Murder Mile UK True-Crime Podcast - #295: The Good Mum (Nicole Hurley, Primrose Hill, NW8)30/4/2025 
Nominated BEST BRITISH TRUE-CRIME PODCAST, triple nominated at the True Crime Awards, 4th Best True-Crime Podcast by This Week, iTunes Top 25 Podcast, Podcast Magazine's Hot 50, The Telegraph's Top 5, Crime & Investigation Channel's Top 20 True-Crime Podcasts, also seen on BBC Radio, Sky News, The Guardian and TalkRadio's Podcast of the Week.
Kingsland Estate on Broxwood Way @Googlemaps2025 April2019
Welcome to the Murder Mile UK True-Crime Podcast and audio guided walk of London's most infamous and often forgotten murder cases, all set within and beyond London's West End.
EPISODE TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY-FIVE:
On Saturday 9th of October 2021, mother-of-four Nicole Hurley was brutally attacked in her bed; only the man who murdered her wasn’t a stranger who’d stalked her or a burglar who’d broken in, but the jealous and controlling boyfriend she’d loved, lay beside, and raised a family with for half of her life. That night, he took her life, orphaned her children and devasted her family, yet - like so many domestic assaults which culminate in a killing – it could have been stopped, if only he’d got himself some help.
THE LOCATION:
The location is marked with a blue symbol of a 'P' just above Regent's Park. To use the map, click it. If you want to see the other maps, click here.
SOURCES: a selection sourced from various sources
MUSIC:
UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT: of #295: The Good Mum Welcome to Murder Mile. Today, I’m standing on Broxwood Way in Primrose Hill, NW8; two streets east of Dr Francisco’s killing, a short walk west of the dumping of Rene Hanrahan’s body, one street north of The Blackout Ripper’s arrest, and two streets east of the tragic demise of Kathleen Higgins - coming soon to Murder Mile. Nestled between the Regent’s Canal and Primrose Hill sits the Kingsland Estate, two lines of two and three storey terraces designed in the late 1960s by Sydney Cook, as part of the post-war regeneration of the city. Being brick built with an odd look like 1980s space invaders, many were once social housing but increasingly more are privately owned, being so close to the heart of the city and its greenspaces. As a close-knit community, it deals with its share of vandalism, drugs and gang violence which spills in from less desirable areas, yet the biggest crime to flood any estate is one which often goes unspoken. On Saturday 9th of October 2021, mother-of-four Nicole Hurley was brutally attacked in her bed; only the man who murdered her wasn’t a stranger who’d stalked her or a burglar who’d broken in, but the jealous and controlling boyfriend she’d loved, lay beside, and raised a family with for half of her life. That night, he took her life, orphaned her children and devasted her family, yet - like so many domestic assaults which culminate in a killing – it could have been stopped, if only he’d got himself some help. My name is Michael, I am your tour guide, and this is Murder Mile. Episode 295: The Good Mum. Wednesday 20th of October 2021, 10 days after her murder. With the autumn sun having set in the west, a solemn procession slowly walked to the top of Primrose Hill, their hands and faces illuminated by the soft orange glow of candles. Nobody spoke, as everyone thought the same words and felt the same pain, as they stood at its peak overlooking the city below. All of Nicole’s loved one’s were there; her father Tom, her mum (in spirit), two of her siblings Michelle & Ryan, uncles, aunts, cousins from County Kerry, close friends and good neighbours, as well as her four young children (Jason, Nicole, Violet & Amira) who had lost their mum in this selfish, brutal attack. As requested, the family’s priest, Father Terry Murray of the Church of the Sacred Heart in Kilburn said a prayer, and as an impromptu rendition of Amazing Grace drifted from the hill where she watched fireworks with her kids, over the park where they had picnics and across the Kingsland Estate that she called home, every parent held their child tight as was this something that could happen to anyone. The shock still stung, as a sense of disbelief and horror cracked the voices of those who shared words, and with hundreds turning out, Nicole’s youngest daughter spoke through a megaphone so her fragile voice could be heard; saying “my mum was the best person you could ever meet. She was funny, smart and beautiful. I wrote her name in the sand and the waves washed it away, I wrote her name in the sky and the wind blew it away. I wrote her name in my heart, and that’s where it will stay”… …a family was broken, but their love and strength would hold them together. Nicole Ann Hurley was born on the 1st of February 1984 in Camden, as one of five siblings as well as a vital part of a well-established Irish community of North London. With her late grandmother, Patsy Hurley having come to England from Killorglin in County Kerry on the south-west coast of Ireland, she had been president of the Kerry Association London, and just like Nicole, her family was everything. Raised in Child’s Hill, a