Criminal Record (2024)

Errol is finally cleared when the real killer is exposed as Stefan Ash, and he is released from prison. But the ending does not fully close the case: Hegarty is confronted with the fact that he helped build the false confession, and Lenker realizes he manipulated Errol by twisting what Errol's young son said in the hospital.

In the final stretch, Lenker and Hegarty close in on the truth about Abigail's murder. They track Stefan Ash to an abandoned flat, where he attacks Lenker before police take him into custody. In that same place, Lenker also finds Ash's girlfriend and her baby hiding away. Afterward, the knife used to kill Abigail is found at Ash's house, which clears Errol and points the blame toward the people who framed him, including Tony Gilfoyle's role in pushing the false case.

Then the story shifts to Hegarty's own position. He and Lenker have a rooftop conversation in which he appears to accept responsibility, but an outside review says there is no clear proof he led Errol during interrogation, so he is not formally removed from the force. The final blow comes when Lenker listens again to Hegarty's recording of Patrick, Errol's son, and understands that the child was only repeating a line from a cartoon, not making a real accusation against his father. She calls Hegarty and tells him he poisoned Errol's life by using that moment against him. Hegarty says nothing, hangs up, and ends the series still standing in place, unrepentant in action if not in words.

As for each main character at the end:

• Errol Mathis: freed from prison and reunited with Patrick.
• DCI Daniel Hegarty: remains on the job, not officially punished, but exposed as morally compromised.
• DCI June Lenker: solves the case and confirms Errol's innocence.
• Stefan Ash: identified as the killer, arrested, and then killed by a local gang while being taken away.
• Tony Gilfoyle: implicated in the wrongful case through his use of Stefan as an informant, though the ending does not show a full legal reckoning for him.

The ending's last scene is not a courtroom victory or a clean apology. It is Lenker realizing the childhood statement that helped destroy Errol's life was manipulated, and Hegarty refusing to answer when confronted with that fact.

Yes. In the 2024 season of Criminal Record, at least one character dies on-screen/off-screen as part of the central case, and another death is tied to the backstory of the investigation.

• Adelaide Burrowes is dead before the main action of the series begins; the case revolves around her murder from roughly ten years earlier, which is the death Hegarty and Lenker investigate throughout the season.
• Stefan Ash is killed in the season finale after he is exposed as Adelaide Burrowes's actual murderer. After Lenker and Hegarty track him down and arrest him, Ash is shot through the car window by a motorbike rider while being driven toward the police station; the gunshot kills him, and Hegarty is injured in the attack.

A few important details about Adelaide's death matter to the story:

• She was not killed by Errol Mathis, despite the original conviction.
• The finale reveals that Stefan Ash murdered her, and that Hegarty had used a doctored interview recording to pressure Mathis into falsely confessing.
• The series does not present Adelaide's death in a straightforward flashback as a full scene; instead, it is reconstructed through the investigation and the final reveal.

If you want, I can also list every major character death across season 1 and the 2026 follow-up season, with episode-by-episode context.