Épisodes

  • the family case: The 'Other' Adelaide
    May 24 2026




    This episode contains references to child exploitation, grooming, drugging allegations, sexual abuse, trauma, and strong language. Listener discretion is advised.


    This interview audio has been altered at the request of the Interviewee.


    In this episode, investigative journalist Brian Littlely speaks with a person who moved through Adelaide’s hidden social world during the 1970s and 1980s.

    What begins as a discussion about growing up gay in an era of fear, violence, and secrecy slowly unfolds into something much larger, a portrait of overlapping worlds operating beneath the surface of everyday Adelaide life.


    The racing scene.

    The security world.

    Private gatherings.

    Powerful men.

    And the survival masks people built in order to exist within them.


    As Sleepers moves deeper into its investigation surrounding what became known as The Family, this episode marks a shift away from isolated allegations and toward the broader culture that allowed silence, vulnerability, and fear to thrive.


    Some claims made in this interview cannot be independently verified and are presented as one person’s recollections and lived experiences.


    Interview by Bryan Littlely.

    Hosted by Max Marten.


    BRYAN'S Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/bryan.littlely

    Bryan is old school.


    Next time on Sleepers, we will be moving further into Adelaide after dark, hidden social circles, drugging allegations, and names many South Australians already know.


    A huge thank you to everyone who supports Sleepers


    Always remember


    Fight like JO! - #fightlikejo


    Sleepers is an investigative podcast exploring the stories that refuse to stay buried.


    #TrueCrimeCommunity

    Support Services🇦🇺 Australia
    • Lifeline Australia – Crisis Support & Suicide Prevention: 13 11 14 (24/7)
    • Kids Helpline – For young people aged 5–25: 1800 55 1800 (24/7)
    • Beyond Blue – free, confidential telephone counselling 24/7: 1300 22 4636
    • MensLine Australia – Counselling for men: 1300 78 99 78
    • 1800RESPECT – National Sexual Assault, Domestic & Family Violence Counselling Service: 1800 737 732 (24/7)


    🌍 International

    United States

    • RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network): 1-800-656-4673 (24/7)
    • National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Dial 988 (24/7)

    United Kingdom

    • NSPCC (for children & young people): 0808 800 5000
    • Samaritans UK: 116 123 (24/7)
    • NAPAC (National Association for People Abused in Childhood): 0808 801 0331

    Canada

    • Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868 (24/7)
    • Talk Suicide Canada: 1-833-456-4566 (24/7)

    New Zealand

    • Safe to Talk (Sexual harm helpline): 0800 044 334 or text 4334 (24/7)
    • Lifeline New Zealand: 0800 543 354

    Europe (general)

    • 116 123 – European standard suicide helpline (works in many EU countries)
    • 116 111 – Child Helpline Europe

    Global

    • Child Helpline International: childhelplineinternational.org/child-helplines


    It's time to rise - #fightlikejo


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    36 min
  • the family case: The Family No One Wants.
    May 13 2026


    This episode contains references to child exploitation, grooming, drugging allegations, sexual abuse, trauma, and strong language. Listener discretion is advised.


    This interview audio has been altered at the request of the Interviewee.


    Sleepers begins a new investigative line into The Family and the wider stories, allegations, witnesses, and unanswered questions surrounding Adelaide in the late 1970s and early 1980s.


    Max Marten introduces investigative journalist Bryan Littlely, conducting an interview with someone who grew up vulnerable in Adelaide, with fear, secrecy, survival, and terrifying encounters that left them believing they had escaped something far larger than one predator.


    Some claims made in this interview cannot be independently verified. They are presented as one person’s recollection and lived experience.


    Thank you to everyone who attended Sleepers Live at the Arkaba Hotel. Your support, your questions, and your willingness to listen help keep this investigation moving.


    This new direction into The Family doesn’t mean Sleepers will stop pursuing information connected to earlier episodes.

    If new witnesses come forward or new evidence appears, we’ll follow it.


    Part Two, coming next, continues the interview, moving deeper into Adelaide’s hidden social world, parks after dark, private houses, powerful men, and allegations that still cast a shadow over South Australia.


    Interview by Bryan Littlely.

    Hosted by Max Marten.


    Always remember, #fightlikejo


    BRYAN'S Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/bryan.littlely

    All the info about the Whyalla show will be there first. Bryan is old school.


    Sleepers is an investigative podcast exploring the stories that refuse to stay buried.





