- 7/7/2025
24 Hours in Police Custody S00E33 Nightclub Predator Pt 1 of 2 (6th July 2025)
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🦄
CreativityTranscript
00:00Transcribed by ESO, translated by —
00:30Transcribed by —
01:00He was a really friendly, funny, really chilled-out guy.
01:06He come across like a gay bestie.
01:10Like he was our age.
01:11It's like you're being serenaded.
01:13I just wouldn't have expected him to do something like that.
01:29The first thing that I noticed was that he's washing blood off himself.
01:38It's crucial that we find the truth.
01:49Hands on your back!
01:51Got to question everything.
01:53Believe nobody.
01:54It's almost a game of chess.
01:57Trying to get him to slip up.
01:59This is your opportunity to talk to me.
02:01Transcribed by ESO, translated by —
02:10Transcribed by ESO, translated by —
02:13Transcribed by ESO, translated by —
02:17Hello?
02:19Hello, is Hampshire, please.
02:22I can't even say the word.
02:25I can't even talk about it normally.
02:28okay the first time I even hinted at it was today what happened well we went to
02:40his house I know there's a lot of gap I remember waking up and I didn't have my
02:49clothes that is when I realized that I'm bleeding and he's washing blood off
02:58of himself assuming being his penis yeah yeah I just don't I don't know what happened but is there
03:08a chance you think you might have been raped well to be honest yeah do you remember roughly
03:15when this was it was I think it was 2022 I don't want to say anything because I don't want Stephen
03:22to not believe me are you able to tell me the full name that you known for him
03:26um Craig France okay I have literally never been the same since it happened
03:34literally it's gone downhill so much I really tried not to let it I really did try not to let it but
03:43it's just like slowly come harder and harder
03:47officers from cambridgeshire police's rape investigation team head out to get a full
04:01account from a young woman who believes she is the victim of rape
04:05the offense obviously occurred about two years ago where people can't remember an offense or something
04:15happening they automatically think that the police can't do anything I'm not going to be believed
04:20because I can't say what's happened we obviously then have to explore what the survivors can remember
04:30from that evening
04:38if you need a break at any time then please let me know we were going to start off by talking about
04:46the actual incident that happened and what you can remember about that
04:50I went to his house like because I trusted him I just thought he was my friend
04:58what was that the purpose for you going around there that evening
05:04to play some music maybe to go out it didn't work out that way
05:09you got some sambuca from the fridge I remember I did one shot of sambuca
05:18and after that felt like I was becoming less aware it was almost like I was in my mind or in my
05:27body properly um did you express to him at all how you were feeling yeah um
05:33um I told him because he was trying to get me to do more shots and the bathroom saw you don't care
05:42you don't care but all I really remember was being in his hot tub I'm not sure how I ended up there
05:53what can you recall after that I woke up he was in his bed um
06:02didn't have any clothes on which it was scary for me okay I never really
06:10undress around people yeah it was kind of
06:14it was kind of scary when I did wake up he wasn't in the bed he was in his bathroom like
06:25next to his shower washing himself no because he had blood on him
06:35when you saw him doing that what did you say to him
06:40i i didn't i tried to pretend i was asleep and was just thinking about getting home
06:52so this is briefing in relation to operation jedco a report of a rape so we've got the victim
07:01we're dealing with one night of offending um which obviously um is is right from the description
07:07part of the work is all around who is he you know what is his lifestyle what is his footprint
07:15and at the minute we don't seem to know a lot about him if you if you want an actual physical
07:21profile then i can request and see what we can get done with that if we can involve analyst review of
07:26the data that we've got and try and pull together as comprehensive as we can a picture of him
07:31if you were dealing with a an offense that happened on the street in the middle of a city you might
07:38have cctv you might have witnesses walking past that might might say well yes i saw this happen
07:43in cases of rape and serious sexual violence you just don't have that in the majority of instances
07:49there are only two people involved and it happens behind closed doors
