Sherlock & Co. - Abbey Grange - Part Three

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

THE KILLER INSIDE - I often forget how gung-ho Sherlock could be when I first met him. No one was off limits for interrogation and analysis. Not even an elderly patient at a care home. His methods weren't cruel, they were simply necessary to achieve what he saw as the ultimate moral prize - the solving of crime. It left a gaping middle ground where morality, meaning, consideration and sensitivity needed to be kept in order... And that is where your friendly neighbourhood podcaster comes into play. Part 3 of 3 This episode contains swearing, references to violence, references to elderly abuse, reference to dementia and psychological trauma and discomfort. Listener discretion is advised. For merchandise and transcripts go to: www.sherlockandco.co.uk For ad-free, early access to adventures in full go to www.patreon.com/sherlockandco To get in touch via email: [e-mail] Follow me @DocJWatsonMD on twitter and BlueSky, or sherlockandcopod on TikTok, instagram and YouTube.  This podcast is property of Goalhanger Podcasts. Copyright 2025.SHERLOCK AND CO. Based on the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Paul Waggott as Dr. John Watson Harry Attwell as Sherlock Holmes Marta da Silva as Mariana Ametxazurra John Brannoch as WigginsRhys Tees as PC Stanley HopkinsChristine Triffitt as Margaret BrackenstallAnni Davey as FrancesNeil Hurst as Jack Crocker Additional voices Esmonde ColeNeil MartinDarcey FergusonLauren HallJoel EmeryAdam Jarrell Written by Joel Emery Directed by Adam Jarrell Editing and Sound Design by Holy Smokes Audio Produced by Neil Fearn and Jon Gill Executive Producer Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Previously on Sherlock and Co. So we have a robbery? We do. And Eustace, I would say being the larger of the two women, bore the brunt of their attack upon entry through the window. Yeah, and quite an attack. Multiple strikes. Dozens and dozens. I think I need to elevate this and stop messing around.

We are not messing around. Guys! What? John! What? She died. Eustace died. What's Sherlock saying about the case? Uh, I think he's just trying to work out how these... little shits got into the room right now.

Little shits? Yeah, sorry. So, some, uh... some gang-related incidents throughout the area right now and they have been lingering around Abby Grange, that's the girl. It looks like they forced entry, took out on one old woman, tied up the other and nicked all the valuables. And Sherlock, did he say this? Did he say what?

Did he say that the gang did this? I don't think so, but they definitely did it. They didn't do it. What are you talking about? I'm talking about the crime. Margaret, recall the events for me one last time. Can you stop interrupting Mum other please? I don't know if you've noticed, but she's been through a lot.

Yes, through an enormous amount. Some youths from the local park scaled the walls, burst in through her window, tied her to the chair, and beat her fellow resident to death. Is that what happened? Yes. That's the sequence of events, is it, Margaret? Margaret, I...

I want to thank the police, if you see them. They are busy tracking down the killer, Mrs Brackenstall. Good. They went looking in Randall Park. A rather unnecessary field trip, I'd say. Sorry, this is... How exactly is that unnecessary? Because, Mr Crocker,

the killer is not in Randall Park. The killer... is in this room. Hi all, welcome to the final part of the adventure of Abbey Grange. Sorry again that I withheld this case for so long. I hope, well, I think I did the right thing. Erm... I hope you can forgive me for keeping it from you, and I hope that the themes and content in this particular adventure aren't too hard hitting.

Trigger warnings can be found in the episode description. I'll see you at the end And a local claims that they saw you outside Abbey Grange residential home Around the time of the murder now outside outside correct well That that local for me then breath right okay well look it it is reasonable to assume reasonable na na na na na if this was reasonable we be chatting on road on my turf helping man out not in here cuz you patterned it

like that you slapped me in the room then when I hear man talk nah that's not reasonable none of the shit ain't nowhere near reasonable, big man. What we're looking for in this situation, okay, is cooperation. You ain't. No, no, no, no, we absolutely are. I can assure you. I've been cooperating since this afternoon, bro. It only cooperating to you when you hear what you wanna hear. Well, if we're not cooperating then then what are we doing?