leafy suburb near Cricklewood, Claire, who was one of Nicole’s 23 cousins said of their upbringing, “theirs was the party house – they had darts, table tennis, it was the best. We were around there all the time” being a place of love, joy and laughter, and although as Catholics they were burdened by an in-built guilt, their children were raised to believe in something good – family. Family is reliable, loving and trusting, family protects you from the bad, it praises you for the good, and as Stacey, another cousin would say: “your cousins are your first friends, we were all really close”. Attending St Agnes primary school across the early 1990s, aged 16, she left Bishop Douglass secondary after the millennium, and – described as “friendly, funny, gentle and smart” – she worked as doctor’s receptionist and then in the family’s hospitality business. Nothing was a problem for Nicole, as said to be a lovely lady, she breezed through life with passion and patience, she had time for everyone, and – as if her heart played an endless tune – she always had rhythm in her feet and a song on her lips. And although she was earning a good living, it wasn’t what she wanted her life to be. As a teenager, Nicole had fallen in love with Jason Bell. As a couple, they stood out; as she was of Irish heritage and his was African; he was three years older, and where-as she was a petite and effortlessly pretty brunette, being 5 foot 10 and weighing about 19 stone of mostly muscle, he was twice her size. Motherhood came naturally to Nicole, as said to be “tiny, gorgeous… a really strong-as-nails woman”, she could handle any tricky situation with a smile, but not a loud voice or a palm raised in frustration. Over their 21 years together, although they never married, they raised four wonderful children, three girls and one boy, and having moved several times to different flats across the district, in 2011, they found a more permanent home; a four-bedroomed, three-floored maisonette on the Kingsland Estate. Settling into Block No2, they found it to be friendly, safe and welcoming, as being an extension of her own family, the residents stuck together and looked out for one another. For Nicole, it was the perfect place to raise her family, and here they flourished; neighbours said “her kids are amazing, they excel at school and are always helpful. It’s a testament to Nicole as an mother… she was devoted to them”. Residents would state, she never shouted, “she’d say their names quietly and they’d go in”, having learned from their mum to be civilised, polite and respectful. Said to be “the heart of our community… they help carry groceries for you… they offer to water your plants when you are away… they helped build our planters, they go above and beyond to help”. All of her children were growing into thoughtful and caring people, and clearly being a loving family “they’d go to the park and all walk back laughing.” Every part of Nicole’s personality had made her children the wonderful people they became… …it all seemed so perfect, yet behind those closed doors, Nicole was living in pain. For Tom Hurley, Nicole’s father, it all went wrong so many years before, “I feel I lost her a long time ago when at about 16 years of age, she decided to pursue a relationship with Jason Bell. I knew of him and although we disapproved of her relationship there was nothing we could do”. What could they do? As if they had disapproved of her lover, they risked losing their daughter forever, and although that would have been the worst thing that could happen to them, the unthinkable was yet to come. Born on 17th of July 1981 in the borough of Westminster, very little is known about Jason Bell, as none of his relatives publicly spoke about him, or even leapt to his defence. His upbringing was troubled and traumatic, as in 1996, when he was 15, he saw his brother brutally stabbed to death in a callous and cowardly attack, which – at his murder trial – he’d refuse to let psychiatrics assess him for PTSD. ‘He’ should have got the help ‘he’ needed, but ‘he’ didn’t, and because of that, others would be hurt. Across his teens and into adulthood, he amassed 12 convictions; driving whilst disqualified, the assault of his other brother and possession with intent to supply cocaine, as he led a cruel and selfish life of drugs, misery and violence leaving victims in his wake where his only thought was his needs and wants. ‘He’ should have got the help ‘he’ needed, but ‘he’ didn’t, and because of that, others would be hurt. As a gym-obsessed, martial arts enthusiast who was obsessed with knives, he hadn’t the skills to solve a problem, or (like Nicole) the intellect to negotiate a tricky situation, as fuelled by anger and jealousy, this 19-stone hulk couldn’t resolve a dispute by talking, as all he knew was to lash out with his fists. ‘He’ should have got the help ‘he’ needed, but ‘he’ didn’t, and because of that, others would be hurt. Nicole’s father stated “Bell caused our family trouble… we have had to cope with threats from him as we questioned the relationship… (and) although I know I couldn't have saved her, I can't help thinking if only I did more she would still