07:55there are two people that know what happened and it's for the police to build the case surrounding that
08:01so i want you to start right at the beginning about how you first knew about him
08:19it's when i went ice skating with my ex
08:23he had like a charm about him almost very sort of friendly and outgoing
08:46other than ice skating where else would you see him
08:49uh flares to be
09:03officers are dispatched to nightclubs in peterborough
09:07to gather intelligence on the suspect who is not known to police i've not really heard of the name
09:12i've not heard of him either so tonight we'll obviously go around we'll look for
09:17sort of images of craig france we'll show them to the door staff that we've got um see if people
09:22have heard of him see if they've seen him
09:24have you seen this individual before not not today if i show you a picture of somebody will you let me
09:35know if you know them or if you know the name any chance go on who is it right great how do you know
09:43it's just about all the time okay how often's all time all the time every weekend every week
09:50just wondering if you recognize this fellow at all yeah craig yeah okay
09:54what was he like on a night out it's fine no trouble
10:06what's up hiya hi are you all right yeah not bad i just wonder if you recognize this gentleman
10:12craig france he's yeah ridiculously well known
10:19at this stage of sort of knowing him how old were you then uh 18 18. how old was he well i thought he was
10:28his own coming up to his 30s but i suppose he was probably a bit older than that
10:41now we've got the victim's account the next move is to arrest the suspect it's absolutely vital to
10:46understand what their side of this is
10:56uh times 13 47 you're under arrest and suspicion of rape rape
11:08who have i raped it'll be explained to you down at the police station
11:11okay do you want to put some clothes on yeah yeah
11:1633 year old craig france is arrested for the alleged rape of an 18 year old
11:22where are we hiding forward
11:29how long am i going to meet you should be out about this evening
11:36just have to take your phone
11:39you got any numbers that you need out of it yeah do you want to get that number up
11:46all right mate
11:48uh we'll just take you down to the car then mate
11:50Alexa turn bedroom lights off
11:53Alexa turn bedroom on
11:54see you there for me
12:01my view of him having dealt with him he he does look like kind of your normal joe blogs on the street
12:17he's a very normal person he's very quiet he doesn't portray himself as the kind of person that you may
12:24think would commit these offenses
12:26see you there for me
12:28see you there for me
12:32with their suspect in custody
12:34officers begin the search of his house the scene of the alleged rape
12:38okay okay in cases that are non-recent understanding our perpetrator is crucial
12:50the contents of a house provides us with that snapshot and insight into what that individual is
12:56like um within his his four walls of his home
13:01it's stuck in there
13:05yeah it's a swing isn't it
13:14um interestingly the windows are obviously blacked out
13:16yeah all yeah blacks out even downstairs
13:23season of sex toys aren't we
13:24yes yeah yeah um you've already taken some restraints under the bed
13:32there's a lots of love letters from the girl she looks like she's from school
13:37but she mentions that like in six months time
13:40and she said something about i leave school in six months
13:46hi how old is he 33 it's a passport in there yeah he's 33
13:52that's the cd desk isn't it someone's boyfriend i love you my big-headed boyfriend
14:01so it does look like a little camera
14:03and i'm not being funny but sours is that a 33 year old man's drink
14:33so it's just pop yourself down there oh you've got a drink i've got to ask you if you wanted one
15:03do you know if they have any light nasal spray because i can't breathe
15:07uh i don't to be completely honest
15:15this interview is being electronically recorded
15:18there are two cameras positioned within the room
15:22please state your full name and date of birth
15:24craig vance 21st of may 91. so
15:27are you responsible for the rape in 2022? no comment
15:34tell me what happened on the night? no comment
15:39she states that she got back to your house and you poured her a sambuca do you recall this? no comment
15:47are you responsible for putting a substance in her drink to incapacitate her in 2022? no comment
15:53she states that she cannot remember what else happened but the next morning she woke
15:59and was naked what happened no comment she also said that she was bleeding from her vagina
16:06were you aware of this bleeding no comment she states that she noticed you were in the shower and
