- 3 days ago
The.Million.Pound.Shaman.Scam.S01E01
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00:00it was a dark cold night when we entered the property together I was scared and it smelled
00:13like death it's literally rotting blackened meat we journeyed up exploring the different rooms
00:25there was pentagram and candles photographs of people satanic artifacts it felt like I was
00:38confronting something that was really evil she was the perfect bogeyman a witch doctor in the
00:44middle of Hampstead conning rich people out of a million pounds the whole story was so weird
00:49had beggared belief she said I work with the indigenous in Suriname so we can cure people
00:57so she had five or six names initially she was Marianne Nichols to me I knew her as Vanessa
01:04Campbell and eventually to us all Juliet de Souza she was one of the biggest female forces in UK
01:13history we know who this is those she's Marianne Desiree Nichols she encouraged people to invest
01:20their savings she and the money vanished she had this incredible eye for spotting vulnerability and
01:30exploiting it faith isolation the threat of violence it's a cult I've always known there are parts of
01:41this story that should be investigated we haven't been the reality is she could still be out there that
01:49for me is unfinished business
02:11I'm from a generation of journalists that went into newspapers because they were inspired by big
02:24stories that made some difference for me journalism comes from doing something that's important to
02:32someone who doesn't have that voice themselves in 2008 I got the call from the Sunday Times magazine
02:42the commissioning editor said would you be interested in an unusual story a journalist career is built out
02:52of the unusual because the unusual is is newsworthy but you still don't expect the call to be about shamanism in Hampstead
03:04I was it was known as a place that had really been a kind of epicenter for the bohemian and it was a sort of quintessential village within London
03:20so there were a lot of artists who were there and it was really sort of an old money place
03:26but it was also a place where people with money were moving into in greater droves by the late 1990s
03:35I think of Hampstead does a place of gentle liberal intellectuals so it's not the obvious place to perpetrate a scam and yet it is
03:50because the money is because the money is there
03:57Take me back to 2008 when this particular story landed on your desk what did you do first I made contact with Keith Bender
04:09When I met him he was a shell of a man who'd been through an extended trauma
04:16I wanted to understand how does a successful London osteopath end up at the centre of a multi-million pound faith fraud
04:28And so that was the start to hear the story from beginning to end
04:35From beginning to end
04:37When I qualified as an osteopath naturopath back at the beginning of the 80s already there was quite a rising interest in long terms of medicine
04:47And it was during the period of the early 90s that I became very very interested in spiritual therapies
05:02In the 90s spiritual beliefs were on the rise certainly within the mainstream within the media
05:10Mars, planet of victory, spins fortunes for Aquarius and Libra
05:16And someone who fitted new lights today
05:19The paranormal world of Paul McKenna, the regression show Back to the Present
05:23Foster the public's passion for magic and mystery
05:26The weekly appearance of Mystic Meg is a straightforward audience winner
05:31Everybody was getting in on the act and people were sort of queuing up with their yoga mat
05:36To pay for a little bit of spirituality with a side of health on the side
05:45I was a young budding osteopath
05:48And my hopes and dreams was just to have a very very successful practice
05:54My wife Celia was a heavyweight stage actress
05:57Which is how in fact I ended up treating several other actors and actresses
06:04Keith was a successful professional
06:07But his marriage was in difficulties
06:13My life was black at home
06:15I was losing it in my marriage to Celia
06:19The wonderful, beautiful, incredibly talented actress
06:23But she had an alcohol problem
06:26And it was destroying me watching her do this to herself
06:29And I couldn't do anything
06:30You know, I loved my family
06:32You know, it's just when you see somebody tearing themselves apart
06:48It's terrible
06:51Then, one day Celia just suddenly turned to me and said
07:01Keith, I don't love you anymore
07:03I was devastated
07:12The notion of family is extremely strong with Keith
07:16And commitment is, you know, you don't fail that
07:20You just don't
07:23He loved her
07:25Deeply
07:31Keith was working as an osteopath
07:35That's when Marianne Nichols makes an entrance into his life
07:45I was at my practice one day
07:47And there was a knock on the door
07:52There was this patient
07:54Very well attired
07:56Wonderful, glossy, black, silky hair down to her mid-back
08:00Well, she made quite an impact
08:04She said, well, can you help me?
