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Jack Halford has been visiting a psychic in the hope of contacting his late wife Mary but gets information on another case. As a result, the UCOS team re-opens the murder of Caroline Stillman. Some 20 years before the young woman had been abducted and subsequently found dead, locked in a shipping container on the docks having starved to death over a period of 42 days. They get little help from the dead woman's sister Sarah who wants to put the entire event behind her. As they interview those who were involved in the original investigation, they meet Martin Lombard, a clairvoyant who knew information that he should not have known. The original investigating officer, now an Assistant Deputy Commissioner, thought Lombard had something to do with the girl's death but everyone now seems to be more concerned with being embarrassed than finding a solution to the crime. Meanwhile, Brian, Gerry and Jack must undergo mandatory psychological and physical testing for all employees over the age of 50.
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UCOS has a new boss in the form of Deputy Assistant Commissioner Robert Strickland and his first task for them is to re-open a 20 year old murder case. David Barry was a highly respected barrister who was found in his car in Soho, beaten to death. The forensic evidence indicates that he had been bound and gagged and that his death was a slow one. They review many of the suspects from the original case file. Sandra begins to suspect that the original case officer perhaps knew more than he was letting on. It also appears Barry had peculiar tastes and appetites which leads them into the world of S&M. Meanwhile, Gerry and Brian become obsessed with knowing what the other is being paid.
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The UCOS team investigate a deadly assault on Shivani Das who was attacked 8 years before on a towpath while walking home. The woman is hospitalized and being kept alive,against the wishes of her mother and sisters, at the insistence of her husband, Milan Das, who refuses to let her go. Assisted by DS Pushkar Guha, they learn that the woman had been married for about a year. Her husband, Milan, was out of the country at the time of the attack. They also learn that Milan's brother and sister weren't too keen on Shivani. When they find that a private detective disappeared in the same area just before the attack, they find a connection between the two families.
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The UCOS team find themselves re-opening the case of Hannah Taylor who was kidnapped in 1992 at the age of 18. She had been presumed dead when what was thought to be her remains were found several years later but a laboratory technician made an error with the DNA tests. Her mother Madeleine Taylor, now a prominent doctor who was at the time assigned to the police as a police duty doctor, paid a ransom of £20,000 but it disappeared and she heard nothing of her daughter's fate. As they look into the case, Sandra begins to suspect that Madeleine may have been involved in the kidnapping but an unexpected twist sends them down an entirely new line of inquiry.
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The UCOS team investigate the kidnapping of two 10-year old boys over twenty years ago. Brian thinks it may be related to a current spate of kidnappings. What they know is that two boys, Daryl and Alan, were taken while fishing at an old pit. A few days later, they managed to escape unharmed, but the police never made an arrest in the case. One of the survivors agrees to undergo hypnosis that reveals some additional clues. They soon learn that others fishing at the pit were either threatened or attacked over the years, including a champion fisherman who had held the record for catching the largest carp. As Brian spends more and more time by himself fishing at the pit, his wife Esther seeks Sandra Pullman's advice.
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The team investigates the murder of an unidentified young woman who was found in the woods some 18 years previously. The original pathologist on the case, Professor Mears, has kept all of the evidence in the case and has longed for it to be re-opened. He has even given the girl a name, "Millicent". Working with what little information they have - the young woman had red hair and had syphilis - they first seek to identify the girl. She was also cut up by an expert carver. Throughout this time, Gerry Standing is going a bit mad as he has given up gambling but every horse he would have bet on, has won.
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DS Pullman decides to re-open one of her old cases involving the death of Nancy Murray in a car crash. Pullman is convinced that Nancy's husband Stephen introduced a mechanical fault and was out to get his wife because of an alleged affair she was having. Jack thinks the threats must have from another woman while Gerry thinks that she died for a simple reason: she was a woman driver. The team learns that Nancy was seeing a male prostitute twice weekly and blackmail becomes a real possibility. The solution to the murder however, is to be found by examining basic human needs and emotions.
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With the recent release of Cabinet papers under the 30 year rule, Jack pushes to re-open the investigation into the death of Joe Walsh, a left-wing union leader. His body was fished out of the Thames in the mid-1970's and his death was put down to suicide but it was clear that the Cabinet wanted his antics stopped and Jack wonders is someone might have taken those wishes a little too seriously. There were rumors that Walsh had fiddled the union books and several of his contemporaries are convinced he was disposed of by MI5. Meanwhile, Brian decides to stop taking his medication with expected results.
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The team revive a 30-year old investigation into animal cruelty when a dog is found butchered on Hampstead Heath. The original investigation focused on John Fletcher, who was the press officer for The Human Liberation Front, an organization that was set up to counter the animal rights movement, but is no longer in existence. They seek advice from James Farlow, the animal control officer at the time, but have few leads. They determine that the killer may actually want to harvest the animals' vital organs. Meanwhile, Jack is feeling ill and is hospitalized with some unknown ailment.
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The unsolved crimes unit re-opens one of Jack's old cases when they investigate the murder of Chris Springer who out of fear for his life, offered to grass up Derek Hadley, a suspected drug dealer at the time. Jack retired before the end of the case but Springer's dismembered body was found soon after and Hadley, whose nickname was Chopper, was a suspect. Suspicion falls on the then investigating officer who may have been bent. Jack is also now receiving threats: his tires are slashed and his home is ransacked. Brian and DI Tina Murray go undercover to get the goods on Hadley.
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Witchcraft starts to affect the team when they look into the case of a 32 year-old librarian, Craig Rossiter, who was found dead under a tree in 1996. The murder is quite peculiar in that there was no evidence that anyone else was present at the scene. He died from a single blow to the head. The case is brought to their attention by Grace Woodford and her therapist Sarah Lavin. Grace says Rossiter was a witch, a believer in wicca, and that she was there the night Rossiter was killed. She can't remember a thing however. Jack sees a resemblance between the way the body is posed and images of the Green Man he finds in various books on witchcraft. None of the detectives initially give any credence to witchcraft having any part in this but soon, strange events begin to have them think otherwise.
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When one of Gerry's informants returns to England and provides him with new evidence, the team re-open the case of a 1987 bank robbery where one of the bank employees was killed. The prime suspect was always Ray Cook, but the police could never get the evidence to charge him. Cook's alibi has always been that he was with his dying mother at the time of the robbery but the team find evidence that brings their basic premise into question. They also determine that the bank robbers may have had inside help, including that of certain police officers.
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The Benton and Gennaro families are rival ice cream vendors who have been feuding for years. The Mayor's office is concerned at the impact this may have on tourism and ask Jack to mediate between the two rivals. The team decides to investigate a series of robberies that occurred in the 1990s as this seemed to be an attempt to run one of the families out of business. Gerry goes off on his own and believes that the Betons may be selling more than ice cream from their vans so he enlists the aid of his 18 year-old daughter to give him a hand at a little undercover work.
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Luke Hanson has recently been released form jail after serving 8 years for setting a fire at his local school in which the caretaker had been severely injured. He was across the country committing another crime at the time and would like the team to re-open he case. This was Jack's last case before retiring to care for his wife who was the victim of a hit and run driver. Supt. Pullman gets an offer of promotion that she is finding very hard to resist, but it would mean leaving the squad. A woman who claims to be his daughter approaches Gerry and Brian rekindles an interest in war gaming. In the course of investigating the school fire, Jack learns the identity of the hit and run driver and decides to take action.