16:12you were washing your penis and it was also bloody no comment is this correct? did you have blood on your
16:20penis? no comment she believes that you had sex with her while she was asleep this was in 2022. no comment
16:29is there anything else you'd like to say about this allegation? no comment
16:34in your opinion is there any reason that you can think of as to why she was reporting this to the police if
16:39it's not true? no comment so that's the interview concluded
17:02the fact he's got no comment i don't think we're not surprised by that are we
17:06he's made the choice not to provide an account that we can go away and test so um we work with what
17:12we've got a case like this that was a couple of years ago clearly that's going to give us some
17:19challenges isn't it in terms of um how we approach the investigation she really doesn't have much
17:25no no she sent him quite a lengthy message when we uh slept together i don't like the way that it
17:33happens i don't remember anything all i have to go off is what you told me i don't like that what
17:40seems in is his response you make it look like you didn't want to have sex when we both know that
17:45wasn't the case you wanted those things it takes two to tango and that's what happened although you
17:52don't remember it apparently i mean wow talk about making someone vulnerable feel even more uncertain
18:03and vulnerable about what happened that evening he just blames it all on her she is going to have been
18:09sat there probably questioning herself like was it me what have i done it's no wonder that we have got
18:15this late reporting now that question will have remained for the last two years going around her mind
18:22you could say he has controlled her for the last two years
18:29the worst part i was just thinking no one's going to believe me um it doesn't matter what i say
18:45it doesn't matter if i tell anyone because even if i wanted to no one's going to believe me
18:49it's like grooming like i'll pretend to be your friend i'll wait till you let your guard down
19:03i don't even know what happened after that it's just i just had to sort of
19:09it's not even guess really just it's just a big black hole in the middle
19:19all you know is you're waking up like in a horrific situation
19:27it's just really complicated it's hard to process that sort of thing
19:32i haven't been living my life at all i've just been stuck
19:45find it really hard to eat i'd getting really sick um but having no appetite
19:54affecting all my senses really like all of the basic things i should be able to do i've stopped being
20:01able to do and it felt like i was just sort of laying there and rotting half the time
20:12they couldn't figure out anything that was wrong it's like you're having all these tests and being
20:19out of hospital and nobody's got any answers i was struggling to accept the illness could be in my head
20:26you shouldn't have to deal with things like that on your own it's a lot to have on somebody's soul i think
20:40um
20:49faced with a no comment interview officers continued to search his address for any evidence that will help their case
20:55That's it.
21:02The camera's out here.
21:12There's a GoPro, but there is a camera out the back.
21:16We did take the SD cards out of it.
21:26We seized ten digital devices, including an instant Max camera,
21:32some SD cards, USB sticks.
21:35How obvious was the rear camera that covers the hot tub?
21:42If you weren't looking, and if it's dark as well,
21:45you wouldn't spot it when it's dark.
21:48These are the photos of the cameras on the back of his house,
21:55covering the view of the hot tub.
21:58So there's the hot tub here, and there's the camera.
22:02I mean, that is pretty covert, isn't it?
22:04There's cameras all over the house,
22:06which needs to be explored thoroughly.
22:08After receiving downloads from the exterior cameras
22:19at Craig France's address,
22:21officers review the footage.
22:26I think that's her from his hot tub camera.
22:29That's her.
22:31Is that date stamped?
22:33It does tie up with what she says.
22:46Oh my gosh.
22:47He is pulling her backwards along the concrete floor, unconscious.
22:58What did he say?
22:59He looks so beautiful.
23:16We received a report which is of rape.
23:19All she remembers is she did spend an evening with him back in 2022.
23:23They did have drinks together.
23:24They went back to his house.
23:26She remembers being in the hot tub with him.
23:30She doesn't remember anything thereafter.
23:32There's cameras all over the house,
23:36which shows her outside the hot tub.
23:39And he is pulling her backwards along the concrete floor.
23:43It is really incredibly shocking to watch.
23:51Yep.
