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Zahid Zaman: The Ring Leader of Death | World's Most Evil Killers | True Crime

January 19, 2023 / 43:16

This episode discusses the murder of Jimmy Prout, a vulnerable man tortured by a cult-like group led by Zahid Zaman in North Shields, England. Key topics include the psychological manipulation, the brutal treatment Jimmy endured, and the eventual trial of the perpetrators.

In February 2016, CCTV footage captured Jimmy Prout being manhandled by followers of Zahid Zaman, who was later identified as the ringleader of the group. The episode highlights the disturbing nature of the violence inflicted upon Jimmy, who was subjected to grotesque beatings and humiliation over several months.

Journalist Jeremy Armstrong provides insights into the trial, revealing how Zaman's influence over his followers led to Jimmy's prolonged suffering. The group, consisting of K Rayworth, Myra Wood, and Ann Corbett, participated in the abuse, believing they were following Zaman's orders.

The episode also covers the aftermath of Jimmy's death, including how the group attempted to cover up their actions and the eventual police investigation that led to their arrest. The trial revealed the shocking details of the torture Jimmy endured and the chilling dynamics within the group.

Ultimately, Zahid Zaman and Ann Corbett were sentenced to life in prison for their roles in Jimmy's murder, while K Rayworth and Myra Wood received lesser sentences for their complicity in the abuse. The episode serves as a grim reminder of the dangers posed by manipulative individuals and the tragic consequences of their actions.

TL;DR

Jimmy Prout was tortured to death by Zahid Zaman's cult-like group in North Shields, leading to a shocking murder trial.