We be stereotyping man one of us Aka fucking you in a big boy shit with the pads and the gear be stereotyping how so please No, I'm serious. I'm serious. I'd like to know please shut your mouth with that you're wasting tape on this recorder You know bare-ass gaslight and shit, so that's it then is it? That's it. I can't do my job because people might feel hard done by, they might feel judged or stereotyped. Is that what we're saying? We'll put it this way, an elderly woman got her face smashed in mate. I know it bro, disgusting. But god forbid I'm stereotyped, god forbid I take up someone's afternoon. Okay, he wanted to hang out in the park with his friends, but now he's gotta go and help in a murder inquiry. Poor guy, what a poor little fellow.

I lose 50 afternoons a year with this shit. Have you heard yourself? Sort your priorities out. Look into my eyes. Look. Yeah I'm looking. And listen to the words that come out of my mouth. Not a single one of us went into that place. Not a single one. And if I found out one of my boys, if the man them thought they were going to pop through the window and do that kind of shit You be dealing with another murder and I'd happily gladly bro gladly Take full responsibility While she was crying and screaming a white guy big build brus stocky bad gym crossfit looking bro Mm-hmm baldhead Eastman in this car with shit. He's crazed

proper a muscly bald Baldhead. He's been in this car with shit. He's crazed. Proper. A muscly, bald, white guy. Well now who's stereotyping? You wanted the truth. You got it. Now what you gonna do about that information, bruv? MUSIC If I was in the Navy... Sorry, what? If I was in the Navy... Sorry, what? If I was in the Navy...

What car would I drive? Clearly, decorated. Many years of service. Can we return to the old woman and her son, who we've just accused of being murderers? I enjoy theatre as much as the next man, Watson. But in order to discard the convenient truth and expose the inconvenient one, we need evidence. Right, and we're just gonna walk through the car park until we find it? Here, look.

What? That is clearly the car of a man that was in the Navy. How on earth are we coming to that conclusion? Well kept. Old, reliable, sensible purchase, reasonable mileage, Some discoloration on the brake discs. That would mean lengthy times without use. Can you see here, when I put in its MOT details, that garage. Yes! Two and a half miles from a Naval College. You must do some teaching too, judging by what I can see

through the driver's side window. We've got no jewelry, but in fairness, whether stolen or purchased, you wouldn't leave that in a vehicle. Er, you also wouldn't rob your mum, mate, if we're trying to psychoanalyse here. Let's hope that the boot offers the other significant piece of evidence. Which is what? Well, I can show you. Locked, of course. So, I may have to, erm...

Let me just grab Mike the Mike a second. Sure, why do you need... Ah! Sorry, listeners, but thank you. What is wrong with you? I'm just eager to find the truth, Watson, that's all. Is that a crime? Well, yeah, apparently.

Well, consider me guilty. Oh, God. What is that? Evidence. Sorry, excuse me, do you know how much longer? It's all this way. Great, thank you. Kent policing is in dire need of recruitment.

I think nearly all public services are in dire need of recruitment mate. And the operating software they're using is no longer supported. Can you not touch the computers of police officers please, thank you. Look, before you start... Ah, Stanley, how you doing mate? Good John, well, erm, no. Not good, actually. What's wrong, PCSO Hopkins? Did your senior colleagues fail to charge our little Randall Park friends? They, erm... yeah. That seems to be the case. Yeah. Evidence somewhat insubstantial, I would imagine. Yes, erm, something like that. Well, I am rather tired and all this standing around and gloating isn't helping.

So, let's crack on, shall we? Err, crack on with what exactly? The arrest. Come, come. Wait, what? You just left? No, well, yes, actually, but it was on official investigatory business. Right, how so? We broke into Margaret's son's car.

You did what? I just needed to grab something. What exactly did you need to grab? A standard issue NHS adjustable walking metal stick with a base diameter of 30mm and a shaft diameter of 19mm of course. Of course. And sorry, what if our killer gets away? They're not allowed to. Can only be discharged by a medical professional. What on earth?

Hello everyone, good evening, hello. Hiya, hi Reg, hi Francis. Who are you? Ah sake, I feel so used. Hi Bill, Graham, Dave, John, put him down Gillian, you don't know where he's been. Hello there, could we get an evening dosage of galantamine for Mrs Brackenstool please? In her room, thank you. Sorry, hang on, she's already had it.

