True crime Books

Book SynopsisIn August 1925, Audrey Jacob shot dead her former fiancé, Cyril Gidley, in full view of hundreds of guests at a charity ball in Perths Government House. When she was arrested, she still held the gun in her hand. It was a open and shut case of wilful murder that is until Jacob assigned prosecutor Arthur Haynes to her defence. His ability to play the press and the jury for sympathy would lead to a sensational result. The Ballroom Murder is a true crime story that is rich with first-hand newspaper accounts from the day, and demonstrates the power of the press and privilege in an extraordinary judicial outcome.

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Book SynopsisA major influence on William S. Burroughs and other Beat writers, this lost classic was written by Jack Black, a drifter and small-time criminal. Born in 1872, Black hit the road at the age of 16 and spent most of his life as a vagabond. In this plain-spoken but colorful 1926 memoir, he recaptures a hobo underworld of the early twentieth century, a time when it was possible to pass anonymously from town to town. Black''s firsthand accounts of hopping trains, burglaries, prison, and drug addiction offer a compelling portrait of this seedy side of life a hundred years ago.  

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Book SynopsisThe first of two hard hitting, brutally honest accounts of police work during the late 1960s and 1970s. Whilst explicit, they are often humorous, refreshing and equally unbelievable. In this first book of a trilogy the author takes the reader through his early police service and in the second book Fifty Shades of Black 'n' Blue, his later years. The series of two gritty yet humorous books are written with such explicit content that leaves little doubt that many working practices of the 60s and 70s have in reality actually become a culture of dishonesty, lies and often stupidity which has been accepted by the Government of the day, the judiciary and the public at large for many years. That is of course until the present day when it has all gone so wrong. Very, very wrong with the revelations of the Hillsborough Investigation, the Jimmy Savile Investigation, so many more and even 'Plebgate' when The Biggest Gang believed they were so powerful that evidence against Andrew Mitchell MP, a member of Her Majesty's Government left so many questions, which when answered were proved to be blatant lies. This book explains that such examples are not typical of a minority rogue element as being claimed but are a dishonest culture, born so long ago but allowed to fester and grow with the many examples and revelations which have continued until today with Plebgate and Hillsborough as only two shocking examples.

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Book SynopsisWhen Sir Jimmy Savile died in 2011 he was celebrated as a prolific charity fundraiser who had dedicated his time to worthy causes. But on 3 October 2012, ITV broadcast a documentary called Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile. In it they revealed the shocking truth behind the popular TV persona. Several women alleged that Savile had sexually abused them when they were underage, sparking a flurry of further allegations in the following days and weeks. Savile was accused of abusing hundreds of young children and teenagers over nearly 50 years and on 19 October the Metropolitan Police launched a formal criminal investigation into his behaviour. Just how was Savile allowed to get away with such monstrous crimes for so long? What role did the BBC play in sweeping previous allegations under the carpet? Why was a Newsnight investigation that was set to expose Savile shelved? How was he given access to vulnerable individuals? Who else was involved? Top journalist John McShane answers these questions and more in this unflinching examination of the scandal that has rocked some of Britain's most famous institutions to the core. This is the full story of how Jimmy Savile went from being a TV favorite to the most reviled man in Britain.

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Book SynopsisIn 1984, at the age of 78, world-renowned rose grower Hilda Murrell was found brutally murdered in the Shropshire countryside. She had just gained approval to testify on the unsolved [problems of radioactive waste at the first British planning inquiry into a new nuclear power plant at Sizewell, Suffolk. The police theory that a lone , panicking burglar robbed and abducted Hilda in her own car for petty cash erupted into a sensational political conspiracy involving prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's plans for British nuclear energy and the controversial sinking of the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano in the 1982 Falklands War. The West Mercia police took until 2005 to secure the conviction of Andrew George as Hilda's unlikely murderer - in 1984 he was a 16-yeat-old truant from a local foster home who could not drive. The case spawned numerous books, plays and TV programmes as it became one of the most baffling British murders of the 20th century. Now, Hilda's nephew Robert Green - a former Royal Navy Commander who operated nuclear weapons before holding a key position in Naval Intelligence during the Falklands War - tells the story of his extraordinary pursuit of the truth. Believing that Hilda was abducted by those who wanted to find out what she knew about the Falklands conflict and problems in the Sizewell nuclear power plant, and undeterred by ongoing harassment, Green exposes the implausibility of the police theory and uncovers explosive new evidence that should have acquitted Andrew George. This is the incredible true story of Hilda Murrell - and one man's quest to find out how and why his beloved aunt met such a violent and bizarre death.