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Jack's finally discovered the identity of the hit-and-run driver who murdered his wife and he is now prepared to risk everything to kill the man responsible: crook Ricky Hanson. Determined that Hanson should meet the same fate as his wife, Jack lies in wait in a pub car park, engine running. Sandra becomes aware of the situation. She acts fast to prevent him confronting his nemesis, but it results in a crash that jeopardises the future of the entire team. With Jack, Gerry and Brian hospitalised, Sandra's forced to accept temporary help at UCOS from the super-efficient DCI Karen Hardwick, a woman who irritates Pullman on every level. As she struggles to keep the truth behind the crash a secret from Strickland, Sandra becomes deeply suspicious that Hardwick's been recruited to spy on her. And with Jack clearly on the edge and suffering temporary memory loss since the crash, Sandra has her work cut out in trying to keep Hardwick in the dark. Threatened by a new face in the office and desperate to prove that they're still a crack team, even from a hospital bed, the boys need a case. When their consultant, Dr Finlay McKenzie, mentions the suspicious death of a patient, Alan White, on their ward 10 years ago, they seize the opportunity to re-investigate, hoping it will hold the team together. But is Jack still in mortal danger from his nemesis?
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Sandra is not having a very good time trying to find a care home for her demanding and highly critical mother. While visiting the Whitemead's, she learns that one of the residents, Maggie Newley, died a year earlier and the case remains unsolved, though just about everyone seems ready to put it down as a suicide. Her interest piqued, Sandra sets about trying to take over the case but is told in no uncertain terms by DAC Strickland that the case is beyond her jurisdiction. Gerry, Brian and Jack however decide to take some time off to look into the case themselves. With Jack taking up residence and Gerry posing as his son, they learn quite a bit about the residents and the caregivers. They learn that the dead woman died of an overdose of her prescription medicine so the resident nurse is an immediate suspect but so is a resident who was clearly jealous of the woman. The solution however is far more complex.
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The police re-open a case from 1989. Marie Sinclair was murdered and her lover Michael Dudley disappeared along with the armored car he drove for a living. When the armored car is found at the bottom of a flooded quarry, UCOS is called into action. Her husband was suspected at the time but there was no evidence and he thinks Mick was the murderer. Sandra, who took scuba diving lessons while on a holiday, decides to dive and check the vehicle in the quarry herself. She manages to find the murder weapon in the glove box of the sunken vehicle but when her diving buddy is murdered, it becomes apparent that someone still has something to hide.
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While visiting his solicitor to sign his will, Jack hears the case of an old woman who died mysteriously 10 years previously and left her entire estate to her cats. The last of those cats has now died and so the estate is again up for grabs. The original investigation was inconclusive and the old woman was dead for two weeks before her body was discovered. Three people, a niece, a nephew and a housekeeper, all feel they should now benefit but all are suspects. Meanwhile, Brian is having trouble with his own pet.
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When the team uncovers a briefcase of old £5 notes, they re-open the investigation into the murder of Fred Tully, who was shot to death in 1950. A small time hood, Richard Dunne, was convicted and eventually hanged for the crime. Dunne's granddaughter believes that he was wrongly convicted and has been leading a campaign demanding that the Government launch a full public inquiry. As they re-examine the evidence, they realize there is a connection with the Battersea Power Station where Tully worked (and where the banknotes had been sent for destruction by the Bank of England). The solution to the case however is to be found in the remnants of a document found in the lining of the suitcase containing the money.
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When Brian discovers a skeleton in the woods while walking his dog, it opens up two investigations. The skeleton itself is proven to be quite old, but the squad receives two telephone calls that stir their interest. One call is from the widow of a well-known mobster who admits that she put out a contract on her husband's lover seven years previously. The second case involves the death of a swindler. In that case, someone was convicted and sentenced to prison for the murder but the squad wonders why the dead man's next-door neighbor is making inquiries. Throughout all of this, the team has to prepare for a financial audit knowing they have not been very adept at keeping accurate records.
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In 1987, Stuart Sharpe was killed while working in his brother's photographic studio in Soho. Several items were stolen from the shop, including a camera and numerous rolls of film. With the area now under redevelopment, the stolen items have been recovered and the team decide to trace the owners of the film to see what if any connections there may be to the theft and murder. Some of the photos however were of professional models leading the police to a particular modeling agency that wasn't only involved in modeling. Jerry's daughter Emily seeks out Sandra's advice as a mentor. Brian's son is to be married and he decides to make a digital photo album for his future daughter-in-law but going through them, he realizes he wasn't around very much.
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At the insistence of DAC Strickland, the team re-opens an unsolved case where a circus owner, Bert Digman, was found burned to death in his caravan. The man's daughter is now a successful businesswoman and she is pushing to have the crime solved. Forensic tests however confirm that the remains found in the caravan are not related to the woman. Her mother gave her up for adoption and will have no contact with her. Sandra's mother suffers a mild stroke. She also learns that Jack had investigated her father for corruption and for the first time exactly how he died.
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The trial of Ricky Hanson starts and the members of UCOS are scheduled to appear as witnesses. Hanson is the man who killed Jack Halford's wife but he's on trial for attempting to murder Jack who was recovering from a car accident over a year ago. Hanson's barrister is clearly out to discredit each of them individually. While at the court house, they are asked by an acquaintance of Jack's, Sam Tallis, to look into the death of Ralph Wheeler who was killed and left his fortune to a tart named Carrie Soper. As they look into the case, they find several possible suspects including a solicitor, a doctor and someone with a lengthy criminal record. In the end, the case revolves around a car accident and organ donation.
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With Jack Halford away following the acquittal of Ricky Hanson, Sandra, Gerry and Brian investigate the death of actor Michael Austin who was shot dead during the performance of a play. The gun was loaded with blanks but a piece of metal lodged in the barrel killed him. The death was ruled accidental at the time but Austin's daughter Catherine has recently written a book and new evidence in the form of a threatening note has come to light. The team is joined by a young officer on the fast-track for promotion, James Strickland, the DAC's nephew. They interview Austin's then wife Helen Brownlow - she's also an actress and the one who fired the gun on stage - the stage manager, Derek Bennett as well as Catherine Austin's agent Mel Simons, who sent the note to her publishers. Forensics indicate that the letter may have been doctored. Meanwhile, the boys have forgotten Sandra's birthday but she does accept a dinner invitation from the young Strickland.
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The UCOS team investigates the death 10 years ago of popular disc jockey Johnny Deacon who died in a fire when the radio station was set alight. The police knew it was arson, but were never able to find enough evidence to charge anyone. Johnny was very opinionated on air and seemed to go out of his way to be offensive at time. He also had a number of female admirers, one of whom may have been stalking him. With Jack having virtually disappeared meanwhile, Sandra finds herself under pressure from DAC Strickland to start interviewing for his replacement. Despite their best efforts, Jack is nowhere to be found.
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Brian finally locates Jack who returns to the UCOS team, but remains silent about his lengthy absence. The team investigates the death of rock star Andy Fletcher, who supposedly committed suicide in 1975. Gerry gets information from a dying woman who has information that suggests otherwise. She overheard a fight just before his death and although she reported it to the police after Fletcher was found dead, her information is nowhere to be found in the files. The band's former manager Clive Evans found Andy but doesn't believe there was foul play. The three remaining band members all deny any special knowledge of what happened but one them kept Andy's royalties.
