Latest / NO FILTER / The Kill Code - A Bloody Attack Planned in a Chatroom

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The Kill Code - A Bloody Attack Planned in a Chatroom · NO FILTER

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Before we begin, do you have a theory about this case,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: or a story of your own? Leave a message on
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: our socials, our handles are all just Nightwatch Files without
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the space, or head over to NightwatchFiles.com to find them
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: all in one place. Your insights might be featured in
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: a future episode. I'm Harper Finley, and this is Nightwatch Files.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: It was a Sunday in June of 2003, an unusually
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: hot day. I met up with my best friend at
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: the mall. We'd been chatting online for a while, and
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: he'd asked if I wanted to hang out. Nothing seemed strange.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: It was just two friends spending the day together. We
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: walked around, grabbed something to eat, and at one point
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: he said he needed to pick up a knife for
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: his mum or something. I didn't think much of it.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: He even asked me to help him choose one, so
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: I picked out a kitchen knife from a store. He
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: paid for it, and we moved on like it was nothing.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: As the afternoon wore on, we wandered around town. He
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: seemed a bit quiet at times, maybe off, like he
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: wasn't feeling great, but he didn't say much. At one point,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: he hinted that he might have to do something that day,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: but I thought he was talking about something awkward or embarrassing,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: maybe family stuff or something online. We ended up walking
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: toward a wooded area. It was calm, and I thought
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: maybe we were just finding somewhere to sit and chill.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: But once we were alone, he suddenly said something about
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: having to stab me. I laughed at first. It didn't
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: make sense. Who says that? But then he started to panic,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: mumbling about going too far into the woods and missing
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: some kind of signal. It was like he wasn't even
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: making sense anymore. He insisted we go back into town. Eventually,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: we ended up in a quiet alley. It was tucked
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: away behind shops, dead silent. I didn't think anything of
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: it until he pulled out the knife. He looked at
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: me and said, you have to let me do it.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: I thought he was joking, some twisted joke maybe, but
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: then he said I was his best friend and just
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: stabbed me in the chest. No warning, no lead up,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: just pain. I dropped instantly, couldn't believe it was real.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: I begged him to stop, screaming for help, asking him
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: to call an ambulance. I told him I was dying,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: and all he did was whisper at me to be quiet.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: I told him, you've killed me, and he told me
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: not to say that. He looked panicked, like he didn't
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: even know what he was doing. Then he pulled me
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: back up and whispered, trust me. He held the knife
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: to my stomach and stabbed me again. He said he
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: wasn't in control, like it wasn't him, but it was him.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: It was my friend. I collapsed again. He just sat
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: there with me while I bled out. He didn't call
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: for help, said someone he knew was coming. I didn't
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: know who that was. Nobody came. Eventually, he made the
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: call himself, told the police I'd been stabbed by someone else. Mark,
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: a 16-year-old from Stockport, had his parents acquire him a
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: computer in 2002, ostensibly to aid with his schoolwork. He
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: was an only child of working-class parents, described as well-mannered
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: and respectful, with a good upbringing. Though his grades were
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: merely passable, and his aspirations lay with a local business
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: college rather than academia, Mark was well-liked by teachers and peers,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: stayed out of trouble, and was passionate about sports, particularly soccer.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Tall and fair-haired with a strong build, Mark was popular
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: with girls at school, but found interacting with them challenging.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: The Vanity Fair article described Mark as having a bland
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: appearance with a vast forehead, a tendency to begin sentences
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: with erm- and possessing, it was later claimed, an almost
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: infinite store of credulity. The internet, becoming increasingly accessible and
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: affordable in UK homes around this time, offered a new
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: avenue for connection. MSN Chat, with its browser-based interface and
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: anonymity through nicknames, was a popular destination. Mark joined a
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Manchester teens chat room, primarily hoping to meet girls. He
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: spent considerable time online, initially observing conversations before gaining the
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: confidence to participate. One day, a profile caught his attention
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: in the Manchester Teens chat. A 16-year-old girl named Rachel West,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: claiming to be from Manchester and working at a local gym,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: posted an introductory message. She had a profile picture, described
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: as promising. Mark, finding her attractive, sent a private message,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: and they connected immediately. Their conversations flowed effortlessly. lasting all
