The Tip Off

A tragedy in the English Channel got Aaron Walawalkar thinking. How could it be that people were dying, their boats sinking in one of the busiest stretches of water in the world? This is how Liberty Investigates went to battle over FOI rejections, knocked on doors and analysed shipping data to reveal the shocking reality behind deaths at sea. Read all about it: https://libertyinvestigates.org.uk/articles/coastguard-effectively-ignored-19-reports-of-small-boats-before-november-2021-tragedy/ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/29/uk-coastguard-left-channel-migrants-adrift-in-lead-up-to-mass-drowning Hosted and produced: Maeve McClenaghan Audio production support: Chloe Behrens Sound design and audio mixing: Alec Cowan Original music: Claudia Meza Theme music: Dice muse Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The horizon near Ali’s house is filled with flames. Owen Pinnell and Jess Kelly, from BBC Arabic, can't stop thinking of them. And back in the UK, Unearthed's Joe Sandler Clarke is digging into his own investigation. This is the story of how journalists worked with citizen journalists and scientists to delve into the impact of oil drilling around Basra, Iraq. Read all about it: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001cm32 https://projects.unearthed.greenpeace.org/big-oil-iraq/ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/27/ali-smoke-choked-bp-oilfield-death-gas-flaring Hosted and produced: Maeve McClenaghan Audio production support: Chloe Behrens Sound design and audio mixing: Alec Cowan Original music: Claudia Meza Theme music: Dice muse Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You will have heard about the BBC Newnight interview with Prince Andrew - it was a seismic scoop that reverberated around the world. But how did it happen? The answer is one woman: Sam McAlister. This is how she bagged the interview of the decade. Read all about it: https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Sam-McAlister/Scoops--The-BBCs-Most-Shocking-Interviews-from-Prince-And/27025330 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtBS8COhhhM https://variety.com/2023/film/global/netflix-prince-andrew-film-scoop-gillian-anderson-rufus-sewell-1235514568/ Supported by Studio To Be. Hosted and produced: Maeve McClenaghan Audio production support: Chloe Behrens Sound design and audio mixing: Alec Cowan Original music: Claudia Meza Theme music: Dice muse Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hannah Al-Othman sits in her car in front of a stranger’s house. Inside is a man who might be responsible for a woman’s death. A man whose name is known to a lot of people, but who has not yet been brought to justice. In this episode we hear how Hannah and her colleague David Collins uncovered a shocking story of silence and inaction. Read all about it: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/i-believe-british-soldiers-killed-my-sister-agnes-wanjiru-now-i-want-the-truth-rbc69q9pf https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/british-army-soldier-murder-mother-kenya-9hffnjqqv https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/crying-with-laughter-british-soldiers-joked-about-mothers-murder-on-facebook-fkj9s6stb Supported by Studio To Be. Hosted and produced: Maeve McClenaghan Audio production support: Chloe Behrens Sound design and audio mixing: Alec Cowan Original music: Claudia Meza Theme music: Dice muse Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're between series of The Tip Off now - and planning lots more great episodes for you, but while we do, why not take a listen to Silenced. A new podcast from human rights organisation ARTICLE 19 Silenced tell the Stories of journalists and activists around the world, whose governments attempt to rein them in and cover up the truth. Take a listen to this episode, in which Matthew Caruana Galizia, journalist and son of the late investigative journalist Daphne Caruana-Galizia, speaks to host Nicola Kelly about the day of his mother's murder and his determination to continue her legacy, exposing corruption among Malta's elite. Then find Silenced in your favourite podcast app and get subscribing: https://podfollow.com/1619957803 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rob Cribb had an idea for an investigation, an idea so big it was almost impossible to envisage how the work could be done. But then, it came to him.... This is the story of how more than 100 journalists across Canada banded together to reveal the shocking levels on lead in tap water across the country. Read all about it: https://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/lead-in-water.html