My heart aches for Jane. She was a CHILD. He groomed her and he is at fault for all of it. She was not able to discern the dangerousness of this man and she was in no way complicit. My heart aches for the blame she feels. She was A CHILD! Excellent podcast.

Compelling story. Extremely well investigated.

The way he spoke to and shamed Jane was disgusting. She was a victim of child sexual assault and emotional abuse by the hands of Hamish. Ruined the entire program for me.

Genuinely shocking this was produced by a major newspaper in 2023. Calling a grown man’s abuse of a child an “affair” was quite a repulsive choice. Also there were so many gross swallowing and gulping noises that weren’t edited out of the IRL recorded interviews. Sometimes the journalist would say they were speaking over a “bad international connection” and you could barely understand a person. Why not just get on a Zoom?

This podcast was such great storytelling! No episode felt unnecessary, and despite my limited knowledge of the financial world Hamish operated in, I still was able to understand the impact of his duplicity. I’m also glad that the final episode referred to him as a predator and clarified that his relationship with Jane was predatory. I’m so glad the victims got some sense of relief through his sentencing.

This was an interesting true crime story, but my GOD the handling of child sexual abuse was horrendous. “[Jack] must have had a big heart to forgive you.” 😱😱😱 Do people in Australia seriously not know what grooming and sexual abuse is???? If not, maybe you could have interviewed an expert and found out??? Also, it’s a Ponzi scheme, not a pyramid scheme.

I don’t know why this isn’t towards the top of the list. This was a fascinating story ! This a wild story of Hamish who could Scam & Con with the best of them. He may be the Best. Great Podcast!

I totally agree with other reviews. Age of consent varies by location, but the adults in this story should have more compassion for Jane. Hamish’s behavior was predatory and despicable. No one seems to have protected Jane. I guess the adults in her life were also groomed. It’s just so awful that she seems to feel responsible, and the adults in her life have allowed her to believe that’s right.

Please revisit with Jane and make sure it’s clear to viewers and her that she was a minor and he was abusing HER! She was not at fault. It would’ve been good to make sure that was clear to her during her interview. I changed my rating based on that interview. Ruined the entire thing.

As a CPA in America I find white collar crime fascinating. This is a very well done podcast that delves into the lives of Hamish’s victims. It’s just so amazing that he wasn’t caught sooner. Excellent non biased reporting!

What a crazy tale….. so many lessons brilliant work to the team. That poor young girl was groomed, she tells her story so eloquently. I pray she goes back to school and makes a good life for herself and for her grandparents x

I hope that Jane will forgive herself for getting played by the conniving bastard that robbed so many adults. She was only a teenager when she was manipulated and I feel sorry to hear her in tears.

I’m so disappointed with the way Jane’s story was handled. She wasn’t another girlfriend of Hamish’s, she was a victim of child sexual abuse. The way the host handled her interview and segment of the story is horrendous.

This really hits home for those of us who have been drawn in by cons and narcissists. Hopefully, people will hear this and see the warning signs. Great reporting!!!

Great podcast. Was completely hooked from the beginning. Awesome job

I was so moved by the interview with Jane, my heart broke for her. I have to admit, I got choked up during the sentencing

This is one of the most compelling podcasts ever. To listen to each segment as more victims of psycho Hamish come out with their stories. And best of all, to get the satisfaction of hearing his sentencing! I truly hope this story reaches the world - to help people have healthy skepticism and avoid the heartbreak of being taken by crooks.

Good podcast! Kept my interest.

Sorrow for all the victims. Jack & Bec sound like wonderful people. Jane too is intelligent, articulate, as the interviewer said, wise beyond her years. They are sharing her lessons and hard-won acceptance. That any of them would do the interview shows they are bravely processing the appalling exploitation done to anyone is the orbit of this creature. The genuine, empathic nature of the vulnerable victims is like a scent he followed as a predator. Telling the story publicly, especially underage at the time victims, may seem unorthodox to some but I think the benefits outweigh that and serve as an enlightening tale. Hopefully they will use this experience to become more powerful aware people. They will have scars for sure but still have open & wise hearts.

The story is well told and the podcast is intriguing. While I agree with many other comments in the reviews about the victim mishandling during the Jane bonus episode, I found it equally empowering at the maturity and insight she displayed. I also do applaud the narrator for letting that empowerment be spoken in her own words. Personal opinion, but I’m not interested in hearing a journalist tell a young woman how she should feel. He created a space for her to be honest and open, and it felt as if she found the experience cathartic (and she was clearly well received). It’s also important not to discount the other victims of this sociopath. Jane’s story stings because she was so young, but I feel just as deeply for the victims who thought they should have known better, who cant rely on naivety as a coping mechanism, and who have less time to recover from their victimization. At the end of the day it’s a well researched heartbreaking story that displays empathy towards the lives effected. Love to those involved & kudos to the production team.

So sad that Hamish wasn’t caught earlier. Interesting to hear how white collar crime is sentenced. Hamish destroyed so many lives. Podcast was well done. I was hooked after the first episode.

