Sep 10, 2026 · 34 min · 11 segments
Dawn Rhodes was a 38-year-old mum whose attempt to leave an unhappy marriage ended in tragedy. After her murder, a disturbing version of events emerged in which Dawn was portrayed as a violent woman…
It was early evening on Thursday the 2nd of June 2016 in Redhill, Surrey, which is a vibrant commuter town about 20 miles south of Central London.
One of those homes belonged to Robert and Dawn Rhodes, or at least it had once belonged to both of them.
She'd moved out several months earlier, but their young child was still at the center of their day-to-day contact, and that meant that the house was somewhere that Dawn returned regularly.
Their child had been out for the day with Dawn's mum, Elizabeth, and was dropped back at about 6:00 PM.
That day, Elizabeth noticed something unusual about Robert, Dawn's estranged husband.
She had another life outside this house now, and somebody was expecting to see her later that evening.
Just after 7:00 PM that same evening, emergency services were called, claiming that Dawn had attacked both Robert and her child, and then, acting in self-defense, Robert had struck out to defend them both.
The police arrived to see Robert and the child's panicked faces at an upstairs bedroom window, where they'd barricaded themselves in.
Downstairs, officers would find Dawn's lifeless body on the dining room floor, face down in a large pool of blood, with a single slash wound to her neck.
Their name, exact age, and gender are protected by reporting restrictions, so throughout this story, I'll simply refer to them as the child.
So just who was Dawn? Dawn Spencer was the youngest child in a very close-knit family.
Her mum later remembered her as the much wanted final addition who completed their family.
She joined Adventure Scouts and threw herself into outdoor activities with a passion.
Later, she took up drama at college and joined am-dram groups, enjoying the chance to disappear into other characters, particularly the more unusual ones.
It was early evening on Thursday the 2nd of June 2016 in Redhill, Surrey, which is a vibrant commuter town about 20 miles south of Central London.
One of those homes belonged to Robert and Dawn Rhodes, or at least it had once belonged to both of them.
She'd moved out several months earlier, but their young child was still at the center of their day-to-day contact, and that meant that the house was somewhere that Dawn returned regularly.
Their child had been out for the day with Dawn's mum, Elizabeth, and was dropped back at about 6:00 PM.
That day, Elizabeth noticed something unusual about Robert, Dawn's estranged husband.
She had another life outside this house now, and somebody was expecting to see her later that evening.
Just after 7:00 PM that same evening, emergency services were called, claiming that Dawn had attacked both Robert and her child, and then, acting in self-defense, Robert had struck out to defend them both.
The police arrived to see Robert and the child's panicked faces at an upstairs bedroom window, where they'd barricaded themselves in.
Downstairs, officers would find Dawn's lifeless body on the dining room floor, face down in a large pool of blood, with a single slash wound to her neck.
Their name, exact age, and gender are protected by reporting restrictions, so throughout this story, I'll simply refer to them as the child.
So just who was Dawn? Dawn Spencer was the youngest child in a very close-knit family.
Her mum later remembered her as the much wanted final addition who completed their family.
She joined Adventure Scouts and threw herself into outdoor activities with a passion.
Later, she took up drama at college and joined am-dram groups, enjoying the chance to disappear into other characters, particularly the more unusual ones.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