08:06I've got a problem with my back
08:08She kind of gave me a potted history
08:10Of what had actually been her early life
08:16She had grown up with Brazilian parents
08:20High court judges
08:22She had an educated accent
08:25And a sense of humour
08:31So nice to be in the presence of somebody positive
08:34Because every time I went home, it was negative
08:40Then things just went from bad to worse
08:42Senior just wasn't getting the jobs anymore
08:47We had a very large mortgage to handle
08:52And our children to support
08:57Things were getting very, very tough for him
09:01He was about to lose his house
09:04And he just couldn't cope with everything at the same time
09:08It became just impossible
09:09I'd been treating Marianne as a patient for several months
09:13And during that period
09:15We got to know each other quite well
09:19She became more of a friend
09:21The things I told her were quite intimate in many respects
09:27I was in this huge financial black hole
09:31And then Marianne said to me, Keith
09:33Don't worry about this
09:35I was in this huge financial black hole
09:36So to me, Keith
09:38Don't worry
09:40I can help you with this
09:46I learnt Marianne Nicholls
09:50Starts off as a very good listener
09:52The listening had a purpose
09:55To find all the little bits of a person's life
10:01Where you can bond
10:02So she lent him the money to pay the mortgage
10:07I mean, that was real support
10:10Nobody else was there
10:12And I had no support from anybody else
10:14Did you ever wonder where Marianne got her money from?
10:18I never pried into her sort of personal background in that respect
10:24But she did tell me that Mr. Matthew Robinson was helping her
10:29Matthew came from a very wealthy family
10:34Basically they'd created a form of sort of electronics empire
10:38They'd been around together before I'd even known them
10:41So I first met Marianne Nicholls when I worked in London in the summer of...
10:54I was going to say summer of 69, but that's the Bryan Adams song, isn't it?
10:58Summer of 89
10:59Summer of 89
11:10Marianne's role was in sales
11:13Marianne was very well spoken
11:16She had good taste
11:20She would fit in in a millionaire's household
11:25She would fit in anywhere
11:27I came from the countryside
11:33Ended up in a city living on my own
11:35So I was actually quite isolated
11:39At that time I was vulnerable
11:42I guess you can almost say getting depressed
11:45Something was missing
11:49I could talk to her about stuff
11:51So she was very good at making me feel valued or listened to
11:58So we struck up a friendship
12:02And hang out
12:04And that got more and more frequent
12:08So we took a number of holidays
12:10I was basically her travel companion
12:12I don't know exactly when it started
12:18But I would start to help her or support her
12:22Pay for things
12:24She didn't have a bank account
12:26So no credit card
12:28With the holidays that we took
12:31I would pay for them with my credit card
12:34And then she would pay me a lump sum of cash in an envelope
12:40All very dodgy
12:42But never the full amount
12:44And so the amount of debt I guess just gradually increased
12:50The money she got off me was being used to
12:55Support her lifestyle
12:57Louis Vuitton bags
12:59They were Gucci bags
13:01Five star hotels
13:03She drove a convertible BMW
13:05That's very generous of you
13:07Well that's one way of putting it
13:09Very generous or very stupid
13:11Or um
13:13Very naive
13:15She had a powerful personality
13:20She could convince a lot of people to do anything
13:26I had a little kind of niggle in my neck
13:29And Marianne knew Keith
13:33And he's an osteopath
13:35And so I went to see him
13:37He was pretty humble
13:39Unassuming
13:40And a nice guy
13:45Through Marianne I heard about
13:47Keith's issues
13:49She got me to help him out
13:51Financially
13:53I liked helping people out
13:56And Keith just seemed very, very genuine
14:00Very deserving
14:03It was a very
14:05Hard time
14:08I was going through a very, very traumatic
14:11Divorce at the time
14:12And I left Celia
14:15With the children
14:16In the house
14:17I walked away with nothing
14:19I was deeply and profoundly depressed
14:22And I desperately wanted things to change
14:26So when Marianne said
14:29I can help you again
14:31I was ready
14:33She told me an extraordinary secret
14:38Marianne told me she was a shaman
14:41She said she could help people
14:44With all sorts of problems
14:46Whether it be personal
14:48Or health
14:50And I was just fascinated
14:54I said, well, you know, what does my spirit look like?