Episode

43:16
00:00:05
in February 2016
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CCTV on a residential street in North
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Shields Tyne and Weir in the north of
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England captured 43 year old Jimmy Prout
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being manhandled by a group of locals
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just three days after this footage was
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captured Jimmy would be dead the CCTV
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images are very clear they show his
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rapid decline in health the fact that
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he's being manipulated and controlled by
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other people it's clear he's just being
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used as some sort of punching bag the
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women shoving Jimmy were all loyal
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followers of a man who led a cult-like
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group in the small neighborhood 43 year
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old zahid Zaman the level of Terror and
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torture it is subjected to me proud to
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over a prolonged period of time this was
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a profoundly challenged man who needed
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help but he fell into the hands and the
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devil
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for four months Jimmy Prout was brutally
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tortured and humiliated by the man and
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his devotees before the poisonous sect
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imploded all pointing the finger of
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suspicion at each other ultimately the
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evidence demonstrated Beyond doubts that
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zahid Zaman was the central heart of
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this group and that he was the
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ringleader behind the violence that was
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used towards Jimmy
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zaheed's a man the false prophet had
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been exposed as one of the world's most
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evil killers
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[Music]
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[Music]
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foreign
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2017 zaheed Zaman was on trial for the
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murder of Jimmy Prout the man and his
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friends K rayworth Myra wood
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and Ann Corbett had slowly tortured 43
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year old Jimmy after Zaman had
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apparently recruited him to his
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cult-like clan
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Paul greeny led the prosecution against
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the group
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there are combination of factors that
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make this case so particularly
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disturbing
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first of all the fact that a vulnerable
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man was subject to grotesque beatings
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over a period of time and to other
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humiliations
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the fact that zahid Zaman was able to
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persuade others to engage in those
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beatings
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and the fun that it was all to do with
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something that was so trivial the man
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believed Jimmy had been involved in the
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theft of some of his tools and this led
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the 43 year old to turn on the
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vulnerable father of two journalist
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Jeremy Armstrong covered the trial at
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Newcastle Crown Court
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when you listen to cases like this which
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are so extreme in the nature of the
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violence is so extreme and you know to
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use torture in any context is
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inexplicable but saman was just a
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particularly evil man who enjoyed
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manipulating people and using violence
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to control people and there was no good
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reason to do that to Jimmy above and
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beyond the fact that he could
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[Music]
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I've been involved in cases that have
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involved truly terrible killings so I've
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seen some bad people
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and zahid Zaman is up there
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one of quite possibly the most
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manipulative
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controlling and terrible people I've
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ever encountered
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this killer Story begins on the 19th of
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December 1973 but not much is known
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about zaheed's a man's past
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it would be fair to say that zaman's
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background is fairly shadowy
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we do know that he lived in Sheffield
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he was according to him injured at one
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point in a quote serious traffic
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accident
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we knew that he had joined dating
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websites and we knew that he had posted
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extravagant claims about himself on
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those websites for example posting
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photographs of himself alongside gold
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bullion
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this tells me this is somebody who wants
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to put across the idea that he's wealthy
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that money is something that is
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important to him
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it was a tactic that worked by 2005 31
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year olds a man had met a woman from
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North Shields near Newcastle 44 year old
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K rayworth they began a relationship
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after meeting on Facebook it must have
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been reasonably serious for him to move
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all the way from Sheffield
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the man was most definitely not