be with us today. It’s a thought that will haunt me for rest of my days”. Nicole always saw the best in everyone, she believed that everyone was good, and although, amazingly she raise four thoroughly decent children in an environment that prosecutor Michelle Nelson KC called “difficult, volatile and toxic”, Bell showed his true colours when in March 2020, Nicole’s mum died. “He had no sympathy for her, and would tell her to get on with life and to move on”, as in his eyes, her priority shouldn’t be her grief and loss over the mother she loved so much, but to look after him. She was all about family, he was all about himself, and although she tried her damndest to maintain a stable life for her children, their relationship was already fatally fractured when on the 23rd of March 2020, every door across the whole world slammed shut as the first Covid lockdown was announced. (Quote – Boris Johnson). “…stay at home…”. From March to June 2020, we were all locked-up like prisoners in our own home, and for those families who got on well, it was fine (some even thrived), but many struggled as tension and frustrations boiled. Nicole was trapped in her home with her children who she loved, and her controlling coercive partner, Bell, who would snap without warning and would violently lash out as one lockdown led into another. By June 2021, after 15 months of isolation and restrictions, a phased re-opening of our shattered lives meant that the world had started to return to a new kind of normal, but although incidents of domestic violence had spiked during the lockdowns, when the world’s doors opened again, it didn’t stop or even lessen, as in many cases, it got worse… much worse. Benaifer Bhandari, CEO of the Hopscotch charity stated “violence against women and girls tripled since lockdown ended and the number of high-risk cases has tripled, too. People over lockdown hadn’t come forward and hadn’t been talking to people”. As Councillor Georgia Gould stated, “violence against women and girls is an epidemic. More than two women a week die because of male violence”, and although a loss of funding for services is key, too often the onus is on the victim to resolve it; by leaving home, changing their details or seeking help. These ‘solutions’ are reactive not proactive, it blames the victims for being targeted and assaulted, and yet, it’s the perpetrator who instigates the violence, yet unlike Jason Bell, they could resolve it. Bell had repeatedly punched and kicked Nicole since their relationship began in their teens, and since, she’d hid the bruises with make-up and long-sleeves, but as one of the neighbours at the Kingsland Estate noticed in the weeks prior, “she always seemed so happy… but had not been smiling recently”. In the days prior, Nicole and her kids spent more time at her sister’s, as family is family, and her family were the ones she could always trust. It was her home and her life, but for the sake of her children, she needed to get away from him as the arguments stretched into days and the violence got worse. Days before that fateful weekend, Bell met Nicole at the park in Primrose Hill, where barely two weeks later, a candle-lit vigil was held in her memory. That day, as unfounded paranoia pumped through his fevered mind, he accused her of having an affair with his friend, Jeremy Drewitt, of being pregnant with his child, and recording the conversation on his phone, he demanded that she take a DNA test. She wasn’t cheating on him and she wasn’t pregnant, as all she ever thought about was her children. But unable to accept the fact that he had lost her because of his violent and controlling behaviour, he was too selfish to see that it was all his fault, and instead of thinking and talking, he would lash out. ‘He’ should have got the help ‘he’ needed, but ‘he’ didn’t, and because of that... …a life would be taken, a family would be destroyed, and four children would be orphaned. It was never said what occurred during Saturday 9th of October 2021, but being so dedicated, Nicole would have done what she loved doing best - being a wonderful mum. Being her children’s role model, they probably played in the park and helped out a neighbour, as life was all about family and decency. Whereas Bell, having converted a room on the top floor of their maisonette in Block 2 into a so-called ‘man cave’, as she fed the kids, sat with them at TV time, bathed them, and tucked them into bed, he probably sat sulking on his gym equipment like a huge moody baby, thumping his punchbag in anger. For some reason, that argument didn’t fizzle out as so many had, so as midnight struck, even though Nicole was dressed in a light top and leggings and Bell in a bathrobe, neither wanted to go to bed. In court, unable to blame himself for his actions, Bell claimed “I lost control because of the things she said to me… she taunted me”, unironically blaming his ‘vulnerable emotional state’ on the very recent death of one of his family members (a nephew), and himself “suffering from undiagnosed seizures”. Yet, his jealously and violence against her wasn’t a new thing, as he had attacked her since his teens. Prosecutor, Michelle Nelson KC summed