The Black Dahlia Case. The Manson Murders. The Zodiac Killer. The Slaughter of Jonbenet Ramsay. These killings, among many others in Bill James's astonishing chronicle of American crime, have all created a frenzy of interest and speculation about human nature. And while many of us go out of our way to ignore news about gruesome murders, Bill James contends that these crime stories are as important to understanding society, culture and history as anything we may consider to be a more 'serious' subject. The topic envelopes us so completely, we almost forget about it. This book has 482 pages and is 23.4cm x 15.2cm x 3.2cm
Kevin Skelton watched helplessly as a bomb ripped apart the life he knew. It was 15 August 1998, and the place was Omagh, in Northern Ireland. Kevin's wife Mena was one of the 29 people killed that day, and his daughter Shauna was horrifically injured. Kevin had lost the love of his life. He sank into the depths of despair after the bomb. At a time when his family needed him most, he turned to drink and self-loathing, often wishing he could have taken Mena's place that day. More than once, he held a loaded shotgun to his mouth, but he could never go through with it.
Mena was the angel who saved him. Before she died, she and Kevin had been bringing a young girl, Andreea, from a Romanian orphanage, for holidays to their home. In memory of Mena, Kevin decided to adopt Andreea, but on his first trip to Romania to start proceedings, he was shocked to discover that her mother, Maria, was still alive. In the most unlikely of circumstances, a love blossomed between them, convincing Kevin that Mena had sent Andreea and Maria to him so that he could find happiness again. He believes Mena has been a constant presence in the family's lives since her death, watching over them and protecting them. Sent by an Angel is a true story of love rising from the ashes of tragedy, a romance that reaches beyond the boundaries of this world. 19.2 x 13 x 2.4 cm, pages 215
Includes chapters such as: The Misted Mountain, The Arran Case, 1889; The German Tea Planter, Broughty Ferry, 1912; The Late Mr Toad, The Musselburgh Case, 1911; 'Oh, Loch Maree!', William Laurie King, Edinburgh, 1924; The Running Girl, Christina Gilmour, 1843; The Travelling Man, Hugh Macleod, 1830; and, more.
In May 2005, Natalee Holloway disappeared from a high school trip to Aruba. Five years to the day later, 21-year-old Stephany Flores Ramirez was reported missing in Lima, Peru. Implicated in both crimes was one young man: Joran van der Sloot. This book looks at the man tied to two of the most sensational cases of the decade.
Set in bomb-scarred London in 1947, this title presents the untold story of a Soho robbery and shooting carried out by a 17 year-old and his two young accomplices, a crime which sparked worldwide press coverage. It also concentrated on the hunt for the killers and the subsequent trial.
As legendary Glasgow detective Les Brown re-investigates cases from Stratford in east London to Wick, via Glasgow, he finds that, often, the official police line doesn't quite add up. The body of a young electrician is dragged from a harbour. The police say the death was an accident, but a mysterious man confesses to murder. What is the truth?
The Hells Angels. The Bandidos. Asian triads. Russian mobsters and corrupt cops. Even the KKK. Just part of a day's work for Alex Caine, an undercover agent who has seen it all. After a tour in Vietnam and a stretch in prison on marijuana-possession charges, Caine fell into the cloak-and-dagger world of a contracted agent.
Encountering crime on any level will make you stop and consider how you view the world. A burglary, a mugging, even witnessing a minor theft can leave a person feeling shocked, vulnerable and unable to trust others. Imagine then how it must feel to come face-to-face with the kind of extreme crime that can only be conceived by a truly evil mind. Acts so powerful that they can scar a whole community, even an entire nation, for generations.
The perpetrators manage to achieve the kind of notoriety only usually afforded to Hollywood icons. In their own twisted imaginations they sit in a kind of evil Hall of Fame among others of their kind: Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Andrei Chikatilo, all jostling for the top spot. Extreme Evil throws light on some of the most vicious crimes ever committed, and the turbulent lives of the men and women behind them.