https://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/2019/11/04/how-we-did-it-inside-the-tainted-water-investigation.html This show is a co-production of Studio to be. Hosted and produced: Maeve McClenaghan Co-Executive Producers: Joaquin Alvarado and Ken Ikeda Producer: Olivia Aylmer Audio Editor: Chloe Behrens Sound design, audio mixing and original music: Claudia Meza Theme music: Dice muse Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Who gets to tell the stories we hear? On this episode we hear from citizen journalists - two women with lived experience of homelessness and surrounding issues, as they talk us through a ground-breaking project. Warning: this episode contains some explicit language and mention of sexual violence. Read all about it: https://groundswell-listenup-hub.org/ Sign up to the Listen Up Hub's mailing list: https://groundswell.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=898f9a6f3bf48a747d1b8a9d0&id=cb4875e542 This show is a co-production of Studio to be. Hosted and produced: Maeve McClenaghan Co-Executive Producers: Joaquin Alvarado and Ken Ikeda Producer: Olivia Aylmer Audio Editor and sound design: Maeve McClenaghan Original music: Claudia Meza Theme music: Dice muse Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do you investigate a group that is shrouded in secrecy by its very nature? This is the story of how two journalists - Patrick Lohmann and Marnie Eisenstadt tracked down dozens of people, to reveal the concerning goings on in an AA-type support group. Read all about it: https://www.syracuse.com/butternutters/#:~:text=The%20organization%20called%20%22The%20Syracuse,Post%2DStandard%20investigation%20has%20found. This show is a co-production of Studio to be. Hosted and produced: Maeve McClenaghan Co-Executive Producers: Joaquin Alvarado and Ken Ikeda Producer: Olivia Aylmer Audio Editor: Chloe Behrens Sound design, audio mixing and original music: Claudia Meza Transcription support: Soobin Kim Theme music: Dice muse Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Where do you start in unravelling one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in the UK system? For Nick Wallis it all began with a tweet. This is the story of how Nick’s tenacity, with over a decade of reporting, exposed a scandal of unimaginable proportions. Read all about it: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-great-post-office-scandal/nick-wallis/9781916302389 This show is a co-production of Studio to be. Hosted and produced: Maeve McClenaghan Co-Executive Producers: Joaquin Alvarado and Ken Ikeda Producer: Olivia Aylmer Audio Editor: Chloe Behrens Sound design, audio mixing and original music: Claudia Meza Transcription support: Dan Woodburn Theme music: Dice muse Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi Tip Off Listeners - We are working hard on new episodes for you, and have some more great stories coming up this series. But this week we are taking a dip into our archive. As the Russian regime is accused of breaking international law and committing untold atrocities in Ukraine, we're re-publishing the first of a two-parter, originally published in 2018. This is the story of how Heidi Blake and her team of journalists at Buzzfeed UK revealed a series of deaths, all on British soil and all linked to Russian actors. These episodes came out just a few weeks before the horrifying news of Novichok poisonings in Salisbury. So, stay tuned for more stories behind the headlines, and for now, enjoy a classic from our archives. Read all about it: https://www.waterstones.com/book/from-russia-with-blood/heidi-blake/9780008300098 If you liked this episode go back and find Episode 16 in our archive - called Web of Death Part 2. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One December day, Samira Shackle found herself in the midst of an unfolding, global story. Drones had been spotted flying around Gatwick Airport. But weeks, then months passed, and no drone operators were ever found. Samira lays out how she dug into the mystery and revealed all was not as it first seemed. Read all about it: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/dec/01/the-mystery-of-the-gatwick-drone https://samirashackle.com/karachi-vice/ This show is a co-production of Studio to be. Hosted and produced: Maeve McClenaghan Co-Executive Producers: Joaquin Alvarado and Ken Ikeda Producer: Olivia Aylmer Audio Editor: Chloe Behrens Sound design, audio mixing and original music: Claudia Meza Transcription support: Soobin Kim Theme music: Dice muse Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Annabel Hennessy was reporting on another case when she heard a name that would change everything. A lawyer, expert in First Nations’ rights, told her about Jody Gore - a woman