Serial Killer Wives - Season 1

In episode one, we hear the shocking testimony of Kathy, former nightclub queen and prison officer, who entered into a loving relationship with Stephen Griffiths, later to be known as the "Crossbow Cannibal".

She describes how their relationship blossomed after they first met on a night out in Bradford, and how Griffiths increasingly controlled and coerced her, spiking her tea, stealing her dogs, locking her up and beating her. As the story of Kathy's troubled relationship with Griffiths unfolds, criminologists share details of the horrific killings of local sex workers who disappear one by one in the area where Kathy lives. Kathy reveals how Griffiths took her to visit the scene of a mysterious and horrific murder that occurred close to his flat, and how his behaviour became increasingly disturbed as he descends into a lifestyle of hard drugs and leaves chilling and threatening messages on Kathy's phone - messages that feature in the programme.

Kathy recalls how her nightmare relationship with Griffiths finally came to a sickening end when she receives a visit from the police who revealed the awful truth about her partner: Griffiths was responsible for three horrific murders, including a local woman he shot through the head with a crossbow which was caught on security camera.

Kathy reveals how she reacted as she learned about the gruesome details of the murders including the mutilation and dismemberment Griffiths inflicted upon his victims, and his claims that he ate parts of their bodies. She also details how she struggled to process that the man she'd been with had committed such heinous crimes.

Finally, Kathy describes what it was like coming face to face with Griffiths as he was sentenced to life imprisonment, how she has come to terms with the horrors she endured for so many years, and how she paid her respects to the victims with a touching personal act.

The shocking testimony of Cindy, who met the love of her life, Bobby Joe Long, when they were just 13 years old. Almost 20 years later he would be found guilty of eight brutal murders.

In chilling detail, we relive how their relationship blossomed after they first met while playing the local park, how they became engaged seven years later, and how her life changed forever when Bobby suffered a terrible motorbike accident.

His injuries changed his personality and behaviour, turning him into an impuslive, violent abuser whose coercion, control and brutal assaults on Cindy spiralled rapidly out of control.

As the story of Cindy's troubled relationship with Long unfolds, criminologists reveal a horrifying series of rapes in the area, along with the details of the horrific murders of women who had been disappearing from the local streets.

Cindy reveals how Long's abuse drove her to breaking point, and how she finally decided to end it all by grabbing a shotgun and holding it to his head as he slept, but was prevented from pulling the trigger by thoughts of leaving her kids without any parents.

Despite finally managing to leave him and file for divorce, he continued to beat and rape her when he came to pick up their children for the weekend, and he chillingly warned her to be careful of the killer that was still on the loose.

After years of suffering, her nightmare relationship with Long finally came to a shocking end when, after a day out with her kids at the local fun fair, she received a call from him to tell her the shocking truth – that he was responsible for the multiple murders of local women.

Cindy's life came crashing down as she learned about the gruesome details of the murders including the mutilation and dismemberment he inflicted upon his victims, and his confession to dozens of rapes. Cindy had entered a living nightmare.

We hear the shocking testimony of John, ex-boyfriend of pyschopath Joanna Dennehy. In 2013, she brutally stabbed three men to death and attempted to kill two more, becoming only the third woman in the country to be sentenced to life without parole.

John's friendship with Dennehy blossomed while he was walking his dog in the park. When it later turned into a relationship, he had no idea what the future would hold, and was delighted when their first daughter was born. However, Joanna's behaviour unraveled, until she was drinking heavily, using drugs and cheating on John.

She disappeared, leaving John to look after their daughter alone. Unbeknown to him, she had become violent and was spending time in and out of prison. When she did get in touch again, for the sake of his daughter, John took her back into the family home. They had another daughter, but Dennehy's behaviour deteriorated again, driving John to move away with their daughters for good.

Crime experts describe how Dennehy's world descended into sexual exploitation and violence. It came to a sickening end when she stabbed three men to death and hid the bodies in a wheelie bin before dumping them in the countryside.

