[dramatic music]
♪ I'm sick and tired of living this way ♪
♪ Over and over I pray and I pray ♪
[narrator] A young mom in trauma.
She rang me, she just said to me, I've lost my child,
social services have just come round.
[narrator] Evie Adams has done nothing wrong.
But what about the new man in her life?
♪ No one is coming to rescue me ♪
I didn't know who he was.
And if you asked people about him.
"He's a bad'un, he's a bad'un."
And that's, that's all we got.
[narrator] Two troubled lovers sharing a timeline of torment,
and then one goes quiet.
What has happened to Evie Adams?
It all just kind of changed, but then it was too late for her.
She were already in love with him.
♪ I'm sick and tired of living this way ♪
♪ Over and over I pray and I pray ♪
[ominous music]
[heartbeat thudding]
[narrator] Evie Adams forms a strong connection with her foster family
when they welcome her into their home at the age of three.
When she came to us at first, she was very shy
and within a week she was, she changed.
She started coming out of herself.
Bit of a daredevil, dippy.
She was singing all the time.
She was a brilliant child.
She absolutely loved Bern and Yvonne,
absolutely adored them so much.
She were like, "They've saved me, they've saved me."
Like, "Where would I be without them now?"
[narrator] After three years together,
the family decides to make things permanent.
[Bernard] She absolutely loved it when-- when we adopted her,
all she wanted to do was change her name to ours.
And we said, well no, it's bit of wrong time yet.
When you're old enough, you can change it to ours.
[narrator] Sure enough, on her 16th birthday
she gets what she always wanted.
[Bernard] When Evie changed her name, she changed as a person.
And because she got our name with the big, the big thing,
you know, going around telling everybody
I'm not that person before
you know all that, with her own name it were brilliant.
I think the adoption and Bernard's family,
that secure base was successful
because you know, she was able to go to college.
She was studying to become a hairdresser.
[narrator] It's whilst studying that Evie
meets Holly Drakely, who soon becomes part of the family.
We instantly, like, had this proper good bond.
It were like the sister I'd never had kind of situation.
She was just like an amazing girl.
Like, she was just adorable.
You just wanted to squeeze her face off.
[narrator] Evie makes friends easily
and her infectious personality is a hit with the punters
when she lands her first job at 15.
[Bernard] Before Evie left school,
we had a pub and she used to help out there.
She used to glass collect, she'd do anything to help really.
[Narrator] Having a part-time job at a pub has its advantages.
[Holly] Yeah, we used to go out, have a lot of nights out.
She used to nick Bernard's beer to feed it me.
[Narrator] And when the party's over.
[Bernard] She really loved being at home.
It meant everything to her.
She couldn't do enough for you, she wanted to help, you know,
can I wash up, can I help you cook?
She just loved to be around people that she loved.
She liked to be there.
She had a heart of gold
and she just absolutely loved being at home.
She enjoyed being around her friends and stuff.
Like she absolutely loved her home life.
[Narrator] It's not the home life she's always had.
Evie's upbringing when she was a little girl, was abusive.
There was neglect there was a lot of serious
abuse factors in her early, early years.
Evie was removed from her birth family
when she was very young
and then she was placed in foster care.
She'd had a rough time with her family,
her family were a bit of a notorious family
for getting in trouble with the police
and one thing or another.
Nobody taking care of her properly.
She were out walking the streets in the middle of night
and that sort of thing.
She did tell me she was adopted and she did say she got abused as a child,
but she didn't tell me too much.
Like she were reserved about it.
[Narrator] Evie believes her adopted family
has turned her life around.
She hopes one day maybe she can build a home
and a family of her own.
She starts looking early, just 16 years old.
[Bernard] When she started going up with Nathan
he came in, we invite him around,
started coming around for his tea.
They go in the front room, a really nice lad.
[Jill] He was everything her family had hoped that she would meet
and indeed the relationship appeared happy.
Eventually she moved out, I weren't happy about that,
that they moved out, they moved in together.
[Holly] It was mostly good, some bad.
Like there is in every relationship.
But her and Nathan together
were like perfect for each other.
I was proud of her 'cause she were doing her own thing.
We helped her out, got their own home of their own making.
Said everything were fine.
[Narrator] Fast forward a couple of years
and the pair has some exciting news.