    #TrueCrimeCommunity





    Support Services🇦🇺 Australia
    • Lifeline Australia – Crisis Support & Suicide Prevention: 13 11 14 (24/7)
    • Kids Helpline – For young people aged 5–25: 1800 55 1800 (24/7)
    • Beyond Blue – free, confidential telephone counselling 24/7: 1300 22 4636
    • MensLine Australia – Counselling for men: 1300 78 99 78
    • 1800RESPECT – National Sexual Assault, Domestic & Family Violence Counselling Service: 1800 737 732 (24/7)





    🌍 International

    United States

    • RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network): 1-800-656-4673 (24/7)
    • National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Dial 988 (24/7)

    United Kingdom

    • NSPCC (for children & young people): 0808 800 5000
    • Samaritans UK: 116 123 (24/7)
    • NAPAC (National Association for People Abused in Childhood): 0808 801 0331

    Canada

    • Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868 (24/7)
    • Talk Suicide Canada: 1-833-456-4566 (24/7)

    New Zealand

    • Safe to Talk (Sexual harm helpline): 0800 044 334 or text 4334 (24/7)
    • Lifeline New Zealand: 0800 543 354

    Europe (general)

    • 116 123 – European standard suicide helpline (works in many EU countries)
    • 116 111 – Child Helpline Europe

    Global

    • Child Helpline International: childhelplineinternational.org/child-helplines
    It's time to rise - #fightlikejo


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    33 min
  • Sowing the Seeds
    Apr 16 2026


    This episode contains confronting material, including references to abuse, trauma, and distressing personal experiences. Listener discretion is advised.


    What happens when memory doesn’t come back clean?


    In this episode of Sleepers, we hear from the grand nephew of the monster STAN HART, in an interview that is as fragmented as it is confronting. What unfolds is not a neat narrative, but something far more complex: a series of lived experiences shaped by major trauma, survival, and time.


    Some claims made in this interview cannot be independently verified. Where relevant, we have made that clear. This episode does not seek to confirm every detail, but it does recognise the weight and courage it takes to speak at all.


    This is not an easy listen.

    It wasn't easy for Bryan or Max to produce.


    But it is an important... very important!


    As Sleepers continues to dig into South Australia’s most confronting and unresolved stories, this episode marks a shift into territory where truth, memory, and perception don’t always align.


    And where the questions matter just as much as the answers.


    SLEEPERS LIVE — Wednesday, August 22 Adelaide, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

    Join investigative journalist Brian Littlely for Sleepers Live at the Arkaba Hotel, Adelaide.


    📍 Arkaba Hotel,

    150 Glen Osmond Rd, Fullarton SA 5063

    Adelaide SA - https://www.arkabahotel.com.au/


    📅 Wednesday, August 22

    7:00 pm for a 7:30 pm start.


    Book via HERE or The Ark


    HURRY - AT TIME OF POSTING, there were fewer than 100 Tix left!


    Sleepers is an investigative podcast exploring the stories that refuse to stay buried.



    It's time to rise - #fightlikejo


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    26 min
  • adelaide oval abduction: Evil Play
    Mar 22 2026

    In this episode of SLEEPERS, two separate accounts, decades apart, begin to flesh out the pattern.


    The first comes from a man recalling an experience as a six-year-old boy living directly behind Stanley Arthur Hart's property in Yatina, Regional South Australia. He describes a room called a playroom, a space he was taken into and not allowed to leave.


    The second account comes from an adult witness who visited the same property years later. What he encountered appeared unusual, even at that time: a sick woman in bed, a floor strewn with wasted medication, a conversation about a caravan, and an attached room, known as a shed, containing jars described as animal specimens.


    Individually, these are fragments. Together, they raise questions.

    This episode does not present conclusions.

    It presents testimony, memory, and environment and examines how spaces can be normalised, explained away, and later understood differently.

    As Sleepers continues its investigation into cold cases, historical abuse, and unresolved questions in South Australia,


    Evil Play asks listeners to consider what was seen… and what was missed.

    If you have information relevant to this series, you can reach out confidentially.


    Listener discretion advised.



    🎤 Sleepers Live — True Crime Event

    Join Bryan Littlely live as Sleepers steps off the podcast and into the room.


    📍 Arkaba Hotel, Adelaide

    🎟️ Tickets & details: https://www.arkabahotel.com.au/?bn_event=sleepers-live-true-crime-feat-bryan-littlely


    #SleepersPodcast

    #Playrooms

    #AustralianTrueCrime

    #ColdCasesAustralia

    #SouthAustralia

    #TrueCrimePodcast

    #UnsolvedCases

    #InvestigativePodcast

    #HistoricalAbuse


    #TrueCrimeCommunity


    Support Services🇦🇺 Australia
    • Lifeline Australia – Crisis Support & Suicide Prevention: 13 11 14 (24/7)
    • Kids Helpline – For young people aged 5–25: 1800 55 1800 (24/7)
    • Beyond Blue – free, confidential telephone counselling 24/7: 1300 22 4636
    • MensLine Australia – Counselling for men: 1300 78 99 78
    • 1800RESPECT – National Sexual Assault, Domestic & Family Violence Counselling Service: 1800 737 732 (24/7)





