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Mark Williams-Thomas
Williams-Thomas in November 2013
Born
Mark Alan Williams-Thomas

(1970-01-09) 9 January 1970 (age 54)
Billericay, Essex, England
EducationBirmingham City University
OccupationInvestigative reporter
Awards
Mark Williams-Thomas's voice
recorded November 2013

Mark Alan Williams-Thomas (born 9 January 1970)[1][2] is an English investigative journalist, sexual abuse victim advocate, and former police officer. He is a regular reporter on This Morning and Channel 4 News, as well as the ITV series Exposure and the ITV and Netflix crime series The Investigator: A British Crime Story.[3][4]

As a child-protection specialist, Williams-Thomas is best known for exposing Jimmy Savile as a paedophile in The Other Side of Jimmy Savile, a television documentary he presented in 2012 as part of the Exposure series, which received numerous awards and led to the Operation Yewtree police investigation.[5] He has also investigated several other high-profile cases, including the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

In December 2023, Williams-Thomas released a YouTube documentary about the UK government's controversial "VIP Lane" which, during the COVID-19 pandemic, gave companies preferential access to public personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts. The documentary was funded by PPE MedPro, a company founded by Baroness Michelle Mone and her husband Douglas Barrowman, and being investigated by the National Crime Agency in relation to allegations of conspiracy to defraud, fraud by false representation, and bribery.

Background

Williams-Thomas was born in Billericay, Essex. He was educated at Amesbury School and Pierrepoint School, and later attended Birmingham City University. In 1989, he joined Surrey Police. During his time with Surrey Police, he was a specialist in major crime and child abuse. He left the force in 2000.

Williams-Thomas completed his MA in criminology from Birmingham City University in 2007.[6]

Police career

Williams-Thomas was a detective and family liaison officer with Surrey Police from 1989 to 2000.[2]

On 27 November 1995, schoolgirl Ruth Wilson aged 16 years went missing from her home in from Betchworth, near Dorking Surrey, England. Williams-Thomas was the family liaison officer for Wilson's case, stated that extensive searches across Box Hill had yielded no evidence to suggest she was killed or committed suicide. He also stated that he was sure Wilson was not abducted by a stranger. Williams-Thomas also stated; "From the experience I have had, I would suggest one of two things occurred. She either went up there to meet someone and has subsequently gone away, or she went there and died in some way."[7]

In August 1997 Williams-Thomas was part of the investigation into child pornography found in the possession of school teacher Adrian Stark, the director of music at St John's School, Leatherhead, Surrey, who committed suicide shortly after his arrest.[8][9]

In 2001, Williams-Thomas launched the investigation into the child abuse of Jonathan King, leading to his successful conviction and imprisonment.[citation needed]

Between 2001 and 2002, Williams-Thomas was the marketing manager and a director of GumFighters,[10] a "national chewing gum removal specialist". The company were hired by various councils to clean their streets.[11][12]

In 2003, Williams-Thomas was charged with blackmailing a funeral home director, after alleging that there were multiple bodies buried in unmarked graves. An article ran in a national Sunday paper describing the mass burials. He was subsequently acquitted.[13]

In 2005, Williams-Thomas set up WT Associates, an independent child protection consultancy firm.[2]

Television career

Early television career

From 2003, due to his past in the police force, Williams-Thomas began script advising for various television crime dramas which included BBC series Waking The Dead (2007-2011), BBC series Inspector Lynley Mysteries (2007), Channel 5 series Murder Prevention (2004), ITV series Identity and BBC series The Silence.[14]

In 2011 Williams-Thomas created and presented a new series on ITV called On the Run. The premise of the series was to track down and confront offenders on the run from the police. The series ran over three seasons. Series 1 was broadcast on 24 October 2011.[15] Series 2 was broadcast on 11 December 2012[16] and Williams-Thomas was joined by co-presenter Nicky Campbell.[17] Series 3 was broadcast on 29 October 2013[18] and Williams-Thomas was joined by co-presenter Natasha Kaplinsky.[19] In series three Williams-Thomas and his team pursued a convicted child sex offender on the run in Spain.[20]