Evie would be round about 19 and a half,
20 when she fell pregnant
and she were proud, she were proud, really proud.
[Holly] She were older than me when she found out it were a girl.
She was just really happy to be pregnant. And she glowed as well through it.
[Narrator] The family's excitement turns to anguish when tragedy strikes
with the death of a close relative
just as Evie goes into labor.
At the time it were joyful and sad.
It were like mixed emotions.
It were tearing against each other all the time.
You know, how could God be so cruel
one in and one out on the same day.
She were upset. You could tell in her voice that she just wasn't happy.
We weren't there for Evie at the time, you know,
it was like postnatal depression.
So we weren't actually there at the time
when she needed us most.
There was a lot of pressure on the family
and it did result in her feeling maybe isolated.
And she did struggle in those first few weeks of being a new mom.
[Bernard] She were on her own all day with the child
and he'd come right home from work and go round to his mothers,
take the baby around and she'd be sat in on her own
and it really took her on a downward spiral.
[Narrator] Evie's relationship with her partner
is heading the same way.
[Holly] They were arguing all the time
and it just got a bit too toxic you, can say.
So it was just better if they separated and parted ways.
Bernard and his family gave her, you know,
the money and the support to set up on her own somewhere.
[Narrator] Evie, the adopted child,
doesn't want to be on her own.
She was scared of quite a lot of things at the time
She didn't know how she were gonna do it alone.
She were worried about money.
Just the usual stuff when you part ways with someone.
She was worrying that she was gonna be on her own all the time.
[Bernard] We moved her in the new house. Nathan was still going round.
She seemed alright and then people
started telling us that there was somebody else there.
[dramatic music]
[Narrator] Jordan Monaghan aged 28,
he's already a father of two.
[Holly] She did tell me she were going on a date
with someone off Tinder called Jordan.
So I was like, right, okay,
like just keep your wits about, you know,
you're a young girl like you are in a bit of a vulnerable position, just be careful.
And then she come off the date,
she rang me up and she was like, "He seems really lovely."
They sound like right, okay then, I were like, "Just take it slow."
[Jessica] Quite quickly there were rumors that Jordan Monaghan
was at that new house quite a lot.
By this point, he'd already got a reputation.
People were talking about him.
[Lee] had pockets full of money, wads of money.
He'd stand in the middle of the pub counting them.
As if to say, look at what I have got, type of thing.
He had a number of businesses
and his brother had a construction building business.
But they were doing paving and driveways
and stuff like that but it never made sense to me
to have that amount of money every day.
Doesn't come from construction.
He were charming and he were happy to spend
whatever it takes to make her happy.
He'd do anything to make her happy.
So I can understand why she didn't want to know.
He was well known in the community
as somebody you really didn't wanna be with.
He was a bit notorious in the area he lived in.
[Narrator] Not everyone has heard of him.
I didn't know who he was.
And if you asked people about him.
"He's a bad'un, he's a bad'un."
And that's all we got.
[Holly] There was just something about him that were off.
It just clicked in my head,
I were like, "There's something not right with him."
And I did try and explain it to Evie,
but she was like smitten, like she wouldn't listen.
She didn't wanna know.
[Narrator] Evie may not know it,
but Jordan lives up to his reputation.
It's the reason his ex-partner has left him.
His partner uncovered a gambling addiction
and challenged Jordan on the fact that
he had run up considerable debt because of the gambling.
There were times I'd seen him put 400 or 500 pound in a bandit.
[Narrator] It's not the worst story that Bernard hears.
There were rumors going out about
a lad who'd murdered his kids,
off one of me, locals of me, the pub that I used to be in.
There was rumors that he'd murdered the kids.
He was under investigation,
because both children died in suspicious circumstances.
Both children were found to have died
having been alone in Jordan's company.
[Narrator] As a result, Jordan needs to be on his guard when he's out.
He couldn't go in Blackburn,
because of what happened with the kids.
People, naughty boys, were on the lookout for him.
[Holly] One night we went out in Blackburn
and somebody come over and glassed him.
And I said to Evie, I said, "Who were that?"
And she said, "His ex's cousin."
I was like, "What happened?" She went, "I don't know."
I later found out it was the baby's mom,
her cousin that had glassed him in town.
[Narrator] What do Evie's foster parents think
of what they're hearing?