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After a bent detective is discovered on the force, the UCOS team is tasked with investigating his only unsolved case. In 1998, assistant brewer Graham Thompson was found drowned in a vat of beer at Felspar Breweries. The dead man's girlfriend has always maintained that it wasn't an accident. Everyone concerned, including Sir Freddie Felspar ,says he was a brilliant brewer and a great loss. The original investigator failed to interview either of Sir Freddie's children and son Julian is now the company's Chief Executive. The brewery had won the gold medal for its beer 5 years running but in 1998 they lost to a small brewery that made its reputation on the win. The team now wonder if industrial sabotage may be at the root of the mystery. Meanwhile, Sandra continues to investigate her late father's activities while he was on the job.
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At Brian's insistence, the UCOS team investigates a bizarre case from ten years before where a hypnotized woman subsequently killed her husband. Although the woman, Katie Briers, was found not guilty the magician in question, Billy Carse, had his career ruined. Carse is now dead but as Jack examines the script used to hypnotize the woman, he realizes that there were subliminal messages throughout that lead her to kill. The question is who planted the messages and why. They focus on Carse's rival, Brandon Skye. Meanwhile, a disbelieving Gerry allows himself to be hypnotized to prove it can't be done but afterward, no one will tell him what happened.
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A new witness comes forward in the murder of 18 year-old Justin King. Justin had been missing for several months before his body was found but the pathologist determined he had been dead for no more than a week. He had also been tortured. Heidi, now 18 herself, tells the police that Justin had been living on a commune and that she saw him a week or so before he died. From all accounts, Justin simply left the commune one day and was never seen again. Sandra isn't buying it however and believes one of the commune's residents was involved in his death. Brian meanwhile is struggling with his alcoholism and may be looking for help.
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The UCOS team investigates the death of Eric Trimble, a soldier who was beaten to death in 1991. Their informant tells them that he and Eric, while still in the Army, were part of secret medical experiments that left the survivors paranoid. Their attempts to investigate those experiments come up against a military establishment that puts every possible in their way, including a visit from MI-5. As the investigation continues however, they discover several other possible motives including the fact that Eric was a bully and also gay. The fact that he is black also makes race a possible motive. Meanwhile, Brian continues to struggle with his alcoholism.
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Having lapsed into alcoholism, Brian is booked into a rehabilitation clinic run by an order of monks. A chance remark by Father Bernard leads Brian to telephone Sandra late at night to tell her that there was an unexplained death in the clinic nine years previously. To prevent Brian obsessively investigating by himself, the team take up the enquiry into the death of a heroin addict, and infiltrate Gerry into the clinic as a compulsive sex addict. Brian's wife Esther discovers the whole team at the clinic, and is furious, but Sandra persuades her that it is the only way to ease the strain on Brian. By the time Gerry's cover has been blown, the team have discovered that the dead man, Robert Smith, probably took to drugs as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder, after witnessing or even participating in events in the civil wars which followed the break-up of Yugoslavia. They also discover that some of the staff and even the monks at the rehabilitation centre have secrets they wish to conceal or have concealed their origins.
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Jack gets the squad to look into the disappearance of Peter Edelmain, a respected author and journalist who specialized in evolutionary biology and gene theory. In 2003 his body was found in the woods about 4 miles from where he lived. He died of an overdose of tranquilizers but the investigation found no evidence of foul play and the coroner recorded a verdict of suicide. A friend of Jack's, retired policeman Derek Brooker, believed Edelmain was killed because it was feared he would be publishing an account of what he had seen in the woods 5 days before his death: a UFO. His fellow UCOS team members are skeptical but agree to help Jack and help keep the good name of a colleague who is about to be ridiculed. When they find that the pathology report had been falsified and that the pathologist now lives in the USA, they smell a conspiracy. The truth is far more complicated than a simple UFO however.
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Gerry has a run-in with David Fleeting who he practically accuses of being a pervert before realizing the man is desperately looking for his wife. The only complication is that she is supposed to have died 18 months previously. Fleeting insists that he recently saw her in a crowd and is now convinced that the body of the car crash victim identified by his sister-in-law - he was away on business trip at the time of the accident - was that of someone else. Sandra isn't too keen but agrees on seeking an exhumation. A DNA test reveals the dead woman to be a Turkish immigrant who was reported missing around the same time Fleeting's wife was supposed to have died. As the investigators soon learn, the two cases are connected and not all is as it seems at first glance.
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Ex-actress Gloria Gransford draws the team's attention to a clip, posted on the Internet, from a film she made in 1990 called 'Shadow Show', after which the producer Max Stone was stabbed to death and leading lady Eva Roderick disappeared. Director Don Maddox, Gloria's ex-husband, is egotistical and evasive, and the only other surviving crew member from the film - who posted the clip - is found dead. His young boyfriend goes on the run and located Eva, who now has a new identity. A siege situation develops, which Brian defuses.
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The UCOS team re-opens the case of Dean Scott, a real estate investor who was deemed to have committed suicide in the foyer of his luxurious home. An escort recently told the police that she had seen someone lurking about the place so DAC Strickland asks for the case to be re-opened. Scott's wife also doesn't believe he committed suicide and insists he was murdered. Scott had made his fortune building a huge time share resort and in checking on one of his former business partners, Mike Barnes, UCOS literally strikes gold: he was part of a gang that was part of a still unsolved gold heist from 1985 and whose fingerprint was the only piece of forensic evidence ever found. But was he responsible for Dean Scott's death in any way?
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The team meets a girl called Jo, who is heckling Right Wing comedian Ray Harris. Her aunt Sarah Jones and Sarah's partner Daniel disappeared twenty-five years earlier whilst engaged in a campaign against Ray's sexist and racist routines. The pair actually infiltrated an extreme group of Nazi supporters called the Twenty-Fours, which numbered Ray, policeman Frank Paterson and Ricky Hanson who killed Jack's wife. Frank was also undercover,trying, unsuccessfully, to bust Hanson's drug racket but now joins with Sandra to nail Hanson once and for all, with unexpected help from Hanson's son Luke, who has made a shocking discovery about his father. Ricky Hanson is charged with murdering the couple - and, at long last, there is closure for Jack too.
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Whilst Strickland's friend Alistair Dudley is entertaining them on his cruiser at a marina, the team see Leanne Sweeting harangue another boat owner Lawrence Fisher. In 2001 a collision between a tug captained by Leanne's father Neville and a cruiser owned by casino boss Grant Milburn collided, killing five people including Milburn. Neville was blamed but Leanne believes Fisher sabotaged Milburn's boat, as they were business rivals. Certainly Fisher profited by the tragedy in business terms. Milburn was going to open another casino and his croupiers were also prostitutes, but the case is altered by the knowledge that Milburn's wife's lover was also on his boat and engaged in a brawl at the crucial moment.
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UCOS re-opens a murder case from 1976. Dr. Simon Lockhart who was found beaten and hanging from a meat hook in the market just a few blocks from where he worked at St. Barts hospital. The suspected murderer was Harry Eldridge who disappeared about the time of the murder. His remains have now been found and identified so it's doubtful he's the killer. It turns out that most of Gerry Standing's family is in the meat trade and his fellow UCOS learn quite a bit about him, to their delight. The case however gets messy when Sandra learns that Gerry may not have told them everything about his involvement with gamblers and loan sharks, now believed to have been involved in the killing. The case is far more complex however and becomes very personal for Sandra when DNA found on Eldridge's partially matches her own.