14:59Marianne said to me
15:01It's very dark and rather sort of sad
15:04And I said, gosh, you know, can we give it back a bit of light?
15:11You have to imagine a man who's had a lot of darkness in his personal life
15:17Who has an openness to the idea that a shaman or someone with spiritual connections to shamans could help
15:31You would feel as though an angel won't come out of the sky
15:36The eerie sounds of men, and sometimes women, entering a trance-like state in an attempt to contact the spirit world
15:47They're shamans, a special cast of people claiming to be able to reach the spirits, communicate with them, and return to their senses to heal the sick
15:58They've been found wherever there have been hunter-gatherer societies
16:04I got a call from Marianne
16:08And she said, Keith, would you be interested in coming to Suriname?
16:15Suriname is in South America
16:17It's 4,400 miles from Hampstead
16:20It's a small country where on the fringes you will find shamans
16:23When we arrived, it's almost like stepping into an oven
16:38We were picked up by Marianne's personal driver
16:43It was myself, it was Marianne, and most importantly, Papa Freddy, her shaman
16:49And he was a lovely chap, he was very gentle, very calm
16:56And we were going to travel to his personal place in the jungle
17:10I was told by Marianne, these waters have healing properties
17:13I thought, wow, this is beautiful
17:21Beautiful
17:40In the meantime, suddenly I was aware of Papa Freddy doing a spiritual cleansing for Marianne
17:48Restoring the spiritual energy to the body
17:57Because in the end, your wellbeing depends really on your inner spiritual energy
18:02So if there was something wrong with you, they would correct it in terms of helping your spirit
18:09We moved on, and we actually met with another shaman
18:17Me ushered us into a very, very rough little hut
18:21I mean, it was rather like a garden shed, actually
18:24Afterwards, I discovered certain shamanic rituals
18:28They will use some sort of form of alcohol
18:31It must be to sort of stoke up the spirit
18:34I said, okay
18:36I took a drink of this stuff
18:38And then you blew my head off
18:42So that made quite an impact on me at the time
18:44When I had arrived back from Suriname, I felt so refreshed, it was great
19:07On this trip, Marianne opened up my mind to the possibilities of shamanism
19:15He believed shamanic healing is something that perhaps he could benefit from
19:21His openness to the idea went from abstract to real
19:26And so, why wouldn't you believe what you saw with your own eyes
19:31In the jungle, so many thousands of miles from London
19:36Sylvia was a professional singer for many, many years
19:55And when she retired, she became a professional singing teacher
19:59My aunt was the kindest person you'd ever meet
20:12Sylvia was my first London singing teacher
20:19Just a truly magnificent person
20:24When I met Sylvia, her husband, Tony had already died
20:30And to cope with that, she needed support from her friends
20:35She was so trusting and so generous to a fault
20:41Whatever disposable income she had, she enjoyed spending that on her friends
20:48Going out to dinners, going to the theatre
20:53Friends were everything to her
21:07Sylvia and I were on the lower climes of Hampstead
21:12Not as affluent as the upper climes
21:16But there was a lot of bonding between neighbours
21:20So it was a great place to be
21:22Just very much a community
21:26Keith Bender was part of us in that way
21:30He was a very society osteopath
21:33If you got a back problem, you needed Keith Bender
21:41And Sylvia had an amazing confidence in him
21:44He knew every bone in her body
21:47He knew every bone in her body
21:50Sylvia was always crooking her back for whatever reason
21:54And I had always put it straight
21:56She was a delightful lady
21:58In her 70s at the time
22:01She always had a smile on her face
22:03And she loved animals
22:05And she had a couple of cats
22:06I could never have imagined the path that I would have to walk with Sylvia
22:19I feel the sadness she had to suffer
22:22This whole fantastical story started with Keith Bender
22:26Keith Bender
22:33Marianne said to me just out of the blue
22:36Keith, you've got a little problem
22:40Papa Freddy sees that you're going to end up with cancer
22:43Cancer is so highly emotive
22:49Cancer is so highly emotive
22:51I've got a couple of kids
22:53And it would be a disaster to lose both parents
22:56You know, one with alcoholism
22:59And the other one with cancer
23:02I was shit scared
23:05I was really scared that day
23:07He didn't stop to think
23:13Should I see a doctor? Should I tell my GP? Should I get a scan?