I confronted Evie over it.
"Oh, everybody says that about him. They've got him wrong."
My big worry was the grandchild.
If he's done that, like could he do it again?
[Narrator] As Evie and Jordan become closer,
she becomes more distant with those around her.
Evie's family start noticing that she's changed,
she's secretive, she's lying.
[Bernard] The lies just come longer and longer.
And it got to the stage, I said,
"Look, I don't believe a word you're telling me.
You're lying to me."
I said, "You made me and your mom
pull 1200 pound out to buy you a house to be a love shack."
We like drifted apart.
She could only ring me if she went to her dads.
At this point Evie is probably
getting more and more isolated
because she's seen to be almost voluntarily
in this relationship with somebody
who is being excluded from community and society
because he's suspected of murdering children.
[dramatic music]
[Narrator] The police suspect it too.
And in January, 2018,
Jordan Monaghan is arrested on suspicion
of the murder of his two children.
The police did come to warn Evie.
They chose to come and share information with her
that her child was at risk, that she was at risk.
She doesn't, for whatever reason, take heed of the warning.
The police are so concerned they actually take her
to a place of safety and saying,
you're not safe with this man.
A restraining order is issued to keep Jordan away from Evie.
[Narrator] Without evidence to charge him,
Monaghan is released on bail as police
continue to investigate the deaths of his children.
Despite police warnings, Evie can't stay away from him.
Her friend Holly is concerned.
[Holly] We all went to Blackpool for a night out.
Me, Evie and Jordan.
We had a really good night but she couldn't dance.
And that's when it clicked in my head.
I thought, this is not right.
Like she has to be by his side constantly and it wasn't right.
[Narrator] Even the bar staff at their local
noticed the unusual dynamic between Evie and Jordan.
Evie and Jordan Roy stayed back in the booth
and they were a bit more like Evie weren't allowed to do much.
They were like, she always had to be near him,
so she couldn't go and enjoy herself
with her friends if they went off dancing and stuff.
He kinda like went from this charming,
I'll do anything for you kind of person to,
you'll do everything I tell you to do and you'll like it.
Like you could see his whole demeanor changed about him.
He'd gone from being so nice
to always angry, always shouting at her.
It all just kind of changed but then it was too late for her.
She was already in love with him.
[dramatic music]
[Narrator] Evie and Jordan have
been together for 12 months when
police once again attempt to help Evie.
[Jill] There was a restraining order in place,
but he's stopped driving a car with Evie in the car.
When he is asked by the police officers,
he said, "Oh, it's just some bird I met."
Even the use of the word bird shows complete
lack of regard and respect for Evie
and a complete lack of regard and respect for the law.
[Narrator] Jordan pleads guilty to the breach
and receives a 12 week suspended sentence.
That triggers another intervention.
[Holly] She rang me one day saying, "Social services have just been round."
And I was like, "Oh right, why?"
She was like, "Because I'm with Jordan."
I said, "Right, okay."
I was like, "Look," I said,
"Just do what social services want you to do?"
And she was like, "Right, okay, I will."
I was like, "And what exactly have they said?"
"I need to keep Jordan away from my daughter."
I was like, "Right, okay then." So I was like, "Just do that."
[narrator] Advice echoed by Evie's adoptive parents.
Why just not move to another town?
Don't tell anybody where you are.
We'll be in touch, we'll come over every day.
No, no.
And then a couple of weeks later,
I got a phone call quite late at night, about 10 o'clock and she rang me.
She just said to me, "I've lost my child."
[dramatic music]
I said, "What?" She went, "I've lost my child.
Social services, they've just come around and took her."
And I was like, "Why?"
She went, "Because Jordan was here."
[dramatic music]
I turned around and told her the exact reason
she got took away from her parents
was for what was happening to her.
My heart broke a little bit for her
because I thought, you didn't deserve this,
but you've made the wrong decisions.
[narrator] Evie is allowed a supervised visit
with her baby twice a week.
[Bernard] She were heartbroken, I mean,
don't get me wrong, she would never miss a contact.
She loved the child to bits and she'd always ring up
every day to see how she were and how she were doing.
You can see why people would find that really confusing.
You know, why she wouldn't just try and leave that relationship.
For me, that raises questions about how controlling and powerful
that relationship actually is.
