Case studies

The Real Ted Hastings – corruption scandals inspiring Line of Duty

Millions of us were gripped by the BBC’s Line of Duty. As the sixth series came to a somewhat controversial climax with the revelation that detective Ian Buckells was the embedded criminal known as “H”, author Stephen King was tweeting about it, the late Queen was rumoured to be a fan, and social media was crammed with speculation. Brilliant scripts from creator Jed Mercurio and a wonderful cast of top actors made the series a must-watch event. What is less […]

Books 0 1 min read

British Murders podcast – how to research a true-crime book

Being interviewed on the British Murders podcast by Stuart Blues, I faced questions I rarely get asked. Stuart was interested in my background as a journalist and writer. He wanted to know how an author puts a non-fiction book together with research and interviews. Interviewing people is one of the fascinating aspects of writing books. I’ve been lucky to speak to former detectives, psychologists and profilers. Interviewing experts Stuart wanted to know if interviews always went well. No, they don’t. […]

Uncategorized 0 1 min read

Murder by the Sea just published

The book, written by myself and David Howard, has just been published. It’s a companion to the CBS Reality television series, recounting 10 notorious cases with fresh material. Here’s the promo video for the book, with details of the blog tour.

Books 0 12 sec read

Dark Son

youtu.be/r6BnF5FEmvQ

Hammersmith Nude Murders 0 1 sec read

Murder by the Sea – the book

Murder by the Sea is the CBS Reality series that launched in 2018. Around 100 episodes have been made, exploring murders in a variety of seaside settings. Towns by the sea offer an intriguing backdrop to such crimes. The seaside is where we go for a holiday, to enjoy a better quality of life, or to retire. What could go wrong amid the sunny beaches, funfairs and lovely views? From Blackpool to the Orkneys Plenty, of course. The larger resorts, […]

Murder by the Sea 0 2 min read

Murder by the Sea: The Mochries

I learned a chilling term while researching my contribution to tonight’s episode of Murder by the Sea – the ‘Family Annihilator’. It’s hard not be saddened, perplexed, annoyed that a man can rationalise the act of killing his whole family. One newspaper summed what many thought back in 2000 – How could he do it? To all appearances Robert Mochrie, 49, and his wife, Catherine, 45, lived a comfortable life in Rutland Close, Barry, South Wales. They shared their £250,000 […]

Murder by the Sea 0 2 min read

Murder by the Sea: Miles Giffard

I found one of the most interesting, but dismaying, cases in the new series of Murder by the Sea to be that of Miles Giffard. Giffard murdered his parents, Charles, 53, and Elizabeth, 56, at the family home in St Austell in 1952. Miles Giffard was 26 and something of a puzzle. He had played cricket for Cornwall and attended Rugby public school. However, that was virtually the pinnacle of his achievements. He had trained to be a solicitor (his […]

Murder by the Sea 0 4 min read

Harold Shipman, UK’s most prolific serial killer

Talking about the Hammersmith murders of 1964-65 and my book The Hunt for the 60s’ Ripper on Shaun Attwood’s show last week, I was suddenly asked about Harold Shipman. Shaun has a lot of followers in the US, so I was attempting to outline who the chilling Shipman was. This came up because I wrote about a fascinating BBC documentary on the case for the Mirror’s We Love TV magazine last year. Here is the article on that shocking case […]

Serial killer 0 1 min read

Murder by the Sea: Danny Dyke

Danny Dyke was leading a double life. To mates and colleagues in the Swansea area he was an osteopath. A former rugby player for Rosslyn Park and Eastbourne before knee injuries cut his playing prospects short, he’d also had a spell as a physio for Neath and Aberavon rugby clubs. However, as revealed in CBS Reality’s Murder by the Sea, he wanted more. This led to his developing a dangerous sideline – that of a drug dealer with a sophisticated […]

Murder by the Sea 2 1 min read

Murder by the Sea returns – series 6

CBS Reality’s Murder by the Sea returns for a sixth series on Tuesday (7 Sept, 10pm), with further engrossing accounts of notorious cases. I’ve been fascinated to be involved in several previous series and filmed contributions to five cases in the upcoming collection, although the research can be grim at times. However, the cases I was invited to talk about covered an intriguing range, from 1952 up to more modern murders. They include the case of a ‘family annihilator’ in […]

Murder by the Sea 0 2 min read

Please take a look at my Substack – www.personsunkown.net – for in-depth features on true crime and non-fiction books on the subject

Available from Amazon
Watch out for Murder by the Sea volume 1, being published in July 2022
The Hunt for the 60s' Ripper

Available from Amazon

***** Breakaway Reviewers
‘A fascinating piece of work… His writing is fluid and engaging, providing page after page of detail, analysis and understanding on this intriguing case’
Crime Traveller
‘This book is meticulously researched’
***** CrimeSquad
‘… achieves what all great non-fiction crime books set out to do: be impeccably researched, highly readable and show sensitivity towards the victims. Highly recommended

About me

Why do people commit crimes? How are they caught? Or not caught? These are questions I think we are all interested in to some degree. I'm a journalist and author delving into cases old and recent, as well as a contributor to documentaries such as Murder by the Sea, Voice of a Killer, The Real Prime Suspect and Dark Son: The Hunt for a Serial Killer. I'm currently working on a book about corruption and how the hit BBC drama Line of Duty echoes real-life wrongdoing in the police.