“I get really fired up by injustice and wrong-doing and passionate about trying to help people have a voice and hold to account those responsible for their situation,” Mitchell explains. “It’s this that makes me brave – brave on behalf of other people.”

So, accompanied by her fellow investigator Rob Lawrie, an aid worker and former soldier, Mitchell confronted Scorpion – real name Barzan Majeed – for the thrilling conclusion to their BBC podcast To Catch a Scorpion.

He admitted his activities, and grandly declared himself outside the jurisdiction of the Belgian court that convicted him, untouchable in Iraq. And it seemed he was right. Then, unexpectedly, the Iraqi authorities arrested him for people smuggling. In prison since May, the not-so-untouchable Majeed is due to stand trial next year.

This sensational development made news around the world, sent shockwaves through other people-smuggling gangs, and made To Catch a Scorpion an exemplar of investigative journalism. Mitchell’s byline became a byword for compelling, important reporting.

“Sue is a once-in-a-generation journalist who is motivated, hard-working and dogged,” says You and Yours presenter Winifred Robinson. “A lot of journalism these days is sitting at a desk making calls, but Sue’s out there, wearing out her shoe leather, knocking on doors, asking people, ‘What happened to you?’ A lot of people give up that kind of journalism but Sue’s never lost her fire.”

If anyone would know, it would be Robinson: she and Mitchell have been making documentaries together for more than 20 years. From The Health Protectors, about the work of the Health Protection Agency, and The Boy in the Woods, about murdered schoolboy Rikki Neave, to the award-winning To Catch a Scorpion, either Mitchell has produced Robinson or, increasingly, Robinson has produced Mitchell.

“I always felt uneasy that I would get most of the credit when it was nearly all Sue’s journalism. But presenters do that, hoovering up accolades for what is often someone else’s work. Producing Sue is fantastic because more and more, the work is so personal to her, she’s so involved in it, that no one else can present these stories. We get a roar of approval, a hug from the audience, when these programmes go out.”

Mitchell’s latest investigation may not have the international scale of To Catch a Scorpion but it is just as riveting and much closer to home: she has spent months investigating power of attorney orders – a legal document giving someone else control of your finances and decision-making – and their misuse.

The timing is prescient: more than eight million such orders are registered in England and Wales with the Office of the Public Guardian, which exists to safeguard the interests of people who can no longer take decisions for themselves. With an ageing population, their use is increasing, too – 1.37 million new orders were registered with the OPG in the last financial year, compared with 690,000 in 2020-–21.

The UK’s elderly are also its wealthiest demographic. A generation who have accumulated wealth over a lifetime, often through the increasing value of their homes, are the most likely to need someone to act on their behalf in older age. Anyone who is wealthy but in poor health, with no immediate family, is by definition more vulnerable. You almost certainly know someone in such circumstances. You may be in such a situation yourself.

The Labour MP Fabian Hamilton told the House of Commons recently that misuse of power of attorney is widespread. “Cases from up and down the country are becoming more evident every day. I believe it is time we act to prevent such appalling injustice.”

Mitchell’s interest began with a tip-off from the concerned neighbours of a woman who they’d not seen in months. They became Mitchell’s first collaborators in her latest investigation, The Willpower Detectives, helping her to piece together a trail of names, numbers, sightings and suspicions, recruiting other community detectives along the way. As Mitchell asks questions and moves from street to street, town to town, a pattern emerges that illuminates the power and influence of a single group.

Injustice fires me up and makes me brave

This pattern could be viewed as a glimpse of a bigger picture still: a dark and damning indictment of how we as a society ignore, neglect and marginalise older and vulnerable people. You could come away from The Willpower Detectives downbeat and even despairing. But Mitchell sees it a different way.

“What I see are friends, neighbours and communities looking out for the most vulnerable among them. Streets who keep an eye on the elderly lady across the road. Pals who check in on each other. Good people,” Mitchell says. “Yes, there are bad actors out there, but most people are good.”

When I put it to Mitchell that she is one of those good people – a relative of someone that she has helped through The Willpower Detectives described her as “a superhero” – she demurs. She is also keen to credit others without whom she says she simply couldn’t do what she does.

“There’s the brilliant Joel Moors, whose day job is an assistant editor on the Today programme, and who helps oversee the production; and Tom Brignell, the best sound designer imaginable, who really captures the feel and sense of place. Without them, it’d be a lonely position to be in.”

If there’s a moral to the story – of The Willpower Detectives, of the good works of Sue Mitchell – it seems to be that it takes a village. And so it does. But it still doesn’t quite explain Sue Mitchell herself. As we conclude our interview, I ask what she does to relax. “I swim,” she says. “I coach, too. I love it. When
I was a teenager, I used to be a lifeguard.” Of course she did. Did she ever rescue anyone?

“Mostly youngsters who jumped in despite not being able to swim.”

And with that admission, Mitchell suddenly makes sense. She jumps right in and saves people.