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Some years after her wealthy father died of a heart attack confronting an intruder - who fled empty-handed - Vicky Anderson asks Sandra and the team to intervene,since clairvoyant Sebastian Carter,having supposedly communed with the dead man,claims he knew the assailant. Sandra is sceptical,feeling Carter is in league with the would-be burglar and using Vicky to get at what he wanted that night. The trail leads to Penny,Vicky's adopted sister,taken in by Anderson after her father died in prison serving a sentence for fraud,and Simon Beswick,the cell-mate,who tells the team he thinks Anderson was also guilty of fraud and the burglar a double-crossed partner-in-crime after the spoils. Sandra is still unsure if Carter is an accomplice or an innocent dupe though,when the case is closed,his interpretation of her father's feelings brings her closer to half-brother Tom.
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In 2007 lecturer Richard Symes fell off a roof at the university where he taught and died. An open verdict was recorded but Brian feels that suicide was unlikely as Symes had just taken a whole load of books out of the London Library. Brian loves going undercover at the library ("It smells of books") where he is befriended by the Urquharts, a couple of elderly lecturers who knew the dead man. Symes' widow Paula tells Sandra her husband was regarded as a dinosaur and sacked by vice-chancellor Ventham,but he claims that Symes was stealing books from the university library to sell in Paula's shop,which Paula admits. Her young lover Tim was also part of the racket. Brian works out that the Urquharts are trying to locate one of the books Symes stole,a priceless first edition which he hid somewhere in the London Library. But several other interested parties are also after it - including the murderer.
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Sandra does not believe recently released paedophile John Davies when he owns to killing 5-year old Yasser Gorton-Blackledge,who disappeared after going on a Free Palestine march with his left wing parents Anne and Fred in 1985. Now divorced, Anne still campaigns for liberal issues but Fred is a hard right reactionary and misogynist. Davies eventually admits to Sandra that he was bullied into confession by Anthony Vernon,a violent disciple of Fred who once hoped to make his name in journalism from Yasser's case. Another ex-activist,kindly nurse Gillian Withall,adopted a little boy at much the same time that Yasser disappeared and,as Gerry and Brian read through the files MI5 compiled on the Gorton-Blackledges it becomes more than likely to them that Yasser is still alive.
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A recent sexual assault on Helen Vestry in her cake shop is identical to two unsolved rapes which occurred ten years earlier at the Pyramid Chocolate factory,run by unpopular Duncan Miller. All the victims were blonde and the attacker smelt strongly of sweat. The team's investigations also uncover a trilogy of seemingly unrelated disasters which befell the factory at the time - the suicide of a female worker,who was not raped,the discovery of a severed finger in a chocolate bar and the prosecution of contract cleaner Alex Close for using unlawful immigrants in his work force. As the connection between the three events emerges it seems likely that a murder also took place in the factory,though the rapist is still very much alive.
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The team get involved when graffiti claiming 'I Killed Flak' appears around London, Flak being tag artist Danny Tyler,killed four years earlier. He was part of an artist collective the Maze Group which broke up when Danny received patronage to go solo from art lover Sir David Bryant,a fact which caused resentment from others in the group. Gallery owner Sara Hamlyn admits responsibility for the current graffiti,a publicity stunt for her Flak exhibition but draws the team's attention to a theft from her gallery of one of Flak's works before he died. The team are led to believe that Sir David stole it as he needed money and killed Flak during the resultant argument. Another ex-Maze group member Kevin Humphreys has been blackmailing Sir David as a result. But then Bryant's wife Catherine gives Sandra information which puts things in a different light. Brian has all the while been enjoying a following on Twitter as Top Cop 99,a fact which almost puts the case in jeopardy.
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Eight years previously clothes designer Ritchie Levene was murdered,stabbed in the neck with a pair of his scissors. For years his ex-wife Sarah has wanted the case reopened and sees her chance when Gerry comes to her for a change in his sartorial image.She suspects Ritchie's younger brother Adrian who assumed control of the fashion company and took it to new heights. Sandra discovers that married Adrian is having an affair with Ritchie's second wife Alison,though they claim it only began some time after Ritchie's death. Then there is Melanie,the nervous P.A. who found Ritchie's body,and Colin Beck,a financier who encouraged Ritchie to invest money in his scheme and also had a motive...
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The team is asked by Dawn Abbott to reopen a fourteen year old case of a fire at the Union drinking club,which killed gangster Mark Johnson and three staff members. It was thought to be an accident but Mark told Dawn days before the fire that he thought somebody was out to kill him. Mark's brother Danny resents any suggestion that he was involved but fire investigator George Mackie tells the team that he thought at the time that the blaze was suspicious and the widow of the painter whose materials were supposedly to blame for the fire recalls that he was handsomely paid soon afterwards. Ultimately the culprit proves not to be a person with a grudge but a serial arsonist hoping to get away with as many fires as possible.
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Sandra is approached by would-be Euro M.P.,Fintan MacEntee,a former member of the Irish Republican Front,who,in 1983,claimed responsibility for kidnapping Barabara,eighteen-year-old daughter of wealthy arms manufacturer Kenneth Linden-Warner. A ransom was paid but Barbara was never seen again. However MacEntee explains that the Front's claim was purely to raise its profile and it never touched Barbara. Sandra's view that the abduction was an inside job is confirmed when she learns that Barbara's brother Michael,the black sheep of the family,shared a squat with Fintan and engineered the ransom note to get money from his father.On the night she disappeared Barbara had rowed with her boyfriend Greg,allegedly over her love rival Amy,but the girls' relationship was in reality anything but unfriendly. This and other family secrets have long been held by Miss Jones,Linden-Warner's loyal former ex-secretary,who does know the true fate of Barbara.
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In 1999 promising young boxer Eddie Mayfair was shot dead but his rival in the ring and chief suspect Milton Joseph had an alibi and other likely suspects have all since died or disappeared. Now the murder weapon has been found at last. Eddie's widowed mother has moved in with his former agent Harry Gallo and his old sweetheart married his sparring partner Danny. Jack discovers that Eddie was in a rival street-gang to Winston,long before they met in the ring and Winston's gang members were the men who have now all disappeared. The biggest breakthrough,however,occurs with the knowledge that Eddie was meant to throw the fight with Winston as certain people had money on that result - the same people who killed Eddie to stop him talking.
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Detective inspector Frank Paterson joins the team to reopen a thirty year old bullion robbery after he has tracked down the getaway car. Two guards died,allegedly at the hands of vicious Michael Denby - the fourth man in the robbery,who,unlike the other three,was never accounted for and is still at large. Frank and Sandra do not get on and she is sceptical when he claims that John Felsham,now a deputy assistant commissioner,was a bent copper who tipped Denby off,Felsham telling her that Frank has long held a personal grudge against him. However Felsham arrives unexpectedly at a back street pub once used by Denby where Frank and Gerry are following a lead and Frank fights him. As a result Felsham wants UCOS disbanded. But the team are determined to carry on and,backed by Strickland,they make sure that they get their man.