Why would she stay?
And maybe it's not about why would she stay,
maybe it's about why couldn't she leave?
[narrator] Bernard has a theory.
She's actually come to our house and she's bruises on her arm.
I said "What's happened there?"
"Oh I fell." I said, "How many times, ten?"
Yeah, I've definitely witnessed him shouting at her.
Yeah, definitely.
And I've witnessed him get aggressive with other people as well.
[dramatic music]
[narrator] There are financial pressures on the relationship
causing tension for Evie.
I went out with a mate one night and somebody turned around,
and said to me that "Jordan's been sacked from his job."
I said, "Well, what's he been sacked for?" "'Cause people's been ringing up
and telling the company he worked for that he's a murderer.
That he's killed his kids.
And it was for his own safety that they finished him."
Now that's when she started saying
she'd no money, I need shopping.
There's no income coming in that she's either lying to them to try
and get money or she's asking them for money.
She weren't paying her rent, but she were on benefits.
So where was the money going?
It was just unbelievable.
[Narrator] Evie is evicted, her life as she knows it is falling apart.
[Holly] She'd obviously lost a baby.
She went from a stable home to living into hostels
and things like that, just trying to get by.
Before she were with Jordan, she were happy-go-lucky, liked going out.
But he stopped all that.
He cut all her friends off.
He couldn't have,
couldn't have any anything to do with anybody.
She's lost a child, she's lost a house.
She's living in a homeless shelter. Like what else can she lose?
[dramatic music]
[Narrator] Evie wants to regain custody
of her daughter and hopes to escape Monaghan.
She moves into a women's refuge
50 miles away in Kendall,
but he won't give her up without a fight.
She tried to end it. She rang me.
"He's following me" I said, "Ring the police."
"No, I don't want to, I don't want to take it that far,
but he's following me wherever I go."
I mean, if she's not safe in a refuge,
you wonder how can she ever be safe?
He were tracking her phone to find out where she were.
Accusing her of being the other men.
This is a real common tactic in a control and abusive relationship.
The belief that actually the only reason
I'm behaving like this is because I think you're being unfaithful.
[Narrator] When that tactic fails,
Jordan goes to extreme lengths.
Police went to see her.
He was on a rooftop in Preston threatening to jump,
because she won't have nothing to do with him.
She's positioned as the cause
and the solution to his behavior, you know,
to his suicide attempt, that she's the only one
that can make him feel better.
So, you know, maybe that did sort of pull
them back together or draw Evie back.
Maybe she felt responsible that she was supposed
to be in that relationship, because if she isn't,
he's gonna kill himself.
[Narrator] Jordan's tactics work.
I hadn't spoke to her for a couple of days
and then I got a phone call saying
she were back in Blackburn and back with Jordan.
[Narrator] Evie is again shut off
from the outside world as Monaghan
controls her every move.
And you can imagine from her past,
he would use that as well
to completely undermine her self-esteem, her confidence.
You'd never be worth anything,
because of what happened to you when you're younger.
You might as well be with me, because nobody else will have you.
She went from her happy, bubbly self to this shadow
in about three months.
It went quick and it went fast.
That wasn't my best friend.
That was just some lass that had been
beaten down so much that she just wasn't who she was.
It wasn't Evie anymore.
[dramatic music]
[Narrator] Evie, still under Monaghans spell,
is going on a short break with him
and some friends to Blackpool.
It's not the respite she perhaps hoped for.
So during the holiday, during that break when they were together
with the other couple, Jordan had become aggressive.
He was argumentative, he'd slammed doors, he'd stormed off,
he'd punched a wall.
[Narrator] Their friends are deeply concerned,
more so when they witness
an odd exchange between Evie and Monaghan.
The other couple that they'd gone away with on their break
reported seeing Jordan give Evie tablets
out of a brown glass bottle.
He told her they were painkillers
and even the friends thought it was a bit odd
because the glass bottle they were using, they went out of date a long time ago.
[dramatic music]
And it was the day after they got back from that short break
that Evie said, "This relationship is over, I'm done."
[Narrator] Evie Adams begins searching for a new flat to live in,
desperate to escape the toxic relationship.
Monaghan is making other plans.
Within a few days of Evie making it clear
that this relationship is over
Jordan is on a WhatsApp group, UK tablets,
and he's looking to procure zopiclone,
diazepam and Gabapentin.