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genuinely looking for love I think when
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he came across rayworth and realized
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that she had property that parasite
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within him activated and he decided
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right I'm gonna go up there I'm going to
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move in with her and I'm going to stake
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my claim on the things that she has
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foreign North Shields resident Helen
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O'Keefe was an acquaintance of raywas
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I've known care for a long time and you
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are before she got involved
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with it with zed as we call him
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um and you are before that
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she was
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distant
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oh she was a carer she was lovely
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she was a genuine named person was
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and that all changed
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once you got involved with him she
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seemed more withdrawn and she did lose a
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lot of contact with people
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there's a man settled into the area and
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soon had a notorious reputation around
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the town
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I don't recall that there was evidence
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that established that zaheed's a man
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worked at any staged during the time
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that he lived in the north Shields area
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there was evidence that he claimed
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benefits causing real difficulties for
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those of the benefits office there was
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evidence that he relied upon Charities
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again treating those who were the
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charity in an unpleasant way
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[Music]
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there did seem to be this perception of
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fear of him on one occasion you know
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neighbors did report that he was seen
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hitting K with his stick
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tells me that the man thinks that this
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is something completely reasonable to do
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he doesn't see it as something that is
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unacceptable as something that is
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illegal so his behavior towards her is
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very revealing about his kind of
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boundaries around what's acceptable and
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what's not acceptable
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those boundaries would continue to be
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pushed as a man's physical health
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appeared to deteriorate he went from
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walking with crutches to being
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wheelchair bound but rumors amongst
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locals suggest he may have been
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embellishing his injuries he certainly
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had the ability to spin a good story I
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think he probably convinced a lot of
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people that he was a lot more disabled
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than he was
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the locals in his area of North Shields
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found him argumentative
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tempestuous and also to put it politely
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a fraud because they said couldn't walk
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and yet a couple of them actually
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remember him running for a bus
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that's a miracle it was just like it was
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just a standard thing with him or he has
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the miracle of the walking Miracle as
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soon as the bus comes out was it
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local resident Helen also had a run-in
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with Zaman
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I was doing care work but I was helping
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the community at the time
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and my car was off the road so I was
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waiting outside in the gate to get
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picked up and Zed was coming along with
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key and all the bins were out ready for
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collection
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and he was deliberately with his chair
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he was deliberately driving into the
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bins not when the bins down
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but obviously he didn't do men because I
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was standing there
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and I says well why did you do that and
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then he started giving me a mouth I was
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a [ __ ] I was all sorts
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so that's when yet another argument had
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started in the street
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you know and it was just he thought he
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could confront people and nobody would
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say anything back
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he's the neighbor from hell he's
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confrontational he's antagonistic and
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when he has an altercation with somebody
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he's not just going to let it go he's
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someone who's something of a grievance
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collector so when somebody wrongs him he
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will react in an entirely
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disproportionate way
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there's a man went to elaborate lengths
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to get revenge on someone he felt had
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wronged him
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one thing that evidences how vindictive
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was a letter that he forged from a
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housing officer which was full of racist
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slurs now he'd taken offense at her when
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he hadn't got the benefits that he felt
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entitled to so he engages in this
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campaign against her
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basically use the letterhead which this
