The Penge Mystery - 1877

Edgar Lustgarten used to open his hugely popular True Crime BBC programme in the 1950s with the words "Have you ever murdered anyone? Perhaps you'd rather not say". Up to six million listeners tuned in every week to hear Lustgarten drily recount the details of major trials. It is probably fair to say that he invented the True Crime audio genre.

The Chiron True Crime series was recorded by Lustgarten in a London studio in Dolby quality in 1976. Lustgarten's voice is austere but not without wit, gripping yet somehow addictive. The voice of a top Barrister presenting the facts of the case with the hangman's noose waiting silently in the shadows.

"No case in criminal history has caused a more violent explosion of public wrath, says Edgar Lustgarten. So fierce was the detestation of the accused four that-wrote Edward Clarke QC, who defended one of them-when at the Old Bailey they were all found guilty of murder, those in court could hear 'the exultant shouts of the crowd which, although it was nearing midnight, still waited in the neighbouring streets'.The circumstances which touched off this outburst, both the events and the evidence-are recounted here in all their stark horror. So also is the remarkable sequel to the sentences of death, where a pressure group sought to interfere with the course of justice."