The Mysterious Case of Fred the Head

Episode 57 | Our Man from Stapenhill

The plot thickens - Why does a seemingly impossible thesis - keep surprising us. Suggesting there might be more to this case than meets the eye.   Links: New Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/groups/fredtheheadpodcast/   Podcast Email …

Episode 56 | The River Garden Mystery

The research team have been hard at work for a few months now, and we've got a lot to report on. But in the course of that research, something caught our eye - An unusual story that developed in Burton exactly a year before Fred was found..…

Episode 55 | Face to Face

Ever heard of super-recognisers - Well, it's a thing - people with exceptional ability to recognise people in a crowd - they are used by police and security services the world over - but what's that got to do with Fred?   Links:   Abigail's…

The Mysterious Case of Michael Benedict | Episode 2 | Water is Thicker than Blood

So, we have the perfect crime. The finance scandal of London in 1967, a faked death, a trusted accomplice leading police astray, a beauty queen, all culminating in a successful getaway. They'd done it, Disappeared, never to be seen again.  …

The Mysterious Case of Michael Benedict | Episode 1 | Death of a Red Shirt

Sunday, 16th July 1967 was destined to be the warmest day of the year in the South of England. But in the English Channel, there was a fog. A small dinghy pushed off the coast near Selsey on the Sussex coast, and set in motion a mystery tha…

Teaser - Spin Off Podcast | The Mysterious Case of Michael Benedict | Friday 18th April 2025

From our Fred of Head investigation, we stumble upon a new case - full of intrigue, danger and glamour in London at the height of the swinging sixties.  But after 60 years, impossible to solve surely......... https://podcasts.apple.com/us/p…

Episode 54 | The Missing and The Lost

Our investigation gets into full swing, yielding its first results. We find a new report about the inquest, which unearths some new facts and we have p[progress on John Gick, and there's a very interesting side story developing. Links:   Ab…

Episode 53 | The Hive Mind

2025 has started with bang, as we undertake our biggest research campaign to identify potential victims. I also have an opportunity to discuss the lifestyle of the person that Fred might have been with a key expert.

Episode 52 - The Vanished Men

Episode 51 ~ A Quick Catch Up

It's about time I gave you an update on plans for Fred in 2025 - Well here goes....

Episode 50 | The Dossier

I receive a detailed theory from the ex police colleague of the original investigating officer, Peter Hough - and it seems a good place to pause and reflect as we reach the 50th episode and map out the way forward.   Links:   The Mysterious…

Episode 49 - Scouting for Boys

We take a closer look into the discovery story and particularly the claim that Garth Hamp-Gopsill was at the Grammar School instructing shooting. We also meet a man who the police believed may have been connected to John Gick's disappearanc…

Episode 48 - The Discovery: Revisited

It's time to revisit the original discovery story and go over it with a fine-toothed comb. A process that yields some interesting inconsistencies. And there's some unexpected developments from the Isle of Man.   Links New Facebook Page http…

Episode 47 - Man to Man

I travel to the Isle of Man in search of more information about John Gick and return to speak to someone connected with the case who has a very clear idea of what may have happened to Fred. Oh,.... and by the way, there's something quite im…

Episode 46 - Close to Home

There's a number of interesting conversations that reveal some new ideas, an eagle eared listener spots a very strange coincidence and there's news of our new website. Show Notes for Episode 46 www.fredthehead.info contact@fredthehead.info …

Episode 45 - The Connection

What would you do in John Gick's shoes? - Our investigation in to that thought yields an astonishing potential connection - One, absolutely nobody, saw coming! Want to contact us? - email us at: fredtheheadpodcast@gmail.com

Episode 44 - Back to Work

Summer's over, so its back to work on the investigation. There's a few interesting developments to update you on on John Gick, on the Kun family emigration and the first Fred the Head meet up which was such a great success. 

Episode 43 - The Scout’s Story

John Gick disappears without trace on Saturday 1st February 1969, leaving the scout group he had brought with him from the Isle of Man without its leader. In this episode we track down the second in command on that trip and explore what he …

Episode 42 - Digging Deeper

Episode 42 - Digging Deeper - We take our investigations into the missing scoutmaster to the next level, as we try to establish how the unsolved disappearance of a man in February 1969 could be related to our case.  