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woman had written to him and invented a
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letter where she was being racist and
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abusive towards him and then reported
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her for that racist abuse which was
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obviously uncovered as being fig and
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being false but I think the good of
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those kind of lens and to do that in
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order to carry out revenge on an
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official who he barely knew just built
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for some perceived slight over something
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incredibly mundane gives you an idea of
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what a dangerous and deceitful and
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manipulative man he was really
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but 39 year old zaheed's a man was more
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manipulative than anyone could possibly
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imagine and his ability to lure people
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into his world was just beginning to
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become apparent
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Zaman was in the relationship with k-ray
00:10:28
worth but then later on he started an
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online relationship with Myra wood who
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then moved into a local address as well
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Myra wood was in her 50s we are not
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talking about impressionable teenagers
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we're talking about women of maturity
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and of considerable intelligence
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it would have been a gradual chipping
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away at these women making them feel
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dependent upon Him of making them feel
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valuable and worthy when perhaps they
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wouldn't have felt that way previously
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in their lives he really is an
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accomplished Predator he knows exactly
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the things to say to people to bring
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them into his fold
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and it wasn't just women that saman was
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recruiting another North Shields
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resident who would fall under the
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cult-like leader's spell was Jimmy Prout
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here's the six of eight children and as
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a result of his father working away
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quite a bit his mum was left with the
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responsibility for the family which I
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think she struggled with at times
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his mum quite understandably found it
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difficult to cope with eight children
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that meant that both Jimmy and some of
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his siblings spent periods of time in
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care during his childhood and there was
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little doubt that that was something
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that Jimmy had found difficult
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he was a father of two he struggled for
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work really so he worked odd jobs I
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think it'd be fair to say it was kind of
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on the periphery of society in the sense
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that he spent some time homeless I think
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and also was a regular user of food
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banks and unfortunately he came under
00:12:04
the influence over Saeed Salam
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although it's not known exactly how they
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met at some point Jimmy Prout
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unfortunately crossed paths with zaheed
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Zaman the indications were that zahid
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Zaman wished to surround himself with
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people who were subservient to him who
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would do what he wanted them to do and
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that to that end he was visiting places
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where he knew there would be vulnerable
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people so
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he could recruit them to his group
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thank you
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the evidence didn't establish with
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certainty when it was that Jimmy first
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met saheed as a man but it seemed likely
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that he had met him at some stage
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probably during the course of 2015 when
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Jimmy was visiting soup kitchens and we
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knew that zahidza man was visiting those
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areas seeking as we suggested to
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identify individuals who were vulnerable
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Jimmy joined K rayworth and Myra wood in
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zaman's gang of amateur acolytes the
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group dynamic was striking at the heart
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of the group was saheed saman
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he was very much in control of the the
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others the female members of the group
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were all people with whom he was having
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or had had a relationship and into this
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group came Jimmy a vulnerable individual
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he was a man's lucky
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the fact that Jimmy was the only other
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male in the group is quite a significant
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one
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because the man is somebody who doesn't
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want any challenge to his position to
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his power to his authority so when he
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brings Jimmy into the group it's because
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he's confident that he can control him
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he's confident that he can willpower
00:13:56
over him
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the final member to join the group was
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24 year old Ann Corbett who met Jimmy at
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a soup kitchen
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the two became close friends despite
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their 18-year age Gap
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and Corbett was the youngest member of
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the group by some distance
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there was no doubt that she'd had a