it up best, stating “the attack was an act of murder motivated by anger and jealousy in the realisation that she was planning to leave him… in short, he was no longer able to assert the control he had”, and unleashed an abhorrent torrent of sadistic violence against her. Although twice her size and weight, he attacked her four times in a short space of time, as at least two of her four children screamed as the monster they called ‘dad’ pummelled the angel they called ‘mum’. The first assault came in the living room, as Bell, a cowardly 19-stone martial arts expert punched his tiny and helpless partner hard in the face, splitting her lip and causing her to stagger. It was an assault she’d experienced many times before, but as she went to their bedroom, he headed to his ‘man cave’. He could have apologised and admitted he needed help at any point, but he didn’t. As Nicole lay on the bed, praying for a chance to sleep, Bell burst into the bedroom and having climbed on top of her, with his sheer bulk weighing down her on, he began stabbing her with his combat knife. Her children heard her screaming “J, what are you doing? J, stop”, as he stabbed and slashed at her, later claiming “she’s done too much to me over the years. I cannot take it anymore. It’s driving me insane. I’m not coming back from this”, as if the total failure of their relationship was her, and not him. Described as a “frenzied, brutal attack on a defenceless” and unarmed woman, and although several deep lacerations slashed her arms and hands as she fought to protect herself, with at least one stab wound penetrating her chest, when she cried ‘J, Stop!”, he stopped with a passive "yeah, cool, alright". He didn’t care about her, he only cared about himself, and although this brief respite from his bloody onslaught gave her time to stagger to the bathroom, struggling to breathe and to put pressure on her wounds with a towel, having grabbed two more knives from the kitchen, Bell commenced his attack. In a brutal assault which spattered the bathroom wall with her bloody handprints, Nicole had suffered 32 stab and puncture wounds, two – to her chest and neck – proved fatal. And although, with her dying breath she pleaded for him to call an ambulance, not only did he refuse it, not only did he stop her kids from trying to save their mum, but as a pitiful last grasp at control, he took all of their phones. Up in his ‘man-cave’, Bell packed an Adidas rucksack with all six phones and two of the four knives, and although wheezing and profusely bleeding, Nicole tried to stagger to the front door for help, again he attacked, battering her face and body until every ounce of her fight to stay alive was spent. And as he left, with one of the children saying “she’s dead”, before he slammed the door, he shrugged “good”. Neighbours heard the screams and called the Police at 12.56am, and although many administered first aid and comforted her children, even with the best efforts of the paramedics, she died at 1.46am. The investigation was headed up by Detective Chief Inspector Jim Eastwood. It was short and swift, as - with knives left at the scene, his fingerprints everywhere, and witnesses including his own children - before the first cards, flowers or teddies were laid by mourners on the stairs to Nicole’s door, the Met’ Police had initiated a citywide manhunt to stop and arrest Jason Bell. He could have given himself up at any point, but he didn’t, as he still had someone else to blame. Through the darkness of St John’s Wood and Kilburn, no-one saw the bloodstains on his dressing gown, as Bell walked two miles north-west to an isolated two-story terrace at Victoria Mews in Maida Vale. Behind a plant pot on the main road, he stashed the rucksack, broke into the home of Jeremy Drewitt - his good pal for two decades - and accused him of having an affair with his dead girlfriend, Nicole. Across the night, the neighbours were unaware that inside of 8 Victoria Mews, Jeremy was being held hostage, that Bell had confessed the murder and that “he said, if I wasn’t truthful, it was going to end badly for me”, as he accused Nicole of sleeping with him and other men, none of which was even true. Jeremy later said “he wasn't making sense, he was rambling and going around in loops, making the same accusations, and the same conversation”, which went on all night, and as – twice – the two men fought, resulting in Jeremy cutting his hip on a smashed vase, he was terrified that he’d end up dead. By the morning, with Bell still paranoid, he was sat by the front door clutching the combat knife to stop his hostage fleeing. Having claimed he was going to give himself up, he took the keys to Jeremy’s Ford transit van, and ushered him into Victoria Mews, only to see that the Police had cordoned it off. Barely moments before, a member of the public had alerted an officer to an Adidas rucksack with six phones and a bloody knife inside hidden behind a plant pot. At that point, it hadn’t been linked to the murder, so a female officer had sealed off the street with tape, awaiting a detective and forensics. Guiding his hostage into the van with a knife in his back, Bell got in, started