John describes the unimaginable moment he received the text message that ripped his world apart – she had killed three men in cold blood and would go on to brutally stab two more men multiple times, leaving them for dead. He speaks of the shock he felt when he learned about the gruesome details of the murders, and how he wrestled with breaking the news to his beloved daughters. Now, he looks to the future and describes how he has worked hard to build a stable home life for his daughters.

This is the shocking true story of Terry, ex-girlfriend of serial killer James Randall. He was sentenced to death in 1997 for the brutal murders of two women and suspected of many more unsolved killings.

After falling into a downward spiralling lifestyle of drug abuse and sex work, Terry met Randall when he approached her as a new client on the streets. To help Terry find a new life, Randall offered her a relationship and a place to stay. Little did she know the terrible truth - that he'd been jailed for kidnapping, assaulting and abusing his ex-wife and was a suspect in the unsolved murder of her best friend.

As their relationship blossomed, Randall's behaviour became increasingly strange. He'd regularly hide in bushes and jump out at Terry, and at home strangle her until she begged him to stop. Afraid to confront him, Terry began to plot her escape from his increasingly threatening behaviour. Meanwhile, local sex workers were being found strangled to death.

One day, while in a college class, Terry was approached by detectives who revealed the shocking truth that turned her world upside down – her boyfriend James Randall was responsible for the murders of young women in the local area. They told her he was on the run and convinced her to help lure him back to her house where he was captured by a police dog unit.

Terry reveals the devastating and jaw-dropping moment Randall told her in prison that he'd killed the other women so as not to hurt her. Now, Terry has rebuilt her life and found happiness but will the nightmares ever stop?

This is the shocking true story of Martyn, ex-partner of notorious serial killer and necrophile Dennis Nilsen, who murdered at least twelve young men and boys in London between 1978 and 1983 before being sentenced to life in prison.

After running away from home aged 14, Martyn became a sex worker in London's West End. During this time, he met Nilsen in an arcade. They ended up at Nilsen's flat where Martyn fell asleep, only to wake in a room full of smoke, Nilsen looming over him with a knife. He pushed him off and left, confused by what had happened.

During the next few months, young men began to go missing from the West End. Martyn and Nilsen bumped into each other again and went back to Nilsen's flat, where they talked and bonded over their troubled upbringings. They began a casual relationship which would last for years.

Nilsen's behaviour became increasingly bizarre. He would shout at walls and ask Martyn sinister questions like whether he'd ever thought about bathing in blood. Martyn turned down Nilsen's invitation to move in with him.

One day, Martyn visited Nilsen at his new flat in Cranley Gardens, Muswell Hill, where he noticed a foul smell which Nilsen blamed on his dog. On another visit, he was denied entry by a clearly panicked Nilsen, who wouldn't let him through the front door.

Shortly after, Nilsen's neighbours complained about noxious odours coming from the drains. When a plumber investigated, he made a horrific discovery: human flesh and bones. The source was identified as Nilsen's flat and he was immediately arrested.

Martyn recalls the moment he saw reports on TV that his boyfriend had been arrested for murder, and how he struggled to cope with finding out the details of Nilsen's gruesome crimes, including storing bodies in his flat, having sexual encounters with his dead victims, dismembering them, boiling their flesh and flushing them down the toilet. Martyn also began to realise how close he came to becoming Nilsen's very first victim on the night they met.

Now, after decades of torment following his relationship with Nilsen, Martyn works as a counsellor for a mental health charity, using his traumatic experiences to help others.

Hearing the true story of Terri, ex-wife of serial killer Sean Gillis, who was sentenced to life with no parole for the brutal murders of eight women. When Terri met Gillis it was love at first sight. Their relationship blossomed and they soon married, but shortly after clues to his' crimes began to pile up. One night she was woken as a SWAT team broke into their house, arrested Gillis and informed her that she'd been living with a serial killer.