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difficult background
00:14:23
that she was vulnerable to some extents
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and she was there for the very kind of
00:14:28
person that zahid Zaman was seeking to
00:14:30
incorporate into his group
00:14:33
by 2015 all five were living in two
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houses on the same street both owned by
00:14:41
K rayworth she and zaheed Zaman lived in
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one property while just down the road
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Jimmy Myra wood and Ann Corbett shared a
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home in effect they were one household
00:14:53
under two roofs
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the man invited Jimmy to live at
00:14:58
rayworth's property now this is a
00:15:01
classic coercively controlling tactic
00:15:03
you take somebody away from their
00:15:05
Community away from their friends and
00:15:07
family you isolate them you increase
00:15:09
their dependency upon you and I think
00:15:12
that's definitely what was going on here
00:15:14
perhaps he hoped that his relationship
00:15:16
with Corbett would somehow be his savior
00:15:20
perhaps he hoped that Zaman would to
00:15:23
some extent provide him
00:15:25
with the family that he never really had
00:15:30
but for whatever reason Jimmy Prout
00:15:32
became the target
00:15:35
of this odious cruel malevolent cult
00:15:44
unbelievably the man who is viewed as an
00:15:47
aggressive bully to the locals could do
00:15:50
no wrong in the eyes of the four people
00:15:52
who seemingly worshiped him behind
00:15:55
closed doors one of the Striking things
00:15:57
about the evidence was the extent to
00:16:00
which there was a difference between the
00:16:02
way in which he was perceived within the
00:16:05
community as opposed to the way in which
00:16:06
he was perceived within his particular
00:16:09
group
00:16:10
[Music]
00:16:11
in the broader Community he was regarded
00:16:14
as being an irritating and unpleasant
00:16:16
person
00:16:17
not an impressive kind of person but
00:16:19
within his small group he was regarded
00:16:22
as being really all-powerful
00:16:25
he was like the ring leader and always
00:16:28
had to walk behind him there was no way
00:16:29
could any of them have walked alongside
00:16:32
him walked in front of him it was always
00:16:34
though always behind him he wanted that
00:16:37
respect
00:16:38
[Music]
00:16:39
child that were afraid of him
00:16:41
but they went along with it
00:16:45
he was Maleficent if he was controlling
00:16:47
and unfortunately poor Jimmy found
00:16:48
himself at the focus of that as well you
00:16:50
know being asked to run errands on his
00:16:52
behalf to jobs on his behalf that became
00:16:55
a part of the control of Jimmy early on
00:16:57
really
00:16:58
so he was almost a member of the group
00:16:59
and then he turned against him for the
00:17:01
most random Mercurial of reasons
00:17:07
and Corbett had a brother
00:17:10
came to believe that the brother had
00:17:13
stolen some tools of his
00:17:16
not particularly valuable at all
00:17:18
nonetheless something belonging to
00:17:20
zaheed Zaman and so he's a man given his
00:17:23
vengeful personality wanted to get his
00:17:25
own back but he couldn't get to the
00:17:27
brother the brother had moved away from
00:17:29
the area
00:17:30
he thought that Jimmy had played some
00:17:32
part in What had happened and so Jimmy
00:17:35
became the focus for his Vengeance
00:17:38
progressively the group turned on Jimmy
00:17:41
and started to not only ask him to do
00:17:45
things in terms of errands but force him
00:17:46
to do things using violence then they'll
00:17:48
all get their violence towards him it
00:17:51
was very much at the instigation of
00:17:52
Zaman but that was the kind of control
00:17:55
which was one of the really strange
00:17:57
Dynamics and dimensions of this group
00:18:02
zaheed's a man a man known for his angry
00:18:05
retaliations focused all his rage on
00:18:08
Jimmy Prout and this time he had an army
00:18:12
to do his bidding Jimmy was being abused
00:18:15
for a prolonged period of time
00:18:17
and people will ask why didn't he walk
00:18:20
away
00:18:22
but the reality is that people who are
00:18:25
abused
00:18:27
don't all behave in the same way some do
00:18:30
run some do complain but there are many
00:18:33
people who for whatever reason remain
00:18:36
and Jimmy was one of those people
00:18:39
[Music]
00:18:40
nobody knew because even them living in
00:18:44
that house he had the windows boarded up
00:18:46
and all that so
00:18:48
that was odd in itself
00:18:50
but nobody thought for one minute just
00:18:53
because the windows were boarded up what
00:18:55
was going on inside
00:18:57
he's under the control of this one
00:19:00
individual who is coercive who is
00:19:03
controlling and that happens to many
00:19:05
many people it happens in domestic
00:19:06
violence situations as well so being an
00:19:09
adult or being a man or a woman doesn't
00:19:12
mean you can necessarily walk away
00:19:14
they'd already got their talons into him
00:19:17
and they were already controlling him
00:19:23
Jimmy was tortured over a number of
00:19:26
months this wasn't just one incident
00:19:27
this was a series of incidents that took
00:19:30
place over a significant period of time
00:19:32
and the man has a very strong sadistic
00:19:35
streak he quite enjoys seeing people
00:19:38
suffer he also enjoys taking away
00:19:40
people's freedom and their Liberty and
00:19:42
this is essentially what he was doing
00:19:44
with Jimmy this is textbook coercive
00:19:47
control it's a gradual chipping away of
00:19:49
somebody until they're a shell of their
00:19:51
former self
00:19:53
obviously we didn't know what was going
00:19:55
on behind closed doors well you would
00:19:58
see him and he seemed to look distant he
00:20:01
wasn't what he was when when he first
00:20:03
appeared into the group sort of thing he
00:20:05
seemed very very distant withdrawn and
00:20:08
he was a bit I got Logan
00:20:11
that's just a shame
00:20:12
[Music]
00:20:17
from the Dark Ages nothing that's really
00:20:18
appropriate description
00:20:20
the notion of someone being tortured and
00:20:23
held in that way for such a long period
00:20:25
of time and been under the control of
00:20:26
someone is obviously most unusual most
00:20:30
extreme and the nature of the torture
00:20:31
was obscene really
00:20:34
there were many ways in which Jimmy was
00:20:36
subject to humiliating treatment
00:20:41
there was evidence of his teeth haven't
00:20:42
been removed
00:20:45
and obviously the real nadir the worst
00:20:47
of it was when his um
00:20:49
his testicle was removed and and he was
00:20:52
forced to
00:20:53
it was placed in his mouth
00:20:57
Jimmy was forced to eat his own testicle
00:21:00
and this shows that even in his sadism
00:21:03
the man is morbidly creative these are
00:21:06
things that he would have thought
00:21:07
through these won't just be things that
00:21:10
have come up at the spur of the moment
00:21:12
that he's just decided to do on any
00:21:13
given day there's quite a level of
00:21:15
detail that goes into this kind of
00:21:17
suffering and I think humiliation is
00:21:20
ultimately the goal here because by
00:21:22
humiliating Jimmy he's again chipping
00:21:25
away at his his sense of personhood his
00:21:27
sense of self and he's 100 in control of
00:21:30
him
00:21:32
it is absolutely horrifying
00:21:35
and yet proud
00:21:38
doesn't run
00:21:40
he doesn't go to the police
00:21:42
he doesn't really know what to do
00:21:46
on the 27th of November Jimmy Prout took
00:21:50
himself to North tyneside General
00:21:52
Hospital but he lied to doctors about
00:21:55
how he'd sustained his multiple injuries
00:22:00
people knew that Jimmy was sustaining
00:22:03
injuries people knew or must have known
00:22:06
that he was sustaining those injuries as
00:22:08
a result of assaults and we know that on
00:22:10
certainly one occasion he had been to
00:22:13
hospital
00:22:14
so why wasn't anything done by the
00:22:16
people who knew that was happening
00:22:19
the answer to that question I think in
00:22:21
part is because zaid's a man was causing
00:22:25
Jimmy to lie about what had happened to
00:22:27
him causing Jimmy to say that a person
00:22:30
or person's other than zahid a man and
00:22:33
his gang were causing those injuries
00:22:35
Jimmy posted pictures of his wounds on
00:22:39
social media the brutality of his
00:22:41
treatment was clear to see but once
00:22:45
again he didn't say how he'd sustained
00:22:47
the injuries
00:22:49
you can see he's been subjected to
00:22:52
repeated episodes of blunt force trauma
00:22:55
in particular at the top of his shoulder
00:22:57
for example is a very large bruise
00:23:00
he's also got other bruises which you
00:23:01
can see on his body
00:23:03
that would be consistent with him over
00:23:05
periods of time receiving quite heavy
00:23:08
blows
00:23:11
the Facebook pictures were just awful
00:23:13
and really vividly showed how badly
00:23:16
beat need being you know I mean we're
00:23:18
talking about somebody who was
