Parole; Con Girl

“That Parole surreptitiously asked viewers to pass their own judgement on David and Colin’s cases was one of the documentary’s strengths. It gave just a small insight into the contradicting evidence the board has to weigh up, and the near impossible, life-changing – and in some cases potentially dangerous – decisions they have to make. But it also didn’t go far enough. The second half of the film revealed that both David and Colin had been granted parole before and both had since been recalled to prison. Colin had got into another physical altercation, inflicting extreme harm on another man, while David had disappeared to Russia to meet another woman (who, he says, ended up defrauding him). How the board had determined they were fit for release in the first place was merely skimmed over.”
Emily Baker, The i

“The role of this quiet, methodical and important series is to shed light on how such decisions are reached. Is Stacey still a danger to the public? Does he show signs of genuine remorse and rehabilitation? What might have driven him into violent crime in the first place? Even murderers, reasoned Stacey, need hope. “Without hope – that’s when people become dangerous.” It seems a circular sort of logic that only the promise of eventual release will stop him from being a danger upon release.”
Jasper Rees, Telegraph

“From the first frame it was starkly fascinating, a front row seat to two parole hearings in which the prisoners pleaded for their freedom while we sofa voyeurs watched and decided whether we would give the thumbs up. This sounds crass, like an armchair gladiator event, but there we are; it made for good television.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“We’re all familiar with Old Bailey trials, condemning killers to life sentences. The Parole Board has none of that grandeur or gravitas. Members were more like driving examiners than judges. But these are the people who decide when murderers should be freed. They are every bit as influential as the figures in robes and horsehair wigs. Murder trials often last for weeks. Incredibly, after a hearing of two hours and 15 minutes, two Parole Board officials decided that Colin Stacey deserved his freedom. This was despite his admission that, around the time of the killing, he had also beaten his pregnant partner — headbutting her and kneeling on her chest.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“From The Dropout to Fyre, Inventing Anna to The Tinder Swindler, television has been enjoying a years-long relationship with the scammer. The lively Australian documentary Con Girl (Paramount+) isn’t likely to join the greats, but it does offer the astonishingly bizarre story of a woman named Samantha Azzopardi, known to various other women around the world as either Annika, Coco, Layla, Emily or Harper, among other names. These cons are so strange and perplexing that it takes four hours to try to unravel them, and though it zips through at a pace, it never quite gets to the heart of it.”
Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian