‘Silent Twin’ tells her story for the first time in new podcast

The story of identical twins who only spoke to each other for years will be told by one of the siblings in her own words for the first time in a new BBC Sounds podcast.

Known as the ‘silent twins’, June and her sister Jennifer Gibbons barely talked to anyone except each other for nearly 30 years.

In 1982, the twins were the youngest women to be sent to Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital after a crime spree that saw them cause hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage in arson, vandalism and theft over a period of five days.

During their time in Broadmoor, they would come face-to-face with some of the country’s most dangerous criminals including the Yorkshire Ripper and Ronnie Kray. They were aged just 19.

West Wales

Throughout her life, the story of June Gibbons and her twin Jennifer, has been told countless times. It’s been the subject of documentaries, films, books and musicals, but their story has always been told by someone else.

Now June will reveal her own first hand account in an eight part BBC podcast, June: Voice of a Silent Twin.

Available to listen to now on BBC Sounds (December 26), the podcast is narrated by Linda Mitchell and features exclusive interviews with June and excerpts from the sisters’ private diaries.

As June recounts her life, listeners will hear about the identical twins’ childhood growing up in west Wales, where they dreamed of being writers, to the crime spree that saw them become the youngest women ever to be admitted to Broadmoor.

Speaking in the podcast, June Gibbons said: “I’m pleased people want to hear my voice and it’ll be an ending to a story that’s gone on for so long and this will be the finality of it.”

As daughters of Windrush immigrants who moved to rural Haverfordwest in the seventies, the twins were bullied for their speech impediments and soon withdrew into their own world.

Isolated

Preferring to write their innermost thoughts in diaries, they refused to talk to anyone else and only spoke to each other. They would confine themselves in their bedroom, isolated from the outside world.

When they did decide to start to break free of their self-inflicted isolation at 18 however, they made headlines for their crimes. At just 19, they received an indefinite sentence at Broadmoor High Security Psychiatric Hospital and on their release, tragedy stuck.

“What’s going to make it unique is that you are hearing it from my own voice,” June said.

“I’m the one talking. They’re not talking about me. I’m the one that’s talking myself. So it’s me saying those things. The real June Gibbons.”

Executive Producer, Karen Voisey said: “You may think you know the story of the ‘Silent Twins’ but think again. Through powerful insight, June’s personal testimony and innermost thoughts and emotions, this podcast reveals so much more.

“It is a deep dive into the disturbing, destructive but often humorous world of June and Jennifer and their years before, during and after their time at the top security Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital.

“The podcast also dispels the misleading myths that have haunted the sisters for decades. It has been such a privilege to be able to tell June’s story.”

June: Voice of a Silent Twin is now available to listen to on BBC Sounds