00:23:19
physically uh assaulted on a regular
00:23:22
basis in order to control them really to
00:23:24
the point where I think probably was so
00:23:26
weak that he didn't know where to turn
00:23:28
[Music]
00:23:30
I would imagine that part of the abuse
00:23:33
cycle would have been that he wasn't
00:23:35
being fed properly therefore it's most
00:23:38
likely that he continued to lose weight
00:23:41
and together with the repeated episodes
00:23:43
of trauma his body would have found it
00:23:45
more and more difficult to heal from
00:23:47
those episodes of trauma
00:23:49
thank you
00:23:50
there's always covered up and he always
00:23:53
wore jackets regardless what the weather
00:23:55
was
00:23:56
it was always jackets
00:23:59
and then I thought much of it at the
00:24:01
time was just that's where he wants to
00:24:02
dress that's it but obviously he was
00:24:04
covering things up oh they were being
00:24:06
recover things up
00:24:08
[Music]
00:24:09
the photograph that was most striking
00:24:11
for me was where he's taken a photograph
00:24:13
of his face and you can see the injuries
00:24:15
on his face but you can also see where
00:24:18
his teeth are missing
00:24:21
he's put these pictures on social media
00:24:24
he was asking for help he didn't get it
00:24:35
the last time I saw him he was hobbling
00:24:39
and he was very very slow and he had
00:24:41
care and and either side of him I don't
00:24:45
remember the wall
00:24:46
I just thought as he had some kind of
00:24:49
fall as is as he took bad you know is
00:24:52
and that's that's they were helping him
00:24:56
he was too weak to escape I think it got
00:24:58
to the stage where the suffering was so
00:25:00
great that he was unable to get away I
00:25:01
think for a variety of different reasons
00:25:03
not only the injuries but also the kind
00:25:05
of the mental control that the man had
00:25:07
over him the constant beatings and
00:25:10
horrendous torture eventually became too
00:25:13
much for Jimmy Prout
00:25:17
by the morning of the 9th of February as
00:25:20
a result of the treatment he'd received
00:25:22
Jimmy was dead
00:25:25
and the defendants knew that this was a
00:25:28
problem for them and they were thinking
00:25:30
only about themselves not about Jimmy
00:25:34
so what they did was to take his body
00:25:38
place it in sleeping bags and take it in
00:25:43
a wheelchair to a wooded area beside an
00:25:46
a road and dump there's another word for
00:25:49
it his body there
00:25:53
Jimmy Prout is treated like garbage
00:25:56
he is simply thrown away they've had
00:25:59
their fun
00:26:00
gone
00:26:01
that's the end of that
00:26:04
[Music]
00:26:07
he was a victim in the worst possible
00:26:10
way
00:26:11
helpless defenseless tortured and in the
00:26:15
end killed
00:26:16
by people whom I think he thought would
00:26:19
be his saviors
00:26:22
the exact reverse was the case
00:26:27
by late March 2016 Jimmy Prout had been
00:26:31
dead for six weeks but nobody knew he
00:26:35
was even missing
00:26:37
foreign
00:26:40
there was no formal report by zahid
00:26:44
saman or anyone else within his group of
00:26:46
the fact that Jimmy was missing
00:26:48
but what they were doing was going
00:26:50
around all Shields going around
00:26:52
Newcastle and saying to anyone that
00:26:54
would listen where is Jimmy
00:26:56
and their purpose was to give the
00:26:59
impression first of all that they were
00:27:01
concerned about him and secondly that he
00:27:04
might still be alive
00:27:07
but behind the boarded up Windows of
00:27:09
zaheed zaman's home there was dissension
00:27:13
in the ranks there was a fracture in the
00:27:15
relationship between Zaman and iron
00:27:16
corbus
00:27:18
saman was concerned that Ann Corbett was
00:27:20
going to confess what had really
00:27:22
happened
00:27:25
he's used to be
00:27:28
to be so when 's case starts to unravel
00:27:31
and that the risk that Corbett is going
00:27:33
to go and tell the authorities about
00:27:35
what happened he needs to get ahead he
00:27:37
needs to get in there first because even
00:27:39
though he's lost control over the series
00:27:42
of events he hasn't lost control over
00:27:44
the narrative he can still craft a story
00:27:46
around this
00:27:49
zaheed Zaman decided to pick up the
00:27:52
phone and dial 999 on the 25th of March
00:27:57
2016.
00:27:59
six weeks after Jimmy had been murdered
00:28:02
zahid's a man made a telephone call to
00:28:04
the police
00:28:05
in that call he claimed that he had been
00:28:08
attacked by Ann Corbett and that in the
00:28:12
course of what followed she had
00:28:14
confessed to him that she had murdered
00:28:16
Jimmy
00:28:17
the police understand that we went round
00:28:20
to the house where they were confronted
00:28:22
by zahid saman apparently inconsolable
00:28:26
screaming and crying in apparent grief
00:28:30
they found three people there there was
00:28:32
k-ray worth Myra wood and also Zaman all
00:28:36
of them were distressed Zaman was crying
00:28:39
and they were trying to console him
00:28:41
Zaman said that he had asked Anne about
00:28:44
Jimmy Pratt and Anne had said that she
00:28:47
had killed him
00:28:49
the man has an awful lot of power over
00:28:52
these women he is the leader and they
00:28:55
are his followers so he convinces two of
00:28:58
them to go along with the story that
00:29:00
Corbett is the aggressor she's the one
00:29:03
who's caused Jimmy's death so let's all
00:29:06
stick together on this and we throw her
00:29:08
under the bus essentially this shows
00:29:10
that the loyalties within this household
00:29:13
this group are all to the man they are
00:29:15
not to each other
00:29:17
foreign
00:29:18
on the 26th of March 2016 investigators
00:29:23
decided to arrest all four members of
00:29:25
the group
00:29:26
despite the fact that Jimmy's body
00:29:28
hadn't been found 25 year old Ann
00:29:31
Corbett told detectives about his demise
00:29:35
in her first conversation with the
00:29:37
police
00:29:38
Corbett insists that yes she tried to
00:29:42
strangle Jimmy Prout but hadn't killed
00:29:44
him it was her brother
00:29:47
well the police quickly discovered that
00:29:49
brother was nowhere near that Street in
00:29:51
North Shields when Prout died
00:29:55
at this stage in proceedings Corbett has
00:29:58
been physically separated from the man
00:30:01
for quite some time this is perhaps the
00:30:03
first time that she spent a significant
00:30:05
period of time with other people with
00:30:08
people outside of this cult-like group
00:30:10
and I think that's played a role here in
00:30:13
terms of what she did next so she speaks
00:30:15
to her solicitor and then her story
00:30:17
changes the game so you're starting to
00:30:19
see cracks in the control that the man
00:30:22
has over these women when they're
00:30:24
physically distant from him
00:30:26
on the 27th of March after following Ann
00:30:30
Corbett's directions police discovered
00:30:32
Jimmy's body in a wooded area just
00:30:35
meters from his home he'd been dead for
00:30:38
more than six weeks
00:30:41
although Jimmy's body was decomposed and
00:30:45
didn't allow the pathologist to identify
00:30:47
cause of death
00:30:48
there were several fractures of various
00:30:51
ages present within the body
00:30:53
he has been subjected to repeated
00:30:55
episodes of violent trauma
00:30:58
the torture which he's been subjected to
00:31:01
is Medieval I mean it's things that you
00:31:03
read in horror books is not really
00:31:05
something that happens
00:31:06
in a residential area in the UK it's
00:31:10
beyond thinking about the everyday
00:31:12
person would not believe that that level
00:31:14
of abuse and violence would occur to a
00:31:18
fellow human being
00:31:21
the truth about Jimmy prout's final
00:31:24
moments finally came to light from a
00:31:27
five o'clock in the morning
00:31:29
of February the 9th 2016
00:31:31
there are a series of telephone calls
00:31:34
between Zaman
00:31:36
Corbett and wood we were to discover
00:31:40
later
00:31:41
that Zaman and rayworth had turned up at
00:31:45
the other house in the same street
00:31:47
and Zaman had ordered
00:31:50
Corbett to gag
00:31:52
Jimmy Prout with a pair of trousers
00:31:55
the argument about oh he's causing such
00:31:58
a lot of noise
00:31:59
Jimmy Prout would never make another
00:32:02
sound he died soon after
00:32:08
the tight-knit group now began playing
00:32:11
the blame game
00:32:13
[Music]
00:32:15
these people have lived in this little
00:32:17
vacuum this household this this group
00:32:20
that's been quite separate from the rest
00:32:22
of the community or other outside voices
00:32:24
so when they're in a room with police
00:32:26
officers and legal Representatives being
00:32:29
asked questions I think they begin to
00:32:31
realize that actually I need to look out
00:32:33
for myself now
00:32:35
what the four defendants were doing
00:32:38
ultimately he was as lawyers were
00:32:40
putting cutting each other's throats and
00:32:43
in a sense that made the job of the
00:32:45
police and the prosecution easier we
00:32:49
knew that they were going to accept that
00:32:51
violence and lawful violence and
00:32:53
violence of a terrible nature had been
00:32:55
used towards Jimmy so the real questions