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In 2001 pathologist Bob Ruxton gave a verdict of accidental death on palaeontologist Bernard Fletcher,who died from a supposed fall at a dinner given by Mondial Oil Company in Bernard's museum. Now that verdict is declared unsound and the UCOS team reopen the case. Bernard supported ecology and disapproved of Mondial's work but,though married,he was a ladies' man having an affair with colleague Marie Braden. Marie's ex-boyfriend,Mark Slater quit the museum to set up as a trader in fossils,a lucrative business and it was alleged that Bernard sacked him for stealing exhibits. Mark would also seem to be the lover of Sarah,wife of James Winslow,Mondial's managing director.Bernard was certainly murdered but was the motive marital jealousy or greed? Jack is amazed when Bob Ruxton drops a bombshell.
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DNA from an unidentified man killed in 1996 and staked to a cross is linked to pathology laboratory assistant Anna King,who explains that it must be her brother,David Celaj,fourteen years her senior,with whom she fled Albania as a little girl before Mr. and Mrs. King adopted her and he disappeared from her life. David was a police interpreter in the case of murder suspect and fellow Albanian Michael Luga,who walked free when a witness withdrew her statement. The team believe that Luga killed David but Brian's accidental discovery of the role of scarecrows in Albanian customs leads the investigation elsewhere whilst Gerry's adventures in French cuisine land him an unexpected dinner date.
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In 2009 market trader Kathy Green died after drinking drugged coffee. The UCOS team suspect but cannot prove a link with Anthony Gunnell,a man who raped women after doping them with coffee from his refreshment van. Through Helen,the nurse who looked after Kathy's senile mother in her last days,they learn that Kathy had an illegitimate daughter who was adopted and whose attempted reconciliation with her mother went badly. In solving the case Sandra recognizes parallels with her own unsatisfactory relationship with her visiting mother.
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Psychologist Samantha Gerson comes to UCOS to carry out a work study on older men. However she also wants the team to look into a suspicious hit and run from six years earlier,the victim being her brother Darren,a cycle courier. Darren suffered memory loss but now as his memory returns he recalls that the package he was carrying was stolen and suspects foul play. His client - and lover - Claudia Scott imported Moroccan furniture and Jack suspects a drug connection but Darren was also the founder of GLS, an anarchist group committed to ridding London of cars. When Darren is murdered the UCOS team have to find out how he funded GLS and who wanted him silenced.
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Sandra's old flame,Inspector James Larsen,asks the team to reopen the case of Mal Baxter,a supposedly respectable antique dealer apparently killed in a robbery. However James believes Baxter was an informant and a fence,killed by someone he had crossed. Whilst his family and ex-partner Tony Morgan refute such claims,other dealers are less generous in their opinions and keep bringing the team back to a job lot Baxter bought containing a valuable gold statue,which could have been the murder weapon. At an unlawful night time auction,or Nazareth, where the statue is the principal lot,the team start to uncover the truth.
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When keeper Zac Halsey's corpse was found in the tiger enclosure at Harefield zoo in 2006 the assumption was that he had been mauled to death but blood found during the refurbishment of his flat now suggests that he was murdered and his body dumped in the compound. He had recently been to Spain where the knife that killed him was purchased. An animal rights campaigner,sacked security guard and a couple with whom Zac enjoyed extreme sports are all suspects and all seemed to have been in the zoo the night Zac died. Jack works out the killer's identity even though it means he and the team miss his presentation for bravery as a result.
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The team is less than pleased when arrogant civil servant Stephen Fisher coerces them into investigating the murder - in 1851 - of Abigail Padua,a mathematical expert whose death led to the collapse of her family business and a widespread financial crisis. With no living witnesses and a different geography to the time the team must pore over the original statements to prove that the killer was a witness who lied to the police. However,they,with Strickland's backing,have another mystery on their hands - Fisher's obsession with cracking the case,which itself could have far-reaching effects in the modern business world. Jack however is able to thwart Fisher before he leaves the unit for good to spend his last days in France.
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Still missing Jack the team reopens the disappearance five years earlier of PE teacher Jason Bowe when human remains are found at Peregrine Manor school,where he taught. Of the staff only support worker Helen Hanley is helpful.Stuffy Latin teacher Archie Millgrow argued with Jason about his over-familiarity with pupils whilst former student Eleanor,now the school secretary,and sports jock Oliver believed Jason was having an affair with pupil Melissa. Brian is more concerned that,despite falling intake numbers,school finances are surprisingly healthy and suspects Jason stumbled upon a plot by which wealthy donors subsidised the school in return for favours from old boy Geoffrey Parks,MP,Melissa's father. Then one of the suspects makes a confession but the team is not convinced and believes they are covering for someone else.
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At Christmas 2008 Foreign Office employee Annabel Tilson's body was found in a frozen lake,the assumption being that she killed herself after suffering a miscarriage and demotion at work when her lap-top,containing sensitive information,was stolen. Now her twin Minnie has unearthed a video showing that Annabel met somebody prior to her death and was probably murdered. Sandra learns that Annabel was deliberately made a scapegoat to get her out of the way on discovering her married boss's affair with a colleague. She also stumbled on insider information trading, but the key to her death turns out to be her personal,rather than professional life.
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In 2003 17 year old Georgia Wright vanished after a university disco in Scotland. Now traces of her blood are found following a garage raid in London,bringing dogged retired police inspector Steve McAndrew to UCOS to ask them to investigate. CCTV proves that Georgia was not one of the robbers but worked at the garage as a cleaner,disappearing soon afterwards. They then get a lead in that Shane Morrison,one of the last people to see Georgia alive,is a fantasist,who persuaded another girl Sophie that he was a secret agent,forcing her to live life on the run with him. The team believes that Morrison is still about and has Georgia in his power. Though the others initially find Steve irritating and his accent incomprehensible Gerry warms to him over a few whiskeys and,the case over,Sandra has a proposition for him.
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Some months after his mysterious disappearance the corpse of young police computer operator Martin Longthorn is smuggled into the morgue at a London teaching hospital. Though he died of an aneurysm the UCOS team are involved as his date Catherine,the last person to see him alive,claims he disappeared suddenly after taking a very important phone call. Investigation of Martin's computer shows he was apparently a member of the Roguenet Group,an organization that hacks into corporate companies and banks to sabotage them. However it turns out that he was actually infiltrating them to unmask their leader Boz,making his death seem more suspicious. Brian,meanwhile,is jealous of Gerry's rapport with Steve,leading to Esther making an effort to rectify the situation.
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When junior tennis champion Alice Kemp fell to her death from a balcony in 2010 it was assumed she killed herself as she had lost a crucial match but now a cleaner recalls hearing raised voices just before the death and the case is reopened. Alice's agent Anthony Marshall claims he lost a valuable client but admits Alice was considering a change of representation whilst Victoria,Alice's mother,tells the team that David, her estranged husband,a gambling addict,had visited Alice before the fatal match. He admits that he was betting against her for money and asked her to lose the march but denies any foul play. Fawn,the player who beat Alice and took her place as Number One,was nonetheless good friends with her and helps the team find the person responsible for Alice's death though Brian is less successful in trying to get his dog in with a model agency.
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Ten years earlier the charred corpse of young poet Sean Doherty was found in the scrapyard of Turkish drug-dealer Mehtin Topal though Topal was not convicted of the killing. Now the case is reopened and the team interviews Sean's contemporaries, including his tutor and lover Sarah Powell and ex-flatmate Luke Oswald,now a media darling. Unlike cynical Gerry Brian is taken by the world of poetry but Sean's brother-in-law Eoin also claims that Sean had gangster connections. CCTV provides an unexpected clue to the solution of the case,fuelled by Brian's poetical observations and leading to a surprising discovery.
