. Luke meets retired Met police officers Bernard and Sandra, to hear why they were summoned to this remote island in the South Atlantic at the height of Covid. It was all to investigate one man…an orthopaedic surgeon called Dr Sergio Villatoro Bran. To listen to new episodes early and ad free, subscribe now on Patreon at patreon/alwaystruecrime.com The Surgeon of St Helena is an Always True Crime Production for Audio Always. This series contains graphic descriptions of medical trauma. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when a dangerous surgeon arrives on one of the world’s most remote islands? How much damage can he do before he is stopped? St Helena is a small British island in the South Atlantic, over 1000 miles from the nearest landmass. It is famous for hosting Napoleon in exile, and boasts the world's oldest living land animal, Jonathan the tortoise, as one of its residents. But this tiny British Overseas Territory has been gripped with scandal. When orthopedic surgeon Dr Sergio Villatoro Bran arrived in 2015 he was supposed to revolutionise care on the island. Instead he caused unimaginable harm. Was it incompetence? Or was he deliberately causing harm? And is the government of St Helena trying to block the residents' fight for justice? Following on from the critically acclaimed The Pitcairn Trials, Luke Jones investigates another scandal unfolding in one of Britain’s most isolated territories. First episodes arrive June 28th 2026, hit follow so you don't miss this show. Hosted on Acast. See…

A brand new investigative series from the creators of The Pitcairn Trials is on the way! Luke Jones shares an exclusive update of what to expect and introduces an episode of his must listen new show. Click here to get to more episodes of Strangely and uncover the world's oddest, most fascinating stories. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Luke Jones takes you behind The Pitcairn Trials, to answer some of your most-asked questions. We hear how he navigated interviewing Glenda, who grew up on Pitcairn and experienced abuse there, how he found his way through a maze of official legal documents and whether he would ever visit Pitcairn himself. Luke reveals the unanswered questions he still has from the series, and the areas he’d like to explore further. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Guilty men of Pitcairn received remarkably short prison sentences. Some on the island, sent to the luxury jail they helped to build. Some received community service, with time off to help with the island’s harvest and work. In the end the Pitcairn Trials cost £47 million, paid by the British taxpayer and government. By 2009 all the convicted men had been released. But the problem did not vanish in the years since. We examine what the future holds for Pitcairn. Can Pitcairn escape the shadows of its past? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Glenda takes the stand. Through interviews and court transcripts, we examine the Defence team’s arguments, and the legal debates that surrounded them. Glenda and police officer Peter George wait for the verdict in the UK. Peter gets it first, then phones Glenda. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Judges, lawyers and a press pack make the long journey to Pitcairn and the trials begin. Journalists are summoned to a meeting of all the women on the Island at Big Fence as they argue that their men are innocent, and there are claims that the trials are a British conspiracy to reclaim Pitcairn. A punishment for the mutiny on the Bounty in 1789, revenge on Pitcairn, being a dish served well and truly cold. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Despite immense pressure to withdraw their testimony, key witnesses for the prosecution are secured. A campaign to undermine the victims to withdraw from the trial begins, led by Pitcairn women. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Luke Jones meets Glenda at her home, in the UK. Glenda grew up on Pitcairn but now lives in the UK. She was abused growing up but told no one, until she was contacted by Kent Police during Operation Unique. This is the first time Glenda has recorded her story and it is very emotional. Glenda is supported in the room by her therapist and friend Sandy. And what about justice for the victims and survivors? Some fear the risks to the Island are too great to take this to trial. Politicians and lawyers around the world fiercely debate whether there is a case to answer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is the history of the Island of Pitcairn, its myths and realities? Born from the 1789 Mutiny, the mutineers, led by Fletcher Christian stumble across Pitcairn. Handily wrongly located on maps, this is their opportunity to escape the British Navy and disappear, today all Pitcairn families are descended from the mutineers and their Tahitian ‘wives’. But they were not a contented community, marked by violence and death, which are marked on the Island in place names. Abuse survivor Glenda, now living in the UK, paints a vivid picture of life on the Island, eating breadfruit, swimming, the unique language, the red volcanic dirt. But her memories are not all full of sunshine. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kent WPC Gail Cox is chosen as the woman to bring law to Pitcairn. She sets off to Pitcairn to teach the locals how to Police themselves. At a drunken Pitcairn party, one evening, another girl makes an allegation of rape. Detective Peter George returns to Pitcairn and a distressing and astonishing picture begins to emerge of child sexual abuse on an unimaginable scale. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Kent, UK, Police Officer Peter George is asked to investigate an alleged serious crime: the rape of a child. The crime is not in England but on the remote Pacific Island of Pitcairn, and what Peter and his colleague find is a complicated story. They decide that modern British law and policing must be taken to this worryingly lawless Island, but how to implement an entire legal system on a remote Pacific island? And what are the secrets that are hidden in plain sight? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Halfway between Peru and New Zealand is a tiny volcanic island, a little known British Territory. The community of Pitcairn is home to 37 people and a terrifying scandal. In The Pitcairn Trials, British Journalist Luke Jones uncovers a story of historic abuse in a remote place where prosecuting secrets and challenging centuries of power has left deep scars on generations of women and girls, and brought a unique, lonely, pacific island to the brink of extinction.The Pitcairn Trials is a chilling lesson in what human beings can be capable of when they think no one is watching them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.