23:19He had faith, he had absolute faith
23:24In that he was being told the truth
23:27I truly believed that Papa Freddy could see into the future
23:32So I said to Marianne, what can you do about this?
23:37Well, Keith, if you want to be helped
23:41You've got to show the spirits that you really want to do this
23:46Often, it will be the shaman's purpose
23:51To recapture that part of your spirit that has sort of left you
23:56Almost in a way to protect you against very, very serious health issues
24:01And that commitment requires the picture of you
24:07And also a sacrifice
24:14Which is a sum of monies
24:16The monies will be sent over to Papa Freddy in Suriname
24:27In a sealed envelope
24:29It will be put on a sacred tree in the jungle
24:32He will then engage his spiritual helpers
24:45To restore my shattered spirit
24:48And when my healing's finished, no problem, money comes back
24:54A week later, she said, Keith, you're going to have to find 20,000 pounds
25:08How am I going to find 20,000?
25:13I haven't got a penny to my name at the moment
25:15I was in Sylvia's flat one day and she'd left it on the side, on the piano
25:31And it was this IOU and it was like, goodness
25:42The IOU was from Keith Bender to Sylvia
25:50I didn't know that Sylvia had a friendship with the chap
25:54That would lead her to trust him
25:56To lend him 25,000 pounds at least
25:58On the day that, uh, Sylvia Reeves said yes
26:02And that she was going to give me this loan
26:04I felt like I'd won the jackpot
26:06It was fantastic
26:11So I just said, look, uh, you know
26:13All I can tell you is that, you know, absolutely without fail
26:17Your monies will be returned to you
26:19The return of the monies thing reinforced the whole notion of
26:22That Marianne was truly kosher
26:23And I immediately rang Marianne up and said, Marianne, you know, I've got it, we can do it
26:37He borrowed the money from the patient
26:40That is a terrible breach of professional boundaries
26:45Keith has borrowed from a patient
26:48How does it go from that to many Hampstead residents being drawn in to a large-scale fraud?
26:59I was very, very happy because I felt at least then, you know, I had started my healing in a very major way
27:07I felt, yeah, you know, I'm gonna get better
27:10Marianne gave me some of her cards
27:13And she was saying, you must know loads and loads and loads of people
27:17You could, uh, possibly, uh, send one or two people to me
27:21I suppose she saw this as a, a new venture
27:27What experience of shamanism would most people in North London have?
27:31They're very limited
27:33So, she's the gateway to something that's not known or understood by most Londoners
27:41I was very excited at the prospect of Marianne and the shaman's being able to help so many people
27:50The very first couple that I introduced to Marianne was an Australian couple
28:00Because they told me, oh, we've got a friend who's, uh, suicidal, we don't know what to do with her
28:07And they agreed to pay a £10,000 sacrifice
28:13I had a number of other people who were interested
28:17A wonderful photographer said to me, could I meet the woman?