00:32:59
became
00:33:00
did and who didn't do it with all four
00:33:04
suspects remanded in custody
00:33:07
investigators began to look for evidence
00:33:09
from the days leading up to Jimmy's
00:33:11
murder
00:33:12
CCTV on the street where the group lived
00:33:15
captured them on a few different
00:33:17
occasions moving between the two houses
00:33:21
they shared
00:33:23
the first CCTV image is October the 18th
00:33:26
in 2015 where you can see Jimmy Pratt
00:33:28
walking along and he seems to be quite
00:33:30
fit and healthy it's at that point that
00:33:33
we know that their relationship changes
00:33:35
and the relationship that he has with
00:33:37
the rest of group really goes downhill
00:33:41
mistreatment and torture of Jimmy Prout
00:33:44
had begun
00:33:47
on the 5th of February in 2016 we see
00:33:50
Jimmy Prout again and on that occasion
00:33:53
he's just been pushed along the road you
00:33:55
can see that his physical condition has
00:33:57
deteriorated but he is being pushed
00:34:00
along an ease mobile
00:34:04
on February the 6th we see Jimmy Prout
00:34:07
again on this occasion you can see that
00:34:10
his physical
00:34:11
demeanor has completely changed he's
00:34:13
literally being dragged along the road
00:34:16
you can see that he can't hold himself
00:34:19
up you can see that he's got something
00:34:21
wrong with his leg his arm and he's in a
00:34:23
very very bad physical condition
00:34:28
that image of Jimmy Prout being dragged
00:34:31
along is the last time that there are
00:34:34
any images of him being seen alive
00:34:37
just three days later Jimmy Prout would
00:34:41
be dead the only thing you don't see is
00:34:43
salmon you don't see Zaman forcing him
00:34:45
down the road or controlling him because
00:34:48
he didn't need to physically intervene
00:34:50
he seemed to have this mental sort of
00:34:53
ability to control the rest of the group
00:34:55
so they did his bidding while searching
00:34:57
Zaman and k-ray was home detectives
00:35:00
discovered a set of audio recordings
00:35:03
which shed light on who the ringleader
00:35:06
of Jimmy's abuse was
00:35:08
the key thing from the police
00:35:09
perspective was this attack where you
00:35:12
could be heard in the background of this
00:35:15
recorded call actually attacking Jimmy
00:35:17
and assaulting him during the course of
00:35:19
making the call
00:35:21
so it became clear from the evidence
00:35:22
that I got from the flat that he was the
00:35:24
main protagonist
00:35:26
during police interviews Katie rayworth
00:35:29
confessed to another horrendous act
00:35:31
images of the group at an ATM captured
00:35:35
After Jimmy had been killed confirmed
00:35:38
her story
00:35:39
the evidence demonstrated that at some
00:35:41
point after Jimmy's body had been dumped
00:35:44
members of the Zaman group went back to
00:35:47
the body
00:35:49
they took from the body Jimmy's bank
00:35:51
card
00:35:52
and they then used the bank card to
00:35:55
withdraw hundreds of pounds from his
00:35:58
account
00:35:59
and to any right-minded person that
00:36:03
shows that they were
00:36:05
disgusting
00:36:07
Mr filter contemplate how he could do
00:36:09
without really remove a bank card from
00:36:10
the decomposing body which is what they
00:36:12
did
00:36:15
along with Ann Corbett the other members
00:36:18
of the group K rayworth Myra wood and
00:36:21
zaheed Zaman were all charged with
00:36:24
Jimmy's murder
00:36:26
local North Shields residents were
00:36:29
shocked
00:36:38
you just don't think for one minute for
00:36:41
a group of people
00:36:42
are actually prepared to do something
00:36:45
like that
00:36:46
what goes from the mind of why why would
00:36:49
they why doesn't make sense
00:36:53
on the 3rd of May 2017 zaheed's a man
00:36:57
and his three misguided disciples went
00:37:00
on trial at Newcastle Crown Court all
00:37:03
four admitted to perverting the course
00:37:06
of justice but denied murdering Jimmy
00:37:08
Prout reporter Jeremy Armstrong was in
00:37:12
the courtroom
00:37:13
it was a strange sight seeing them say
00:37:15
by side in the dark he seemed somehow
00:37:18
divorced from what was going on I don't
00:37:19
know if one can just best describe that
00:37:22
that way but there didn't seem to be any
00:37:24
shame or any emotional reaction to the
00:37:27
description of what had happened to
00:37:28
Jimmy which I found quite disturbing
00:37:30
really
00:37:32
prosecutor Paul greeney had to
00:37:35
cross-examine the manipulative
00:37:37
ringleader I officer encountered zahid
00:37:40
Zaman in a very different environment
00:37:42
from the environment in which K raywith
00:37:45
and others encountered him I encountered
00:37:47
him in a courtroom not an environment in
00:37:50
which he would have been comfortable but
00:37:51
one in which I was comfortable and the
00:37:54
person that I saw was undistinguished
00:37:57
and entirely unimpressive
00:38:01
former acquaintance of K rayworth Helen
00:38:04
O'Keefe came face to face with a man who
00:38:07
terrorized the neighborhood when she
00:38:09
took the stand
00:38:11
it was very very daunting but once I
00:38:14
went in
00:38:15
and he was there with either three
00:38:18
we were sitting there it's all he was
00:38:20
Untouchable as all well regardless of
00:38:22
what anybody says nothing's going to
00:38:24
happen to me when I first went in he was
00:38:27
watching
00:38:29
so he was trying to be a bit
00:38:30
intimidating and I thought no you're not
00:38:32
gonna you're not you're not going to
00:38:34
intimidate us
00:38:38
with the evidence laid out in front of
00:38:41
them it was clear to everyone in the
00:38:43
courtroom that sir man was the
00:38:45
instigator in Chief of the cult-like
00:38:48
group it wouldn't happen without Amanda
00:38:50
I don't think there's any doubt about
00:38:51
that whatsoever
00:38:52
my own view is that zahid Zaman tortured
00:38:56
and caused Jimmy to be tortured and
00:38:59
ultimately killed Jimmy because he
00:39:02
thought that he had been involved in
00:39:04
some way in the theft of some
00:39:07
inexpensive tools
00:39:09
and such was the distorted personality
00:39:12
of zahita man such was his desire for
00:39:17
vengeance that he was prepared to do
00:39:20
anything to show that people shouldn't
00:39:23
treat him like that the jury didn't fall
00:39:25
for the clique's lies and found Ann
00:39:28
Corbett and zaheed Zaman guilty of the
00:39:31
murder of Jimmy Prout as for K raywith
00:39:35
and Myra wood the jury decided that they
00:39:38
were guilty of causing or allowing the
00:39:40
death of a vulnerable adult
00:39:43
my take on it is that the jury thought
00:39:46
that these were two women who were
00:39:48
effectively living in the same household
00:39:50
as Jimmy who knew that he was vulnerable
00:39:53
who knew that he was being mistreated in
00:39:57
the most appalling way on a daily basis
00:39:59
sometime more than once a day who had an
00:40:02
opportunity and an obligation to
00:40:03
intervene but didn't do so
00:40:06
they just allowed him to die
00:40:08
[Music]
00:40:14
K rayworth was jailed for 12 years and
00:40:17
four months and Myra Ward received a
00:40:20
nine-year sentence Zaman and Corbett
00:40:23
were sentenced to life in prison 33 and
00:40:27
27 years respectively proving that saman
00:40:31
was seen as the main Tormentor of Jimmy
00:40:34
Prout
00:40:35
the length of their sentences shows how
00:40:38
shocked the jury were in this case and
00:40:41
the judge because this isn't just a case
00:40:43
of murder this is a case of humiliation
00:40:47
torture of a vulnerable adult
00:40:50
Jimmy Prout was tortured to death by a
00:40:54
group of individuals who he believed to
00:40:56
be his friends
00:40:58
having witnessed Jimmy's deterioration
00:41:01
burning the brutal truth about the
00:41:03
reasons behind it was difficult for
00:41:06
local residents like Helen to hear
00:41:09
going back to that port
00:41:11
of seeing them help and then hearing
00:41:14
what had happened
00:41:16
you feel that's all you wish I'd
00:41:17
intervened but you couldn't because of
00:41:20
the time there was nothing underwater
00:41:22
where you could see
00:41:23
do you need a hand
00:41:28
I think probably this is one of the most
00:41:30
extreme cases of violence towards a
00:41:34
vulnerable individual one could ever
00:41:35
come across and and one of the most
00:41:37
shocking cases I've ever covered as a
00:41:39
result of that there was absolutely no
00:41:41
need whatsoever to use the extreme level
00:41:43
of violence that was used against him
00:41:46
an was an extremely dangerous individual
00:41:50
he simply couldn't cope with the
00:41:53
situation in which he didn't get his own
00:41:55
way
00:41:56
and if he didn't get his own way he
00:41:59
responded in a way that was vengeful in
00:42:01
the extreme
00:42:04
there can be no doubt that the barbaric
00:42:07
cruelty caused by a group of Misfits was
00:42:10
spearheaded by the man
00:42:14
could have put an end to the medieval
00:42:16
like torture at any point
00:42:19
but clearly receives some sort of sick
00:42:21
enjoyment from watching an innocent man
00:42:24
die slowly
00:42:26
this wicked brutality unquestionably
00:42:30
makes saheeds a man one of the world's
00:42:33
most evil killers
00:42:38
[Music]