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: night initially and continuing over the following days. Mark was
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: surprised and thrilled by the attention from this girl he
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: considered perfect and out of his league. Their online relationship deepened,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: turning flirtatious and later, sexual in tone. Mark genuinely believed
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: he was falling in love with Rachel. Their burgeoning online
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: romance included interactions via webcam. While Mark would turn on
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: his camera, sometimes at Rachel's request for sexual activity, which
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: he would comply with, Rachel herself never used her webcam.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: She explained this was due to negative online experiences she
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: had encountered in the past. Despite this one-sided webcamming, their
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: bond strengthened, conducted through whispered chats, personal emails, and lengthy
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: conversations late into the night. Mark declared his love for
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Rachel in an online interaction, and she reciprocated, stating, I
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: love you too. they were increasingly making plans to transition
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: their online relationship into a real-world meeting, with Mark willing
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: to skip school to accommodate her reportedly busy schedule. A
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: few days into Mark's intense relationship with Rachel, a 14-year-old
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: user named John joined the Manchester teens' chatroom. Rachel introduced
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: John as her stepbrother. According to Rachel, John came from
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: a well-off family residing in an affluent Manchester suburb although
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Mark did not live close enough to encounter them in person.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: John was presented as a student at a private grammar school,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: described as gentle, polite, and well-mannered, albeit withdrawn. Mark and
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: John quickly developed a strong friendship, bonding over shared interests
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: such as football, girls, and the movie Catch Me If
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: You Can, which they both enjoyed. They would use webcams
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: together during their interactions, fostering a sense of being in
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: the same space despite the physical distance. Mark came to
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: consider John his best friend, and John became an integral
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: part of the online interactions Mark shared with Rachel, forming
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: what Mark perceived as a tight trio, with their own
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: inside jokes and special language. John was a bright student
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: attending grammar school and was expected to go to university. However,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: John felt lonely and confused. He had reportedly fallen out
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: with both his school friends and his stepfather. His home
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: life presented challenges. According to his mother, his biological father,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: whom he had no recollection of, had abducted him as
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: a baby and had physically and sexually abused her. When
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: John was seven, the man he believed to be his
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: father at the time, described by John as bad on drugs,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: also left, plunging his mother into depression and leaving John
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: without a stable father figure. He felt a profound sense
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: of isolation. This difficult family history contributed to a sense
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: of being unlovable. John found a book at age four
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: that revealed his mother's partner was not his biological father.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Learning this truth through discovering his birth date listed next
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: to a different last name. When his mother began a
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: relationship with a plumber in 2001, John felt out of
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: sorts with them and suspected they were talking about him,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: sometimes listening at their door. He was certain that strangers
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: were always talking about him too, sometimes calling him Pocky
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: and terrorist. John was characterized as a gentle, slightly withdrawn
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: boy who, despite his introversion, held dreams of becoming a barrister.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: He was a gifted fabricator and inventor with the determination
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: and industry to spend hours typing out his creations. At school,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: John's geography teacher observed a change in him, noting he
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: would become withdrawn and read books about mental illness rather
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: than socializing with friends. His mother also recognized that he
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: was becoming secretive and snappish, agreeing that his behavior had
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: become very strange. John had a precise and rigid routine
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: for washing and dressing, and required objects in his bedroom,
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: like toiletries and desk items, to be arranged in neat,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: parallel lines. Attempts to deviate from this routine caused significant anxiety.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: John had been given a laptop by his mother at
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: age 13, intended to help with schoolwork like Mark. which
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: led him to become a habitué of the internet. By
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: February 2003, he was contacting dozens of people nightly in
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: chat rooms, spending upwards of 12 hours a day online,
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: sometimes skipping meals and sleep. He felt trapped in this
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: virtual world. Mark and John, despite the age difference, quickly bonded.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Their webcam hangouts facilitated a sense of being in the
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: same room, and their conversations often touched upon explicit topics
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: common among teenage boys. John became Mark's best friend. However,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: Mark remained primarily focused on Rachel, even telling John he
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: was falling in love with her. This intense attachment to