I assure you she hasn't. Right away please. She's not in her room. She will be. I'd like to do this in private. They're over there. Indeed they are. Come, come. Sherlock, please, she is a delicate, sweet old woman. Fuck off and leave me alone, pigs. What the...?

We didn't do anything. And you want answers from me, do you? Well, you can piss off. Margaret, that's enough. Margaret, it's... I'm Dr Watson. This is Sherlock Holmes. we spoke, do you remember? You were, you were tied up. Beat it out you little tart. Little tart? Speak properly, fool. Margaret, lovely Margaret, I was wondering if we could discuss the crime that took place in your room yesterday. I didn't see you yesterday.

I assure you, you did. I didn't. I was working in Manchester. Not that it's any of your business. Who do you think you are? A pair of wet shits. This is my house. My house, you stu- My house, you bitch.

You bitch! Woah woah, Margaret, Margaret! Margaret, that's enough! Mum, mum, please. Who are you? Get your hands bitch! Margaret, Margaret, Margaret, that's enough! Mum, please... Who are you? Get your hands off me! It's okay, it's okay, it's alright.

Everyone, let's... I think it's time for another film. What do we think? Oh, look at this! Love in the Orient. Does that sound good? Ooh, lovely jubbly. Alright, Sherlock, take them upstairs. Oh look at this! Love in the Orient. Feist. Does that sound good, you lot? Ooh, lovely jubbly. Alright, Sherlock, take them upstairs?

Will do. You alright, John? You'll be tense. Yeah, yeah. Just a bit concerned that white guy's gonna do the accent again. Nah, he's from China that one. No, don't think he is. Oh god, that's a karate kick. Very violent, isn't it? Yep, yep.

They can be over there. In that part of the world. Right, I'm gonna, I should, er, check on Sherlock. How is she? Sleeping. Please leave. You know I can't do that. Jack, we just want the truth.

Because something horrific happened here. Jack. You don't understand who we're dealing with here Who? Margaret? Not me mum Eustace Yates I first met her when I was... oh gosh I don't know, eight years old

My dad had just died Oh, sorry Yeah Long, long time ago now. Obviously. He had the jewellery place. A few of them actually. And we were, well, living luxury I suppose. First to get a SNES, first of all my mates to go on holiday abroad, nice clothes, got sent to a private school nearby. But then, yeah, cancer. For Dad. He, erm, well, he passed and we... Well, we moved down here She wanted to be back in Kent where she's from

And when he died, Mum was obviously struggling So she reached out to a few local WI type women Just for, you know, emotional support really Don't know what an 8 year old boy can do for a woman that's just lost a husband, so... Yeah She met Eustace and... don't know what an 8 year old boy can do for a woman that's just lost a husband so yeah she met Eustace and like that they sent me away for schooling

just saw them on school holidays sometimes not even then every time I saw Mum she was that bit poorer that bit sadder. Bruises, scratches, limps... But it's me Mum, you know. You've met her. Not the one you've just dealt with. The one before. Just... look, she's delicate.

She's always been... she's so... Sweet. Exactly. And used to so. I obviously didn't understand it, even remotely at the time, because I was so young. But she saw someone to exploit, to torment, to... you know, she was like a parasite. The worst kind, a cancer. Me dad got it in his lungs, and mum got it in the form of Eustace. She just destroyed her.

But she never knew it, you know. She was brainwashed by that fucking evil cow. Honestly. You know, I think even as a young lad, I knew something was wrong. I just wanted to get even further away. I joined the Navy, and after some ill-advised behavior, put it that way, they had me meet with a counsellor type person. And yeah, I met my now wife. She was a, well, she is a psychologist and

she just bang spotted it right away. My mum and Eustace. That thing that I'd been trying to understand from such a young age. The bullying, the manipulation, the dependency. It took her a few months to break it to me. The little boy inside me just couldn't accept that mum was unhappy I suppose. And yeah, we took action. Still got all the evidence at home if you want to see it. A brutal sustained coercion and grooming of my mum for, well, over a decade. And we got her. Eustace got banged up.