23:52I know you have been already interviewed,
23:53but I will ask some additional questions.
23:55Are you ready to proceed?
23:57No.
23:58I know you have been already interviewed,
23:59but I will ask some additional questions.
24:00Some property have been seized from you, from your person, from your car, from your house.
24:13Are you aware of this?
24:14I'm going to ask my colleague to show a sequence of videos.
24:15It's a sequence of videos.
24:16It's a sequence.
24:17It's a sequence.
24:18It's a sequence.
24:19It's a sequence.
24:20It's a sequence.
24:21It's outside.
24:22It appears to be a back garden and hot tub.
24:24So, there's a male fully clothed,
24:28highly recycled,
24:47garden and hot tub. So there's a male fully clothed here and a female who
24:55appears to be naked by what appears to be one black sock on there. Male appears
25:03to be helping female get in the hot tub. Don't know if she slips, falls, stumbles
25:10but she splashes into the hot tub. Would you disagree or disagree with that
25:17description of what I've said? No comment. Have I explained it wrong? No comment. Is that
25:23you? No comment. Male back to us with the clothes. Craig I want you to properly watch this video. I'm
25:31going to draw your attention to the area down here.
25:40It appears as a female on the floor on the back and the male is dragging her out from
25:47this area. That was quite distressing to me when I watched it. I mean I don't know how
25:52you feel about it. The second video of her being dragged by her legs and her arms up. She's
26:07unconscious here Craig. No comment. Are you sure? No comment. Anything to say at this stage Craig? No comment.
26:20Do not tell her.
26:36No comment.
26:40following the online report the victim comes into the police station to give a statement about her
27:02allegation so yeah just tell me in as much detail as possible what you're here today to report um
27:13so this guy that um i used to go clubbing with um like he was i met him through the clubs and just
27:21tell me in as much detail as possible about how you met him um it'd always be in flares
27:32i cast him as a good friend just a good friend yeah he seemed very nice he was like
27:42always offering to buy people drinks there used to be like kind of like a little group of us like
27:49he'd get people from the club to go back to his it's always him like that's ordered the taxis
27:56sort of thing when we go back after a night out it's all i've only ever been there when i'm drunk
28:01i really don't know the address he was always encouraging people to like drink more even
28:07though they're already you can tell like they're already really drunk we would get in the hot tub
28:15carry on drinking um until basically like we couldn't drink no more like until we pass out basically
28:23and would that be most weekends i'd say every other weekend i was quite young still i was 18 to
28:32like just freshly turned 18 and then he just started to just be the act a little bit weird
28:39um like his whole character just changed um he was just i don't know he just turned weird like really
28:52pushy sort of thing always talking about sex all the time um but he would just walk around his house
29:00just naked like with his penis out in your sort of opening account that he's taking a video of you
29:10yeah okay um and you do you remember that night no you don't no as in you don't remember having
29:20any sex with him that night i don't remember the night at all i've woke up and i'm just like what
29:25the fuck happened i would be in like pain down there i could feel like um the bottom of my
29:34stomach would like really badly hurt me like i had bad cramps or i would be bleeding
29:43she's talked about of them having sex she has no memory of that happening whatsoever on those occasions
29:50yeah yeah all right thank you bye-bye bye
29:59he obviously he needs to further arrest him for the rape
30:03can we both go down yeah okay conversation
30:09listening to the victim accounts as to the significant physical injuries that they both describe
30:15as a result of sexual contact with him uh is is is shocking
30:20great great i'm running to chris okay he's running through what we're doing okay
30:25we know that the victims have been bleeding during the course of these incidents and i can only imagine
30:33the horror that they may have felt when they were were waking up in the morning to discover that
30:38that's what's happened to them so i'm di helen tebbett um and i'm further arresting you on suspicion of
30:46rape i'm going to further caution you which you do not have to say anything but it may harm your
30:50defense if you do not mention when questioned something which you later line in court anything
30:54you do say you may be given an evidence okay okay i'll hopefully get your interview in the next couple
30:59of hours all being well all right all right thank you thank you
31:16craig had said he's got videos of me
