How did Criminal Record season 1 end? The confession came from the last person Hegarty could afford
The whole of the Apple TV+ thriller hangs on one anonymous phone call: a frightened woman saying her partner confessed to killing Adelaide Burrowes. The finale reveals who that partner is — and it's the one man DCI Daniel Hegarty (Peter Capaldi) could never afford to have exposed: his own police informant.
The real killer
Errol Mathis (Tom Moutchi) didn't do it, despite serving over a decade for the murder of his girlfriend. The killer was Stefan Ash (Paul Thornley), the couple's landlord — and a long-time informant for Hegarty's old network. Ash used his access to the flat, killed Adelaide, and was quietly shielded because of his value to the police. The anonymous caller, Carla, was another of his victims.
That's the sting in the show's tail. DS June Lenker (Cush Jumbo) spent eight episodes fighting Hegarty to reopen the case — and the truth was sitting inside his own operation the whole time.
How it all comes apart
The finale moves fast:
- The arrest — Lenker and Hegarty track Ash to an abandoned flat; he attacks her, she fights him off, and he's arrested.
- The hit — on the drive to the station, a motorbike gunman shoots Ash dead through the car window. Hegarty takes a bullet to the stomach and survives.
- The release — the murder weapon is found at Ash's house, and Errol walks free at last.
- The escape — Hegarty hands over his recording of Errol's interrogation, but a review finds no conclusive proof he coerced the confession. He keeps his career.
The final twist
Just when it looks like Hegarty made an honest mistake, Lenker re-listens to his old hospital recording of Adelaide's six-year-old son, Patrick — the "witness statement" that broke Errol into confessing. The boy wasn't describing Errol at all. He was quoting a cartoon on the hospital telly. And Hegarty knew.
She phones him:
"You poisoned him. You poisoned his whole life with that."
Hegarty says nothing, smirks, hangs up — and looks straight down the camera as the screen cuts to black.
For the record: the rematch has already happened. Criminal Record season 2 premiered on Apple TV+ on 22 April 2026, with Capaldi and Jumbo both back for another eight rounds.