    🌍 International

    United States

    • RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network): 1-800-656-4673 (24/7)
    • National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Dial 988 (24/7)

    United Kingdom

    • NSPCC (for children & young people): 0808 800 5000
    • Samaritans UK: 116 123 (24/7)
    • NAPAC (National Association for People Abused in Childhood): 0808 801 0331

    Canada

    • Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868 (24/7)
    • Talk Suicide Canada: 1-833-456-4566 (24/7)

    New Zealand

    • Safe to Talk (Sexual harm helpline): 0800 044 334 or text 4334 (24/7)
    • Lifeline New Zealand: 0800 543 354

    Europe (general)

    • 116 123 – European standard suicide helpline (works in many EU countries)
    • 116 111 – Child Helpline Europe

    Global

    • Child Helpline International: childhelplineinternational.org/child-helplines
    It's time to rise - #fightlikejo


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    43 min
  • adelaide oval abduction: The Chameleon
    Feb 28 2026

    In this episiode Bryan Littlely speaks to a woman who knew Stan Hart inside the ordinary spaces of community life.

    Stamp meetings, tennis courts, and coffee with family.


    What she describes is not the public persona.


    It is a locked room...

    A dying wife living in dim light.

    A warning whispered: ‘Please don’t come back… it’s bad here for you.’

    And a man capable of charm in public and force in private.


    Through lived experience, this witness reveals the duality she now recognises: a respected community figure who, in her words, was a ‘chameleon’.

    This episode does not deal in speculation. It deals in memory, pattern, and behaviour and asks whether concealment allowed something darker to operate for decades.


    If you have information relevant to the matters discussed in SLEEPERS, you can contact us confidentially.

    Always remember — Fight Like Jo!




    #SleepersPodcast, #TheChameleon, #StanHart, #SouthAustralia, #TrueCrimeAustralia, #ColdCase


    ⚠️ Content warning: This episode discusses child sexual abuse and trauma. Listener discretion is advised.




    Support Services🇦🇺 Australia
    • Lifeline Australia – Crisis Support & Suicide Prevention: 13 11 14 (24/7)
    • Kids Helpline – For young people aged 5–25: 1800 55 1800 (24/7)
    • Beyond Blue – free, confidential telephone counselling 24/7: 1300 22 4636
    • MensLine Australia – Counselling for men: 1300 78 99 78
    • 1800RESPECT – National Sexual Assault, Domestic & Family Violence Counselling Service: 1800 737 732 (24/7)



    🌍 International

    United States

    • RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network): 1-800-656-4673 (24/7)
    • National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Dial 988 (24/7)

    United Kingdom

    • NSPCC (for children & young people): 0808 800 5000
    • Samaritans UK: 116 123 (24/7)
    • NAPAC (National Association for People Abused in Childhood): 0808 801 0331

    Canada

    • Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868 (24/7)
    • Talk Suicide Canada: 1-833-456-4566 (24/7)

    New Zealand

    • Safe to Talk (Sexual harm helpline): 0800 044 334 or text 4334 (24/7)
    • Lifeline New Zealand: 0800 543 354

    Europe (general)

    • 116 123 – European standard suicide helpline (works in many EU countries)
    • 116 111 – Child Helpline Europe

    Global

    • Child Helpline International: childhelplineinternational.org/child-helplines







    It's time to rise - #fightlikejo


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    28 min
  • adelaide oval abduction: Family Ties
    Feb 6 2026

    Sleepers returns after a few weeks away, and it doesn’t ease back in.


    In Family Ties, brothers Mark and Stephen Marshall confront memories that have followed them since childhood. One recalls being lifted onto his brother’s shoulders and told to look inside what was called Poppa’s Jail. The other, decades later, faces that memory

    .

    Interviewed by Bryan Littlely, their accounts are raw, fragmented, and deeply unsettling, not because of what they claim, but because memory, denial, and family silence collide.

    This episode sets the tone for Season Two: quieter, darker, and driven by testimony that refuses to stay buried.


    We’ve been away over Christmas, but we haven’t been idle.

    More interviews.

    More voices.

    More threads are already pulling tight.

    This is only the beginning.


    ⚠️ Content warning: This episode discusses child sexual abuse and trauma. Listener discretion is advised.