[Narrator] A shopping list of drugs usually prescribed for pain relief,
but if taken in large doses, they can be extremely dangerous.
Those kind of drugs change people's behaviors.
Their resolve, their determination, their whole characters.
Within a couple of days, Evie starts to feel very unwell.
[dramatic music]
[Narrator] Evie is so ill, she's unable to leave the house.
Her flat hunting is on hold.
So you've now got a more compliant Evie.
You've now got an Evie who wants to leave.
And that's exactly what Jordan was looking for.
[Narrator] Evie's family is worried.
She says, "I'm feeling really sick.
I've looked online and I've got stomach flu."
I said to her, "Well what gives you that idea?"
Well, I said, "I'll come down and take you to the doctors."
"Oh, no, no, no, no. Oh no, no.
I've made an appointment, I've made an appointment."
[dramatic music]
[Narrator] Jordan Monaghan calls NHS 111 reporting Evie's symptoms
as four days of vomiting and dizziness.
An appointment is made.
He's not taken her to the doctor's appointments.
There are return calls from the 111 service that are ignored.
[Narrator] Evie takes matters into her own hands.
There is a text message that Evie sends when she's very ill to her friend saying,
"Jordan keeps stressing, he won't let me see a doctor."
[Narrator] Monaghan does not want Evie to get better.
Monaghan calls 111 again,
this time reporting Evie as having abdominal pain.
Two returned calls are ignored.
So we've got a man who is denying her access for help
and when it appears she's sharing that with a friend,
all of a sudden he's the caring boyfriend.
I'm on it, I've got this 111, I'm all over it.
Don't worry, I'm looking after her.
[Narrator] Evie's condition deteriorates.
You couldn't make head nor tail of what she was saying.
She were, you know, like she were drunk.
She's gonna be presenting to people
if she is coming into contact with them as maybe,
oh, she's a druggie, or she's drunk.
So people are less likely to want to engage with her.
[Jessica] We can only really imagine how confusing and terrifying that must be.
The feeling that something is going horribly wrong
and you don't know what it is
and you're taking these tablets that your partner is telling you to take,
but you're getting worse and worse.
It must have been terrifying.
[Narrator] When Evie misses the chance to visit her daughter,
Bernard and his wife know it's serious.
The day before she was due to come and see,
she rung up on the Monday.
She says, "Mom, I can't get there, I'm that ill."
[Jessica] The state that Evie would've been in
because of the amount of sedative drug that she's been given.
It's likely that she wouldn't have known what she was taking
or how many she'd taken that day.
For her to miss a visit. It was just no way.
She'd have walked from Kendall when she were up at Kendall.
She'd have walked from Kendall
all the way to Blackburn to see her.
He doesn't want her to leave the house even if she could.
[Narrator] A moment of relief when Bernard's wife hears from Evie.
[Bernard] She got a text message, "I've put some stuff outside your door."
So the wife goes to the door,
there's a like a wicker basket with bits and bats
and coloring stuff.
I came home, looked on CCTV,
it were a girl that had brought stuff, it weren't her,
so obviously it weren't her texting saying that she'd come.
So it's just again stopping people asking, where's Evie, how is she?
It's just shrinking down the contact, shrinking down the world,
stopping her mom and dad ringing up,
seeing where she is and then not getting a reply
and being worried and coming round.
[Narrator] It's been two months since Holly spoke to her friend.
[Holly] I tried to ring her one day and I got a message.
"I can't speak to you at the minute, I'll ring you when I get to my dad's."
I just said, "Right, okay." That phone call never came.
Sorry.
Yeah, that phone call never came.
[Narrator] In the ten days since Evie
first reported feeling ill, she has not seen a doctor.
During this time, she has unknowingly taken
a combination of prescription drugs given to her by Monaghan.
The effects are shocking.
Evie has sent this text message to Jordan saying, "I feel like I'm dying."
She doesn't know that the purpose of those drugs
is to suppress her system.
So her heart rate is probably going to be very low.
Her breathing rate will have slowed down.
It's causing a lot of damage.
And so to say, you know, "I feel like I'm dying."
She probably did feel like she was dying
because everything was shutting down.