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: Rachel reportedly stirred complex emotions in John, including a shade
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: of contempt alongside love. Quick break. Ads keep the show running,
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: but if you want to skip them, the ad-free version's
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: on Patreon for just three bucks a month. Links in
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: the show notes. And we're back. Thanks for sticking through that.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Let's get back to it. The dynamics within the chat
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: room began to shift with the arrival of a new
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: user who identified himself as Kevin McGregor. Kevin presented himself
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: as a self-proclaimed stalker. Initially, his presence seemed merely strange,
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: but his claims became increasingly unsettling as he began to
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: focus his attention on Rachel and John. Demonstrating knowledge of
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: their personal details that suggested his claims of monitoring them
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: were genuine, Mark became convinced that Kevin represented a real
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: and credible threat to Rachel and John. The fear escalated
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: significantly when Kevin issued disturbing demands directly to Mark. Kevin
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: threatened to kidnap, rape, and murder Rachel unless Mark complied
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: with his instructions to show his feet and masturbate on
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: webcam for him. Feeling that complying with these demands was
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: the only way to ensure Rachel's safety, Mark followed Kevin's orders.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: He conveyed Kevin's threat to Rachel in a private message,
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: asking her, What else can I do? Rachel, touched by
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: his willingness to comply, replied, You don't have to do
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: anything for me. But Mark insisted, stating, I do, Rach.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: I love you. Their conversation concluded with Rachel reaffirming, I
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: love you too. Mark went through with the humiliating task,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: as demanded by Kevin, believing that doing so had saved
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Rachel from danger. This ordeal seemed to strengthen the connection
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: between Mark and Rachel. Following this incident, Mark and Rachel
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: revisited their plans to meet in the real world. Their
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: introduction was arranged to take place in Altrincham, a town
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: located about 40 minutes away from Mark's home by bus.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: Mark took the journey to the designated meeting point in
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Altrincham and waited. He waited for hours, filled with nervous excitement,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: but Rachel never arrived. There was no sign of her.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: Upon returning home after being stood up, Mark immediately went
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: online to check his computer, hoping to find a message
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: from Rachel explaining her absence. He found no emails or
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: private messages from her, and she was not present in
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: their usual chat room. However, there was an email message
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: waiting for him from Kevin McGregor. The message delivered devastating news.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: Kevin claimed he had followed through with his threats. stating
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: that he had gang-raped and murdered Rachel. Kevin reportedly provided
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: gruesome details of her supposed final moments, writing that he
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Kevin further taunted Mark about his inability to protect Rachel, stating, Mark,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: Bewildered and heartbroken, responded to Kevin's message, asking, How could
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: I have been there when I didn't know where she was?
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: The apparent death of Rachel deeply impacted Mark. He later
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: described his reaction to the news about his girlfriend as
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: feeling angry and upset. This period was marked by significant
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: emotional distress for Mark. He experienced depression and withdrawal, and
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: his school grades, which were already average, dropped to C's
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: and F's. he withdrew from his real-life friends, becoming increasingly
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: isolated in the aftermath. John, who also seemed to grieve
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: the loss of his sister, and Mark found increasing solace
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: and support in their friendship during this profoundly difficult and
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: confusing time. Feeling unable to confide in the police or
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: his parents, Mark privately mourned the tragic loss of his
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: online girlfriend. During this period, Mark and John's real-life friendship deepened.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: They found solace in each other's company, both affected by
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: the loss of Rachel. Despite John's concern about Mark's withdrawal,
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Mark dismissed it as tiredness, but John noticed Mark's mood
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: lift when he acknowledged their friendship. Mark, still seeking connection,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: began talking to other girls online. A new character, an
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: older teenager named Lindsay East, entered the Manchester Teens chat.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: Mark developed feelings for her, and she reciprocated, leading him
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: to perform sexual acts for her on webcam, just as
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: he had for Rachel. Lindsay confided in Mark that she
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: was a junior Secret Service agent for MI6 and that
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: she had joined the chat room to monitor John because
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: he was under government protection due to the threat posed
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: by Kevin. Lindsay urged Mark to help her track down Kevin,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: but stressed the importance of John remaining unaware of the situation.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: Just days after her revelations, Mark received an email from Lindsay,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: which she had apparently pre-written for delivery in the event
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: of her death. The email stated she had been killed