On 9 August 2012, ITV News broadcast an exclusive interview Williams-Thomas undertook with Stuart Hazell, who was the last person to see missing 12-year-old schoolgirl Tia Sharp. Hazell went missing the day after this interview and was arrested later the same day on suspicion of Sharp's murder. He was later charged and on 14 May 2013 was jailed after changing his plea. The judge ordered that he serve a minimum of 38 years.[21]

The Other Side of Jimmy Savile

Main article: Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal

Williams-Thomas began investigating the Jimmy Savile case in late 2011, after being informed that Savile was investigated by Surrey police in the late 2000s. On 3 October 2012, Williams-Thomas presented the Exposure documentary The Other Side of Jimmy Savile on ITV, in which five women stated that they had been sexually abused by Savile as teenagers. By late October 2012, the scandal had resulted in inquiries or reviews at the BBC, within the National Health Service, the Crown Prosecution Service, and the Department of Health.[22][23][24] The exposure of Savile as a paedophile led to extensive media coverage, including 41 days on the front pages.[25] In June 2014, investigations into Savile's activities at 28 NHS hospitals, including Leeds General Infirmary and Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, concluded that he had sexually assaulted staff and patients aged between 5 and 75 over several decades.[26] In response to the documentary, the Metropolitan police launched the Operation Yewtree police investigation, which led to the arrest of high-profile celebrities (including Rolf Harris, Max Clifford, and Gary Glitter).[27]

Williams-Thomas presented the follow-up documentary The Jimmy Savile Investigation later that year.[28][29] The Other Side of Jimmy Savile and Exposure: Banaz: An Honour Killing won the 2012 Peabody Award which was broadcast on 3 October 2012.[30][2] In 2013, Williams-Thomas won two Royal Television Society awards and the London Press Awards Scoop of the Year for the film.[31][32][33] In September 2013, MP Tim Loughton made a statement to Parliament in which he praised Williams-Thomas for his "modest but game-changing ITV documentary that exposed Jimmy Savile".[34]

Later television work

Following the success of the Jimmy Savile documentary, Williams-Thomas presented two further Exposure documentaries; Exposure: Predators Abroad[35] and Exposure: Inside the Diplomatic Bag.[36] His undercover work in Cambodia led to the arrest in 2013 of a person suspected of offering underage girls for sex and the rescue of two girls, aged 13 and 14.[37]

In 2014, Williams-Thomas covered the verdict of Oscar Pistorius and was the only British journalist to meet with Pistorius during his trial, writing an exclusive report for UK national newspaper Daily Mirror.[38] On 24 June 2016, ITV broadcast Oscar Pistorius: The Interview[39] in which the former Paralympian spoke in a world exclusive to Williams-Thomas, in his first television interview about the night he shot and killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp in 2013.[40] It was broadcast in Pistorius's home country of South Africa immediately after the ITV programme finished.[41] On 11 November 2014, This Morning broadcast an exclusive interview with Jo Westwood,[42] the ex-wife of sex offender Max Clifford.

In 2015, Williams-Thomas investigated the unsolved murder of BBC presenter Jill Dando. Writing in the Daily Mirror he theorized that she was murdered by the London underworld for her work on Crimewatch.[43]

Williams-Thomas was the reporter for ITV's crime series The Investigator: A British Crime Story, produced by Simon Cowell's Syco.[44] The series re-examined a 30 year old previously 'closed' murder case, the murder of Carole Packman, whose body has never been found. The series was broadcast over four consecutive weeks on ITV, from 14 July 2016.[45] Dorset Police subsequently confirmed that the case remained open and that they would be examining new evidence presented by Williams-Thomas.[46] Series 2 of Williams-Thomas's crime series The Investigator returned to ITV in April 2018 in a three-part series.[47] Series 2 of The Investigator featured the case of murdered student Jessie Earl, who disappeared from Eastbourne in 1980, her remains being found in 1989.[48] In November 2020, in response to a campaign[49] led by Williams-Thomas into Earl's murder, the Solicitor-General, in a highly unusual move, gave permission to appeal the verdict for a fresh inquest.[50] The Rt. Hon. Michael Ellis QC MP said: "I have concluded the initial investigation was insufficient and further lines of inquiry should have been pursued. It is in the interest of justice the application for a new inquest be heard by the High Court."

