Series 5

When two year old Ryan Stark goes missing from a high street merry-go-round, his distraught mother, Kayla reports him kidnapped and a massive police hunt is launched to find the missing toddler. In spite of public appeals and additional police manpower, the search throws up more questions than answers. The legal case uncovers a history of dealings with the social services before Ryan went missing, something which alerts our heroes to the possibility that his mother isn’t being entirely truthful. With more than one suspect and little physical evidence, will Ryan’s family ever learn the truth of what happened to their baby boy?

Lying in a pool of blood, call girl Katka Cizek, seems to have only one admirer capable of her murder. A man with her on the night, a man without an alibi, a man with everything to lose were his secret obsession for her revealed. A seemingly cut and dry case, Alesha, given the reins to lead the cross-examination, begins to suspect someone has reason to frame the accused. Dogged in her pursuit of the truth, she unearths a betrayal of such enormity proving there are no winners in this case.

A night club peppered with bullets. Two victims bleeding out on the floor. The start of a deadly gun rampage through the streets of London. With the media swarming all over the case and a hostage to find, DS Matt Devlin and DS Ronnie Brooks are up against the clock as they try to track down the Bonnie and Clyde duo wreaking havoc on the city streets. Capture is far from closure when defence barrister, Phyllis Gladstone, takes the case on, arguing that one of the pair was more innocent victim than violent killer. Did the defendant act out of fear - beaten and bullied into submission by her partner-in-crime, too terrified to escape and alert the police? With two sides to every story, the team are under pressure to make sure someone is held responsible for a murderous spree that cost five lives.

Stabbed to death while they slept, the killings of David and Elaine Lerner prove a mystery to DS Matt Devlin and DS Ronnie Brooks. Universally loved, there’s not a single lead that points to grievances held or enemies made. The previous owner of the house soon emerges as a much more likely target for attack - Camilla Mallon, a banker embroiled in a hedge fund scandal. Could the brutal murders be a case of mistaken identity? As our Crown Prosecutors navigate this seemingly senseless crime, Jake’s old mentor, Margaret Rumsfield argues the accused should face only manslaughter charges. Without motive, without intent, can our heroes make a murder charge stick?