At just six years of age, Audrey Delaney's childhood was cut tragically short when her father first abused her. Too young to know right from wrong, the only Audrey knew for sure was that her father's actions left her feeling sordid and guilty. When she saw him touching other girls, this innocent child felt she was to blame. Then finally, after years of harbouring her father's shocking secret, Audrey found the courage to bring him to account. This book is the inspiring and triumphant account of a scared and hurt little girl who managed to confront her demons and reclaim her life.
As a gun-wielding bank robber, the author was top of the criminal tree. But he'd also spent the greater part of his adult life in prison, an environment where respect and basic survival were guaranteed only to those prepared to use the most brutal violence. 0This book describes how he came to realize that the game wasn't worth the candle.
When George Millar, the City of Glasgow's
orchestra leader, is brutally murdered in his
dressing room before a performance, his
colleagues are shocked. But the show must go on,
and when DCI Lorimer and psychologist
Solly Brightman are called in they uncover a series
of irrevocably tangled relationships between the
orchestra members. Millar had been involved in
a string of homosexual relationships and was
well known for playing his lovers off against one
another
Mexico, April 2009. The bodies of a pair of undercover military intelligence agents, disguised as campesinos (farmers), are dumped by the side of the road. Beside the corpses is a message on a scrap of paper: 'You'll never get El Chapo.' Such is the fate of many who have dared to try to catch El Chapo, or oppose him.
Presents a true story of survival in what was arguably the most sinister prison in Europe: the Carabanchel. The story begins on the day Christopher Chance entered the jail and encountered the innate racism of the prison staff and inmates. It tells how he forged a band of international brothers from the chaotic human rubble in order to survive.
Forensic psychologist Paul Britton can walk through the minds of those who murder, rape, torture, extort and kidnap. He can see the world through their eyes. This book reveals the psychological and forensic foundations upon which he has based his expertise.
Presents the reader with a line-up of notorious crooks, criminals, villains and thieves, from the mysterious disappearance of Lord Lucan, the assassination of JFK to the treason committed by Guy Fawkes. This book provides an insight into the world's most notorious crimes.
A poor kid from the slums, Robert Fitzpatrick grew up to become a stellar FBI agent and challenge the country's deadliest gangsters. Relentless in his desire to catch, prosecute, and convict Whitey Bulger, Fitzpatrick fought the nation's most determined c
The Encyclopaedia Of True Crime is a fascinating fact file on wrongdoing which takes you deep into the hidden world of those who break the law. This book sheds light on what makes serial killers tick, how career criminals plan heists, the psychology behind white collar crime, the ruthless codes which operate in prisons and many other aspects of criminal culture. Features include Vlad the Impaler, the Great Train Robbery, Ed Kemper, Jeffrey Dahmer, Brazilian prison gangs, John Gotti, the Kray Brothers, the assassination of John Lennon, the man who sold the Eiffel Tower twice, the world
Peter Manuel is one of the most notorious and evil serial killers Scotland has ever produced. His case made headlines around the world. This book tells the full story from start to finish and challenges many of the myths and legends that surround Peter Manuel.
For thirteen cruel and terrifying years, Sharon McGovern suffered horrific abuse at the hands of her stepfather. Molested and beaten, she was forced to keep a dirty and confusing secret that robber her of her childhood and her innocence. Years later, in a step of exceptional bravery, she confronted him in court. This book is the profoundly moving story of a little girl's ordeal, and a woman's fight to put away a dangerous predator. It is an unforgettable and inspiring account of good versus evil, of facing a monster and finding the strength to survive.
For 20 years, the Essex Boys firm and their successors, the New Generation, controlled a lucrative drugs empire in Essex and throughout the south east of England by using intimidation, gratuitous violence and murder. This book reveals just how close the author came to being both murderer and murder victim.
Drawing on a wide selection of sources and illustrated with more than fifty images, this collection of tales explores the shadier side of the Lake District's past. It features the tale of the 'Keswick Imposter', who seduced and bigamously married a young
Rene Enriquez, aka 'Boxer', was a mob enforcer among the upper echelons of the Mafia. He worked for the La Familia Mexicana, also knowns as La Eme, a powerful mob organization that used a base army of approximately 60, 000 armed, loyal Latino gang members - the Surenos - to control California's crime world. This book tells the story of La Eme.
