Stern & Wild filmmakers reveal story of unsettling faith fraud in leafy London suburb

Congratulations to Series Director Sam Miller and Director Adnan Ahmed, whose gripping two-part documentary about one of the biggest female fraudsters in UK history launched on BBC Two last night.

THE MILLION POUND SHAMAN SCAM chronicles the almost unbelievable story of Marianne Nicholls, who, as self-styled shaman Juliette D’Souza, conned residents of the wealthy London suburb of Hampstead out of approximately £1 million. Over 12 years, D'Souza manipulated her victims into giving her tens of thousands of pounds at a time, to be sent to the Amazon rainforest as "a spiritual offering to cure health problems, including terminal illnesses and infertility".

The series follows an initial investigation into the case launched by Sunday Times journalist Tim Rayment in 2008 and his fight for justice alongside some of D'Souza's now impoverished victims. D’Souza finally faced trial in 2014 and was convicted of 23 counts of obtaining property by deception and fraud. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The series is produced for the BBC by HLP Studios, the popular factual label of independent production house HiddenLight. The second episode will air on BBC Two at 9.00pm on Sunday 11 January. Both episodes are available to stream now on iPlayer.

THE MILLION POUND SHAMAN SCAM, image courtesy BBC