Sep 7, 2026 · 29 min · 11 segments
In Newport, South Wales, Martin Podmore met a woman at a party - nothing unusual there, and the two got on well. But it was the beginning of an encounter that would take a deeply disturbing turn when…
At the time, Risca Road in Newport was a desirable and popular residential neighborhood with a mixture of large, detached period properties and traditional terraced houses.
It was an attractive area with good schools nearby and plenty of families living there.
But inside one of these homes, completely unknown to the surrounding community, was a man who was able to carry out a vicious campaign of terror.
Today's case is slightly different from any of the others we cover on this podcast, as the principal victim remains unnamed throughout, and her identity is not known for reasons which will quickly become apparent.
She met a man called Michael Podmore at a party, where they got chatting and got to know each other a little, as you do.
At this stage, Podmore apparently presented himself as a perfectly decent guy, and there was absolutely no reason for her to know that behind the outward appearance was a man who'd already subjected several other women to serious violence.
Sometime after the party in January 2001, Podmore invited this woman to his home on Risca Road, just a short drive from where she lived.
He told her that he was a professional therapist, and when they'd met at the party, he'd been great company and had given her no reason at all to think there was anything unusual about him.
As far as she was concerned, she was simply going to visit someone that she'd met and liked from a social occasion.
We don't know exactly when the situation changed or when Podmore made it clear that she was not going to be allowed to leave, but he did.
At some point, what had started as an ordinary visit became something very different, and she found herself trapped inside the house of a man she barely knew.
Podmore raped the woman on several occasions and repeatedly threatened to kill her, telling her that if she tried to escape, he'd also kill her mum and her children.
He'd created this situation in which she was not only trapped inside the house, but terrified of what might happen if she did try to get out.
On one occasion, he swung a hammer at her head, and she only just had managed to avoid being hit.
And when she escaped the blow, his response was to subject her to further and even worse abuse.
He attached clips to her nipples and other parts of her body, connected them to wires, and then sent electric shocks through her body.
Inside the house with this horrendous man, unable to leave, and never knowing what he might do to her next, or whether one of his threats to kill her would actually be carried out.
It's unclear exactly how she managed to get out of the house, and initially she'd been so frightened that she hadn't even attempted to leave.
But eventually she did get away and made it to her mum's home, where the police were called.
And then something happened which, even in these circumstances, was pretty extraordinary.
Before the police arrived, Michael Podmore turned up at her mum's doorstep himself.
At the time, Risca Road in Newport was a desirable and popular residential neighborhood with a mixture of large, detached period properties and traditional terraced houses.
It was an attractive area with good schools nearby and plenty of families living there.
But inside one of these homes, completely unknown to the surrounding community, was a man who was able to carry out a vicious campaign of terror.
Today's case is slightly different from any of the others we cover on this podcast, as the principal victim remains unnamed throughout, and her identity is not known for reasons which will quickly become apparent.
She met a man called Michael Podmore at a party, where they got chatting and got to know each other a little, as you do.
At this stage, Podmore apparently presented himself as a perfectly decent guy, and there was absolutely no reason for her to know that behind the outward appearance was a man who'd already subjected several other women to serious violence.
Sometime after the party in January 2001, Podmore invited this woman to his home on Risca Road, just a short drive from where she lived.
He told her that he was a professional therapist, and when they'd met at the party, he'd been great company and had given her no reason at all to think there was anything unusual about him.
As far as she was concerned, she was simply going to visit someone that she'd met and liked from a social occasion.
We don't know exactly when the situation changed or when Podmore made it clear that she was not going to be allowed to leave, but he did.
At some point, what had started as an ordinary visit became something very different, and she found herself trapped inside the house of a man she barely knew.
Podmore raped the woman on several occasions and repeatedly threatened to kill her, telling her that if she tried to escape, he'd also kill her mum and her children.
He'd created this situation in which she was not only trapped inside the house, but terrified of what might happen if she did try to get out.
On one occasion, he swung a hammer at her head, and she only just had managed to avoid being hit.
And when she escaped the blow, his response was to subject her to further and even worse abuse.
He attached clips to her nipples and other parts of her body, connected them to wires, and then sent electric shocks through her body.
Inside the house with this horrendous man, unable to leave, and never knowing what he might do to her next, or whether one of his threats to kill her would actually be carried out.
It's unclear exactly how she managed to get out of the house, and initially she'd been so frightened that she hadn't even attempted to leave.
But eventually she did get away and made it to her mum's home, where the police were called.
And then something happened which, even in these circumstances, was pretty extraordinary.
Before the police arrived, Michael Podmore turned up at her mum's doorstep himself.
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