Episode three of RTÉ's essential new True Crime podcast has just gone live; here is what Anna Joyce learned. Please prepare yourself for spoilers - listen to it here and here.
RTÉ's Documentary On One, in association with Third Ear Productions, have constructed an audio labyrinth, which is so fraught with twists, turns and mistruths you would need a homemade evidence board to keep up, so have some red string and a corkboard at the ready...
"If you've not heard part one and part two yet, I suggest you stop right now and go back. Otherwise, what follows might not make any sense at all". It will also cause you to yelp from shock, or gape open-mouthed at your screen. As the following is riddled with spoilers from episode three of The Nobody Zone. So, please try not to read (or listen) in a public place, and definitely not on a train.
Thankfully, episode three unpacks some of the questions, which have your nails bitten down to the quick. And a trial finally takes place (sort of), but it may not be for who you think…….
The curious case of Platt
"In this episode, I want to separate a lot of truth, from a lot of things that are less than true - I want to do this to get to grips with the Kieran Kelly story. Because at this point there is a problem, it's hard to know what’s true, and what’s not". Episode three presents a puzzled Rob Mulhern, as he grapples with the outlandish claims of former metropolitan police officer Geoff Platt. How did a trainee detective run a murder investigation? Why did an alleged "cover-up" have multiple public trials? And why was Platt hesitant to offer victim information? If you loath spoilers DO NOT read the next paragraph, you’ve been warned.
The Trial
"We could imagine that this is a courtroom trial and we’ve got Geoff Platt as a witness. We can take his testimony and deal with it in detail. We can have a look at the claims he makes one by one". Here is what the prosecution finds on Platt and his wild allegations -
1. How did a trainee detective run a murder investigation?
In brief, he didn’t. DI Ian Brown made the Kelly confession tapes, with his superior officer Detective Chief Inspector Ray Adams. In his words "There were maybe ten interviews in all of Kieran Kelly, and Geoff Platt was never present for any of them". Platt is also not mentioned in any court papers.
2. Why did an alleged "cover-up" case have multiple public trials?
Documents reveal that Kelly was tried for the murder of Hector Fisher, and William Boyd "There are no trials for any other murderers for 1983 or 1984 in the records" The list of 31 killings Platt alleges Kelly committed could not be found on any records by Rob. This could support a cover-up if Geoff is being faithful. That or there is an alternative explanation, as always you must keep listening to alleviate the torture.
3. Why did Platt refuse to supply victims information?
Whenever Mulhern broaches this question with Platt, he deflects. Platt claims he found articles detailing a series of horrific tube deaths, and with this information, he confronted Kelly and yielded a confession. "Geoff Platt does not reproduce or refer to a single one of these articles in his book. Basically we’ve only got Geoff Platt’s word that they ever existed, and that means we only have Geoff Platt’s word that he confronted Kieran Kelly".
Fake News
If you are dumbstruck, and would never have thought to question the word of Platt, don’t worry, you are not alone. "The revelations in Geoff Platt’s book made headlines in 2015. They sailed completely unchallenged across all sorts of serious, and you might say respectable media channels. The story of Kieran Kelly the London underground serial killer and a possible cover-up by the Home Office made the BBC Today programme, The Huffington Post, newspapers like The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Daily Express, The Irish Examiner, The Irish Post... the list goes on and on. Remember an inquiry was even opened at the British Transport Police in direct response".
Awkward Encounters
In episode three, Mulhern probes Platt about his discoveries and the glaring inconsistencies in his book The London Underground Serial Killer. It is both satisfying and unsettling to listen as Platt recuses himself and "disappears down the steps and into the noise of the underground".
The Solicitor
Platt insists that he was the last living connection to Kelly, this unsurprisingly, is not true. John Slater was Kelly’s solicitor; he was assigned the case by the courts in 1982. "You only get a case of this nature once in your professional career. I’ve had several murder cases, but I don’t think I’ve ever before, or since had a multiple murder case". Slater does not subscribe to Platt’s cover-up theory. Instead, he describes him as " bag carrier", who "was not involved in a senior position within the inquiry".
Victims
The podcast tempers itself, and while it permits zealot’s the opportunity to gorge on a volatile tale of murder and deceit, it reiterates that it is a "strange kind of numbers game". The podcast delicately stresses the vulgarity in exaggeration when speaking of murder. "Kelly was a brutal murderer, he was a serial killer", and that requires no hyperbole. True crime can be a cathartic pastime for victims or a cautionary playbook, but it should not be used to glorify a monster which The Nobody Zone seemingly recognises.
Case Closed?
Apologies for the information overload, which may have caused involuntary hand motions, and likely has left you even more perplexed.
Where do the revelations above leave the Kelly case? Here is a basic guide - you can discount the majority (but not all) of Platt’s claims. For example, there were not 31 victims. And you can disregard the notion of Kelly’s repressed homosexuality, as a motive for murder. However, Kelly did confess to a slew of murderers; The Nobody Zone has it one tape ...