A warm welcome or a blade in the guts - it's the contradiction that makes Glasgow unique. This work offers up forty modern murder cases. This collection of tales graphically explores how the city has earned its unenviable title of Murder Capital of Europe. It highlights some of the most sickening murders to be committed in the world.
As a young man in Glasgow's underworld, the author fought, robbed and slashed his way to the top, developing a taste for the high life along the way. This title offers an account of his highly eventful journey through life in Glasgow's brutal gangland.
Shortly after midnight on March 18, 1990, two men broke into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and committed the largest art heist in history. They stole a dozen masterpieces. The theft has become one of the nation's extraordinary mysteries. Art detective Harold Smith worked the theft for years. This work explores his unfinished leads.
At once horrifying and fascinating, The True Crime Casefile is a gripping study of crimes that have shocked the world.
Detailing a variety of offense from kidnappings to assassinations, this book features portraits of some of the most renowned criminals of that last two decades, including serial killers Harold Shipman, Robert Pickton and Marc Dutroux, kidnappers Wolfgang Priklopil, O J Simpson and Josef Fritzl and spree killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre.
The True Crime Casefile is enhanced by the inclusion of facsimiles of documents that led to the capture and conviction of these criminals, making the book not just a catalogue of gruesome crimes but also a record of the growing skill and refined methods of the police and judicial system that have successfully brought them to justice.
Removable evidence from recent criminal casefiles includes:
On February 15, 2003, a group of thieves broke into an allegedly airtight vault in the international diamond capital of Antwerp, Belgium and made off with over $108 million dollars worth of diamonds. The authors sorted through an array of conflicting details to put together the puzzle of what actually happened that Valentine's Day weekend.
A story of two very different men whose lives catastrophically interweaved over the course of some nine months in the late 1960s: one was a thief and con man called James Earl Ray, the other one of the greatest American figures of the twentieth century, Martin Luther King Jr Hampton Sides follows in Ray's footsteps as he escapes from prison.
A true detective story tracing the murder investigation of a human rights activist and Guatemalan bishop. It also traces Los Intocables struggle with the Guatemalan authorities, revealing the involvement of youth gangs, political corruption and organised crime.
The way in which crime is detected and criminals are identified and convicted has changed radically due to the development of forensic science. This book presents a study of the techniques that are familiar to us from media reports or television dramas. Many cases are discussed in detail, including those in which the author was an expert witness.
Criminologists have noted a disturbing trend over the years. Though men are most often the perpetrators of murder, violent assault, and child molestation, more girls and women are becoming dangerous criminals. This book explores a scope of girls and women behaving badly.
Gangster Stephen French invented the perfect crime: robbing drug barons of their huge fortunes. In SAS-style swoops, French raided their fortified mansions and tortured them with horrifying violence until they paid up. This work also reveals French's complex relationship with Curtis Warren, the wealthiest criminal in British history.
Alexander Shannon escaped a shady past to enjoy a glittering career in the army, only to end up back in the thick of criminal activity. This title explains how Shannon managed to combine a successful army career with dangerous gangland dealings for so long and how he finally broke free for good.