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The team reopen the murder of East German refugee Max Klein,whose last words were 'Blue Flower'. Visiting the site of his death Sandra and Steve meet Grace Cusack,whose son was killed at the same spot a year before Max's death and tells them he came to England to look for his daughter Mia who had escaped East Berlin ahead of him. Meanwhile Gerry and Brian visit a recycling centre where Max worked and learn that he stole bundles of documents but are challenged by arrogant Inspector Rosser,who claims that they could interfere with his investigation of the centre in connection with identity fraud. When Mia is located she denounces her father as a member of the Blue Flower group which was pro-Stasi though ultimately the deaths of Grace's son and Max prove to be related and less political than expected.
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Following an attempt to kill Stephen Fisher, Strickland summons the team to a secret meeting. He tells them that thirty years earlier he and Fisher were part of an intelligence group investigating the IRA but their source journalist Simon Bisley was killed in a hit-and-run and the investigation ended. Now others of the group are being murdered. Bisley had linked the IRA to a career criminal Carl Dillon who, according to Gerry's informant Tinker, has just recruited two assassins and a telling document which could incriminate Dillon was stolen from Bisley's office. However Brian believes that a rogue member of the former secret service team has a vested interest in stealing the document and silencing their colleagues over it, giving Strickland the means to go after them though the team is dissatisfied with the result.
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Gerry and Steve go to Glasgow,ostensibly to advise on establishing a UCOS office there but are asked to investigate the nineteen year old death of bookmaker James Soutar,given that the investigating officer at the time Frank McNair was suspected of corruption. He was also the man who ran off with Steve's wife. The pair are surprised to learn that Soutar left fifteen thousand pounds to Cathy Sinclair,who claims she never met him,as well as legacies to children's charities. However Charley,Steve's younger girlfriend, tells Gerry that she and Cathy were in care together and that Soutar was involved in a vice ring,grooming girls in care for sex.The duo solve the case and,before returning to London,Gerry helps Steve get his revenge on McNair.
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Whilst Brian faces disciplinary action for a death in custody from his past the rest of the team discover the gun that killed drug-trafficker Christian Highsmith in 1998. The same gun killed a young boy, Danny Bossano, in 1982 in Gibraltar, a port of call for the ships on which Christian allegedly hid the drugs. The UCOS team go to Gibraltar to meet Superintendent Cruz, the local cold case chief, who believes Danny was part of the dope-smuggling gang. The fact that the gun was army issue also leads to the evasive commander Adam Sinclair whilst Sandra quizzes casino owner Harry Truman, who had been a friend of Christian. Gerry and Steve visit Truman's casino but accidentally get locked in a shipping container whilst shipping agent Gordon Fletcher, an associate of Truman, is found dead. Written by don @ minifie-1
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Gerry and Brian end up on an orange farm from where they hitch a lift with a biker group back to Gibraltar and tell Sandra of the connection between Fletcher and Truman and the fact that Danny Bossano's father Levy met Fletcher just before he died. Levy is tight-lipped as to why he has thirty grand in the house, Truman explaining to Sandra that the thirty grand was actually Fletcher's casino winnings. Meanwhile Gerry and Brian discover that Danny drew many pictures of his friends, the sons of soldiers, one of whom was a young Sinclair, who describes Danny's accidental death. Levy then unmasks Christian's killer who had been paying him to keep quiet. Back home Brian faces his tribunal but Embleton, the man he blames for Anthony Kaye's death in custody, drops charges against him and he is exonerated. However Brian secretly tapes a confession from Embleton as to what really happened and gives the tape to Kaye's mother. Written by don @ minifie-1
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To the annoyance of Gerry, who arrested him for killing his wife sixteen years earlier, Scott Bunce is released from prison when evidence is found to suggest an unsafe conviction. His daughter Lizzie, who saw him standing over the corpse, and the neighbour who saw him leaving the house afterwards are both convinced of his guilt and Lizzie is terrified of seeing him. Then Bunce disappears after a gangster associate of his is severely beaten up. Brian visits his estranged son Mark, who tells him he is about to become a grandfather. They make their peace as Mark helps Brian find proof of Bunce's innocence, leading to the exposure of the real killer. However Brian, after being declared a hero, is told by Strickland he must leave UCOS for giving Sarah Kaye the tape he illegally made of Embleton's confession. Written by don @ minifie-1
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Now dismissed from UCOS Brian is persuaded by Esther to help her friend Margaret Kirby find her brother Peter Sale, who disappeared six years earlier. In the mean time Brian is bothered by journalist Maxine Wilson, whom he believes has been sent by Embleton to discredit him, and needs Strickland's help to get rid of her. Brian visits Jonathan Epstein, jailed for killing his wife Florence for her money, along with his girlfriend Annabel, who seemingly disappeared with the cash. Sale was Epstein's accountant but Epstein does not know his whereabouts and after the visit Brian is attacked. Accompanied by Esther, Brian sets out to find clues to locate Sale, in the process crossing paths with UCOS, who are investigating a con artist with links to Epstein. Eventually Sale is found and, before parting company with UCOS, Brian discovers that somebody is an impostor and Esther has to save him from being killed by them. Written by don @ minifie-1
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UCOS reopen the thirty year old murder of porn king Jim Hockney when his daughter Sara reveals that a DNA test proves she is not his daughter. Her mother Jane cannot provide any answers as she and Jim both had several sex partners. Jim's girlfriend at the time, singer Angela Gold, was charged but acquitted of the murder and now seems to have disappeared. Brian's replacement Dan Griffin arrives, albeit late and is initially treated with hostility by Gerry, who thinks he is a spy. Nonetheless Dan tracks down Angela though in the meantime Sandra learns that Jim's brother Colin sold Jim's porn empire very shortly after his death to his main rival Gavin Reason. Furthermore Jane and Gavin were lovers, Gavin proving to be Sara's father though he was unaware at the time. However it is Gerry's collection of some of Jim's old films, supposedly confiscated by Vice Squad, that identifies the murder weapon and leads to the culprit. The case closed the team watch Angela perform at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. Written by don @ minifie-1
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The blood-stained clothes of Simon Belgrade are found in Epping Forest, where he disappeared five years earlier whilst out for a run. Frank Miles, Simon's father-in-law and employer, has a history of violence and his daughter Becky, who was heavily pregnant with Simon's child when he disappeared, seems scared of him. She does not want to believe her husband is dead and nor do his mother Eliza and brother Tim, who portray Simon and Becky as the ideal couple. However Simon's friend Dom and his ex-wife Lois tell the team that Simon and Lois were having an affair, as were Dom and Becky. Simon also had a string of failed businesses behind him and was blackmailing Frank over tax evasion, but with no money taken from his account and no passport it seems unlikely that he skipped the country. An examination of a film showing Dom and Simon's childhood haunts in the forest leads to discovering Simon's fate whilst Dan helps Sandra cope with the anniversary of her father's death. Written by don @ minifie-1
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Following the 1997 General Election Ben Ransley, a young researcher for successful MP Liz Jackson, was murdered and the case is reopened on the discovery of £40,000 in an off-shore account in his name. Ben's best friend, arrogant lobbyist Eddie Trenton, gives Sandra a photo of Ben with his girlfriend, who turns out to be Hana, the Bosnian wife of tycoon Peter Russell, and she also disappeared in 1997. French policeman and former war crimes prosecutor Max Clement comes to London and tracks down Hana, whose whole family was killed in the Bosnian war. Hana believes Ben, with whom she was set to elope, was killed by the man who got her to England and introduced her to Peter but Dan discovers that Ben was in a position to leak information about a government arms deal, which would have been injurious to certain people. This solves the case. Written by don @ minifie-1
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Seventeen years earlier Sandra's first case involved the disappearance, never resolved, of music student Lesley Hewitt and now Lesley's sister Emma has been sent a photo of Lesley walking in a park just before she vanished. Sandra believes that a jogger in the picture was a serial killer responsible for the deaths of other young girls, possibly working with a female accomplice as Emma says that Lesley was offered a gig before she vanished. Ex-model Annie Banks and bookshop owner Stuart McKelvie are also in the photo, taken by Greg Banks, a recently deceased photographer whose studio contains several pictures of women who were abducted and killed. Annie and Stuart initially claim not to know each other but Sandra breaks down their stories and discovers that Annie knows who the jogger is. After concluding the case Sandra leaves UCOS to work with Max Clement. Written by don @ minifie-1
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Fresh from her successful SWAT raid on a group of Russian gangsters DCI Sasha Miller arrives at UCOS to replace Sandra. She is friendly and informal but initially fails to win over Gerry, who misses Sandra. Her first case involves the twenty-five year old murder of Italian Allesandro Manzini, reopened when a knife is found at the allotment he once tended. Massimo, whose son married Allesandro's daughter Giulietta, tells the team that there was anti- Italian feeling on the allotment, especially from two World War Two veterans, whilst lorry driver and druid Ray Barlow is also suspect, having disappeared after the murder. This suspicion is heightened when Giulietta and Ray admit to an affair but Dan's research into wartime Italy changes everything, leading to a confession. Sasha's private life, however, does not run so successfully.