    Support Services



    🇦🇺 Australia
    • Lifeline Australia – Crisis Support & Suicide Prevention: 13 11 14 (24/7)
    • Kids Helpline – For young people aged 5–25: 1800 55 1800 (24/7)
    • Beyond Blue – free, confidential telephone counselling 24/7: 1300 22 4636
    • MensLine Australia – Counselling for men: 1300 78 99 78
    • 1800RESPECT – National Sexual Assault, Domestic & Family Violence Counselling Service: 1800 737 732 (24/7)



    🌍 International

    United States

    • RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network): 1-800-656-4673 (24/7)
    • National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Dial 988 (24/7)

    United Kingdom

    • NSPCC (for children & young people): 0808 800 5000
    • Samaritans UK: 116 123 (24/7)
    • NAPAC (National Association for People Abused in Childhood): 0808 801 0331

    Canada

    • Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868 (24/7)
    • Talk Suicide Canada: 1-833-456-4566 (24/7)

    New Zealand

    • Safe to Talk (Sexual harm helpline): 0800 044 334 or text 4334 (24/7)
    • Lifeline New Zealand: 0800 543 354

    Europe (general)

    • 116 123 – European standard suicide helpline (works in many EU countries)
    • 116 111 – Child Helpline Europe

    Global

    • Child Helpline International: childhelplineinternational.org/child-helplines


    It's time to rise - #fightlikejo


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    33 min
  • beaumont abduction: The Woman on the Lawn
    Dec 11 2025

    In this final episode of 2025, Sleepers brings you one of the most significant witness accounts ever shared publicly about the disappearance of the Beaumont children.


    For nearly sixty years, she held her silence.

    She was a young mother on holiday at Glenelg on Australia Day 1966, sitting on the grass with her children, when a little boy played with her son on their picnic blanket.


    His name was Grant Beaumont.


    In this episode, she tells her story.


    She describes the man she saw with the children, the moment he rose and walked them toward the side shows, and the fear that drove her to flee South Australia the very next day. Her memories are clear, consistent, and unchanged across decades, and now, they become part of the public record.


    As we approach the 60th anniversary of the Beaumont disappearance on Australia Day 2026, this testimony raises new questions about old assumptions, long-dismissed leads, and the urgent need for renewed investigative action.


    Sleepers will continue in 2026, examining not only the Beaumont case but also cold cases across South Australia. The Adelaide Oval abductions, the 1980s Family murders, and the many stories still waiting in the shadows.


    If you know something… say something. - Your voice matters.

    It's time to rise - #fightlikejo


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    35 min
  • beaumont abduction : Hannah's Story
    Nov 28 2025

    In Episode 10, we mentioned Hannah, a survivor whose childhood memories may hold a crucial piece of the Beaumont investigations.

    In this episode, you hear her voice for the first time.

    Hannah takes us inside the threats, the fear, and the world of Les Davis as she lived it from the age of six.

    She speaks about photographs, a white dress, digging in underground tanks, and the moments that shaped the trauma.

    Details she has carried, unchanged, for decades.


    Then, for the first time, her older sister Rachael steps forward as a second corroborating witness.

    Rachael independently confirms the fear in the household and the danger their father repeatedly tried to report to the police.


    She also brings new insight into Les’s behaviour, movements, and the patterns that now appear impossible to dismiss.


    Two sisters.

    Two perspectives, inside and outside.

    One story that aligns across time, memory, and lived experience.


    This is not rumour.

    This is not speculation.

    This is raw, consistent, and long overdue. testimony

    .

    ⚠️ Content warning: This episode discusses child sexual abuse and trauma. Listener discretion is advised.


    Support Services


    🇦🇺 Australia
    • Lifeline Australia – Crisis Support & Suicide Prevention: 13 11 14 (24/7)
    • Kids Helpline – For young people aged 5–25: 1800 55 1800 (24/7)
    • Beyond Blue – free, confidential telephone counselling 24/7: 1300 22 4636
    • MensLine Australia – Counselling for men: 1300 78 99 78
    • 1800RESPECT – National Sexual Assault, Domestic & Family Violence Counselling Service: 1800 737 732 (24/7)


    🌍 International

    United States

    • RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network): 1-800-656-4673 (24/7)
    • National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Dial 988 (24/7)

    United Kingdom

    • NSPCC (for children & young people): 0808 800 5000
    • Samaritans UK: 116 123 (24/7)
    • NAPAC (National Association for People Abused in Childhood): 0808 801 0331

    Canada

    • Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868 (24/7)
    • Talk Suicide Canada: 1-833-456-4566 (24/7)

    New Zealand

    • Safe to Talk (Sexual harm helpline): 0800 044 334 or text 4334 (24/7)
    • Lifeline New Zealand: 0800 543 354

    Europe (general)

    • 116 123 – European standard suicide helpline (works in many EU countries)
    • 116 111 – Child Helpline Europe

    Global

    • Child Helpline International: childhelplineinternational.org/child-helplines
    • International Suicide Hotlines Directory: findahelpline.com

    #SleepersPodcast #AustralianTrueCrime #ColdCases #BeaumontChildren #AdelaideOvalAbductions #SurvivorVoices #LesDavis #SouthAustraliaHistory #ChildProtection #InvestigativeJournalism

    It's time to rise - #fightlikejo


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    1 h et 8 min