As an eleven plus failure I attended a secondary modern boys school in Newcastle under Lyme Staffordshire. I left with enough GCSEs to get me into the Staffordshire Police Cadets at the age of sixteen and a half (you didn't have to be that clever back then!).
I became a police constable at 19 and was originally stationed Stoke, one of the five towns of Arnold Bennett's City of Stoke on Trent. Whilst there in 1972 as a 22 years old I dealt with an unusual death which later became known as The Vampires in the Villas case… it has followed me around since then.
I went on to become a Detective Inspector serving at many different police stations throughout Staffordshire along the way. I've always been interested in local history and been a keen writer for the local rag on historical articles.
I'm married to Gladys and still live in my old hometown of Newcastle under Lyme. Our three children are still local enough for a regular Sunday lunch visits and family outings.
My first book 'The Nick of Time' is a mostly humorous look at my service with Staffs Police. It still gets regular downloads and reviews from people who particularly enjoy the humour (including one lady who claims to have read it 10 times!!! as it made her laugh so much. A brought out a short story on kindle 'The vampire of The Villas', which was based on the true events of the weird police case I dealt with back in 1972. My first crime/thriller. ‘Cathedral of Lies' came out on out on kindle in 2013 has accrued approaching 150 cracking reviews. I followed this up with 'Field of Lies', and then 'Guardian of Lies' making a trilogy based in the 80s to 90s. All are well-received and continue to get superb, mostly 5 star reviews.
My latest book 'Where the Silent Screams are Loudest' is set in the here and now and touches strongly into the world of DNA, forensics and genealogy. I approached several of the country's top experts for advice on this. The book came out in October 2020 and really does seem to have potential... let's hope.
My writing has been influenced by Ian Rankin, Frederick Forsyth and Joanne Harris, whose works I just love.