In July 2011 a man named Dennis Costas called in sick to work. He told his employer he was suffering from sciatica. For the rest of the afternoon, he drank heavily, characteristic of a man with a serious drinking problem.

Speaking to Dr. Richard Taylor, he said he couldn’t remember much from that day.

“My recollection is very distorted…” he said. He took a nap at some point and “After that,” he explained, “I really don’t know what happened. All I can remember is putting out the fire. My vision was blurred. I heard a voice and I came out of the flat door. I went back in again and then out to the lobby. There was a fire in the living room, and I put water on it.”

There was a lot he said he couldn’t remember from that afternoon, and into the early hours of the next morning.

At 3.50am, police were called to a four storey low-rise apartment block in Upton Park, East London, by a resident who said they were awoken to banging on their door.

When police arrived, residents were scattered across the carpark. Police ran to the top storey, where they saw a person walking towards them, like something out of a horror movie.

One police officer said he had never seen anything like it before. The person had burns to their face and body, and the officer said: “For a split second, a feeling of unreality overcame me.”

Eventually, the person gave her name as Sophia.

She had arrived home at 3am and her former boyfriend had been waiting inside.

He doused her in petrol. And lit a match.

That man, she said, was Dennis Costas.

A man who claimed he had no recollection of what had taken place.

So, had Dennis been involved?

And, why didn’t he remember it?

CREDITS

Guest: Dr. Richard Taylor, author of Mind Of A Murderer

Host: Jessie Stephens

Producer: Gia Moylan

Audio Producer: Leah Porges

You can listen to The Quicky's episode about the George Floyd Trial here.

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Dennis Costas: The Murderer Who Forgets