BBC - Great Crimes and Trials Series 3 Set 6 The Siege of Sidney Street

Stabbings, shootings, genocide, torture, abduction, robbery, serial killing and mass suicide are just a few of the horrific crimes explored in Great Crimes and Trials. True stories carefully researched and reconstructed with actual archive footage. Cases which have become almost legendary in the annals of crime and detection. Serial killers, gangsters, assassins and war criminals - Great Crimes and Trials sheds light on crimes that shocked the world, bringing back memories of some of the most notorious cases of the twentieth century. The murders of John Lennon and presidential candidate Robert Kennedy, the unsolved Zodiac murders and the treasonous crimes of Lord Haw-Haw are all covered here in exacting detail, alongside other shocking stories of murder and mayhem. From the violent mob rule of the thirties to the fairly recent phenomenon of the serial killer, the motives, behavior patterns and killing techniques of some of the world's most evil felons are explored. Their detection, capture and trials are examined to give a complete picture of how crine and justice have evolved through the twentieth century. Narrated by Robert Powell, Great Crimes and Trials combines new and archive interviews to reconstruct each story, analysing the individual and his motive, explaining how the crime was committed and showing breakthroughs in investigations alongside details of the trial. With its researchers gaining unprecedented access to picture libraries and over 250,000 hours of archive footage, these are the definitive accounts of these appalling murders.

Part 6 The Siege of Sidney Street

A robbery and the killing of three policemen by anti-Russian anarchists brought Home Secretary Winston Churchill and the Scots Guards onto the streets of London in the search for 'Peter the Painter'. The Siege of Sidney Street (also known as the Battle of Stepney) reached its end on 3rd January 1911 and was one of the most notorious events at the time in the East End. It all began in December 1910, when a gang of Latvian revolutionaries attempted to rob a jewelry store in Houndsditch, London, resulting in the deaths of three police officers and the Latvian gang leader. On 3 January 1911, having arrested most of the Latvian gang, police tracked the last two members to 100 Sidney Street. Armed to the teeth and with superior weapons to the police besieging them, Fritz Svaars and William/Joseph Sokoloff were going to go down fighting. By daybreak the stage had been lit for the great drama which was about to unfold over the next few hours. At noon one o'clock the house was seen to be on fire. The anarchists had not much longer to live. One of them was observed at a back window blazing away with two pistols. A little later one of the pistols was seen to jam. Now the soldiers redoubled their efforts sending a hail of shots screaming through the windows of number 100. Sokoloff peered out through the maelstrom; a volley of shots ripped his head apart. Svaars mourned him with a barrage of return fire, but it was to be his final flourish because now the burning house had begun to cave in. He was last seen lying on a ground floor bed with his face in a pillow. The ceiling then collapsed and that was the end of him. By 2pm the siege of Sidney Street was over.

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Episode One Shown Here