[Narrator] On the 24th of October whilst at work
Monaghan receives a text message, seemingly from Evie.
"I've taken the drugs and I don't wanna be here anymore and I don't want help."
[Jill] His aunt goes around to the house to check on Evie
and that's when they found Evie
in a really dangerous situation medically
and an ambulance was called.
Jordan returns to the address, the paramedics are there,
the police are there,
and he cries and he also claims to give
over the blister packs of the medication
that he thought Evie might be taking.
[Narrator] They don't know it yet, but Monaghan has Evie's phone.
Bernard and his wife have no idea
the events which are unfolding across town.
We're sat there watching telly.
About ten past ten at night.
Police sergeant knocks on the door, "Can I come in?"
"Why, what's up?"
"Well, can I come in, I'll tell you."
"Evie Adams, yeah, sadly she's passed away.
She's committed suicide."
[Narrator] News soon reaches Evie's close friend, Holly.
I was sat at work, I'd just finished a night shift.
I was last at work
and I started laughing and I was like, she can't be dead.
Like she said she was gonna ring me.
Like she'd never not ring me.
I'm sorry.
[Narrator] Her family and friends
are struggling to understand what's happened to Evie.
Why would, why would she commit suicide?
She wouldn't miss the child for anything.
I mean if it meant walking from London, she'd walk.
She just would not miss that contact.
She'd never leave her child ever. She just wouldn't do that.
I just knew, something inside me just knew
that she wasn't to blame, he was.
[Narrator] Monaghan is already suspected of killing his children
by people in the community.
News of Evie's death quickly spreads online.
The fallout immediately after the death on social media,
it were big.
It were big because this girl in a relationship
with someone, and now she's dead.
What's happened?
Like what's happened to her?
[Narrator] Despite initial evidence suggesting suicide,
after just 24 hours, police have another theory.
Force major incident team turn around
and told us straight that it were 99% sure
that it wasn't suicide.
She'd been murdered.
[Narrator] Monaghan is a key suspect,
but police have no evidence to charge him.
[dramatic music]
As investigators try to piece together what has happened to Evie Adams,
her suspected killer Jordan Monaghan is back to his old ways,
drinking and gambling down at the local pub.
He soon makes friends at the bar
with Jake Marsden and Sue Doris.
The only story I knew for a long time was
Evie wasn't so well and Evie took tablets
and committed suicide purposely.
[Sue] I just started chatting to him.
He told me a little bit about Evie,
told me that obviously she committed suicide.
So to me it was just, oh bless, I'm really sorry,
but tried to make it a bit light for him
because he seemed really sad.
[narrator] Monaghan plays the role of the grieving partner,
but even in her death, he's trying to control what happens to Evie.
He's trying to stop her family making funeral arrangements.
He went to a solicitor, so she couldn't
actually have a funeral for over a month
cause he were waiting for some decision on one thing and another.
And there was a lot of concerns,
because he threatened to turn up at the funeral
and fire bomb the place.
We got her body moved out of town,
cause we expected him breaking in.
You know, that's type of person he were.
[dramatic music]
[narrator] Bernard is determined to keep Monaghan away from the funeral,
but he has other ideas.
An opportunity to plant evidence perhaps.
Jordan asks a mutual friend to put a photograph in Evie's coffin.
And so he invites the friend over to the house to get this photo.
He picked something up and it, this suicide note
dropped out of the picture frame.
But it weren't even at the house, this was his parents' house.
You know, it just doesn't make sense.
[narrator] Handwriting experts are drafted in
to try and make sense of this new evidence.
Evie's funeral goes ahead.
There was police at gates going in,
all at different exits and where we went for the wake after,
the police was outside there back and front all the time.
It wasn't sad, it was happy.
Everybody was there to celebrate Evie's life.
Narrator] Monaghan remains out on bail.
He surrounds himself with people who don't know his secrets.
He ended up being my like little drinking partner type thing.
Partner in crime and, yeah, he was always fun and a good laugh.
We had little bit of a party at the pub for my birthday and it was funny
because there was a couple of girls, Polish girls come in.
Really nice girls and they were talking
to Jake and Jordan and they were like, oh,
and Jordan's like, "I don't know what to do."
He said, "I've never been out with a girl since I went out with Evie."
He said, "I just, I'm a bit nervous."