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Episode Highlights

  • A Disturbing Trial
    Zahid Zaman faces trial for the murder of Jimmy Prout, revealing the grotesque nature of the abuse.
    “There are a combination of factors that make this case particularly disturbing.”
    @ 02m 26s
    January 19, 2023
  • The Rise of a Cult Leader
    Zahid Zaman manipulates vulnerable individuals, including Jimmy Prout, into his cult-like group.
    “He was very much in control of the others.”
    @ 13m 22s
    January 19, 2023
  • The Brutal Treatment of Jimmy Prout
    Jimmy suffers extreme abuse at the hands of Zaman and his followers over several months.
    “This was a series of incidents that took place over a significant period of time.”
    @ 19m 27s
    January 19, 2023
  • The Tragic Death of Jimmy Prout
    Jimmy Prout suffered horrendous abuse and ultimately lost his life at the hands of those he trusted.
    “He was a victim in the worst possible way.”
    @ 26m 10s
    January 19, 2023
  • The Trial of Zahid Zaman and His Followers
    Zahid Zaman and three others faced trial for the murder of Jimmy Prout, with shocking revelations about their actions.
    “Jimmy Prout was tortured to death by a group of individuals who he believed to be his friends.”
    @ 40m 50s
    January 19, 2023

Episode Quotes

  • He was just being used as some sort of punching bag.
    Zahid Zaman: The Ring Leader of Death | World's Most Evil Killers | True Crime
  • Zahid Zaman was the central heart of this group.
    Zahid Zaman: The Ring Leader of Death | World's Most Evil Killers | True Crime
  • This is textbook coercive control.
    Zahid Zaman: The Ring Leader of Death | World's Most Evil Killers | True Crime
  • He was a victim in the worst possible way.
    Zahid Zaman: The Ring Leader of Death | World's Most Evil Killers | True Crime

Key Moments

  • Cult Manipulation00:44
  • Brutal Torture01:05
  • Trial for Murder02:01
  • Vulnerable Victim11:23
  • Coercive Control19:47
  • Victim's Suffering26:10
  • Murder Revealed40:50

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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