convicted of murder with little weight given to the years of domestic abuse she suffered. This story unravels how Annabel’s groundbreaking series of articles led to real change in Western Australia. WARNING: This episode contains descriptions of domestic abuse and may not be suitable for all. ​​If you or a loved one is experiencing domestic violence, support is available globally through a number of hotlines and organisations, some are listed below. Note - a previous version of this episode wrongly called Annabel's paper the Western Australian, it is, of course: the West Australian. Apologies. Read all about it: https://thewest.com.au/news/court-justice/kill-or-be-killed-chapter-one-the-incarceration-of-jody-gore-ng-b881296125z https://thewest.com.au/features/kill-or-be-killed-chapter-three-the-crisis-centre-files-ignored-at-jody-gores-murder-trial-ng-b881317254z Interview with Dr Hannah McGlade, from Noongar Dandjoo TV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5o91-fvYiE This show is a co-production of Studio to be. Hosted and produced: Maeve McClenaghan Co-Executive Producers: Joaquin Alvarado and Ken Ikeda Producer: Olivia Aylmer Audio Editor: Chloe Behrens Sound design, audio mixing and original music: Claudia Meza Transcription support: Rushana Miller Theme music: Dice muse ​​If you or a loved one is experiencing domestic violence, support is available globally through a number of hotlines and organisations. Here are just a few: 22 Standout Groups Stopping Domestic Violence: https://greatist.com/happiness/stop-domestic-violence-organizations#get-help-now AUSTRALIA Djirra, an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation which provides holistic, culturally safe and specialist legal and non-legal support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who experience family violence – predominantly women: https://djirra.org.au/who-we-are/ 1800RESPECT: https://www.1800respect.org.au/help-and-support/services-overview UK Refuge’s National Domestic Abuse Helpline: https://www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk/ USA National Domestic Violence Hotline: https://www.thehotline.org/ CANADA Shelter Safe: https://sheltersafe.ca/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What do you do if the data you need doesn’t exist? When the pandemic hit I couldn’t stop wondering about how the impact of lockdown, sickness or bereavement on people’s ability to pay their rent or mortgage. I wanted to know more, but I couldn’t do it alone. This is the story of how a group of more than 20 journalists, all across England and Wales, came together in one of the largest court-reporting projects of its kind. Read all about it: https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2021-09-23/evicted-in-less-than-10-minutes-courts-fail-tenants-broken-by-pandemic https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2021-11-03/banks-repossessions-pandemic-mortgages https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/blog/2021-10-05/closeddoors-how-local-journalists-exposed-pandemic-evictions https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58643437 This show is a co-production of Studio to be. Hosted and produced: Maeve McClenaghan Co-Executive Producers: Joaquin Alvarado and Ken Ikeda Producer: Olivia Aylmer Audio Editing and sound design: Maeve McClenaghan Voice acting: Francis Whittaker Original music: Claudia Meza Theme music: Dice muse Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Liz MacKean and Meirion Jones think they have everything they need to finally expose Jimmy Savile’s abhorrent crimes. But as their transmission date gets nearer, their BBC bosses start to pull back. This is the story of how the BBC came to drop the Newsnight investigation into Savile and the seismic consequences of that decision. This is the second part of a two-episode story. Read all about it: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/02/jimmy-savile-bbc-journalists-risked-jobs-reveal-truth https://www.itv.com/news/update/2012-10-04/watch-the-itv-documentary-on-jimmy-savile/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Victim-Zero-Jimmy-Savile-Tried/dp/1786060299 https://www.channel4.com/news/by/jackie-long/blogs/my-friend-liz-mackean-a-forensic-journalist-who-had-time-for-people-who-others-ignored https://www.channel4.com/news/hunted-russia-gay-dispatches-channel-4-video Special thanks to Liz MacKean's family for their support. This show is a co-production of Studio to be. Hosted and produced: Maeve McClenaghan Co-Executive Producers: Joaquin Alvarado and Ken Ikeda Producer: Olivia Aylmer Audio Editor: Chloe Behrens Sound design, audio mixing and original music: Claudia Meza Transcription support: Soobin Kim Theme music: Dice muse Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Meirion Jones has had a strange feeling about Jimmy Savile for some time and he thinks he may have a way to probe further. When Savile dies, Meirion teams up with Liz MacKean to try and get to the truth. This is how Liz and Meirion pulled together the pieces - in an attempt to finally bring Savile’s crimes to light. Many thanks to Liz MacKean's family for allowing me to use audio from an un-aired interview in 2015. This is the first part of a two-episode story - stay tuned next week for part 2. This show is a co-production of Studio to be. Hosted and produced: Maeve McClenaghan Co-Executive Producers: Joaquin Alvarado and Ken Ikeda Producer: Olivia Aylmer Audio Editor: Chloe Behrens Sound design, audio mixing and original music: Claudia Meza Transcription support: Rushana Miller Theme music: Dice muse Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zak Garner-Purkis is sat in a fastfood restaurant - his attention laser-focused on the men gathering across the road. He is trying to work out who these man are, how they have come to be there, and whether this is what modern day slavery looks like in 21st century London? This is the story of how Zak went undercover to expose a shocking system of exploitation in the construction industry. Read all about it: https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/agenda/investigations/how-i-bought-slave-labour-in-london-an-undercover-investigation-19-12-2019/ https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/agenda/investigations/stop-funding-slavery-19-12-2019/ Transcript available: http://thetipoffpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Transcript-The-Tip-Off-S9-Ep54-How-it-gets-built.pdf This show is a co-production of Studio to be. Hosted and produced: Maeve McClenaghan Co-Executive Producers: Joaquin Alvarado and Ken Ikeda Producer: Olivia Aylmer Audio Editor: Chloe Behrens Sound design, audio mixing and original music: Claudia Meza Transcription support: Soobin Kim Theme music: Dice muse Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stay tuned - we will be back very soon with more stories behind the headlines. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Creator and host of The Tip Off, Maeve McClenaghan has written a book, and it is now out in paperback. No Fixed Abode: Life and Death Among the UK’s Forgotten Homeless tells highly personal, human and sometimes surprisingly uplifting stories of real people struggling in a crumbling system. The book goes behind the scenes of the dramatic, winding investigation that revealed - for the first time - how and when people were dying homeless in one of the richest countries in the world. This paperback edition includes a new preface covering the impact of Covid-19. Here’s some of the nice things people have said about it: “A conscience-pricking look at the reality of life on Britain’s streets . . . No Fixed Abode couldn’t be more illuminating, timely and urgent.” - Sunday Times “Urgent, gripping and devastating” - the Secret Barrister “A campaigning book of the very highest order” - Irish Times ‘A meticulous investigation exposes the shameful truths surrounding the UK’s homeless population . . . moving and revealing” - Guardian Available here and in all good bookshops: https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Maeve-McClenaghan/No-Fixed-Abode--Life-and-Death-Among-the-UKs-Forgotten-Homeless/25638386 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cheats: we love to hate them. But in this climate of fast news, short attention spans, 280 characters, do we ever get the full picture? Cheat!, a new podcast from Somethin’ Else, digs underneath the surface to tell the inside stories behind some of the biggest scandals in contemporary history and introduces you to the flawed protagonists at their heart: controversial and contentious figures from the world of pop culture, business, sport, politics and love. Available now wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sarah Turnnidge started her journalism career at local papers so it was there she first encountered press releases from police forces. But over time Sarah started to wonder - did they tell the whole story. In this episode Sarah talks through her meticulous data project which revealed a worrying disproportionality when it came to information put out about black criminals. Read all about it: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/metropolitan-police_uk_603fa18ec5b617a7e411ffc5 This episode was made with the production support of Studio To Be. Hosted and produced: Maeve McClenaghan Edited by: Alice Milliken Theme music: Dice Muse Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.