[Narrator] How does Evie's friend, Holly,
feel about Monaghan being out on bail?
He's taken my best friend's life and he's out on bail walking around
and he could be talking to any other girls
who are none the wiser about what's just happened in his life.
So, yeah, I was really angry.
[Jill] He's moved on, got away with that,
killed his two children, got away with that,
killed Evie, got away with that.
God, I'm good, I'm good at this. Yeah, this is my life.
But what he doesn't know is that actually
the toxicology in Evie's body is looked at
and there's concerns about the level of drugs.
The report stated that the opiate levels
in Evie's blood were the equivalent of taking 20 Tramadol.
Any more than two would make somebody unwell.
[Narrator] Police now know what caused Evie's death,
but they still need to find proof of who caused it.
It's been nine months since Evie was poisoned.
Monaghan is moving on.
Jordan goes back into a life of setting up a company in her name,
a company that is going around and he's using her name to rip off people.
He's taking money from those, those that ripping people off.
He always had a big wallet full of cash and always seemed to,
if he wanted something he could just pay for it.
Never like a little bit, it was always a big,
big amount of money, like.
But he was constantly with everybody, do they need to lend some money?
I was like, there's just something not right.
There's something not sitting right.
Starting to get, seem more shady and shadier
as the time went on.
[Narrator] As Monaghan becomes more elusive,
he is quick to offer an explanation to his friends.
He'd go and see his solicitor and go missing for a few days.
So that used to like be on a Monday,
Monday to a Thursday and he were back on a Friday
and we were like, "Oh, where have you been all week?"
"I've been working."
But then as it went on and went on,
that's how it more come out with the seeing the solicitor.
"I had to stay in the cells for a few days for questioning."
and then you'd ask "Why, what you're being questioned for?"
Now, it's suspicious.
[Narrator] Lee's suspicions grow after a spat in the pub.
A woman who is a friend of Monaghans former partner,
has heard about Evie's death.
She was calling him a murderer.
That was my first real proper inkling
with everything into the Evie and the other two children.
She called him a murderer, she told him,
"You've killed your kid, you've killed your ex,
you've done this and you will get what's coming to you."
And then you start thinking, well these accusations have come out.
So many of them, there's gotta be some truth in it.
He didn't come across dangerous to anybody, he didn't.
He was just a young lad.
He didn't pose any threat to nobody.
You know, he just seemed a happy,
sometimes sad because obviously of what had happened to him.
But the rest of the time he was just having a drink
and having a laugh with everybody.
But we were all dragged under an illusion.
[dramatic music]
[Narrator] Sue is surprised to learn the truth about her friend Monaghan
when she's visited by police.
[Sue] They said to me then about children
and they said, "Do not let him anywhere near children.
He's not allowed in the vicinity of children."
And I'm like, "Why?"
And he, the police asked me, what did I know about his children?
I said, "Well, I knew that they'd passed away."
I said, "But it was like six years ago."
I said, "For a genetic, something genetic that they'd died of."
[Narrator] Police are closing in.
[Jill] Detectives are then getting the best experts they can find.
And we talk about 12 experts from a wide range
of disciplines to just look at, not just Evie's death,
but also the death of the two children.
[Narrator] In the autumn of 2020, nearly a year after Evie Adams' death,
police have a major breakthrough.
Part of the investigation the officers would've done,
they've obviously seen his phone and had access to his phone
and they can see quite clearly using WhatsApp.
They've been able to view and witness him ordering drugs, buying drugs.
All the drugs that were found inside Evie after her death,
that clearly show that Jordan was the one that were buying the drugs
and Jordan was the one that was, you know, administering the drugs to Evie.
[dramatic music]
Jordan is then rearrested
and he's charged with the murder
of his two children and of Evie.
[Narrator] In October, 2021,
Jordan Monaghan appears at Preston Crown Court.
The friends who thought they knew him appear in court too.
Made me sick that I'd been in
association with somebody that could do something
that evil and not flinch.
Not flinch.
You know when you look at someone and you can see that they're sorry?
He didn't look like that in court.
And he was sat at the back row. So he was sat at the very back.
He was just slouched like he knew what was coming anyway.
He knew he was already going to get, stay in prison for majority of his life.
He knew he was going to get found guilty.
He knew his time was up of the lies that he had been telling.
