A country school kidnapping: An unbelievable tale

Tyler Cassidy was a troubled kid. Police officers Colin Dods and Richie Blundell were working an afternoon shift in the Northcote divisional van. Their lives would collide on a balmy summer evening in late 2008 at a Northcote skate park.

A distraught Cassidy, 15, was in no mood to negotiate with the officers. He refused to drop two knives and kept approaching Dods. He was shot six times, and died at the scene.

The police involved lived for years with allegations that it was their fault. Vindicated in the Coroners Court of Victoria, they tell John Silvester their story.

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Very few people have heard of Detective Sergeant Dion Achtypis - but there may well be no more important investigator in Australia.

You won’t see him holding a press conference at a murder scene or commanding a squad of detectives. And he doesn’t use a sledgehammer during raids - he gains access in a much more subtle way. He is part of a three-person team working in the present while exploring the future.

Cyber cop Dion Achtypis sits down with John Silvester to discuss Bitcoin, international crime syndicates and the Underbelly series.

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Belinda Bozykowski was never a police officer. But her partner, Laurie Fox, was.

On the last day of 2012, Fox took his own life, leaving her with two young sons, a broken heart and a million questions.

Belinda is as brave as any Valour Award winner. After her partner's death, she completed her midwifery course, cared for their boys, and dedicated a great part of her life to the mental health of first responders.

It is perhaps the only way she could make sense of something so indescribable.

Between laughter and tears, Belinda shares her story with John Silvester.

If you or anyone you know needs support, call Lifeline 13 11 14, Mensline 1300 789 978 or visit www.beyondblue.org.au

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Prodigious armed robber and expert escaper John Killick escaped custody in three states, once in a helicopter hijacked by his girlfriend. 

Most of the police and prison officers who chased or caged him over more than 50 years are long gone, while John has written five books.

But the brutality of Pentridge has stayed with him.

Killick takes host John Silvester inside the giant bluestone walls that hid callous brutality, resulting in angry men being released back into the community. 

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If you or anyone you know needs support, call Lifeline 13 11 14, Mensline 1300 789 978, or the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

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It was early on Monday, June 18, 2007, just as city workers were arriving at their jobs that Hells Angel Christopher Wayne Hudson finally imploded. 

First he beat and kicked a woman in a strip club before dragging her along King Street. 

Then he saw his girlfriend, Kaera Douglas, who had just arrived on Hudson's orders to drive him home. He greeted her saying: "Today is the day you're going to die."

This is a story of unspeakable family violence, the courage of strangers, and it also shines a light on us: and what we see is not that pretty at all. 

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If you or anyone you know needs support, call Lifeline 13 11 14, Mensline 1300 789 978, or the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

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As a policeman, Tony “Kid” Currie lived on the edge. In the SOG he shot and killed one suspect and in a second incident left one with life-altering injuries. Some thought he was a loose cannon and were happy when he resigned.

Tony and his wife Michelle take us through the shootings and his career in a heartwarming and poignant discussion on living on the cutting edge of law enforcement, life after policing and giving back.

For years now, they have invested their money, time and passion to present seminars, conferences and small gatherings for cops and their partners designed to turn victims into survivors.

Additional recordings from Terry Carlyon and ABC.

Crisis support is available from Lifeline on 13 11 14.

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Keith Pickering was just 19 and a young cop when he was on point duty outside Flinders Street Station in January 1974. He heard a vendor yell out and saw a man crouching with a bloodied carving knife.

The mentally disturbed man, James Belsey, had just fatally cut the throat of Constable Norm Curson on the steps of the station. Pickering and another young cop Trevor Pollock followed him into the Young and Jacksons Hotel and although unarmed, managed to arrest him and take him to the nearby police station.

Their bravery has never been recognised. 

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If you or anyone you know needs support, call Lifeline 13 11 14, Mensline 1300 789 978, or the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

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Kevin Knowles was a brute, a thug and a suspected double murderer. 

Kirkstall was a lovely county town inhabited mainly by young families looking to build a safe and caring community. That is until Knowles moved into town. 

Travis Cashmore was a quiet hippy type bloke, well regarded by the locals. Driven to breaking point by Knowles, Cashmore took the law into his own hands, killing Knowles, one of his mates, and then took his own life.

Col Ryan is a long-time local detective, councillor and mayor. Col tells us the inside story.

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If you or anyone you know needs support, call Lifeline 13 11 14, Mensline 1300 789 978, or the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

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From the age of two, David Freeman was hidden with a group of children in a remote country house, described as a school that was actually a prison.

The cult, led by the charismatic and seriously loopy Anne Hamilton-Byrne, survived for 20 years.

David spent most of his adult life trying to forget - moving to Iceland, marrying, fathering children and working outdoors as a roof contractor until he finally understood he needed to deal with his past.

After years of substance abuse and nearly committing suicide, David reached out to one of the original investigators, Julie Cochrane, who had become a psychologist.

For the first time, David tells his story.

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If you or anyone you know needs support, call Lifeline 13 11 14, Mensline 1300 789 978, or the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

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Howard Nathan was a Supreme Court judge for 14 years. Many of his peers did not accept him because he was gay, Jewish and left-wing. One judge did not speak to him during his entire time on the bench.

In a frank interview, Nathan talks of the hypocrisy of the establishment where gays were hounded, often by men who themselves lived double lives.

He reveals that as a teenager he was picked up by a man who became a senior police officer - the very man who later was active in shutting down an investigation into a paedophile priest.

And he relives the moment in 1980 when a gunman killed three people in the Supreme Court, right in front of him.

A rare insight into a remarkable man.

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