She got four and a half years I think. Didn't hear from her again. The missus and I had got married, we'd had our kids We had mum living with us for a while Bliss, yeah But it lasted Then things deteriorated I remember her asking me one day in the garden Her garden really, after all the work she'd done to it

She just said Where am I again love? Yardleys that was the garden centre she thought we were at the garden centre and I my heart just sank

got worse from there well that's what it does though doesn't it it got well it just got so difficult the sweetness just left as you saw and then eventually we got her in abbey grange and how did you find your paths crossing with Eustace Yates after all that time yeah so a couple of months ago actually i'm talking to us and all i ever heard was about them lot that gang it's all they talk about in here it's like there's some enemy at the gates they love it but this one day she's not banging on about them she says

an old friend has moved into Abbey Grange and I'm thrilled for her honestly. It felt so... well I just felt bad for putting her in here. I mean it's only temporary at the end of the day because well her needs are gonna get more and more complex so she'll be moved on again but I just want her to enjoy it you know while she can and I go that's great she said she's going to be sharing a room with her she's been looking after her caring for her and it just sounds well, sounded

perfect until I visit and after watching her in the courtroom twenty years ago I'm now staring at her staring at this fucking monster co-living in a room with my mum

Eustace Yates God almighty I'll lose it man, just snap, gone, head, gone the place banned me I just said she's gone, she's out. What's more, I'm gonna get the place shut down. I can see the fucking bruises on her. I can see it, man. In her eyes.

I managed to finally get everything in order. Local authority speaks to this place and, well, I... I can visit again and all this safeguarding bollocks and and and that was yesterday yeah yeah God. Everything alright? How's it going? Hold on Stanley. I'm so sorry Mum.

Please go. Please don't wake her. Can we just do this down at the station? Or anything? Did you kill Eustace? Oh God. Stanley please. Just hold on.

Jack? Did you kill Eustace Yates? Did you beat her to death in this room? I... I... She was... So what happened? Don't. What? Don't, Jack. Yeah, but she's a very... She's a psycho, you see. Don't. What? Don't, Jack. You but, she's a very... she's a psycho, you see. Don't lie.

I'm not. Please, please. What you are doing is noble, but will not help your charge. Sherlock, he didn't kill Eustace. Then, who did? She did. She changed, didn't she Jack? Yeah. Dementia's nasty trick. It presents people in their reverse form.

The nasty become nice. The nice become nasty. belligerent, angry. Yeah. Identity is something we begin to build the second we enter this world. For many it becomes firm, unshakable, fixed deep into the foundations of who we are. For others it wobbles, cracks, decays, and can even crumble entirely. For her whole life, your mother built herself to be the Margaret Brackenstall that she wanted to be. Sweet, kind, considerate, conflict-averse, polite, affectionate. These traits give you

love, they give you family and friends, and when managed carefully, they can give you a fuller life than those more cynical, skeptical and isolated types could ever imagine. That was her construct. And it served her well. But... Dementia is a wrecking ball. For a long time I didn't quite understand the need to become someone I'm not on such

a regular basis. To converse, to share feelings, to be curious about the livelihood to others, to matter to people and have them matter to me. But I realised if I was to knock it all down what would I be left with I would be left with many things but nothing that makes life life when you came in the room Jack what did you see Eustace was on the floor, just coated in the blood. Her face was... I only recognized her clothes to be honest. You're a man of action. A commander in the navy, you faked a robbery, tied your mother

up with a rather impressive knot, I must say. It's wrong. It's so wrong here. You were protecting her. They're just kids, man. I tried. I blamed it on some poor kids who already get enough shit. Jack, just... And then the weapon. The walking stick. Eustace used a walking stick, of course. Yes, and Jack here took the blood-spattered walking stick of Eustace away, along with the jewellery, to his car.

A man of your frame, your size, would not have required so many blows against the skull of an elderly woman. Your mother, on the other hand, even when full of rage, having missed her morning medication, required multiple. Dozens. You made sure her untethered mood was remedied with the pill left on the side. You poured her a glass of water and made her swallow her dosage. Don't. Please just stop. Um, Sherlock, I was just, um...

