February 1999 and police call a news conference following the disappearance of a woman from Southport. Her name: Lynsey Quy, 22-years-old and a mother of two young children. Lynsey’s husband, Mitchell, a former casino croupier and fairground worker, also takes part. Faking It: Tears of a Crime s1e1: Quy, Discovery 2017
She’d married Mitchell Quy in 1995 while pregnant with another man’s baby but she’d suffered violence and abuse from day one. ibid.
‘I wouldn’t piss on her if she was on fire.’ ibid. Quy admits documentary crew
But Quy showed more than arrogance. His earlier words and expressions betrayed something much darker and destructive. ibid.
The man who had for so long maintained his innocence decided to confess all. ibid.
* Dawn: His strategy of attacking the legitimacy of the question = defensive and evasive
* Cliff: Corner of mouth raised = superiority, contempt; now smiles, cheeks raise, eyes glint, = leaking pleasure
* C: Upper lip raise signifies disgust
18, Victory Road, Derby, May 2012: At 4 in the morning, fire roars through a family’s home. Faking It: Tears of a Crime s1e1: Philpott, 2017
Philpott’s reputation around Derby had made him a tabloid villain. Multiple partners, many children. Making £50,000 a year in state benefits but no job. ibid.
Right away, Philpott blamed his ex-mistress for starting the fire. A claim the police quickly discounted. ibid.
‘The Mick Philpott show, written by him, to be performed by him, with Mairead there as supporting cast.’ ibid. rozzer
This is fake. This is posed sadness … so this is a performance. ibid. Cliff
When you’ve lost six of your kids, you don’t feel anything like grateful … and usually we’ve got tears. ibid. Kerry
February 2008 and a telephone call that triggers one of the biggest police man-hunts of modern times. Faking It: Tears of a Crime s1e2: Karen Matthews
24 hours after Shannon’s disappearance, Karen Matthews came out to face the world. ibid.
People began to notice Sharon Matthews’ unusual behaviour. ibid.
Shannon Matthews had been discovered alive and well. ibid.
Friends and neighbours grew increasingly suspicious. ibid.
* Chris: Left hand shoulder shrug contradicts positive statement
The killer who invites the cameras into his own living room while a terrible secrets lies hidden upstairs. Faking It: Tears of a Crime s1e2: Stuart Hazell
August 9th 2012: A televised appeal for a missing schoolgirl. The missing girl 12-year-old Tia Sharp. The man making the appeal, Stuart Hazell, her grandmother’s boyfriend. For seven days and nights, Hazell had been suspected of involvement in Tia’s disappearance, and now he was aiming to clear his name, but he was faking it. The house where he spoke contained a terrible secret. ibid.
If Tia had left the house to go shopping as he claimed, her image would have shown up somewhere. ibid.
Hazell was a violent drug addict who had been to prison repeatedly. ibid.
Tia was dead and hidden upstairs in the loft. ibid.
* Chris: Asymmetric brows = posed sadness
* C: Tone of ears change = increased blood pressure
One of Britain’s most notorious murderers. How he was faking it, and for the first time spotting how he lied. A girlfriend who covered up for him. Faking It: Tears of a Crime s2e1: Ian Huntley & Maxine Carr
Now uncovered the lies Ian Huntley told about the crime that broke Britain’s heart. ibid.
Soham: The Cambridgeshire village that became the focus of worldwide attention after the disappearance of two ten-year-old girls, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. ibid.
Humberside police knew all about him: eight times he’d been linked to allegations of sexual abuse and rape, mostly against girls as young as eleven. ibid.
And he then started to go further, by agreeing to a series of TV interviews. ibid.
It was Britain’s biggest manhunt ever. ibid.
But at odd moments Huntley’s face betrays him. ibid.
Maxine talking about Holly in the past tense … It did strike me at the time as slightly strange. ibid. Jeremy Thompson, reporter
But by choosing to speak on camera both Huntley and Carr made a crucial mistake. They helped to give themselves away. ibid.
* Chris: Posing concern and sadness with eyebrows: it’s a pose because there’s asymmetry
* C: Contradicting affirmative statement with slight headshake no and shoulder raise = deception
* C: ‘That way inclined’ & while smiling pleasurable face = psychopath
* C: Carr: Four positive statements, four one-second blinks
* C: Huntley’s police interview: Squirming, movement back in chair, clamps hands, rubbing and manipulating fingers, slight shoulder raise on right side, volume comes down, says no with head movement afterwards = indicators of deception
The crime that had the nation gripped. An alleged road rage murder with a shocking twist. Faking It: Tears of a Crime s2e2: Tracie Andrews
Worcestershire in the English Midlands, December 1996: Police investigate a murder in a quiet country lane, the result of a reported high-speed car chase. The dead man – Lee Harvey aged 25 and father of a baby daughter. Travelling alongside him – his girlfriend Tracie Andrews, 27, a single mum, barmaid and part-time model. Battered and bruised, Tracie Andrews had been interviewed by police. ibid.
I saw six indicators all within three or four seconds which totally contradict the claim she is making. ibid. Cliff
‘She had assaulted him in a public house in Birmingham. She had bitten him.’ ibid. rozzer
While some of Tracie Andrew’s story may have been true, at other times she was faking it. ibid.
Tracie Andrew’s concern was primarily about herself. ibid.
Birmingham Crown Court: Tracie Andrews was found guilty of murder. ibid.
* Cliff: Six indicators: See qualifies the statement, slight shoulder shrug from left shoulder, volume drop, swallows hard, she pauses then pitch goes up = porkie
* Dawn: Very sequential: ‘and then … and then … and then …’
A missing mum, distraught husband. Where is their mother? Winchester in the south of England: Kirsi Gifford-Hull, a 39-year-old mother of two, is reported missing from her family home. As missing stories went, this one was rare. Faking It: Tears of a Crime s2e2: Mike Hull
Her husband claimed that after an argument she had walked out on him and their children, aged 10 and 13. But there was no sign of Kirsi anywhere. Detectives started to focus on her husband who’d been the last to see her. ibid.
‘Kirsi Gifford-Hull had discovered that her husband had been having several several affairs with women he had met on the internet and with prostitutes.’ ibid. journalist
I don’t think I’ve ever seen that blink rate before. ibid. Cliff
It’s just positive impression management. ibid. Kerry
* Cliff: Blink rate!
* C: ‘I need you back’ with slight head shake no & two eye closures
The parents who asked what everyone was thinking: ‘Would we kill our own daughter?’ Now the experts analyse the tears, the lies and the video tape. A murder that shocked a community. Faking It: Tears of a Crime s2e3: Shafilea Ahmed
Everything they were describing was a lie. ibid. Cliff
Police began to investigate what Shafilea had told her friends – frequent rows she’d been having with her parents. ibid.
Drinking bleach left Shafilea leaving urgent medical attention. ibid.
They were looking only at her parents. ibid.
September 2003: 17-year-old Shafilea Ahmed had gone missing from her home in Warrington, Cheshire. Four months later her body was found. Her parents were the prime suspects. ibid.
Their lack of concern for Shafilea was creating suspicion. ibid.
‘Alesha finally said to the police she had witnessed Shafilea being murdered by her parents all those years ago.’ ibid. woman
‘The mother had actually encouraged and pushed Iftikhar on to do it.’ ibid. man
Her parents were found guilty of her murder. ibid.
* Dawn: He says ‘The daughter doesn’t want to be married …’ which is extremely distancing.
* Cliff: He says never but gives us a head nod yes
* Cliff: Eyes closed, volume dropped, head drop yes, two second pause