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Yarham

Jeremy and Sasha revisit a complex case from Victorian Britain that featured four suspects, two trials and ultimately just one man hanged for murder.

Top criminal barristers Jeremy Dein QC and Sasha Wass QC reinvestigate a complex case from Victorian Britain that featured four prime suspects, two trials and ultimately just one man hanged for the murder of his neighbour.

Norfolk, 1882. During the early hours of 19 November, in the narrow rows of Great Yarmouth, police on the beat noticed the door of one of the street鈥檚 shops ajar. They searched the property and made a shocking discovery: the dead body of 43-year-old shopkeeper, Harriet Candler. She had been brutally attacked, her throat cut and the property ransacked.

What followed was an intense investigation that featured two trials and four potential perpetrators. However, based on the sensational evidence of a single witness, it was Harriet Candler鈥檚 upstairs neighbour, Samuel Yarham, a local shoemaker, who was charged with her murder.

Despite pleading his innocence, after a one-day trial at the Shirehall in Norwich, Yarham was found guilty. And on 11 April 1846 at Norwich Castle, he was hanged.

Now, over 150 years later, Samuel Yarham鈥檚 relative Emmaline has questions about his conviction, and she has enlisted the help of the barristers to reassess the case. The prosecution case against Samuel Yarham rested mainly on the evidence of a witness who claimed that on two occasions Yarham confessed to her. Sasha and Jeremy look at the reliability of the witness statements and see whether a modern-day pathological interpretation of what was said at trial can offer any clues as to Samuel Yarham鈥檚 innocence.

Will the barristers be able to prove Emmaline鈥檚 suspicion that Yarham鈥檚 case might have been a miscarriage of justice?

43 minutes

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Sasha Wass
Presenter Jeremy Dein
Director James Pearson
Producer Gary John Senior
Series Producer James Pearson
Executive Producer Mike Benson
Executive Producer Simon Cooper
Production Manager Johanna Scammell
Production Department Michael Klokkos
Production Company Chalkboard TV

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