Annabel Deas
@annabeldeas
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BBC Investigative journalist. Produced & Presented BBC podcasts Hope High & The Smuggler. Orwell Prize winner & ARIA winner. THE SMUGGLER 👇
London, England
Joined July 2011
The Smuggler is the inside story of how a former British soldier became an international people smuggler - revealing the mechanics of how he smuggled migrants on lorry’s, ferry’s and sailboats -working with Albanian&Vietnamese gangs all based inside the UK
bbc.co.uk
Listen to the latest episodes of Shadow World on BBC Sounds.
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27 September 2025: Ann Green, 61, was found dead at a property in Bromyard, Herefordshire. Julian Thomas, 54, has been charged with her murder.
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"When their guard is down we get to see what they're really like." Mina Smallman, whose murdered daughters' bodies were photographed and shared on WhatsApp by police, responds to the BBC investigation into continued misogyny and racism in the Met. #Newsnight
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Secret BBC filming exposes hidden culture of misogyny and racism inside London's Metropolitan Police service https://t.co/mWtW0P6BXN
bbc.co.uk
Panorama undercover investigation captures evidence that "toxic behaviours", far from being driven out of the Met, have been driven underground.
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NEW Five women who say they were victims of Rotherham grooming gangs also say police officers 'sexually abused' them in the town. One woman told the BBC she was raped aged 12 in a police car by an officer in uniform. Full story with Ruth Green.
bbc.com
One says she was raped from the age of 12 by a South Yorkshire Police officer in a marked police car.
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It should be obvious now that smartphones are designed to be addictive. You're not supposed to win. I really think the only answer is to get rid of your iPhone. Genuinely not as hard as it seems and there are increasingly decent alternatives out there.
Young people on track to spend 25 years of their lives on their phones. This is dystopian territory https://t.co/WwtXA9vjMW
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They were strapped down, hidden and living on bread
bbc.com
Police describe the moment they enter a lorry involved in trafficking people at an M25 services.
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A police force that repeatedly met the family of a nine-year-old boy who was later murdered in his home did not sufficiently train front-line officers to identify child abuse, a police watchdog's report concluded.
bbc.co.uk
Twenty cases when police had contact with Alfie Steele and his family were investigated.
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A man who was left paralysed and brain-damaged after a scuffle with police and nightclub doormen 12 years ago has died, aged 31.
bbc.co.uk
Julian Cole was seriously injured following an arrest that has seen three police officers dismissed.
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LOVED this! 👏 such incredible access Made me really nervous in parts Defo worth a listen!
The Smuggler is the inside story of how a former British soldier became an international people smuggler - revealing the mechanics of how he smuggled migrants on lorry’s, ferry’s and sailboats -working with Albanian&Vietnamese gangs all based inside the UK
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Loved going on The Media Show and discussing the ethnics of working with a convicted criminal. Thankyou for having me @katierazz & @BBCRosAtkins
bbc.co.uk
AI & Advertising, Historian Dan Snow, new BBC podcast on people smuggling, Radio Free Asia
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It's Monday so here's my @FT pod column on The Smuggler, an eye-opening new BBC series about the business of human cargo and featuring the testimony of "Nick", a builder-turned-people trafficker.
ft.com
BBC series hears from a man convicted of moving migrants across the English Channel, and from experts on the illegal trade
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Yet more of our findings from our @BBCRadio4 @bbcsounds investigative podcast The Smuggler revealed here - listen here for the full story
bbc.co.uk
How did a former British soldier become an international people smuggler?
Revealed: The new tactic being used to smuggle migrants into the UK after being pioneered by Albanian gangs
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"I hesitated before committing myself to all two-and-a-half hours of The Smuggler (Radio 4, 26 May-6 June). But, after the first two episodes, I was hooked," writes Rosie Dawson. Read the full #radioreview below 👇 https://t.co/tqsLV5D31n
churchtimes.co.uk
“THE Bible as Literature” was the subject of All Things Considered (BBC Radio Wales, Sunday). At lea...
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“Nick is living evidence that most crime is circumstantial” Thank you @msmirandasawyer for your review of The Smuggler
observer.co.uk
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Thank you @fionasturges @ft for your review of ‘The Smuggler’: “illuminating character study’, “meticulous and wide ranging reporting”, “slickly made”.
ft.com
BBC series hears from a man convicted of moving migrants across the English Channel, and from experts on the illegal trade
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“However Deas got hold of Nick (not his real name) and convinced him to spill the beans we’ll likely never know (no money changed hands), but this is surely the scoop of her career so far”
telegraph.co.uk
The BBC’s podcast features “Nick”, who claims to have initiated the idea of using small boats for bringing illegal migrants into the UK
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Thankyou @RadioTimes & @vanessathorpe for making The Smuggler your pick of the week! You can listen on @BBCRadio4 & @BBCSounds
https://t.co/TTjPUzHyDw
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New @BBCRadio4 podcast, Shadow World: The Smuggler presented by @annabeldeas follows a former British army soldier turned people smuggler @BBCSounds
https://t.co/azMs3lk2yb
podcastingtoday.co.uk
A new podcast series explores how a former British Army soldier became a people smuggler working with organised crime gangs from Albania and Vietnam based in the UK.
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