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: in the line of duty and urged Mark to complete
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: her mission to protect John at all costs. Shortly after
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: Lindsay's apparent death, Rachel West reappeared in the chat room.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Mark was initially overjoyed but found her story confusing. She
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: claimed to have been in a coma and given birth
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: to his baby during that time. despite them never having
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: met in person and her having been gone only for
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: a few weeks. Before Mark could make sense of these
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: unbelievable claims, Rachel vanished again. The next character to enter
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Mark's increasingly bizarre online world was Janet Dobinson. She presented
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: herself as a 44-year-old woman who found teenage chat tiresome
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: and wrote exclusively in capital letters. Janet described a mundane
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: life as an estate agent with two children and an
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: unhappy marriage to an ogre. However, this was merely a
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: cover for her true identity as a senior MI6 agent,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: holding the third most powerful position in the British Secret Service.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Janet told Mark that she had specifically sought him out
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: in the chat room to recruit him into MI6. She
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: explained that he was being tested and if he proved worthy,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: he would be well compensated with millions of pounds. a
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: license to kill, and opportunities to meet prominent figures like
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister Tony Blair. Mark initially regarded
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: Janet's claims with skepticism, finding them stupid, but his curiosity
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: led him to continue the conversations. As they spoke at length,
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Janet's detailed explanations and seeming knowledge of his life, including
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: mentioning that other agents like teachers, bus drivers, and shopkeepers
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: were monitoring him, gradually convinced Mark that her story was real.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: He came to believe he was genuinely being recruited by
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: the British Secret Service. He even expressed nervousness about meeting
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: the Queen. Janet began assigning Mark tests to prove his
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: readiness for the Secret Service. One involved getting John out
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: of school, framed as a mission to protect John because
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: he was the nation's single most important person, a national
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: asset worth £ 568 billion and holding the code to a
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: massive safe filled with the world's richest jewels at the
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Only John could walk through
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: the door to access the safe. Mark was instructed to
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: convince John it was merely a day of skipping school
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: with a friend, as he was acting as a covert bodyguard.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: Mark followed the instructions, taking John out of school under
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: the pretense of a dentist appointment, which raised concerns with
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: John's mother, who discovered the online conversations. Following this, both
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: boys' parents became aware of the online activity, specifically the
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: contact with Janet Dobinson, and initially banned further communication and
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: confiscated their computers. However, the boys circumvented the restrictions and
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: resumed their online communication, including with Janet, who was now
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: posing as an air hostess. Janet presented Mark with a new,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: urgent mission, supposedly handed down directly from the Prime Minister.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: This task a matter of national security with Janet's job
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: and potentially life on the line, was to make John
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: appear gay by performing oral sex on him. Mark was
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: reluctant but felt compelled by the perceived national security implications
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: and the potential rewards. He complied during a sleepover at
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: John's house, engaging in oral sex and watching pornography with him.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: After this mission, Janet posed a critical question to Mark.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: Could you kill someone close to you? You might be
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: tested on that later on. Mark's initial hesitation, erm, I
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: don't know, I probably would, but I want to know why,
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: I haven't really thought about it, was met with a firm, well,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: think please. He then responded, yeah, I could, there's my answer.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: Janet then revealed the next stage of the plan. John
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: was suffering from a slow-growing terminal brain tumor, and killing
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: him would be an act of mercy and necessary for
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: national security, presumably to access the safe's contents before his
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: condition worsened. Mark was told that taking John's life was
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: not murder in this context. Further cementing this belief, John
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: sent Mark a message confirming he had received a letter
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: from his doctor about a brain thingy tumor. This seemingly
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: confirmed Janet's information and strengthened Mark's resolve. The mission details
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: were then meticulously planned with Janet. Mark was instructed to
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: take John to a quiet place, acquire a knife and gloves.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: He was told to say, Love you, bro, or trust
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: me to John. as he delivered the fatal blow. Janet
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: also instructed him not to call an ambulance immediately after
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: the act, waiting instead for her to arrive disguised as
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: a detective superintendent to ensure he would not be arrested.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: An abort code 6969 was established, which if heard, would