31:20he just randomly sent the videos to me and i was just like what the like okay so these videos
31:27um again i don't mean to cause you any embarrassment but just describe to me
31:34what they showed i was laying back like this and he had like put his phone up against like the bottom
31:41of the table here and i'm laying back and he like looked back at the camera and then smirped and then
31:48he was it's like fingering me in the video and then one of them was from behind i was
31:57bent over and he's like videoing him his penis going inside my vagina
32:07and you say from that night you don't remember my mind is literally like blank i don't remember one
32:13thing at any point during your relationship with him while you were sleeping with him
32:18was the filming of the sex between you ever discussed no never once spoke about anything
32:25get being recorded i wouldn't have let him record me i don't like that
32:30has view ever seen any other videos with anybody else um i know he's got he has got other videos
32:47he had mentioned to me one night about how um
32:51um he had a video and i said what what video and he said of a girl and i said like what what are you
32:59on about and he had just pulled it up and showed me and i said please turn it off i don't want to see
33:05that's disgusting um i was like did the girl no and he said no my heart dropped to my stomach um
33:16and i just yeah i had to report it
33:21i just don't want to have it playing in my head over and over again like all the time i'm just
33:33i just want to be free from it all
33:36with the information that craig france secretly records his sexual encounters
33:49officers fast track the download of what his phone contains from around the time of the first alleged
33:55rape
34:05that's her on the toilet and then her in the shower
34:10and then we have a video he's put the video his camera up on the dresser
34:14and he helps her out he's now naked at this point
34:16oh there's no way she's got capacity to consent to anything she's obviously completely out of it
34:32so this is with her head in a sick pocket that's after she's been seen in the shower
34:36yeah so that's five minutes after that video of him likely being sick yeah so that's another one
34:41of her she's out of it yeah yeah yeah as he's like rubbing a leg that in itself
34:47shows she was completely incapable what we see on the video cannot be considered consensual based
34:53on her state so this is at 21 39 of him having penetrative sex she's in no state to consent to
35:03anything we need to include that in the interview that's really damning that is just shocking
35:16so
35:21so
35:33officers decide to show the victim the covert videos they've discovered on craig france's phone
35:39she is only aware of a video being in existence she hasn't actually seen it
35:46because you imagine what it must be like to know people have seen a video of you but you haven't seen
35:53it yeah your imagination would just run wild wouldn't it
35:57the suspect faces allegations of rape from two victims
36:08aim of this interview is to establish the facts surrounding the offense of rape
36:12i have a prepared statement by craig france confirm i wish to provide a prepared statement for the
36:19purpose of the interview and i wish to say the following are totally denying the allegations of
36:23being made against me as far as she was concerned i have had sex with her on about three or four
36:29separate occasions on some of these occasions we were both drinking but i believe she was sober enough
36:34to consent sexual activity taking place on all occasions i intend to answer no comment for the
36:40remainder of the interview
36:43it's only fair
36:46for me to say to you what other people said to us
36:51she said you have engaged in sexual relationship with her during 2023 is that true
36:58she said you send her videos which shows you and her engaging in sexual intercourse
37:07can you describe the video to me please
37:11in your opinion and your belief is she consenting in this video that you have shown her
37:16this video that she's lying on her back
37:21this video shows her lying on her back
37:25you fingering her
37:28another video was from behind your penis in her vagina
37:33another video she's lying on her back you can see her belly and your penis in her vagina
37:38she said she doesn't remember this occasion she said she asked you
37:48what the happened you would say oh yes we slept with each other
37:55she would have a bad stomach pain she'd be sore down below she would be bleeding
38:01is this true craig did you have sex with her without her consent on these occasions
38:14there's another female saying she was not consenting with having sex with you and filming her
38:23any comment to that craig as far as is concerned i have had what i believe to be consensual
38:28sexual activity with her on only one occasion on the night in question we had both been drinking