Jack, this here is PCSO Stanley Hopkins of Kent Police. He may try to arrest you, but I feel it is my responsibility to advise you on the law, as I am so familiar with it. He is not authorized to do so. Do you understand? Sherlock. Not authorized to arrest you, but...

his reluctance to make said arrest is not only down to his lack of authority, nor his almost non-existent experience. He, like me, is stricken by the problem we find ourselves in. The inconvenient truth that it is not a bunch of rowdy hoodlums to use the word bounded around downstairs. It was not the enemy we all craved it to be, but the hero. The friend, the ally. A beautiful, elderly woman who has had an extremely difficult life, and now who faces her hardest challenge yet in the form of mental decline. Eustace has faced the bloody

consequences of being her torturer, her captor, and her abuser all these years. Margaret's condition, it would seem, has taken so much. But it has returned her in that momentary fit of rage, a final taste of freedom. Morality is something I speculate on because I often struggle to understand it. To my colleague, however, my companion, it is purely natural. Woven into his very fibre, I will let him make this judgement. Sherlock. PCSO Hopkins, come. Let Watson deliberate. Oh, I must have dozed off, love. It's okay, Mum.

Don't worry. Hello, John. Everything alright? Yeah. All good. Margaret, all good. Margaret, all good. We are gathered here today because, well, my rental bike got a flat tire, but we are gathered here today, two months late, I might add. Get on with it.

Gathered here today on the something of July, I think, 2025. Good lord. something of July, I think, 2025, good lord, to celebrate and honour the life of Margaret Brackenstall, a spirit that showed me the true power of personality, what it takes to hold it all together when inside there is such turmoil. She didn't do that for herself, she did it for her family, for her friends, for all whom whom whom yes all whom she met. Not a single day in her life was easy or straightforward but she never complained, never wanted to bring anyone else down, always to be the sunshine never the rain such was your charm

Margaret I call just about every contact I have to get you a psychiatric assessment and no prison time no trial even... To live out your life. Your son, you don't know this, but I can tell you now, he actually did do some prison time, but he was allowed to visit. Until they quite rightly shut the place down for... Well, negligence, obviously, but... Your most impressive feat, Margaret. You got me to shelve an episode. Hey, hey, Archie, boy, for 18 whole months.

Just because I didn't want you getting in any more trouble or you to be ashamed yeah yeah I sat on the adventure of abby grange how did it go did you catch the killer um yeah yeah we go so what happened oh you will have to listen. Right, right. Hey, so Christmas decorations? Er, I'm listening. I hope I did the right thing. And that you didn't feel any shame in your final days. Not that your mates in there could give it a listen. Half of them couldn't even hear me when I was sat right next to them.

You know, I do think about those lot every now and again, wondering if they're still with us. Are you quite finished? Sorry, there seems to be a pretty abusive heckler at this funeral, Margaret. Um, I'm also sorry, because it has gotten properly late here now, and I'm just... I'm standing in a graveyard, and that's a bit spooky, but... Yeah, you... I'm standing in a graveyard and that's a bit spooky but yeah you you may not have been case number five which yes would have been great exposure but I hope you

don't mind being case number 31. 32! Your lucky number, how about that? Take care. Hope wherever you are, you're finally free. Bye-bye Margaret. Goodbye, Margaret. Hey, you found a bike! Indeed. Is it a rental? Yes, different branding intent.

Ah, okay, right, well, where are we off to? Home, Watson. Let's go home. Let's. Hey. Let's. Hey! That's my fucking bike! Go! Cycle! Cycle! Go now! You took their bike! You're all in pussies! Sherlock!

Hey everyone. Well, I finally got to share it with you. Well, I finally got to share it with you. That was the adventure of Abbey Grange from way back in 2023. And to be honest, I would rattle off some interesting things that happened in that year, but I can't honestly remember any. I'll tell you what happened in 2024. I launched the Patreon. And I am... well, all of us, Sherlock, Mariana,

Archie, we're all so, Graham too, we're all so proud of it. It's got vast mountains of content that you will love and it is going to get so much more exciting exclusive stuff. I'm off into the Discord now to see what everyone thinks of the adventure and what they think of me snogging a pensioner Cheers You