In 2019 Williams-Thomas started investigating for a new crime series[51] the unsolved murder of teenage mum Nicola Payne.[52] Nicola Payne, aged 18, who was from Coventry and had a 6 month old son at the time, went missing on 14 December 1991. She was on her way to her parents' home. Her body has never been found and remains one of the country's biggest unsolved murder investigations.

In September 2020 following the arrest of Charles and Doris Clark on suspicion of the murder of their 23 years old son Steven,[53] who disappeared in December 1992, Williams-Thomas was given exclusive access to follow the family for a TV documentary while they were under police investigation.[54] In April 2022, in an interview discussing the Netflix documentary Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story, Williams-Thomas said the series might be harmful to Savile's victims due to his face being featured throughout: "I do worry as far as victims go, it's one of the things that strongly gets criticised now when the story's talked about, seeing his face - his picture on the front page. For those victims to see his face consistently over and over again, that is very traumatic for them."[55]

Private commissions

In December 2023, Williams-Thomas released a YouTube documentary, The Interview: Baroness Mone and the PPE Scandal,[56] purportedly to investigate the UK government's controversial "VIP Lane" where, during the COVID-19 pandemic, companies gained preferential access to public personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts through personal connections with ministers and civil servants.[57] The documentary was funded by PPE MedPro, a company that is currently being investigated by the National Crime Agency in relation to allegations of conspiracy to defraud, fraud by false representation, and bribery.[58] The documentary featured a series of interviews with Baroness Michelle Mone and her husband Douglas Barrowman, both of whom face allegations of fraud and bribery for their association with PPE Medpro,[59] and have faced significant public backlash for their previous public denials that they were in any way associated with PPE Medpro.[60] Two experts who appeared in the documentary have stated they were "duped" by Williams-Thomas into appearing in the documentary, stating that "at no point was it mentioned by the production team that they would be receiving funding from PPE Medpro or any other PPE supplier — let alone that they would be using my interview in a documentary that also gave a platform to Baroness Mone". [61] Williams-Thomas defended the documentary, stating that, "we have been totally upfront about who funded the programme." A strapline stating that PPE Medpro fully funded the documentary is inserted into the documentary, around 1 hour and 11 minutes in.[citation needed] The Guardian revealed that Williams-Thomas had previously been employed by PPE Medpro as a private investigator through his company Specialist Investigations Limited to try and establish who was the source of leaks to The Guardian about Mone and Barrowman's involvement with PPE Medpro.[62]

Filmography

  • To Catch a Paedophile (series) (2009; ITV)[63]
  • Tonight: Bullies online (2010; ITV)[64]
  • On The Run (series) (2011–13; ITV)[65][66][18]
  • Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile (2012; ITV)[67]
  • Exposure: The Jimmy Savile Investigation (2012; ITV)[28]
  • Missing Without Trace (2012; ITV)[68]
  • Bamber: The New Evidence (2012; ITV)[69]
  • Living With a Killer (2013; ITV)[70]
  • Exposure: Predators Abroad (2013; ITV)[35]
  • Exposure: Inside the Diplomatic Bag (2014; ITV)[36]
  • Oscar Pistorius: The Interview (2016; ITV)[71]
  • The Investigator: A British Crime Story (Series 1 2016; ITV)[72]
  • The Investigator: A British Crime Story (Series 2 2018; ITV)[73]
  • The Interview: Baroness Mone and the PPE Scandal (2023; YouTube)[74]

Publications

  • Hunting Killers: Britain's top crime investigator reveals how he solves the unsolvable. Bantam Press, 2019, ISBN 978-1787631311

See also

  • Chris Clark – fellow British author who has also produced documentaries and written on unsolved crimes
  • Murder of Helen Gorrie - another case Williams-Thomas has investigated

