Unlawful Killing
by INQUEST
Latest episode
Unlawful Killing: special promo episode
Unlawful Killing: special promo episode
About this podcast
Every year hundreds of people die preventable deaths at the hands of police, whilst in prison, or in the care of mental health services in the UK. Some of the names you’ll know. Most of them you won’t.
Bereaved families are left fighting for answers, demanding justice, and campaigning for change, in a system that is stacked against them.
Drawing on four decades of campaigning and in conversation with those at the forefront of these struggles, hosts Lee Lawrence and Lucy Brisbane shine a light on injustice, amplify stories of resistance that need to be heard and explore the best way forward.
https://www.inquest.org.uk/podcast
A podcast by INQUEST, the only charity fighting for justice alongside families bereaved by deaths involving the state, including police, prison and mental health services.
Support this show https://www.inquest.org.uk/donate
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
- Unlawful Killing: special promo episode · 3 min · Season 3 Episode 8In this short promo episode, we’re calling on you, our listeners, to get involved in two important projects. Memorial banner We're creating a new collective banner as a powerful…
- Remembering Chris Kaba on his 27th birthday · 39 min · Season 3 Episode 7Today, 23 July 2025, Chris Kaba should have been celebrating his 27th birthday with his loved ones. Instead, he was killed by Metropolitan police officer Martyn Blake on 5…
- Unlawful Killing: Protest banners | Series 3 Episode 6 · 41 min · Season 3 Episode 6In the second part on protest banners, we hear from the families who have contributed to INQUEST’s own memorial banners; two covering England/Wales and one for Scotland. These…
- Unlawful Killing: Protest Banners Part 1 | Series 3 Episode 5 · 38 min · Season 3 Episode 5Continuing with the artistic theme, this episode focuses on visual power of the protest banner. Lucy and Lee talk to campaigner Susan Alexander, whose son Azelle Rodney, an…
- Unlawful Killing: Artistic Voices Part 2 | Series 3 Episode 4 · 51 min · Season 3 Episode 4In previous episodes of Unlawful Killing, we’ve heard and talked about loved ones who have died at the hands of the state, but rarely do we actually get to hear from those who…
- Unlawful Killing: Artistic Voices Part 1 | Series 3 Episode 3 · 37 min · Season 3 Episode 3Campaigning work often takes many forms, and using the arts to protest can be just as effective as any other means. In this episode, Lucy speaks to Lee Jarman and Sarah Kadri…
- Unlawful Killing: Legacy Part 2 | Series 3 Episode 2 · 49 min · Season 3 Episode 1The Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 is a scandalous stain on British history. The fire claimed 72 lives but despite the relentless battle families and campaigners have faced, no one…
- Unlawful Killing: Legacy Part 1 | Series 3 Episode 1 · 27 min · Season 3 Episode 1How do bereaved families cope after a loved one dies in such horrendous circumstances? What can be done to keep their loved one’s name alive within a system that’s so keen to…
- Unlawful Killing: Accountability | Series 2 Episode 6 · 44 min · Season 2 Episode 6Kevin Blowe, coordinator for NETPOL (The Network for Police Monitoring) is a longstanding campaigner against police violence, suppression of protest and deaths in custody. In…
- Unlawful Killing: Accountability | Series 2 Episode 5 · 36 min · Season 2 Episode 5Tommy Nicol died a self-inflicted death in prison whilst on an indeterminate prison sentence (IPP). Tommy’s sister Donna Mooney has been at the forefront of campaigning for…
- Unlawful Killing: Justice | Series 2 Episode 4 · 45 minSean Rigg was a Black man who died following violent police restraint whilst in a mental health crisis in Brixton in August 2008. His sister Marcia Rigg has been campaigning for…
- Unlawful Killing: Justice | Series 2 Episode 3 · 40 min · Season 2 Episode 3Connor Sparrowhawk was a funny 18-year-old who loved London buses. He was autistic and had epilepsy and learning disabilities. He died after drowning in a bath at an NHS care…
- Unlawful Killing: Truth | Series 2 Episode 2 · 32 min · Season 2 Episode 2In the forty years since INQUEST was founded by families bereaved by deaths in police and prison custody, the ways in which these deaths are investigated has changed…
- Unlawful Killing: Truth | Series 2 Episode 1 · 36 min · Season 2 Episode 1When a member of the public dies in suspicious circumstances, there’s a criminal investigation. But what happens when it’s the state that’s the suspect? Lucy and Lee are back and…
- Unlawful Killing: Mental Health Part 2 | Episode 6 · 34 min · Season 1 Episode 6Matthew Leahy, 20, died in the care of Essex mental health services. A critical inquest and multiple investigations later, and still his mother Melanie Leahy does not know the…
- Unlawful Killing: Mental Health Part 1 | Episode 5 · 29 min · Season 1 Episode 5Mental health services are often framed as the caring alternative to policing and prisons. But Lucy and Lee look at what happens when the very system designed to protect us…
- Unlawful Killing: Prisons Part 2 | Episode 4 · 35 min · Season 1 Episode 4Liridon Saliuka, 29, took his own life whilst awaiting trail for joint enterprise charges at Belmarsh prison in London. Last year, an inquest into his death found that ill…
- Unlawful Killing: Prisons Part 1 | Episode 3 · 29 min · Season 1 Episode 3Every year hundreds of people die in prisons in the UK. We’ll be asking why so many people are dying, why so few people are talking about it, and hearing more about the…
- Unlawful Killing: Policing Part 1 | Episode 1 · 25 min · Season 1 Episode 1Since INQUEST was founded in 1981, it has recorded almost 2000 deaths involving the police. In this episode, Lucy Brisbane and Lee Lawrence take you right back to one of the…
- Unlawful Killing: Introduction | Episode 0 · 6 min · Season 1Every year, hundreds of people die at the hands of the very institutions that are meant to keep us safe – police, prisons, and mental health services. Bereaved families are left…