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: signal the immediate cancellation of the mission. On Sunday, June 29, 2003,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Mark and John met in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, on a
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: very hot day. They met initially at the Trafford Shopping Center.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: According to instructions received online, Mark casually told John that
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: he needed to pick up a knife. Mark withdrew money
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: from a cash machine, and they went into a shop.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: Mark instructed John to select a knife. John chose a
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: six-inch Sabadier kitchen knife, a type used for slicing through
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: thick cuts of meat. Mark paid for the knife and
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Ark later told that letting John select the knife would
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: somehow make John's death easier for him. As the day
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: wore on, Mark reportedly began to feel sick and dizzy.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: He was having disturbing visions of what he was about
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: to do, which was to stab his friend to death.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: At one point, the boys sat down for a rest.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: Mark attempted to convey his feelings to John, saying that
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: he might have to do something that day. They had
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: spent about eight hours together before Mark felt he needed
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: to complete his mission. Mark remained on constant alert throughout
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: the day, nervously scanning those around them, presuming they could
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: be fellow undercover agents tracking his progress. However, the abort
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: code never sounded for Mark. The boys then walked to
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: a secluded wooded area nearby. Once there, Mark told John
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: he would have to stab him, Mark reportedly began to panic,
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: realizing he might not be able to hear the abort
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: code if they went too far into the isolated woods.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: They returned to town, heading towards the fashionable goose green area.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: A deserted dead-end alleyway, situated behind a row of shops
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: and restaurants, presented itself as a suitable location. This alleyway
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: was cut off by a 40-foot drop. It was quiet
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: enough that nobody else was likely to come by, but
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: close enough to civilization for Mark to potentially hear the
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: abort code if it was announced. As the teenagers entered
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: the alleyway, Mark pulled out the knife and held it
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: close to John's body, saying, you have to let me
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: do it. According to instructions he received online, Mark told
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: John he was his best friend. He then plunged the
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: knife into John's chest. John immediately crumpled to the ground,
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: shouting at Mark to stop and screaming in pain. He
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: cried out, call an ambulance, and I'm dying. Mark tried
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: to get the younger boy to calm down and be
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: quiet so as not to attract attention, whispering, shush, people
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: will hear, please be quiet. John then screamed, you've killed me,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: to which Mark begged, don't say that, and don't let
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: that be the last thing you are saying. Mark hugged
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: John as he did it because he reportedly did not
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: want to hurt him. Realizing that one stab wound was
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: not enough, Mark grabbed John, and pulled him back to
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: his feet. He whispered, Trust me, holding the knife to
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: John's stomach. Mark reported later that he had not felt
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: in control at that point, but, determined to complete his
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: secret mission, he plunged the knife once more into John's body.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: This second wound was to the abdomen. He then lowered
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: his friend back to the ground and sat with him
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: for approximately 20 minutes after the stabbing. He had been
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: ordered not to call an ambulance straight away, and was
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: told to remain put until Janet Dobinson arrived disguised as
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: a detective who would ensure he wasn't arrested. There was
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: no sign of Janet Dobinson. Mark decided to call emergency
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: services himself. Shortly before 8pm on June 29, 2003, Mark
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: called the police. He told them that his best friend
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: had been stabbed by an unknown attacker in a deserted alley.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: Quick break. Ads keep the show running, but if you
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: want to skip them, the ad-free version's on Patreon for
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: just three bucks a month. Links in the show notes.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: And we're back. Thanks for sticking through that. Let's get
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: back to it. The initial response to the stabbing in
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: the alleyway in Altrincham on that hot June day in
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: 2003 was one of a seemingly random, unprovoked attack by
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: an unknown assailant. Police appealed for witnesses and launched a
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: manhunt for a described attacker. However, this narrative was quickly
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: challenged by the evidence gathered from the scene. CCTV footage
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: from a camera positioned at the base of the alley
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: captured the only individuals who entered the secluded area that evening,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Mark and John. The camera followed the boys as they
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: disappeared into the alley, and when Mark re-emerged approximately 25
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: minutes later to call emergency services, he was alone. There
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: was no hooded figure, no third party involved. The immediate