References

  1. ^ "Check Company". Check Company. 12 June 2007. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d Halliday, Josh (24 February 2013). "Mark Williams-Thomas: I ran the Savile film like a criminal investigation". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  3. ^ "The Investigator: A British Crime Story is Simon Cowell's answer to 'Making a Murderer'". Independent.co.uk. 28 June 2016.
  4. ^ "Police to review murder of Carole Packman after ITV's The Investigator".
  5. ^ Keogh, Kat (12 January 2013). "The Brum lecturer who unmasked twisted Jimmy Savile". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
  6. ^ "School of Social Sciences : Mark Williams-Thomas". Bcu.ac.uk. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  7. ^ "Fresh Appeal to Find Missing Ruth - Surrey Advertiser".
  8. ^ [1]
  9. ^ "Police reassure school over porn scandal teacher". Surrey Live. 7 August 1997. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  10. ^ "Gumfighters Uk Limited". OpenCorporates. 13 December 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  11. ^ "Cleaning blitz to rid city streets of gum". Yorkshire Post. 19 March 2002. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  12. ^ "By Gum - We'll Beat It". News Guardian. 22 March 2001. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  13. ^ "Man cleared of blackmail". BBC News. 4 June 2003. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  14. ^ "Mark Williams-Thomas MA at". Thespeakersagency.com. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  15. ^ On the Run, retrieved 8 May 2020
  16. ^ On the Run 2, retrieved 8 May 2020
  17. ^ "Nicky Campbell", Wikipedia, 28 February 2020, retrieved 8 May 2020
  18. ^ a b On the Run, retrieved 8 May 2020
  19. ^ "Natasha Kaplinsky", Wikipedia, 2 May 2020, retrieved 8 May 2020
  20. ^ "ITV tracks down sex offender On The Run in Portugal". ITV News. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  21. ^ "Tia Sharp murder trial: Stuart Hazell jailed for 38 years". BBC News. 14 May 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  22. ^ Mendick, Robert; Donnelly, Laura (20 October 2012). "Jimmy Savile: Questions for Edwina Currie and the BBC". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  23. ^ "Jimmy Savile scandal: DPP to review abuse claims ('Q&A' and 'DPP to review' sections)". BBC News. 24 October 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2012.
  24. ^ Furness, Hannah (24 October 2012). "Jimmy Savile: Director of Public Prosecutions to review why CPS did not prosecute". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 29 October 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  25. ^ Turvill, William (26 August 2014). "Without Savile exposure, Harris and Clifford victims would never have come forward". Press Gazette. London. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  26. ^ "Savile: 'Reports reveal a terrible picture' – Jeremy Hunt". BBC News. 26 June 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  27. ^ "About Mark". Mark Williams-Thomas. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  28. ^ a b Exposure Update: The Jimmy Savile Investigation, retrieved 15 November 2018
  29. ^ "Currie: Savile 'suggested himself' for Broadmoor role". ITV. 21 November 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  30. ^ "'Exposure: Banaz: An Honour Killing' and 'Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile' (ITV1 and ITV)". George Foster Peabody Awards. 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  31. ^ Deans, Jason (22 May 2013). "BBC Newsnight journalists win award for spiked Jimmy Savile investigation". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
  32. ^ Gover, Dominic (29 July 2013). "Jimmy Savile Sex Crimes Investigator Mark Williams-Thomas Probes Cover-up Claims". International Business Times. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
  33. ^ Turvill, William (21 February 2013). "Double RTS win for Savile documentary maker". Press Gazette. London. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
  34. ^ "Child Protection - Hansard". hansard.parliament.uk. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  35. ^ a b Predators Abroad, retrieved 15 November 2018
  36. ^ a b Inside the Diplomatic Bag, retrieved 15 November 2018