28:21And I said, well, there you go, there's the card
28:23Ruth, I've got problems with my eyes
28:27She paid something like £169,000
28:31Richard, a very gentle man, he was about to lose his property
28:36Uh, Geoff was very afraid of losing his job
28:39He paid £200,000 virtually
28:42As for what Marianne did for them, I can't tell you
28:46Because this is a personal, private matter
28:48I think people do lose touch with reality when they're very vulnerable
28:54And they don't have their usual strength of judgement
28:58I ended up seeing a therapist for quite a few months
29:03It didn't really, kind of, unearth a huge amount
29:06I was still not happy in my, sort of, spirit, as it were
29:09So, I may have, you know, bought into the whole sacrifice thing myself
29:16So, it might have been £3,000 or £5,000
29:20But, um, if someone offers a little bit of hope
29:24Then you'll grab it
29:25My mother, Margaret, has suffered her whole life with Crohn's
29:43And she ended up totally debilitated and in need of 24-hour care
29:48Sylvia and Margaret were totally in each other's lives
29:54They absolutely adored each other
29:58Sylvia Reeves came to me at one time
30:02And I could see she was kind of quite worried and upset about something
30:06She said, oh, um, I'm really worried about my sister Margaret
30:11She's not very well and I, I don't know what to do
30:13I said, maybe Marianne could help your sister
30:19And so that was how Sylvia actually personally met Marianne
30:29Keith did a beautiful job of advertising her services
30:34Because he believed in them
30:36He introduced people to the web
30:39There are plenty of other people who I didn't know about
30:45Who paid major, major sacrifices
30:50So it was in a cafe in Hampstead
30:55And it was with a group of friends
30:59Including Silver Eads
31:01And there was this lady sitting there
31:04She was an attractive, presentable, articulate woman
31:10Quite business-like
31:12We were just talking
31:14She looked for an opportunity
31:17At every turn
31:19You know, I suppose she
31:22Possibly worked out that I had some money
31:25I remember she said, um, I work with the Indigenous
31:30She always used to call them the Indigenous
31:35In Suriname
31:36And I thought that was
31:38Pretty weird
31:39But hey, you know
31:41Didn't want to seem rude
31:43I remember at some point
31:46She was, uh, she said, yes, and we can cure people
31:50It's all about Bob
31:52I first met Bob when we were both working in a law firm in Cambridge
32:03Um, shortly after I'd qualified as a lawyer
32:06And we stayed friends even after I left the firm
32:10He didn't really fit the bill, the normal sort of bill of a legal executive
32:15He was a bit of a wide boy
32:18Um, sort of used car salesman type
32:22But absolutely lovely
32:27I remember when he got the diagnosis of esophageal cancer
32:34And the chances of survival are, um, fairly slim
32:38Slim
32:40You do wonder when a friend falls ill
32:43What you can do to help
32:45When all conventional treatments have failed
32:51So, I contacted this woman
32:55Um, she said that she could cure him
33:00There was a part of me that wanted to believe it
33:04And I think we've probably all done this
33:07You'll always say a quiet prayer to God
33:11Even though I don't believe in God
33:13But you hedge your bets
33:18At the time, Bob seemed to be short of money
33:22I'd gone to the bank
33:23I'd drawn out cash
33:25I'd put it in an envelope
33:27A few days later, I met her in a bar in a Kensington hotel
33:31And handed over 2,000 pounds in cash to her
33:33Bob was sceptical
33:38But nonetheless, he went along with it because
33:42He was dying
33:44And he was drinking in the last chance saloon
33:49From his point of view
33:51So why wouldn't he have given it a go?
33:53Marianne genuinely cared so much that it was, you know, sort of warmed your heart
34:07So, I thought if I could help in any way I would, and I did
34:10I thought, how great to have a partnership in health
34:19Keith Bender did the nuts and bolts of running a shamanic enterprise in Hampstead
34:24The errands could involve driving people to banks
34:30So they could get the cash that was needed for a sacrifice
34:35And also collecting sacrifices
34:43He got in very deep to something that he believed was real
34:48Marianne very much depended on me
35:03I would be the one fronting up, paying for the flights
35:07Paying for accommodation, the holidays
35:10And I didn't enjoy it
35:11So much of my time and energy was put into supporting someone else's life
35:18How much money do you think you gave Marianne in total?
35:23I'm not going to say
35:25Do you mind me asking why not?
35:29It's a large amount
35:32It doesn't need to be shared with anyone else
35:35You just feel embarrassed
35:37And you don't want to be judged
35:39I was getting to the point where I did not have any money left
35:48I was just questioning things and thinking
35:51What do I want out of my own life?
35:53I ended up on a dance holiday in Barcelona
35:59Where I met Deb
36:01I don't know why I'm getting emotional now
36:11Well, yeah, the woman I fell in love with
36:14She just took me as I am
36:18There was no judgement
36:20And, you know, I said I wanted to lead the UK
36:24Being away, being in another culture
36:29Away from Marianne
36:31Loved it, absolutely loved it
36:33It was a big, you know, wake up call
36:36For nearly ten years
36:38There was a cloud in my head
36:40Affecting my judgement
36:42It then shone a light on just
36:45How under her spell I was
36:48Marianne
36:50Was not just a friend asking for money
36:52This was really bad
36:54This is not good
36:56I said, this is it
36:58I'm not doing this anymore
37:05Because I wasn't around to do all her dirty work
37:07She had got Keith to help
37:09And, of course, he got sucked in
37:11And into that crazy chaos
37:21It was a lovely hot summer's day
37:23And I was feeling a bit parched
37:25And I was just like, ooh
37:27I think I'll just sort of have a quick half
37:29And I hadn't been to the pub five minutes
37:33And my first cell phone rang
37:35Marianne said, I've just had a call
37:38From Papa Freddy
37:40And he's seen you
37:42Going into this place
37:44What are you doing?