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The discrediting of DI Hennessy as corrupt throws into a new light some of his more high profile arrests, including that of crooked businessman Edward Monroe, jailed for killing oncologist Dr Caldwell, whom he blames for the death of his daughter. For Sasha, now alone after discovering her husband's infidelity, the case is painful as she has always believed Monroe murdered her former colleague DC Tyler. As fresh interviews are conducted, it turns out that Caldwell was not a pleasant man and had made enemies of his colleague, Dr Hallerman, passed over for honours; Daniella Yates, director of a cancer charity who was having an affair with Caldwell; and Caldwell's duped wife. However a statement from Grace, a hotel employee of Monroe, throws a more humane light upon the convicted killer, as well as giving Sasha some closure for Tyler's death. Steve, meanwhile finds himself billeting his son Stewie, who has run away from home.
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Gerry is approached by Ralph Paxton, a boyhood friend who became a career criminal and was imprisoned for a jewel robbery. Ralph believes that his grandson, architecture student Jake was murdered by his partner in crime Wayne Pelham because the boy discovered the loot hidden in a tower block due for demolition. After interviewing Jake's brother and his college tutor the team locate Pelham, who informs them that others knew about the hidden jewels. The team eventually end up with two prime suspects, both of whom believing that they were acting out of principle, though one is the killer. Gerry also has to overcome his dislike of the solicitor to whom his daughter Caitlin is getting married.
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In 2010 trainee doctor Lydia Dryden was found dead in her flat after visiting Bar 393 night club. Neighbours reported a possible stalker lurking outside the building but her parents, both surgeons, do not recognize him from the Identikit picture. Married Laurence Devlin, another surgeon, denies having an affair with Lydia though it transpires that he is her actual father, which her mother Monica has kept from husband Hugh. Lydia's sister had a drug habit and Lydia was suspected of stealing from the hospital medicine cabinets to help her. then the stalker is revealed, a man whose wife died during an operation performed by Laurence and Lydia. He de3nies killing her but helps lead the team to the true murderer.
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Bryony Willis receives an anonymous note to say that her father, peace activist Winston Lovett, did not accidentally blow himself up but was murdered. The team visits Bryony's estranged mother Alison, who points them towards two feminist campaigners who had issues with Winston - Mary Griffith, an inveterate agitator and lecturer Frances Kane. To the team's surprise Frances admits that she and Winston were actually undercover cops infiltrating the protest movement. Then Bryony reports a stalker, whose identity brings closure and reconciliation to the case. Throughout Sasha resists the attempts of her ex-husband Ned to get back with her.
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Elderly dementia sufferer Nancy leaves her care home to report that her policeman husband Jimmy, who disappeared in 1956 was actually murdered. Harry Page, an old friend of the couple, reports that Jimmy had gambling debts and got into a fight the night that he died. Sasha takes Nancy back to her old house where she recalls Jimmy's violence and jealousy. A grim secret is discovered in the bedroom wall, in turn leading to the solution of the murder. Meanwhile Steve is called to the police station when his son Stewie is cautioned for minor drug possession, which brings him into conflict with his ex-wife Tricia. They do not part on good terms.
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When film critic Oliver Houghton's corpse is found in a sewer Sasha is reluctantly forced to work with Ned as Oliver had been a witness in the unsolved case of gay artist David Straka two decades earlier. Both men were drowned and Danny sees the river Fleet as a link since it featured in David's last project. David's friend Ruth Shireen tells the team that David and Oliver got involved with the occult due to the unpleasant Cyril Watkins though Cyril, now Cecily after gender realignment, explains that there was no harm intended. However a woman playing the part of a sacrificial victim in David's film about the mysteries of the Fleet accidentally died. A trip to the sewers locates her corpse and Sasha beats Ned to finding out her identity and solving both cases.
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In 2008 body-builder Mark Rix died of a heart attack, seemingly caused by a surfeit of steroids. Now a sword is found in his old lock-up, which decapitated an unknown man just before Mark died. Mark was a member of Imperium, a group re-enacting life in Ancient Rome and Steve and Sasha learn from Imperium members Julia Kane and Tim and Tessa Dugdale that he believed himself to be Marcus Rex, incarnation of a gladiator. Forensic scientist Fiona Kennedy identifies the murder victim as a Romanian gangster who sold illegal steroids and the team deduces that Rix used Imperium's foreign dates to import them. After confessing to Fiona that his estranged wife Sarah is in a secure unit, having tried to kill him and his daughter, Danny goes undercover at Imperium, where he recognizes Julia as another undercover cop. Eventually the team learns the truth about both men's deaths from Julia before Danny goes on a date with Fiona.
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Illegal Turkish immigrant Asye Ersoy was working as a barmaid in 2010 but disappeared following a fire which killed the pub's landlord Richard Gibson. Now she has been traced but denies committing any crime. The pub's former pianist Jason claims that Richard was happily married to wife Joanne and she endorses this. Relations with his brother Gavin, a slot machine vendor who wanted to buy the ailing pub, were less harmonious whilst Joanne believes Richard was having an affair with Asye but did nothing about it. The identity of Asye's actual lover and a scam involving the sale of cheap wine, dressed up to appear as of better vintage, are both uncovered before the real killer is unmasked though Gerry and Steve regard the case as a welcome diversion from Sasha's attempts to enter them in a five a side contest.