  37. ^ Hamilton, Mike (10 November 2013). "TV investigation leads to arrest of child traffickers supplying children to British paedophiles". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  38. ^ "Mark Williams-Thomas: Why I believe Oscar Pistorius is no murderer and Reeva's death was a tragic accident - Mark Williams-Thomas". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  39. ^ "Oscar Pistorius: The Interview Episode 1". ITV. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  40. ^ Travis, Ben (24 June 2016). "Oscar Pistorius, The Interview, ITV: the Paralympian talks about Reeva Steenkamp's killing with journalist Mark Williams-Thomas". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  41. ^ "Here's when you can watch the Oscar Pistorius interview in South Africa - Times LIVE". The Times (South Africa). 24 June 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  42. ^ "Max Clifford's ex wife, Jo Westwood talks exclusively to This Morning" (Press release). Itv.com. 12 November 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  43. ^ "Jill Dando was shot dead because of her work on BBC Crimewatch, claims top investigator". Bristol Post. 2 April 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  44. ^ Jefferies, Mark; Methven, Nicola (3 August 2016). "The Investigator real-life murder story finishes with 'jaw-dropping' revelations - and clues point to second series". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  45. ^ "The Investigator: A British Crime Story Episode 1" (Press release). ITV. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  46. ^ "Police will re-examine evidence into murder of Carole Packman as convicted killer retracts confession made to TV investigator". Bournemouth Echo. 5 August 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  47. ^ "The Investigator: A British Crime Story", Wikipedia, 1 December 2019, retrieved 3 March 2020
  48. ^ Cooper, John (2 October 2020). "Heartbreaking unsolved murder of the young woman found on Beachy Head". sussexlive. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  49. ^ Field, AnneMarie (30 June 2020). "Update on fresh inquest into Eastbourne student's murder". Eastbourne Herald. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  50. ^ "Death of Jessie Earl", Wikipedia, 25 February 2021, retrieved 24 March 2021
  51. ^ Hartley, Laura; Rodger, James (18 December 2019). "Missing Nicola Payne to be centre of new TV crime show and podcast". birminghammail. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  52. ^ "List of unsolved murders in the United Kingdom", Wikipedia, 2 March 2020, retrieved 3 March 2020
  53. ^ "Steven Clark: Parents arrested on suspicion of son's murder in 1992". BBC News. 16 September 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  54. ^ Armstrong, Jeremy (14 December 2020). "TV detective joins hunt for man missing for 28 years after walking into toilet". Daily Mirror. London. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  55. ^ "Man Who Exposed Jimmy Savile Reveals Concern About Netflix Documentary". www.ladbible.com. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  56. ^ The Interview: Baroness Mone and the PPE Scandal, YouTube. Retrieved: 19 December 2023.
  57. ^ https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/uk-politicians-who-referred-ppe-firms-to-vip-lane-to-be-named/
  58. ^ https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/127/public-accounts-committee/news/196471/ppe-medpro-report-published-by-public-accounts-committee/
  59. ^ https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/dec/17/how-the-michelle-mone-scandal-unfolded-200m-of-ppe-contracts-denials-and-a-government-lawsuit
  60. ^ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67674683
  61. ^ https://bylinetimes.com/2023/12/16/respected-health-professionals-felt-duped-into-appearing-in-michelle-mone-ppe-documentary/
  62. ^ Conn, David; Scott, Russell (19 December 2023). "Revealed: journalist behind Michelle Mone film also worked as private investigator on her behalf". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  63. ^ "To Catch A Paedophile". Broadcast. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  64. ^ "YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  65. ^ On the Run, retrieved 15 November 2018
  66. ^ On the Run 2, retrieved 15 November 2018
  67. ^ The Other Side of Jimmy Savile, retrieved 15 November 2018
  68. ^ Missing Without Trace, retrieved 15 November 2018
  69. ^ Bamber - The New Evidence, 5 April 2012, retrieved 15 November 2018
  70. ^ "Tonight: Living With a Killer". ITV News. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  71. ^ "Oscar Pistorius: The Interview Episode 1". Press Centre. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  72. ^ "How to watch The Investigator: a British Crime Story - who's in it and what's it about?". Radio Times. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  73. ^ "The Investigator: A British Crime Story". www.itvstudios.com. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  74. ^ "Michelle Mone 'breaks silence' over PPE scandal". Manx Radio. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
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