Original version

BBC World Service Online

Migrated podcast image for: Outlook

Outlook

Factual: Life Stories

True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives

True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives.

Outlook: Wrongly Jailed, Skating Cop and Snakes

Joel Zwicky, Michael Morton, Gowri Shankar.

31/08/2014

Wrongly Jailed, Skating Cop and Snakes

BBC World Service - Outlook, Wrongly Jailed, Skating Cop and Snakes

Wrongly jailed for murder: rebuilding a life and a skateboarding cop and a snake rescuer

Wrongly jailed for his wife's murder - Michael Morton is rebuilding a life. Also a snake rescuer, a skateboarding cop and a woman who swam a river to the maternity unit.

Michael Morton was wrongly convicted of murdering his wife and sentenced to life in a US prison. It took 25 years before DNA evidence proved he was innocent, and allowed him to rebuild his relationship with his son. 

Gowri Shankar spends his life handling snakes.  Armed only with a long stick and bag he races to rescue snakes that have found their way into houses in the towns near Bangalore in Southern India.  His speciality is the most feared snake of all - the King Cobra - and he almost died rescuing one.

The families of the nearly 300 people who died on flight MH17 which was shot down over Ukraine last month are still waiting to find out exactly what happened. These circumstances have brought back traumatic memories for Sevinj Osmanqizi, an Azeri journalist who lost her father when the helicopter he was travelling in was shot down in 1991. He was part of a delegation of peace negotiators flying over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh. 

Heavily-pregnant Yellavva Balappa from north Karnataka state in India had to swim for two hours across a monsoon-swollen river to get to the nearest maternity hospital. 

Joel Zwicky is a police officer from Green Bay, Wisconsin, who patrols on a skateboard.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Outlook

Wrongly Jailed, Skating Cop and Snakes

Genres

Brand

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service