Great pod!! Feel sorry for Jane, but she was just a child. For the life of me I can’t figure out why these people fell for this! Call it a good dose of US midwestern skepticism, but I was taught the if it seems too good to be true it probably is.

It is absolutely insane that this was able to occur for such a long time. I have an unbelievable amount of compassion for the people's lives that hamish all but destroyed. I was so happy to hear even the small portion of the judge's verdict. Also, June. Listening to this bright, young, enlightened woman speak was heartbreaking but also such a pleasure. June, you are a bright light with an amazing future ahead of you.

Great storytelling about the abuses & manipulations of a cunning sociopath. People need to be wary of these people. They’re out there & they look just like us.

An excellent podcast. Focused, well edited, and evenly paced. An engaging and interesting story. I highly recommend it.

I am enjoying this podcast and only have one episode to go. However, I am very concerned about the portrayal of “Jane.” I am very concerned for Jane’s view of what she “did.” Jane is 100% a victim of Hamish, if not a victim of the worst kind. She was an underaged “child” who was sexually, emotionally, and financially taken advantage of by a much older adult man. Jane was literally sex-trafficked. Jane did not have the capacity to make true “conscious” choices, as she says, in the circumstances she was in. I’m not sure what Australian law is, or what the age of “consent” is, but Hamish should be charged of this crime he committed against this girl. I’m disappointed that your show didn’t raise more flags and more disgust over this relationship. I hope and pray that Jane gets the deep therapy she needs.

This podcast was riveting. Fascinating subject, excellent interviews, sooooo compelling. What was difficult was the wet mouth noises/drinking/swallowing sounds REPEATEDLY, especially on the bonus episode. 🤢😬🤢😬🤢 Those sounds have no business being so LOUD and in my ears. Were I sitting next to the person, I would not hear them with such crystal clarity. Please editors, take heed.

Well done and such insight into people - sociopath and otherwise.

Well put together and well narrated I'd have gotten some friends together and gotten my money....and he'd not be well afterward

Great podcast! All of the podcast I have listened to from the Australian have been excellent. This one was no different. I enjoyed all of the episodes. I definitely recommend this podcast!

Do your homework on the people you meet and do business with, and listen to your instincts.

The “bonus” interview of Jane is repulsive. The interviewer is just as much of a creep as Hamish. Completely infects every previous episode. “Hey, can you describe in excruciating detail every aspect of your abuse at the hands of this man? Oh, you’re reluctant to? I’m going to press harder!” Unethical. And just plain disgusting.

Overall, great podcast. However, the audio quality on the interview in episode 10 is unlistenable. Podcast would be better without it.

New York - The age of consent is 17. It is illegal for anyone to have sex with someone under the age of 17. Hamish should be guilty of Statutory Rape during the Princeton/NY trip with the minor he was grooming.

Having experienced something similar (to a much smaller degree) I just want to say how impressed I was with Jane’s honestly and maturity at only 23 years old. Jane if you are reading this- you seem like an incredible person who deserves happiness and peace. This is only a short chapter of your life. I’m rooting for you!

Who the hell approved the Jane interview? Greg, your heavy breathing only made the whole debacle of an interview with Jane more creepy. It also felt strange and voyeuristic when Greg started asking Jane (so poised and mature by comparison) about the sexual abuse she suffered. And yes, Greg, it was abuse! Jane is a victim. She was groomed and then psychologically, emotionally, and sexually abused by the literal psycho you’ve been profiling in your podcast. Before the Jane interview, I was really intrigued by this story. That’s the only reason you’re getting 2 stars.

Excellent reporting on this terrible person. I really appreciate the respect that the narrator gave to the people he talked to and about.

Had to stop listening when Greg Bearup totally botched and mishandled the interview with Jane. Hammish was a MASTER manipulator and willing to engage in statutory rape and pedophila to defraud people, yet Greg says to Jane “ya know we all make mistakes when we are 17, it’s just that your mistakes were amplified by this guy.” No, Jane is not to blame here. But Greg did a great job retraumatizing and victim-blaming her. Almost as wonderful of a job as the United States Senate Judiciary Committee did with Dr. Ford and Brett Kavanaugh. What a disappointment! Go watch Abducted in Plain Sight, or read about how Robert Berchtold kidnapped his 12-year-old neighbor, Jan Broberg, *twice* and had sexual relations with her until she was 16 because they had to “stick to the story,” and then tell me that Jane is to blame for Hammish Watson’s treachery, duplicity, callousness, and psychopathy. [[TO JANE! This is not your fault! You were psychologically abused and manipulated by a psychopath before you’re prefrontal cortex had even fully developed. (It’s fully developed around 25.) Sending you all the love and good vibes, if you read this Jane!!]]

