Show Notes
Series 2 - Episode 6 * Warning: Today’s episode contains descriptions ofharassment and stalking. We’ll explore themes related to verbal and emotional abuse, intimate partner abuse, highly offensive communications, and fraud. Listener discretion is strongly advised, as some content may be distressing. *
August 2020, Darlington, North East England. A woman begins to receive vast numbers of abusive messages, which she believes are coming from her ex-partner Stuart Bell. It was not a straightforward matter for the police to establish whether it was Bell who was behind the messages. Investigating officer Kerris Dawson approached Dr Nicci MacLeod for help. Join hosts Professor Tim Grant and Dr Nicci MacLeod in unravelling the linguistic features that contributed to determining the authorship of the abusive messages. For a list of our sources and more information about this case, please visit https://www.aston.ac.uk/writing-wrongs
Have a question for Nicci or Tim? Email us at [email protected] and we may answer it duringan upcoming episode!
Check out the official AIFL blog for more forensic linguistic goodies here: https://medium.com/@AIFLblog
If you have been affected by any of the themes in this week’s episode, please contact one of these free sources:
https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/ https://www.helpguide.org/find-help
Production Team: Mark Round, Jordan Robertson, Neus Alberich Buera, Karolina Placzynta Sound: Mark Round Editing: Angela Walker Visual design: George Grant Additional Voices: Sam Guerin
With special thanks to Robbie Love.
Professor Tim Grant’s home page: Tim Grant - Aston Research Explorer
Dr Nicci MacLeod’s home page: Nicci MacLeod - Aston Research Explorer
More from Writing Wrongs
* Warning: Today’s episode contains discussions of threatening communication and blackmail*
* Warning: Today’s episode contains discussions of threatening communication *
* Warning: Today’s episode contains discussions of murder and racial profiling *
*Warning: this episode contains descriptions of emotional abuse and manipulation* --- November 12, 2018, Madrid, Spain. 47-year-old Galician man Rodrigo Nogueira Iglesias is arrested near the Puerta de Atocha railway station. His crimes stretched back more than twenty years. Rodrigo frequented social media platforms and dating websites where he used fake profiles, pretending to be different people with different names and professions, all with the initial goal of attracting the attention of women who could be potential victims. We are joined by Dr Sheila Queralt – a friend of the Institute and Spain’s top forensic linguistics expert, having consulted on some 300 cases over the past 15 years and testified as a linguistics expert witness in criminal and civil trials across 10 countries, with cases reaching courts including the ECHR. Her work in forensic linguistics at ForensicLab continues through her Laboratory based in Barcelona, which provides linguisticanalysis of recorded conversations and voice messages, as well as written documents. --- In the episode, we make references to episodes 1.4 Romance Fraud, featuring a conversation with Dr Lis Carter, and 3.2 The Multiple Personas of an Online Child Abuser, featuring DrEmily Chiang.