Episode 41 - The Man who Stepped into Nowhere

Our routine investigations pay dividends - When a man emerges from the archives who seems to match Fred - and the more we dig, the more and more intriguing it becomes.

Episode 40 - The Witness

In a long interview, we meet with the man who claims to have been an accessory to Fred's murder, who tells a remarkable tale in his own words.

Episode 39 - A Glimpse behind the Curtain

There's one final question I need to ask Zoe, I spend far more time than I should digging through the archives with interesting results and we receive an offer of some very useful help

Episode 38 - No Stone Unturned

Jo has been busy uncovering more about Matthew James Jackson, I'm able to speak to someone who knew Frank Kun very well and there are some intriguing questions raised by listeners.

Episode 37 - Another Year

In our end of year review, we try and marshall all of the salient points we have discovered so far, map out the work ahead of us and, in the process, uncover some new and potential important information about Matthew James Jackson.

Episode 36 - The Missing Years

1969 - The Cold War is at its height. The clandestine battle of secrets, spies and espionage is raging on both sides of the Iron Curtain. It sounds glamorous, but in reality espionage was a dirty, sordid, small time business. Was Fred's dea…

Episode 35 - Down To Us

My request to the senior levels of the Police service about Isotopic Analysis yields results of an unexpected kind and I get to speak with someone who's been working on the Fred case for far longer than me.

Episode 34 - The Confession?

We hear about something that may change everything. A possible link between the body and the killer. 

Episode 33 - Dental Fundamentals

We've got work to do in our continuing investigation into whether there was any connection between Bible John and Fred. That starts with a deep dive into the dentistry and that process generates a new idea that I need to get to the bottom o…

Episode 32 - The Worry List

We've been systematically combing through marriages in an ever-widening circle from Burton as part of an ongoing process to capture marriages in around 1969. Those few who we can't trace afterwards populate the worry list. In the meantime I…

Episode 31 - Picking Up the Pieces

Welcome to Season 2 - Where we learn more about Fred's dentistry. plan our campaign for the new season and investigate two incidents from the time of the murder that might have a bearing on the case.

Episode 30 – The Hypothesis

I need to understand more about how Czechoslovak refugees found their way to the UK in 1968 and fortunately I find someone who could help me with this, and I get to learn a great deal that could prove very useful in the fullness of time. In…

Episode 29 - 1968

I receive an offer of help on analysing Fred’s dentistry, the results of which open up a new avenue of investigation. One that links our victim to the broader political upheavals that were happening around the world in in the late 1960s. An…

Episode 28 - A Very Dark Character

I’m following the trail to discover more about Mr A, the man at the centre of the story in Episode 23. I manage to find and speak with someone who knew him really, really well. So here was my chance to test the accuracy of the account.   Th…

Episode 27 - The Real George Robinson

Trying to trace George Robinson, who died in his shack in Stapenhill is proving difficult, very difficult, but we’ve simply got to find him. But in the process of trying to find him, I discover another witness. Someone who can tell me much,…

Episode 26 - Looking for George

I’m trying to find the identity of the man in the shack, to understand who he was and whether he was involved in the case in any way.  That investigation leads us down another fascinating avenue.

Episode 25 – The Man in the Shack

I needed to dig deeper and deeper into the story that we had been told, and that involved another conversation with the person who told me the story. That conversation revealed something I hadn’t quite understood…. Exactly when he was told …

Episode 24 - The Story, Deconstructed

We’d heard a compelling account of what had happened – but was it true? - I needed to take a deep dive to investigate the truthfulness of the account. However during that investigation I'd learn something new that cast a completely differen…

Episode 23 - The Man from the North

When I receive a message from someone who claims to have told the police the real story of what had happened to Fred over 12 months ago, and now wants to tell me, I’m interested. This episode is his story, and it’s fascinating.

Episode 22 - An Unexpected Discovery

Trying to find the identity of the man at the bar, I stumble upon something unforeseen that casts a new light on the early stages of the police investigation that may have fascinating implications.

Episode 21 - The Man at the Bar

I finally get to speak to someone I’d been trying to speak to for a few months – and something they say stops me in my tracks. Something that links a living person in 1969 with the body found in 1971.