There seems to be a new true crime documentary airing every week, but this upcoming Crime + Investigation series is a little different – it focuses on child killers.
Kids Who Kill: Evil Up Close, which launches on March 30, will look at crimes committed by children as young as 14.
You can watch the trailer for the first episode here:
The five-part series will feature the cases of Aaron Campbell, Kim Edwards and Lucas Markham, Stephen Hough, Mathew Hardman and Alyssa Bustamante, and will take an in-depth look into their crimes.
The episodes will feature interviews and testimony from the killer’s family members, which is sure to be a harrowing watch.
Similar to other crime series on Crime + Investigation UK, a team of specialist psychologists will try work out what was – and is – going through the heads of those who committed the crimes.
The first episode will look at Aaron Campbell, the boy who abducted, raped and murdered his six-year-old neighbour, Alesha MacPhail, when he was 16.
Campbell, now 17, is currently serving the longest term of detention to be imposed on a juvenile offender in Scotland.
The teenager was originally sentenced to 27 years in prison for his crimes, but in August 2019 it was cut by three years. However, he will only be eligible for parole if he is judged safe to leave prison.
Apparently Campbell, who had previously bought cannabis off Alesha’s father Robert MacPhail, had initially broken into their home to steal drugs but then came across Alesha asleep. He abducted her, raped her and then murdered her.
Campbell was charged for Alesha’s murder less than a month after the incident, which he was tied to by CCTV footage, DNA, and fibres from his clothing. The jury then returned a guilty verdict at trial.
Typically in the UK, the names of juveniles charged with a crime aren’t released to the press and are protected by law, but this ban was lifted after Campbell was convicted.
Episode two of the series, which will be released April 6, will look at 14-year-old murderers Kim Edwards and Lucas Markham.
The pair killed Edwards’ mother and 13-year-old sister back in 2016. Following their heinous crimes, they were each convicted to 20 years in prison; both sentences have since been reduced to 17.5 years.
If you find crime documentaries about adult killers fascinating, I’m sure this one will have you hooked.
Kids Who Kill: Evil Up Close premieres on Crime + Investigation on Monday March 30 at 9pm.
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Niamh Shackleton is a pint sized person and journalist at UNILAD. After studying Multimedia Journalism at the University of Salford, she did a year at Caters News Agency as a features writer in Birmingham before deciding that Manchester is (arguably) one of the best places in the world, and therefore moved back up north. She’s also UNILAD’s unofficial crazy animal lady.