Felt like I'd been tricked.
Whoever this person was, it was just a big cover up
and a big fake and all,
all these laughable times and memories I've had
aren't even real.
How can he stand there and be sad over Evie's death?
And when the anniversary of her birthday was,
be sad and show us all pictures
of how much he loved her and all the rest of it?
When apparently he did this to her.
And leaving all us lot thinking everything was fine.
That a man could do something like that?
That's just, it's insane to me that somebody can do that.
[Narrator] During the trial,
a linguistics expert presents evidence on the suicide note.
And then they proved in court by a writing expert
it were nothing like her writing.
Something notes of these love letters she supposedly written,
that weren't her writing
'cause we still had all her old school books and so on.
[Narrator] Lee presents damning evidence
about Jordan's whereabouts on the night that Evie died.
The particular thing they asked me about in court
was a phone call that Jordan told me about.
He said he'd had a number of phone calls when Evie died,
the night Evie died that he'd missed on his phone
and he was working in a warehouse.
And then when he eventually answered,
they told him he would, that Evie had died.
In my eyes, if someone rung me and told me my girlfriend had died,
that you made out you loved so dearly,
he'd have dropped everything at work and gone straight home.
He finished his shift and then went home.
I thought, well, he is getting, he's getting sent down.
It's got this serious, like I said,
because nobody ever spoke about it for a long time.
Nobody knew how serious it was.
Yeah, at that point I thought, yeah, he's going down.
[dramatic music]
[Narrator] Jordan Monaghan is found guilty
of murdering his 21-month-old son,
his one-month-old daughter and 23-year-old Evie Adams.
[Bernard] I mean, people said, bring back hanging.
I don't, I don't want anything like that.
I want him to be tortured every day in prison.
Like he tortured her.
I hate him, but I don't want him to die.
I don't want him to take the coward's way out
and commit suicide.
I want him to pay for exactly what he's done
to them babies and to Evie.
Because if he takes the coward's way out and kills himself,
then that's just what he wants to do, that's his choice.
And no, he shouldn't have a choice anymore.
Evie didn't have a choice, so why does he get a choice?
[Narrator] Jordan Monaghan, now 30 years old,
is sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 40 years.
There's no doubt this guy,
had he not been arrested for the murder of Evie,
would've gone on and perpetrated the exact
same type of behaviors that Evie fell foul of.
Definitely don't feel like I've got justice for Evie.
Never will have, never will do.
Nobody's ever gonna know the full truth, only he is,
whatever he knows, he's obviously lied so much,
you're never gonna know the full story.
The word monster, I don't think that even touches the sides with this.
He is much worse than that.
Got what he deserved in my eyes.
I hope to never seen him walking the streets again.
[Narrator] Evie's family and friends
are left to pick up the pieces, but the scars remain.
I mean, it's in hindsight now, but we had a chance, I'd of took her away.
You know, gone away, you know,
abroad or something for a few month.
Just, just to get her away from him.
But just one of them things, isn't it?
You live and learn.
I just wish that I could have picked her up,
thrown her over my shoulder and took her away
and just took her out of the situation.
Because she just didn't deserve it at all.
[Jill] Jordan Monaghan completely took over her life
and then ended it and tragically,
despite the family's love, the best efforts,
they couldn't have done anything to change that.
Bernard and his family have found a way to remember Evie
through a memorial garden that her daughter can enjoy.
When it's warm she'll sit there.
She'll sit in the sleeper,
"Heya, mom, I'm doing this today, I'm doing that."
And say, "Grandad?"
"What, love?"
"My mom's just been watching me."
You know when a butterfly goes past, I'm like.
She lives through her daughter now, I get videos and pictures off Bernard.
Yeah, she's doing amazing, she'd be so proud of her.
[Bernard] The Evie I remember is fun-loving, always dancing,
always singing, get up and karaoke in an empty room.
You know, she's just, just funny.
It's hard and she'll never be replaced ever.
I'll never forget her.
She'll always be there somewhere,
always.
[dramatic music]
♪ I'm sick and tired of living this way ♪
♪ Over and over I pray and I pray ♪
♪ I'm disregarded like I am not there ♪
♪ So in you prayers, I'll make you care ♪
♪ I am not finished here so sit and stay ♪
♪ I won't let you go till you hear what I say ♪