37:46Get out of there
37:48You do not go into anywhere
37:51Where there's negativity
37:53Any kind of drinking house was a negative place
37:56I respect the shamans for who they are
37:59And what they do
38:01I wasn't about to challenge a shaman
38:03Who has this kind of capacity
38:04To see
38:07Absolutely
38:09I felt I was under a form of
38:11Spiritual surveillance
38:13All the time
38:15Seriously, I mean it
38:18Don't, uh, put it basically fuck around with a shaman
38:23If I don't behave myself
38:26She'll just abandon me
38:28And I'll be a dead man
38:31Keith can't have a half pint in the sun
38:37Without the threat of cancer being held over his head
38:42The control is tightening
38:47Marianne had control over every aspect of my life
38:52She was controlling my food intake all the time
38:56You know, I had to eat the right things
38:58She told me that, uh, my healing requires complete and total secrecy
39:06I remember, you know, several times when I thought, oh God, you know
39:11If only I could just, uh, talk to somebody
39:14But, uh, against the rules
39:16That's why whenever I was asked by her for anything
39:20I always felt it was terribly important to, uh, do whatever she asked for my potential cancer
39:28Part of the, uh, decree was that I had to remove myself from literally everybody
39:34And this is how it was in the end
39:35That I stopped seeing my children
39:39And I stopped seeing my parents as well at the same time
39:45He probably didn't do anything significant that he thought might displease her or displease the spirits
39:49I think there was a residual fear of what power those forces might have
40:08You feel bewilderment that this can happen to someone
40:11It sounds so implausible because, you know, here is a person of professional standing
40:17They appear to have agency, um, over their own life, except they don't
40:22We were doing a renovation of four flats on Willoughby Road in Hampstead
40:39And, uh, went up the stairs and, uh, there was this woman there that was introduced herself as Vanessa
40:48She sort of volunteered herself as someone that had studied at Oxford
40:56She alluded to being a barrister, very establishment
41:01Her aura was, yeah, extreme confidence
41:06She almost put me on the back foot
41:09What are you doing here and what's, what's going on?
41:12She was sniffing out opportunities, um, it was, that was clear
41:16And I shared the vision for the, uh, for the property
41:21She said, oh, well, that's, um, it's interesting because I've got friends that are looking for flats
41:27And, uh, I can introduce you
41:29We quickly after that went to lunch
41:33Vanessa basically introduced me to the prospective tenant
41:38I liked him, he was odd, quirky, he subsequently signed on the tenancy agreements
41:51The landlord knew her as Vanessa Campbell
41:55But, uh, is not her real name
41:58She had five or six names that she went under at different stages
42:03She was Vanessa Campbell, she'd been Marianne Nichols
42:07And eventually, to us all, Juliette D'Souza
42:12Juliette D'Souza
42:27Willoughby Road, here we go
42:31Here we go, might as well park here
42:33Yep, there's the house, still standing
42:36Marianne was actually the tenant in there
42:42Initially, she had taken two of the flats
42:47And as the other tenants decided to move away, she took them over as well
42:52My name was on the leases of these four flats
42:57Because she had very poor credit history
42:59And so it was impossible for her to actually get a hold of these places
43:06And so, at the end of the month, Marianne was giving me the cash to pay the rent
43:14In 2006, Marianne had to depart for Suriname
43:20Her trips usually lasted a maximum of about three to four weeks
43:25But she didn't come back
43:27This was the moment that my life changed
43:36There had been consistency in payment for years
43:41And then, all of a sudden, there was a lapse in one payment
43:46And then, another
43:49Keith was paying the rent
43:52He'd signed the lease
43:53And I was meeting with Keith
43:56So, what's the problem?