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: realization for the authorities was that the assailant could only
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: have been the person John was with in that alleyway, Mark. Mark,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: the 16-year-old who had made the emergency call, initially maintained
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: that his best friend had been attacked by a stranger.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: He even provided a false but detailed description of the attacker. However,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: once investigators, led by Detective Chief Inspector Julian Ross were
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: able to review the CCTV footage they confronted Mark. Under questioning,
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: he confessed to stabbing John, but claimed he did so
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: because he had heard voices. He stopped short of revealing
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: the elaborate Secret Service plot he believed himself to be
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: a part of, reportedly fearing that divulging this highly confidential
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: information to local police would put him in trouble with MI6.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: He remained confident that the character he knew as Special
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: Agent Janet Dobinson would arrive at any moment to secure
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: his release. John was rushed to Withenshaw Hospital in critical condition.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: He suffered two severe stab wounds. One was a light
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: wound in the chest, and the other was a six-inch
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: deep wound to the abdomen. This wound pierced his kidney
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: and liver and necessitated the removal of his gallbladder. During
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: emergency treatment and surgery, John almost died on the operating table.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: His heart stopped twice while on the operating table. Blood
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: pooled inside his body cavity, which restricted the movement of
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: his diaphragm and stopped the functioning of his lungs. For
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: days after the surgery, he lay on a respirator to
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: assist his breathing. He was treated with painkillers and antibiotics.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: Following emergency treatment, John survived the attack. He remained in
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: Wythenshawe Hospital for over a week After successful surgery, he
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: was transferred to Pendlebury Children's Hospital, where he was in
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: a critical but stable condition and was also questioned by police. Initially,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: he too denied that Mark was the person who stabbed him.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: It was only when investigators presented him with the irrefutable
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: CCTV footage from the alleyway, which showed only the two
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: boys entering the secluded area, that John eventually broke down
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: and admitted Mark was his assailant. According to the Vanity
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: Fair article by journalist Judy Bachrach, this admission was reluctant
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: and came after he had changed his story multiple times.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: The case, initially treated as a random stabbing, evolved dramatically
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: when Mark, after waiting a month in juvenile detention for
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: Janet Dobinson to appear and secure his release, finally confessed
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: the full, bizarre narrative. He told police he had been
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: recruited via an internet chat room by a British Secret
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: Service agent named Dobinson. who had ordered him to kill
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: John as a mission. Mark's detailed account of secret missions,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: promised rewards, and code words seemed incredible to the detectives.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: To unravel this extraordinary story, criminal intelligence analyst Sally Hogg
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: was brought in. The investigation team seized computers belonging to
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: both boys and undertook a massive digital forensic examination. They
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: extracted an immense volume of data described as 58,000 lines
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: of disjointed chatroom conversations and 133 gigabytes of data from
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: Mark and John's laptops. This amount of data, according to
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: Sally Hogg speaking in the Vanity Fair article, if converted
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: to paper, would stack 46,000 feet high. Initially, the sheer
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: volume and complexity of the online interactions puzzled investigators. Finding
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: intimate webcam footage Mark had sent to various contacts led
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: detectives to initially suspect... that Mark and John might be
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: victims of a pedophile ring operating online. Sally Hogg began
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: the painstaking process of examining the 193 separate email addresses
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Mark had been in contact with. She focused on the
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: six core chatroom users central to the unfolding narrative. Rachel, John,
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Rachel's stepbrother, Kevin, Lindsay East, and Janet Dobinson, along with
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: Mark himself. Each of these online personas had a seemingly
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: unique style of conversations. distinct mannerisms, and their own wild backgrounds.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: Sally Hogg herself initially believed they were distinct individuals, stating
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: in the Vanity Fair article, Each style of conversation was
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: totally different. I really believed it. The breakthrough came through
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: linguistic analysis. As Sally Hogg sifted through the thousands of
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: lines of text, she noticed a specific repeated spelling error.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: A certain word was consistently misspelled across paragraphs. multiple online characters.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: That word was maybe, which was written as M-Y-B-Y-E. This
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: specific stylistic variation was used by five of the six
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: main characters Mark had been interacting with, including John, Kevin, Dobinson,
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: and Lindsay. Hogg concluded this was not a random error,
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: but a deliberate, shared unique trait that was near impossible
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: that five separate individuals had made the same writing error.