Good yarn about an overlooked and underreported destructive crime. There are thousands of Hamish’s out there. Would like more detail about how Hamish groomed his victims with definitions of gas lighting, etc from the psych. Thought it was great that the interviewer let the victims tell the story. Disagree with other reviewers that “Jane” was victimized by interviewer. It’s obvious to me that she requested the interview and it’s a part of the healing process to be a part of this. Jane-you made no choice. You were not complicit. Hamish is a psychopath that enjoyed the game of sleeping with you in front of his wife. It was his way of gaslighting her and making her think she was crazy. Psychopaths enjoy the manipulation-stealing whatever people hold dear and ruining them. Money, self worth, dreams. Shame on the police and shame on Hamish’s family for not talking about him and giving the victims any insight into this psychopath!

I was disturbed listening to the interview with Jane with how callous the interviewer was. You may have been interviewing a very young “adult,” she was telling a story of a child who was perpetrated on by an adult and you blamed her and highlighted her pain. Most adults with decades of experience fell prey to this man and this was a 16/17 year old being placed in impossible double binds. While I understand her feelings of responsibility to her family, it is painful thinking there wasn’t someone there to protect her when she needed it most. I hope she is finding her path and self worth. This interview allowed her to tell her story, but you, the interviewer, rubbed in her pain. That was cruel and for what....

A good podcast telling an interesting story, but the host’s interview with Jane felt exploitative and icky.

Not impressed with the last “bonus” episode and the interview with Jane. Jane was a child who was groomed & I feel the host failed to fully grasp that. Hamish is fully to blame for the situation with Jane and any other explanation or perspective is misguided.

Those who are crying foul over this series are not paying attention. He does not call it a “relationship” until Jane first calls it a “relationship.” He does not call it an “affair” until Jane first calls it an “affair.” It is Jane, not the journalist, who conceded that she knowingly and conscientiously entered into an activity that she knew was wrong, and that she was complicit in the subsequent duplicity (her words, not his). Those who would shelter Jane under a “victim” status deny her own freedom to tell her own story, and completely devalue her expressions of regret and sorrow. Her story is touching and heartfelt and sincere, compelling because she is so sorry for what she did. The magnitude of Jack’s and Beck’s forgiveness—and the depth of her sorrow— is lost when Jane is denied the dignity of expressing her own regret. Her present healing is not found in her ability to extract herself from the wrongdoing, but in acknowledging her small part in it. She is a remarkable young woman and should be treated accordingly. Those who would shift all blame from her, unwittingly suggest that there is nothing she could have done differently to avoid the outcome. In other words, they force her into the role of a powerless victim, the very thing they think they are protecting her from. This series is just outstanding journalism.

The host’s treatment of the discussion of Jane’s experience with Hammish with Beck, Jack, and her grandparents was irresponsible, but his interview with her was absolutely infuriating. To allow these people to discuss their point of view without giving the audience the proper context of understanding it was abuse, not an affair, is bad journalism and a dangerous way to frame the manipulation of a teenage girl. His interview with Jane herself took it to the point of complete lack of journalistic integrity, basic decency, or a fundamental understanding of abuse and victimization. “We all make mistakes at 17” does not describe her experience of being groomed and violated by a man 30 years her senior. This host has no idea what he is doing and should never be allowed to handle a story of such sensitive nature again.

The story as told by the victims.

Jane is a victim in every sense of the word - and instead is treated as an adult who made a bad decision. This kind of portrayal of child sexual abuse is not only inaccurate but dangerous. I now have doubt if Australian legislation and policy in child sexual abuse cases is on par with international standards because of the gross misrepresentation of the victim in this podcast.

Loved the first few episodes, but it got much more repetitive and boring over time. Additional episodes didn’t seem to add to the story, but rather reinforce existing themes, to the point that it felt like beating a dead horse. Ended up giving up in episode 8, but wish I would’ve stopped a few sooner.

This is a superb series; I also loved The Teacher’s Pet (and sincerely hope that monster Chris Dawson finally sees justice). But PLEASE STOP BLAMING UNDERAGE VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT FOR THE ABUSE. Jane (like Joanne in the Teacher’s Pet) was absolutely set upon by a predator, and I wish that the host would understand that she is a victim that Hamish abused in the most vile manner. Stop asking her questions like she just made choices about a “bad relationship” etc — Jane was the victim of a crime, not a woman who made bad decisions in an adult relationship. FFS. I really hope Bec and Jack can understand that Jane was ABUSED. At some point Hamish is compared to our (as in we Yanks) literary figure Jay Gatsby. Yeah, they both told lies about their histories — that’s where the similarity ends. Gatsby was a true romantic who fought for everything he had in life to win back Daisy (he actually served honorably in WWI — he’s not lying about that detail) and EARNED his money (even though the market and all of that speculation was very Wild West at that time). He wasn’t stealing money from vulnerable grandparents or preying sexually on a teenager while claiming to be her father. Ugh. Hamish is a disgusting predator. He’s no Gatsby — only in his own mind.

Really love this podcast and teacher’s pet, but someone needs to be accountable in this case for calling June’s relationship with Hamish an affair. Jane began going to the dreaded household as a freshman in high school. How is being groomed by a trusted father figure an ‘affair’? A journalist ought to know the definition of a word. Hamish abused Jane, who was morally his own daughter.

5 stars