43:58I had not heard from Marianne
44:00I had no contact number for her whatsoever
44:04So, I always had to wait for her to call
44:07Hence, there was no money to give the landlord
44:11I've got to pay three months' rent here
44:13It's 24,000
44:14I mean, I haven't got ATP on me, never mind 24,000 quid
44:19How could Marianne do this to me?
44:23You know, if I couldn't pay the rent
44:26I think the landlord would have just basically had me arrested
44:30I mean, at this point, I don't know where to put myself
44:36I had to break it to the landlord
44:39I discovered that he was fronting for Vanessa
44:44She was paying the rent through Keith
44:48I said, enough's enough
44:51You can't pay me, you're in breach of your lease
44:54What's going on? I need to inspect the property
44:56Keith was reluctant to open up the property
45:05Because he said you would be cursed
45:08Marianne was absolutely adamant that if anybody stepped inside her property
45:15They're going to get it, you know, they're all going to be hurt badly
45:18Action needed to be taken
45:20It was a windswept, dark, cold night
45:29We entered the property together
45:32OK, this is daunting
45:35I was scared
45:37What was so important inside these flats
45:40that nobody was ever allowed to ever step fist into?
45:45It appeared that she must have been living in one flat
45:48and doing things in another flat
45:52It wasn't being used as a home
45:55but more like multiple storage
46:00It was almost like a sort of form of Aladdin's cave
46:07And there was sort of a pungent smell
46:10where something has rotted
46:12and sort of it was everywhere
46:18It smelled like death
46:21There were a number of fridge freezers
46:25I mean, I counted nine fridge freezers
46:31I opened one
46:33and it's packed with rotting blackened meat
46:39You know, what the hell?
46:41What's going on here?
46:43You know, why has she got all of this food?
46:46As we went further up into the property
46:52Mirrors were turned against the wall
46:57One room had this sort of pentagram and candles
47:04satanic artefacts
47:06It was another room with photographs of people
47:09It felt like I was confronting something that was really evil
47:17It went further up
47:21There was a room that was just full of Chanel bags
47:26and boxes of big brands that had been sort of discarded
47:33I mean, almost the whole volume of the room is taken up
47:37with products that she's just been buying over the years
47:40So you could see where she'd been
47:42Phoenix, Louis Vuitton, Harrods
47:43She hadn't even emptied some of these things
47:48I mean, I'm talking about hundreds of boxes here
47:53I didn't know how she was able to sustain such an extraordinary existence
47:59All four floors was just a mass of boxes
48:08And so we started going through everything that was in the place
48:13Then I saw something that shocked me terribly
48:16I found several of the envelopes that were required for the sacrifices
48:27I saw the names of several clients that I had personally sent to Marianne
48:35These envelopes were literally just being torn open to get the money out
48:40They never went anywhere
48:42Everything that was in those envelopes had gone into her pockets
48:47And she'd spent it as she pleased
48:49Everything she told me was a complete and total lie
48:53A complete and total fabrication
48:55I'd given her people that I loved
48:58And she was meant to be helping them
49:00And what was she doing?
49:02To me it was like taking blood money
49:05You know, I felt completely and totally betrayed by this woman
49:12All right
49:15We chopped these all up
49:17It would be rather nice, actually
49:19We met up after I don't know how many years
49:24He lost confidence in himself and his judgement
49:29When I first heard about the whole story
49:33I thought, I mean, how on earth could this happen to you?
49:37Okay
49:43And bit by bit you start understanding
49:46She also had intelligence
49:48She had wit
49:50She had charm
49:52She has talent
49:54Huge talent
49:56You know
49:57But she was bad
49:58It was many of my own clients who were the victims
50:09People have lost their entire life savings
50:13They're bankrupt
50:16You know, I was blaming myself
50:18How could I not see what was happening in front of me?
50:22I had to ring quite a number of the victims
50:27And there were plenty of them
50:30We then decided collectively
50:33To go to the Holborn police station
50:42They tried several times to get police involvement
50:46That went nowhere
50:48Why, in your opinion
50:50Might the police not have taken
50:52Keith and the other victims seriously
50:54When they first reported what had happened?