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: This strongly indicated that these seemingly distinct internet characters were,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: in fact, the creation of a single person. The next
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: step was to identify who this person was. Investigators noted
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: that the precise details of the June 29th stabbing had
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: appeared on the MSN chatroom site right up until one
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: day before the crime. Computer experts analyzing John's laptop made
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: a critical discovery. Records showed that someone had logged onto
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: John's computer using Janet Dobinson's username and password. By cross-referencing
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: the times Janet Dobinson was active online with who was
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: at John's home at those exact moments, particularly on the
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: night before the attack when the final murderous plans were discussed,
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: police pinpointed the user. The only person present and able
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: to access the computer at the time was John himself.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: This digital evidence, combined with the shared linguistic quirk across
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: multiple characters, definitively linked John to the creation and control
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: of the Janet Dobinson persona and the others. As Detective
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Chief Inspector Ross stated in the Vanity Fair article, The
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: penny clicked, and I won't forget it, when we said, Alright,
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: let's just go over again where Janet Dobinson's been. we
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: finally saw that the last person to use the laptop
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: at John's house before the stabbing was Janet Dobinson. Confronted
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: with this undeniable evidence gathered through digital forensics and linguistic analysis,
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: John broke down and admitted to everything. He confessed to
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: creating the complex web of imaginary characters and orchestrating the
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: entire plot, including his own attempted murder. He explained that
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: invention online felt easy, like the equivalent of taking heroin,
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: and that Mark's gullibility made feeding him stories as simple
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: as feeding a dog. John revealed his motive stemmed from
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: profound loneliness, feelings of being unlovable, bullying at school, and
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: feeling disconnected from his family. He felt trapped in his
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: life and his own lies, and the internet offered a
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: world where he could feel in control and wield power.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: Mark had become the most important person in his life.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: and fearing he would lose this friendship if the truth
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: about his online personas was revealed, John devised the ultimate
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: plan for suicide, wanting the last words he heard to
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: be Mark saying he loved him. This was the first
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: case in British law courts of one person inciting another
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: to kill them. The trial commenced on Friday, May 28, 2004,
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: at Manchester Crown Court. This was the first time Mark
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: and John had seen each other in the 11 months
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: since the stabbing. Mark, who had spent eight months in
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: a juvenile detention center on remand awaiting trial and had
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: reportedly become more muscular from working out there, appeared dressed neatly. John,
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: who had been seeing a psychologist and making progress, sat
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: hunched over and crying. The boys did not make eye contact.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: During the trial, prosecutor Nicholas Clark presented the full, convoluted,
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: and bizarre story. It was described as an internet soap
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: opera moving from one scene to another, each character and
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: storyline more fantastic than the last. This was the first
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: time Mark heard the complete extent of John's intricate deception.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: As the prosecutor detailed how John had used a stream
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: of imaginary characters, Rachel West, Kevin McGregor, Lindsay East, Janet Dobinson,
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: among others, to manipulate Mark into carrying out the attack,
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: Mark was visibly aghast. The realization that Rachel, the girl
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: he had loved, wooed, and genuinely mourned, was John. That Kevin,
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: who had ordered humiliating acts on webcam and described Rachel's death,
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: was John. That Lindsay East and Janet Dobinson, with their
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: wild stories and demands, were also John. That the entire
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: online world he had believed in was a fabrication created
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: by his best friend, unfolded before him in court. Reportedly,
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: Mark stated, I've been a fool. Facing the evidence and
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: the full revelation of the scheme, both boys pleaded guilty.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: Mark pleaded guilty to attempted murder. John pleaded guilty to
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: inciting murder and perverting the course of justice. Prosecutor Nicholas Clark,
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: commenting later, stated that of the two, John was the
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: more wicked and more criminally culpable. John's defense lawyer, Jonathan Goldberg, however,
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: compared the story to Romeo and Juliet and praised John's
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: extraordinarily persuasive, inventive abilities. Judge David Madison, in sentencing, called
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: the case extraordinary and staggering. He remarked that skilled writers
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: of fiction would struggle to conjure up a plot such
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: as arises here. Judge Madison acknowledged John's abilities as a
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: gifted fabricator with phenomenal continuity and memory. He described Mark
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: as gullible for his age and John as sophisticated beyond
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: his years. Judge Madison had considerable sympathy for Mark, stating
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: he accepted that, Fantastic though it seems when looked at
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: now in the cold light of day, that such a
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: plot was presented to you so convincingly, with the characters presented,
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: that you really did believe that you had been recruited
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: by the Secret Service to kill your co-accused and face
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: the consequences if you did not do so. Despite the
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: severity of the charges, which would normally warrant severe penalties
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: including prison time, Judge Madison handed down non-custodial sentences stating
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: this was not a normal case. He concluded that each
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: boy was, in a sense, a victim of the other.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: John received a three-year supervision order and was banned from
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: using internet chat rooms and from accessing the internet without
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: adult supervision. In what was noted as another legal first,
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: he was banned from all online chat rooms. Mark received
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: a two-year supervision order. Both boys were banned from having
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: any further contact with one another. As the sentence was delivered,
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: Mark reportedly winked at his mother, while Sally Hogg, the
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: analyst whose work helped uncover the truth, reportedly wept for Mark,
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: the duller, more susceptible boy. Mark and John are not
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: their real names. Thank you.