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The team notice that DNA from teen-aged market trader Spencer Rogers, arrested for throwing a brick on the motorway, matches that of interpreter and chess club member Agnes Bradley, murdered in 2010 and when Spencer's mother Kelli tells Sasha that Spencer was the result of her being raped by an unknown man it is apparent the rapist is the murderer. Suspects include Jeremy Powell, who, according to chess club captain Viktor Proust, smarted because he could never beat Agnes and Chilean diplomat Carlos Alvarez who had Agnes black-listed after one of her translations warned students against his womanizing. Whilst the rest of the team is busy trying to catch the murderer Steve is occupied with bringing his hate-filled dying father Robbie to a hospice in London.
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After librarian Ellen Barker is murdered investigating officer Grace Mackie contacts Danny, who had been in the same amateur sleuthing group as the dead woman. He suspects that Ellen was working on an old case but had come too close to the truth and been silenced. He works out that Ellen was trying to reopen the murder of Sally Tunstall, for which Barbara Haynes' son, now dead, was convicted. Danny and fellow ex-cop and group member visit Barbara and her neighbour Caroline Tate, who, with her former husband John Stokes and Sally, was a member of a commune . Stokes, now a government minister, confesses to an affair with Sally which destroyed his marriage and admits that Ellen visited him but left unharmed. When Nathan admits that he was infatuated with Ellen he is arrested but Danny follows another line to expose the double killer.
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Over thirty years after school-girl Amy Taskerland died at an end of term disco a time capsule is unearthed, containing a tape where she expresses fear of Alec. Neither her father William or best friend Harriet can identify Alec though Amy's headmaster falls under suspicion as he was having an affair with Amy whilst dating teacher Carla O'Brien. Then Danny discovers that Amy appears to have been reciting a speech to be used by the queen in event of nuclear war which leads to the identity of Alec and in turn to who killed Amy. Gerry meanwhile has a surprise on his future son-in-law's stag night whilst Strickland springs an even bigger surprise and Danny successfully plays Cupid for Sasha.
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Gerry is personally involved when the body of Martin Ackroyd, his first inspector when he joined CID, is discovered having been missing for thirty years. Prime suspects are former officers Bryant and McCabe, whom Ackroyd believed to be corrupt and are now involved with career criminal Dominic Chapman, as is Ackroyd's ex-superior Ronald Sainsbury who colludes with them to discredit Gerry. Gerry tracks down Tommy Naylor, another crook the dead man had in his sights and whom Bryant and McCabe unsuccessfully attempted to frame. Gerry decides to take the law into his own hands after his daughter Caitlin is threatened but this only makes him seem guilty of the murder in Sasha's eyes.
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With evidence suggesting that his cosh was the murder weapon and a trumped-up assault claim from Sainsbury things look bleak for Gerry but DAC Strickland is sure of his innocence and lets him go. With dangerous men in pursuit Gerry goes on the run with Danny, to whom he relates that Ackroyd was as corrupt as any of the other suspects and was in Chapman's pay. They call on Tommy Naylor, who directs them towards honest Ted Case, another retired officer and he gives them evidence of Ackroyd's involvement with Chapman. This in turn leads Gerry back to Bryant and McCabe and arrests are made, followed by recrimination, chicanery, a funeral and a departure.
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Ted Case joins the team to reopen the murder of vicar Leonard Whitechurch, a white man with a black wife who was stabbed in 2006 after receiving racist hate mail. His widow Alicia tells them that his curate Wendy had a crush on him but she hung herself two years after his death. The poison pen letters are traced to ex-convict and white supremacist Kevin Duncan but Ted believes the motive to be more complicated than purely racial. Duncan admits he wrote the letters in revenge as the victim disapproved of his dating his daughter Sally but a revelation from Leonard's younger son Luke exposes a rift in the family and leads to the solution of the murder.
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In 1989 32-year old Charlie Hayes, a stock market trader, fell to his death, a presumed suicide, from Tower Bridge but a blow up photograph in a retrospective art exhibition reveals a background figure who pushed him. Cash-strapped Steve takes advantage of insider information as the team interviews Charlie's former girlfriend and colleagues, prime suspect being obnoxious Kevin Dodds, whom Charlie exposed as a rapist and the team brings him in. However the rape gives him an alibi for the murder and Danny and Steve discover that Charlie was sacrificed to prevent him disclosing certain anomalies within the company's trading.
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When the recently deceased pathologist Dr Hatton's findings are discredited the team looks into the 2005 drowning in his bath of cricketer AJ Da Silva, a suicide according to Hatton though AJ's father and brother are convinced he was murdered. Ted learns from coach Keith Ainsworth and former captain Ryan Reed that AJ was thoroughly disliked by the other cricketers in his side as an arrogant, drunken womaniser. In fact his affair with a team mate's wife was held responsible for the man's suicide. After another person is found dead the key to AJ's demise is found to be match-fixing and its consequences and, the case solved, Ted springs a surprise on his colleagues.
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In 2002 married Anna and Jim Briggs - who worked for a look-alike agency - were found dead in a supposed suicide pact. Now Anna's phone has been discovered, containing amorous texts to a mysterious lover. The team interviews other look alikes, including Anna's sister and professional rival, Lesley, and ex-soccer star Mikey Bishop, whom Jim impersonated and who says that he met Jim and found him harmless. They also find Mikey's wife Clara is over-protective of her husband as it becomes apparent that he was Anna's lover. a truly bizarre role reversal however proves the key to solving the murders of the two victims.
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In 2011 private investigator Dave Hooper was murdered in his office, assumedly the victim of a botched robbery but now his secret notebook, written in shorthand, has come to light though ex-girlfriend Carmen Cresswell could not decipher it. Alison Downing hired Dave to pursue a thieving boyfriend Jason Sharp as did cancer victim Barry Warnock following the burglary of a rare stamp known as the Russian Cousin and worth £40,000. Consequently the progress of the stamp holds the key to the identity of Dave's killer.
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The 17 year old skeleton is unearthed of Cheryl Sheekey who disappeared after her pub quiz team syndicate won a fortune on the lottery. In the frame are the quiz team organizer Craig Bentham, his wife Lizzie, who suspected him of an affair with the dead woman, Cheryl's childhood friend Eleanor and her husband Terry, who squandered his winnings and is now on hard times, making him the prime suspect. The team must establish which, if any of them, killed Cheryl as well as trying to set Sasha up with a boyfriend.
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A blood-stained bust uncovered in a graveyard links to the 2008 murder of alternative health practitioner Jason Henway. Angela Morris blamed him for taking her late mother Gwen off chemotherapy but had an alibi. Jason's business partner Evan Langley stood to gain but points the team towards Jason's brother Douglas, a doctor practising cryopreservation, keeping the clinically dead alive through low temperatures, since he left the business having quarrelled with his brother on his wife's death. As well as solving the murder the team must also deal with Sasha's departure when she is offered an appetizing promotion.
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On New Year's Eve 1999 progressive mental health campaigner Greg Collins was murdered and now the discovery of his diary is found, chronicling his fear of his likely fate. The team interviews his colleagues including Toni Pembury, who tells them that Greg was battling a drugs company, and Samia Khan, now a peeress, who fell out with Greg after leaving his mental health charity to set up one of her own. Then they are ordered to halt the inquiry, supposedly in the wake of the mishandled Henway case. When Greg's journal goes missing they must work unofficially to solve his murder - and work fast since UCOS is threatened with being disbanded.
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