the engine, and although the officer saw the big box-like van speeding and swerving towards her, she called ‘Stop!’, but barely managed to dive behind the parked police car for safety as Bell breached the cordon and sped on. She called it in, as Bell sped left down Victoria Road toward Kilburn High Road and the Kingsland Estate beyond, but as the van got snarled up in traffic, Jeremy saw his opportunity and jumped from the van. The manhunt was alerted to stop with lethal force (if needed) the driver of Jeremy’s Ford transit… …but the hunt was over, Bell had given up, and having driven to the mental health assessment centre at St Pancras Hospital, he was tasered by Police and arrested. Finally, ‘he’ was in the one place where he would have got the help ‘he’ needed days, weeks, even years ago, but because ‘he’ didn’t, because ‘he’ did it too late when everything had gone too far, because of ‘him’, a good mum was dead. (Out) Interviewed at Holborn Police Station, he blamed Nicole, claiming she was pregnant, even though an autopsy conclusively proved that she wasn’t; he refused to allow psychiatrists to assess him for PTSD, and at 7:13pm that day, he was charged with dangerous driving, driving while disqualified with no insurance. the false imprisonment of a Jeremy Drewitt, and the wilful murder of Nicole Hurley. Tried in Court 1 of the Old Bailey, the cowardly and selfish Jason Bell refused to attend in person, so he appeared via video link from HMP Pentonville. It was said that he sat there “sometimes sobbing”, no doubt feeling sorry for himself as he showed no remorse for his actions. Throughout, he stuck to his ridiculous defence that this was “her fault”, but with the jury deliberating for just 3 hours and 42 minutes, on Tuesday 8th of August 2022, they unanimously came back with a verdict of ‘guilty’. Judge Alexia Durran sentenced 42-year-old Jason Bell to life with a minimum term of 22 years, as well as an additional 7 years for false imprisonment and dangerous driving, and – although he won’t be free till he’s in his mid-60s - the judge also disqualified him from driving for 36 months upon his release. Again, if Jason Bell had accepted that he had a problem (not Nicole) and that he needed help (not her), if he’d embraced Nicole’s way of life which was about family and love, this may never have happened. Nothing can ever take back the fact that, that night, Nicole’s four children lost a mother and a father, but they continue to be loved and protected by good people. A GoFundMe page was set-up to cover the cost of the funeral and also to help support the children’s care, with it currently standing at £47,500, just shy of its £50,000 target. And blessed with a loving family of aunts, uncles and cousins, it is said that they all continue to flourish at school, which would have made their mother proud. This episode is dedicated to Nicole Ann Hurley, a good mum who deserved better. The Murder Mile UK True Crime Podcast has been researched using the original declassified police investigation files, court records, press reports and as many authentic sources as possible, which are freely available in the public domain, including eye-witness testimony, confessions, autopsy reports, first-hand accounts and independent investigation, where possible. But these documents are only as accurate as those recounting them and recording them, and are always incomplete or full of opinion rather than fact, therefore mistakes and misrepresentations can be made. As stated at the beginning of each episode (and as is clear by the way it is presented) Murder Mile UK True Crime Podcast is a 'dramatisation' of the events and not a documentary, therefore a certain amount of dramatic licence, selective characterisation and story-telling (within logical reason and based on extensive research) has been taken to create a fuller picture. It is not a full and complete representation of the case, the people or the investigation, and therefore should not be taken as such. It is also often (for the sake of clarity, speed and the drama) presented from a single person's perspective, usually (but not exclusively) the victim's, and therefore it will contain a certain level of bias and opinion to get across this single perspective, which may not be the overall opinion of those involved or associated. Murder Mile is just one possible retelling of each case. Murder Mile does not set out to cause any harm or distress to those involved, and those who listen to the podcast or read the transcripts provided should be aware that by accessing anything created by Murder Mile (or any source related to any each) that they may discover some details about a person, an incident or the police investigation itself, that they were unaware of.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorMichael J Buchanan-Dunne is a crime writer, podcaster of Murder Mile UK True Crime and creator of true-crime TV series. 
Archives
May 2025
Subscribe to the Murder Mile true-crime podcast
Categories
All
Note: This blog contains only licence-free images or photos shot by myself in compliance with UK & EU copyright laws. If any image breaches these laws, blame Google Images.
|