They Walk Among Us - UK True Crime
Aug 19, 2026 · 44 min · 17 segments
The discovery of a child’s torso in the Thames leaves detectives with almost no clues to his identity. An international investigation begins, uncovering increasingly disturbing possibilities… \*\**…
Welcome to season 11, episode 34 of They Walk Among Us, a podcast dedicated to UK true crime.
Aiden Minter had finished work for the day.
It was around 4:00 PM when he walked onto Tower Bridge in London from the north side of the Thames.
A week prior, a memorial service had been held in the capital for the people who lost their lives three days earlier in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
The date would forever be etched into the minds of New Yorkers who witnessed the horrific events unfolding before them, not to mention the billions of people who watched it live on the news.
However, Friday, September 21st 2001 was a day that Aiden Minter would never forget.
He crossed the lower deck of the bridge as he did each day after work, on the pedestrian walkway between the blue railings.
A bright pop of color out of place in the murky water of the Thames caught Aiden's eye.
Something was being carried along by the flow, but it was difficult to make out what it was.
He thought it was a mannequin that had been dumped in the river, until it drifted beneath the bridge, and it was then he realized it was a torso.
Aiden later recounted what he thought when the body floated by.
I was only about 30 feet away from it, because the tide was quite high when it was c- coming in.
So that's when I'd noticed the, the physical wounds to the, uh, to the neck area and the upper arms that...
Well, the, the arms weren't there, obviously, but there was a, a portion of bone sticking out, so yeah, it was, it was quite horrific.
Aiden called 999, and the Thames Marine Police were dispatched to try and find the body before the current carried it out to sea.
The marine support unit directed their launch east towards Tower Bridge, where the torso had been seen.
The tide was flowing in their direction, and it didn't take long for them to spot it passing beneath Southwark Bridge, close to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.
They maneuvered their boat next to the body, and PC Greg Watson pulled it out of the water.
To his absolute horror, he realized that it appeared to be the headless and limbless body of a small child.
The torso was taken to the Marine Police headquarters at Wapping before being transferred to Poplar Mortuary.
At the time, the police believed that the child's identity would be established quickly.
Detective Inspector Will O'Reilly, who led the investigation, recalled, "Your immediate reaction is you are going to find the parents of this child soon.
He is going to be reported missing, and it will be a fairly simple but unusual domestic type murder." Pathologist Dr.
Michael Heath conducted the post-mortem on the child's remains.
He determined that the victim was a young Black boy, aged between four and seven years old.
Welcome to season 11, episode 34 of They Walk Among Us, a podcast dedicated to UK true crime.
Aiden Minter had finished work for the day.
It was around 4:00 PM when he walked onto Tower Bridge in London from the north side of the Thames.
A week prior, a memorial service had been held in the capital for the people who lost their lives three days earlier in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
The date would forever be etched into the minds of New Yorkers who witnessed the horrific events unfolding before them, not to mention the billions of people who watched it live on the news.
However, Friday, September 21st 2001 was a day that Aiden Minter would never forget.
He crossed the lower deck of the bridge as he did each day after work, on the pedestrian walkway between the blue railings.
A bright pop of color out of place in the murky water of the Thames caught Aiden's eye.
Something was being carried along by the flow, but it was difficult to make out what it was.
He thought it was a mannequin that had been dumped in the river, until it drifted beneath the bridge, and it was then he realized it was a torso.
Aiden later recounted what he thought when the body floated by.
I was only about 30 feet away from it, because the tide was quite high when it was c- coming in.
So that's when I'd noticed the, the physical wounds to the, uh, to the neck area and the upper arms that...
Well, the, the arms weren't there, obviously, but there was a, a portion of bone sticking out, so yeah, it was, it was quite horrific.
Aiden called 999, and the Thames Marine Police were dispatched to try and find the body before the current carried it out to sea.
The marine support unit directed their launch east towards Tower Bridge, where the torso had been seen.
The tide was flowing in their direction, and it didn't take long for them to spot it passing beneath Southwark Bridge, close to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.
They maneuvered their boat next to the body, and PC Greg Watson pulled it out of the water.
To his absolute horror, he realized that it appeared to be the headless and limbless body of a small child.
The torso was taken to the Marine Police headquarters at Wapping before being transferred to Poplar Mortuary.
At the time, the police believed that the child's identity would be established quickly.
Detective Inspector Will O'Reilly, who led the investigation, recalled, "Your immediate reaction is you are going to find the parents of this child soon.
He is going to be reported missing, and it will be a fairly simple but unusual domestic type murder." Pathologist Dr.
Michael Heath conducted the post-mortem on the child's remains.
He determined that the victim was a young Black boy, aged between four and seven years old.
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