Factual error: As someone with a criminal record Mickey Bricks would not be allowed an "open" visit with Harry Holmes / Albert Stroller while each was in prison. Their visit would be "closed" - Stroller/Holmes would be in a small booth, separated from Mickey by a Perspex screen. This mistake is made in both "Gold Mine" (with Holmes) and also in "Lest Ye Be Judged" (with Stroller).
Factual error: Emma gives their mark, Judge Anthony Stone, the name and address of Albert Stroller - Faverton Open Prison. Throughout the episode we see Stroller inside the prison, and we see what it looks like from outside when he is released. It is absolutely not an open prison, which would not have cell blocks and would not be enclosed in huge brick walls. The prison they show looks more like a medium or even high security inner city prison.
Factual error: Their mark, Judge Anthony Kent, presides over his courtroom using a gavel. British judges have never used gavels.
Other mistake: Mickey and Ash tell Sean and Emma all about the Fortnuss gold robbery, "the third largest bullion robbery in British criminal history." Emma tells them that they know absolutely nothing about it - they have never even heard of it. She goes on to explain that they don't know anything about the robbery because "We weren't exactly up on our current affairs in 1996." If neither she nor Sean knew anything about the raid, how would she know it took place in 1996? (00:06:29)
Factual error: Albert Stroller goes before the parole board, is approved, and released on the same day. That is impossible. The parole board will meet, interview the prisoner, then take depositions from other interested parties. If they approve parole, they will then pass their recommendation on to the Home Office who will approve or decline it. All this takes three or four days at least, so there is no way for Stroller to be out on the street to meet the bent judge right away.
Factual error: Albert's release papers show he was born on 3rd June 1933. However, in the season 4 episode "Getting Even", his time in the US Air Force fighting in Europe in WW2 is discussed at length. Given VE Day was in May 1945, that would have made him 11 (at the very oldest) at the end of WW2: impossible to have served in this timeframe. That doesn't even include the half year of USAF training he would have undergone. The youngest soldier to fight for the US was 12: Albert would have been 10 and a half.
Factual error: Albert's release papers show he was sentenced to 2 years' imprisonment at the county court. This is completely incorrect: he would have been sentenced at a Crown Court given his was a criminal offence. County courts are strictly for civil cases, not criminal ones. Additionally, "fraud" is not the offence under which he would have been convicted. (00:49:52)
Factual error: Emma steals what is allegedly a "private ambulance", which is a small courier-style van. No ambulance - regardless of whether it's NHS or private - would ever be a van of such a small size. It's completely unsuitable both in terms of kit and in terms of transportation. On top of all that, you can see on the van where it states "Co-Operative Funeral Care", and the producers forgot to cover it up. (00:16:35)
Factual error: Andrew Campbell is a psychoanalyst (when Emma leaves his office, a close-up of his nameplate is shown). There's no way a psychoanalyst would be sitting on a parole board, which he does subsequently in the episode. Their skills simply aren't required or relevant to a parole board. The show seems to be confusing psychoanalysts with psychologists (who do indeed frequently sit on parole boards) - but the jobs, roles and requirements are completely different for each.
Suggested correction: There are a number of prisons in the UK that house both category C and D prisoners. This would mean it operates as an "open prison" to some prisoners, but still requires the security precautions of a higher security facility.
Rubbish. Stroller is under secure lockup - treated leniently by the guards perhaps but if the prison we see does have an 'open' section he most definitely is not in it.