50:56If you've given money to someone
50:58To protect your spouse from cancer
51:02And the thing hasn't been performed
51:04That, in a way, is a breach of contract
51:06It's a civil failing, not a criminal one
51:09And that was the issue that the police took
51:10Some of them have got codes on
51:28The ones with codes, I know what's in them
51:36This is it
51:37I've been entrusted these tapes for safekeeping
51:47Generally, newspapers get to know about injustice
51:50When officials, or police, or whoever the authorities are
51:55Have failed to act
51:58When nothing happened
52:00That's when they thought about the Sunday Times
52:04The thing is, Tim
52:06Shamanism is all about the use of invoking spirits
52:09Basically, if I didn't get the sacrifice of
52:13Zygone, I'd die of colon cancer
52:16It was a very painful story
52:18And we spent 19 hours talking
52:21Keith had been drawn into madness
52:31And lived through something that's just inexplicable
52:36You start with the presumption that someone in a raw state is telling you the truth
52:40But you wanted the evidence that supports this unlikely sounding tale
52:57I was put in touch with the wider circle of victims I hadn't yet met
53:02Perhaps 12 or 15
53:04And the stories that they told me were very similar
53:10Apart from having an openness to spiritual possibility
53:15There was nothing that linked these people
53:18Except they had money
53:19They fell victim to a very sophisticated, practiced process
53:28Starting with a small amount for a consultation
53:33A request for a family photograph
53:36Then finding something wrong
53:40Or something in the future that would go wrong
53:43And asking for money to fix it
53:45I saw the residual fear
53:50Of these supposed spirits
53:54I saw in the people I was talking to
53:59Various people did start to get sort of drawn in
54:03We need to go and see Sylvia
54:05Because it's a terrible story
54:09I went to see Sylvia Reeves
54:11An elderly lady
54:12A successful professional
54:15Whose sister had been very ill
54:22D'Souza took from her
54:24I think it was £272,000
54:29In the hope that this money would serve to keep her sister alive
54:33Sylvia became quite frugal in her lifestyle
54:44She wasn't eating
54:46She was definitely losing weight
54:48But more than anything else
54:51She seemed emotionally fragile
54:53It was pretty scary
54:55She just wondered what's going on here
54:57This is where she actually told me
55:01About how much she was paying out to D'Souza
55:04And so when she started to talk about it
55:07I could see the horror of it
55:09And I said just sit down for a minute
55:11We sat together here
55:13And sitting here with her
55:16Erm
55:17Just finding out what it cost her
55:43Just finding out what it cost her
55:45It's just a horrible moment.
55:53That's the bench where I realised the pain
55:57and the loss of the experience.
56:01There were other victims.
56:07One woman who wouldn't talk to me
56:10had lost £730,000.
56:12A couple invested £42,000
56:17for their son with Down syndrome.
56:21There was a married couple who, between them,
56:23gave £364,000.
56:26These are life-ruining sums of money.
56:33At the time, I thought she might be
56:37the biggest female fraudster in UK
56:42history.
56:45Keith, the circle of victims, and I,
56:50we thought that we could add it up to
56:53between £3 and £7 million.
56:58The true scale, I can't tell you,
57:02because she might have had
57:04other networks of victims.
57:06I'd love to have an insight into what was going on in her head
57:18as people's lives disintegrated.
57:22Did she think she was helping them?
57:26Did she see herself as a healer?
57:28Did she genuinely believe that she was helping?
57:33I don't think so, but I don't know.
57:35I had to find her.
57:43I wanted to sit down with her.
57:44I wanted to put the allegations,
57:46but I also wanted to understand her.
57:47I had to go to Suriname to talk to D'Souza.
57:53When I told the fixer why we were in Suriname,
58:04the colour drained from his face.
58:07Juliette D'Souza was the most dangerous person
58:09I ever dealt with.
58:12I was just scared of her being out there.
58:14I have no doubt that there are many, many more victims.
58:17She's almost like a huntress,
58:19where she's hunting for the next con.
58:22I've always known that there are parts of this story
58:25that should be investigated and haven't been.
58:47Oh, yeah, yeah.
58:51I'm going to see you did it.
59:00I'm gonna try to see you did it.
59:01I'm going to see you did it.
59:03Bye.
59:04Bye.
59:05Bye.
59:06Bye.
59:10Bye.
59:13Bye.
59:14Bye.
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