Sweet Bitters

Going into April of this year, things were looking pretty good for Marie. She was recovering well from shoulder surgery. The podcast was on track and doing well. And Greg was working hard alongside Ken and really enjoying his time with his daughter and the whole family. But, out of the blue, Marie got a call that the police were looking for Greg. Flooded with emotions of all kinds, Marie started putting together the pieces of the puzzle and facing the fact that addiction had been laying in wait. In this episode we look at how Marie's feelings about addiction and trust and betrayal have evolved with this latest chapter.

Five years ago the unimaginable happened to Marie when her son died of a drug overdose. In this episode, Marie takes us back to that day, the depression that followed, and where she is now in her mental health journey.

As Marie's sons struggled with their addictions to drugs, her entire family was struggling to hold on to some semblance of the family life they had once enjoyed. Marie and Ken tried everything they could think of to help their boys, desperation leading to some extremes. But although they had some short term successes, they weren't able to drive drugs from their boys' lives. In this episode Marie talks about the impact of drug addiction on her family and own mental health.

It's a strange thing to know your kids so well and then almost overnight, they seem to become entirely different people. That's what happened to Marie when her sons became addicted to drugs. When they were using and she tried to reach them, those funny, athletic, strong sons she raised would look back at her with vacant eyes. But when they were sober, she found her lost family again. In this episode, Marie introduces us to those boys, the people behind the addictions. And she recounts how drugs took a hold of them. This is the first of three episodes that will take us through Marie's roller coaster journey with the addictions of others.

While Marie was focussed on the fate of her family, their story was playing out in the headlines and online. Her family was depicted as "the Highland mob" and "the family that kills together, stays together". Marie saw a deep chasm between the story she read in the papers and what she knew to be true about that night on Betula Place. That same chasm was evident when the case moved into the courtroom. As we heard in Episode 4 much of the testimony wasn't really credible. Those experiences shook Marie's faith in journalism and the justice system. In this episode, we explore what happens when you realize that institutions that are supposed to protect you are build on Pillars of Sand.

When Marie and Ken work up January 30th, 2012 for the first time in nearly two years they didn't have the prospect of jail time for Ken hanging over their heads. But that didn't mean life was back to normal. Their finances had taken a big hit and they were soon to find out that a not-guilty verdict did not restore their reputations. In this episode Marie tells us how they reshaped their lives around the people who stuck with them, what she thinks about those who turned their backs and how they live their lives now.

The trial of Ken Brotherston and his sons, Kenny and Greg was an exercise in frustration for Marie. She heard absurd testimony from witnesses who admitted lying on the stand. She might have laughed if the next 20 years of her life wasn't at stake. The judge handed down her verdict based on the version of events she found most credible. In this episode we take you through that narrative and her reasoning for finding Ken and his sons not guilty on all counts. The decision of The Honourable Madam Justice Dillon Theme Music: Verão by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

After Ken was arrested Marie waited 33 days until he was released on bail and they could touch each other again. That time was filled with lawyers, accountants, frantic plans to raise money and prison visits --- so many prison visits. Marie explains why it took so long to get Ken out and takes us through it all up to the moment when she picked up Ken from the jail and put her hand in his once again. Credits Theme Music: Verão by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

On a warm spring evening in 2008 Marie's husband Ken set out on a simple errand with his son, Kenny. They were going to pick up some insurance papers at a guy's house. But the night was anything but simple. They were met by a man waving a gun and less than two hours later Ken was being charged with first degree murder. In this episode we go through what happened that evening, from Ken's arrival at the house on Betula Place to his frantic pleas at the police station for help with the guy who had tried to kill him, the man who died that night.

In this introductory episode Marie tells us the broad strokes of the events that blew her world apart, from the night that her husband and two sons were arrested on murder charges to the verdict in the courtroom almost two years later. Sue and Marie talk about how a podcast about one woman's story came to be a podcast about talking about emotional pain. Marie really wanted the story to mean something, to help someone in some way. And Marie's story is so relevant in these difficult times from the injustice of the justice system to living under intense media scrutiny. You'll also get to know a little more about Sue and Marie. They're clear that neither of them is a counsellor. They are not offering any advice and they don't advocate any particular therapy but they do believe that talking about the events that cause us pain almost always helps with healing. They will tell you a little bit more about their backgrounds and what they bring to the podcast.

Speaker 1: Marie Brotherston Speaker 2: Sue Elrington Overseeing the studio session: Sadie the dog