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Book SynopsisTell The Truth and Shame The Devil tells the inside story of the biggest historic sex abuse case ever mounted by Greater Manchester Police - the investigation into the systematic abuse of boys at St Ambrose College in Hale Barns by chemistry teacher and church deacon Alan Morris. Author David Nolan was one of Morris's victims and was given unprecedented access to detectives investigating the case. Nolan was there every step of the way, not only experiencing the brutal regime of the school in the 1970s but also seeing every twist and turn of the case unfold at first hand. He's even given the opportunity to confront Morris 35 years on from his abusive reign at the school. Will he take it? Jimmy Savile...Rolf Harris...the Westminster sex abuse conspiracy...newspaper headlines have been crammed with historic abuse cases. But what really goes on inside such an investigation? How do officers deal with the raw emotions of the victims - not to mention their own revulsion at the crimes? Especially when they uncover a darker secret at the school - stories of even more horrific abuse that have remained hidden for decades.David Nolan takes you on a journey inside the dark heart of an historic abuse case - there's never been a real-life crime story like it.

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Book SynopsisThe Cleveland Street scandal, involving a homosexual brothel reputedly visited by the Queen's grandson, shocked Victorian Britain in 1889. This is the second edition, including much new information, of the full-length account of one of its key players, Jack Saul, an Irish Catholic rent boy who worked his way into the upper echelons of the aristocracy, and wrote the notorious pornographic memoir The Sins of the Cities of the Plain. Glenn Chandler, creator of Taggart, explores his colourful but tragic life and reveals for the first time the true story about what really went on behind the velvet curtains of 19 Cleveland Street.

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Book SynopsisObsession, jealousy, lust, revenge ...There is nothing more dangerous than a passion that curdles into murderous intent. Love, when it goes wrong and spirals into violence, can lead to the most tragically chilling consequences; death at the hands of a partner or ex-partner is the most common way for a woman to be murdered, far outnumbering her risk of murder by stranger.Sexual obsession is the theme that ties all of these tragic stories together. There is the tale of talented landscape artist Jill Cahill, whose husband was not content with battering his wife to a pulp and so went back to finish the job while she lay in her hospital bed. There is the wife whose body was found in the boot of her own car, and whose husband had framed his girlfriend for the crime, hoping to get rid of two women from his life. But men don’t have a monopoly on murder; there is also the case of Martha Freeman, who hid her lover in her wardrobe, and teamed up with him to murder her husband. John Tanner served a twelve-year sentence for the murder of his girlfriend, and is now back behind bars for another attack on another partner. British soldier Emile Cilliers attempted to murder his wife by cutting the cords of her parachute; however, while he may not have succeeded, Belgian teacher and amateur skydiver Els Clotterman did when she cut her love rival’s cords five years earlier.These, and many others, are the stories of fatal attraction you will find in the pages of this book.

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Book SynopsisIn 1943, four teenagers, engaged in a spot of poaching on a private estate within Hagley Wood, near Birmingham, England discover a decaying woman's body secreted within the trunk of a tree. The police are unable to identify whose remains they are, nor the circumstances of her death. Shortly after, messages start to appear on walls in the surrounding area of the West Midlands, identifying the victim as "Bella", and rumours start to circulate which point to her having been part of an active wartime spy ring, killed so as to silence her. Then, some 11 years after the body was discovered, a local woman comes forward with some explosive information in which she names the killer. Yet, more than 80 years after the event, the crime remains unsolved. Nobody has ever been arrested, and the victim remains unidentified. It is a case which has intrigued many across the world. The Hagley Wood Tree Murder takes a critical look at the case and its investigation, with reference to original police documents. It debunks many of the popular theories, identifies lines of enquiry which have not previously been in the public domain, and follows some significant leads not fully explored at the time. Above all, it explores how a number of influential people outrageously exploited the tragedy for their own ends. The Hagley Wood Tree Murder will be of interest to anyone who has a knowledge of the case or an interest in unsolved crimes or policing protocols, and especially for those who are familiar with this part of the West Midlands.Table of ContentsAuthor's Preface; Part I: Events and Their Reporting (Chronology); Chapter 1:A Murder is Announced - The Body in The Tree; Chapter 2:Initial Investigation; Chapter 3:The Writing on The Walls; Chapter 4:Witchcraft?; Chapter 5:Some New Leads; Chapter 6:Una Hainsworth, Jack Mossop and the Dutch Spy; Chapter 7:More Spies; Chapter 8:From Beyond the Grave; Chapter 9:Later Developments; Part II: Analysis; Chapter 10:Officialdom - The Forensics and Police Enquiries; Chapter 11:The Travelling Community; Chapter 12:Provenance of the Wall Messages; Chapter 13:Una Hainsworth's Story; Chapter 14:Other Spy Ring Theories; Chapter 15:The Occult and Related Angles; Chapter 16:The Deceptions of Wilfred Byford-Jones; Chapter 17:Other Sources of Confusion; Chapter 18:Loose Ends; Part III: In Conclusion Chapter 19: Summing Up; Chapter 20: The Area Today; Appendices:; A - Timeline; B - Transcript of West Mercia Police Case Closure Report (2005); C - List of Persons Reported Missing to (Birmingham Police), May 1940-August 1941; D - Sequential "Bella" Wall Messages; E - List of Customers Calling at Williamsons, Early Monday, 27 March 1944; F - Summary of Police Enquiries at Addresses in Hagley Road, Hasbury, 2 August 1944; G - Transcript of Victor Crumpton Letter; H - Transcript of Statement of Vivienne M. Coss; I - Transcript of First Anna of Claverley Letter; J - Transcript of Second Anna of Claverley Letter; K - Statement Provided to Police by Una Ella Hainsworth 28 December 1953; L - Bibliography, Film, TV and Radio Broadcast Detail;