38:34alcohol but i believe that she was sober enough to have consented to sexual activity to the best of
38:39my recollection she was the one who actually initiated sexual activity that night throughout
38:44that evening i have taken several videos of her in various states of undress and i believe that
38:49she was fully aware that i was making these recordings she says the following
38:54she says she was scared as she did not remember anything she woke up naked in your bed she does
39:03not like being naked around other people you then told her that she was very drunk the night before
39:10she was falling over stumbling how much of a mess she was do you remember this
39:15did you say this did you say this why would you say this to her
39:24your phones have been downloaded to some extent
39:29this shows various recordings would you like to tell me anything about that
39:34as we are here now would you like a further consultation
39:37i need to go through with you today um some bits of evidence in relation to the investigation against
39:49quake france and you know today that you're going to be seeing some footage don't you okay
39:58it is going to be hard the footage that is going to be shown to you um
40:03um are you ready yes okay
40:12it's a female sort of knelt down sort of hands and knees in a shower
40:24jesus christ
40:27can you remember that
40:34france positions his camera so it is facing the ensuite bathroom
40:38walks into view naked he walks over to the toilet and can be seen to help
40:43to stand up and walk out of the bathroom
40:47completely naked genitals exposed he leaves her by the door to the ensuite she leans against the wall
40:54her head is swaying back and forth and she staggers
40:56she's laying naked on her back on the bed her eyes are shut there is a purple bucket by her side
41:08um and it appears that there is a male penis um entering a female's genitals
41:14and there appears to be intercourse taking place
41:27you stopped watching it craig is there a reason
41:31what's your feelings now
41:44are you feeling embarrassed watching it ashamed
41:47from watching this and from remembering the event would you describe her as able
42:00sober
42:03capable of taking care of herself okay was this this fully consensual
42:09sexual intercourse that you've mentioned in your preferred statement
42:12does she look like she's consenting in any of these videos
42:27is there anything else that i've missed on that you feel i should know this is your opportunity
42:32to tell me point me to a direction where all of this can be disputed because at the moment
42:39this is just piling up and there is more coming craig we have not reviewed all the recordings all of
42:47your devices can i speak to my of course you can i will pause the interview at 17 34.
42:55i am stopping this interview
43:16when i'd watched him i felt really disgusted
43:20a lot of emotions going on a lot of anger
43:30but i also felt validated because now i'd seen everything and i knew everything and it kind of took
43:39the power away from him in a way because it's sort of like he had that knowledge and i didn't before
43:46and he'd seen this and he'd done this and i had no sort of way of knowing any of this or seeing any of
43:56this or like it wasn't there for me so once i'd seen it i'd had that sort of the power back because
44:07it was like oh now i know and now i'm angry
44:14i don't really even identify when i'm watching those videos with myself
44:19i think it's because the memory is missing that when i look at it
44:24i don't i don't think of it as me i don't see it as me but i know that happened to me
44:30it's just hard to like associate yourself with that moment when you don't remember living it but it
44:42it drove me crazy for a long time um i do think knowing what's actually happened does give that
44:50little bit of almost comfort it's really weird
45:03the full download of the suspect's phone is now complete
45:10how many images are we looking at so there's 10 000 on the first one a lot of them are
45:15great taking images of himself these are all different women who will need to identify and
45:23speak to there's another new one we've got another female on the 14th of march so that's three victims
45:29in one month and it's so prolific in 15 years i've not ever seen anything
45:36close to this everything here suggests to me he's done it for a long time and it's a way of life
45:42they've downloaded his laptop which has identified 4 293 videos it's probably the worst i've seen
45:54being told by the police about it you're in shock i had no idea even from prison the perpetrator is
46:03still pulling the strings and even from prison he is able to manipulate he's got people to stick up for
46:11him i'm anxious i'm scared and you're under arrest on suspicion of witness intimidation
46:29so
46:31so
46:33so
46:35so
46:37so
46:39so
46:43so
46:45so
46:47so
46:49so
46:51You
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