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Book SynopsisThe true story of a young gay man who was hanged for the murder of his mother. Sidney Harry Fox was the illegitimate son of a railway signalman. He and his mother Rosaline were a devoted couple. Sidney was a forger and a fraudster and a pathological liar who in the course of his life went to prison six times, while she was a Red Cross nurse who was kept by men. Sidney was also a handsome and seductive rent boy with well-placed clients, including three members of the House of Lords, senior army officers, a Justice of the Peace, and a suspected spy who enjoyed being flogged by guardsman of the Household Cavalry. Sidney had long supported his mother on his earnings from prostitution. At the age of twenty-one, Sidney became embroiled with a notorious jewel thief and possible male lover, and later with a married Australian woman who conspired with him to defraud her father, a wealthy merchant. He was later suspected of trying to murder her, by gassing her while she slept in their flat in Southsea after she left him everything in her will. But by the end of the 1920s, he and his ailing mother had fallen on hard times. With nothing but their combined wits and the clothes they stood up in, they set off on a remarkable odyssey around England, staying in grand hotels and leaving without paying their bills. But it was the mysterious and unsolved death of Rosaline Fox which catapulted them from obscurity into the headlines. In October 1929, they checked in to Room 66 of the Metropole Hotel, Margate, where they stayed seven days. On the night of the 23rd, the eve of the Wall Street Crash, a fire broke out in his mother's bedroom and she was found dead. A death certificate was issued giving the cause as shock and suffocation, and she was buried in the tiny Norfolk hamlet where she was born. There she lay for ten days until it was discovered that Sidney had insured her life from accident, and stood to gain £3000 by her death. Her body was exhumed, and an autopsy performed. What the famous pathologist Sir Bernard Spilsbury claimed to find led to one of the most unusual and gripping trials in British criminal history. Set in the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties, and reading in part like the plot of a Hitchcock thriller, this is the first full and authoritative account of this amazing case, packed with a wealth of newly sourced material. It explores the strange relationship between Rosaline Fox and her son, and also asks the questions - was he guilty, and did he deserve to hang? And what exactly was Sidney Fox's crime?Table of ContentsPreface 1 'My mother is in there!' 2 Great Fransham 3 Adventures of a Page Boy 4 A Dangerous Man to Know 5 Fly Boys 6 The Honourable Sidney Harry Fox 7 An Ingenious Teenage Forger 8 Raffles, and the Secret Life of Margaret Chadwick Abell 9 Bright Young Things 10 A Licentious Lord 11 Enter Mrs Morse 12 The Incident of the Gas Tap in the Night-Time 13 Exit Mrs Morse 14 Insurance, Insurance, Insurance 15 Final Respects 16 Murder at the Metropole, or The Mystery of Room 66 17 'Very muddy water here in Margate' 18 Hambrook of the Yard 19 Pathologist for the Prosecution 20 Dark Forces 21 'It was there, I saw it myself' 22 Bruising Encounters 23 Adelaide Foster's Thirteenth Hour 24 Sidney Fox's Crime Sources and Acknowledgements Index

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Book SynopsisA former Scottish police officer has written a raw, unfiltered account of surviving betrayal, corruption, and false allegations.

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