Outrageous, hysterical and misleading headlines have generated sales of many millions of copies of the Red Top tabloids, but the dodgy dealings and shady practises of the journalists behind them are the real scoop. In News of the World?: Fake Sheikhs & Royal Trappings, Peter Burden exposes the questionable methods used by hacks who flout laws and invade privacy in the savage struggle to sell more copies. Burden questions the tabloids' claim of public interest and asks whether we are victims of sensationalist con-artists, from Mazher Mahmood masquerading as a Middle Eastern Sheikh to illegal phone tapping and inventing
Fred and Rose West are virtually unique in British criminal history. They were a couple who loved and killed together as husband and wife. During their long relationship the West's murdered a series of young women, burying the remains of 9 victims under their home at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, including those of their teenage daughter, Heather. What was left of Fred West's 8 year old step daughter was dug up beneath the West's' previous Gloucester home. His first wife and nanny were buried in the open country outside the city. Several victims were found decapitated and dismembered, their remains showing signs of sexual torture. However, these 12 are just the ones the police found when the West's were arrested in 1994. There may be more whose bones have not been located. This book has 362 pages and is 19.7cm x 12.7cm x 2.5cm
A collection of local tales and murder cases from across the county of Lancashire. This title includes more than 60 archive photographs, reward notices and drawings. It contains chapters recounting true cases of theft, violence, villainy and murder, suppo
On 10 June 1991, eleven-year-old Jaycee Dugard was abducted from a school bus stop within sight of her home in Tahoe, California. It was the last her family and friends saw of her for over eighteen years. On 26 August 2009, Dugard, her daughters, and Phillip Craig Garrido appeared in the office of her kidnapper's parole officer in California. Their unusual behaviour sparked an investigation that led to the positive identification of Jaycee Lee Dugard, living in a tent behind Garrido's home. During her time in captivity, at the age of fourteen and seventeen, she gave birth to two daughters, both fathered by Garrido. Dugard's memoir, is written by the 30-year-old herself and covers the period from the time of her abduction in 1991 up until the present. In her stark, utterly honest and unflinching narrative, Jaycee opens up about what she experienced, including how she feels now, a year after being found. Garrido and his wife Nancy have since pleaded guilty to their crimes. The size of this book is 22.2cm in height and 14.3cm wide with 273 pages
Images of life in the Mob pervade our film and TV screens, some glamorous, some horrific - what is the reality? Nigel and Colin Cawthorne have put together the largest ever collection of insider stories from prominent ex-Mafiosi, infiltrators and award-winning writers.
A terrifying journey to the criminal heart of the Hell's Angels motorcycle club - the most infamous biker group in the world. 'Brilliant and highly readable.. . an investigative tour-de-force. This is the first book to lift the lid on the real Hells' Angels.' TONY THOMPSON, author of the bestselling GANGS
Judicial hanging is regarded by many as being the quintessentially British execution. However, many other methods of capital punishment have been used in this country; ranging from burning, beheading and shooting to crushing and boiling to death. This title explores these types of execution.
June Thomson and Giselle Ross are inextricably linked by two unspeakable acts of evil. On the same day, in the UK, just miles apart, their estranged husbands murdered their children. The killings were not driven by rage, or committed in moments of madness. They were planned, and carried out with chilling precision - to inflict the worst pain imaginable on the women who no longer needed them.
Before Al Capone and Lucky Luciano, there was the one-fingered, cunning Giuseppe Morello and his murderous coterie of brothers. Had it not been for Morello, the world may never have heard of 'men of honour', the first family of New York, and how this extended close-knit clan of racketeers and murderers left the backwaters of Sicily to successfully establish themselves as the founding godfathers of the New World. Combining strong narrative and raw violence, The First Family is a compelling portrait of the early years of organised crime. This is how it really happened.
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland. Beneath the busy streets, the Victorian sandstone and urban trendiness lies a black heart that beats in rhythm with the roar of the traffic and the echo of footsteps on concrete. It is a black heart pumped by greed and lust, violence and murder. This book presents the epic story of Glasgow crime.
This is the explosive story of what happened as the Daniel - Lyons feud spiralled out of control and engulfed a whole community. The deadliest Glasgow gang war of a generation was sparked by an opportunistic cocaine theft from a house party which unleashe
Few names are as closely linked with London's East End as those of the Kray twins but little was known about their younger years until now. This is Reggie's last memoir, in which he recalls the close-knit community where he and Ronnie spent their childhood. This book paints a vivid portrait of a London that has long since disappeared, filled with stories about the area's most outlandish personalities and notorious criminals. This book has 230 pages and is 19.7cm x 12.6cm x 2cm.
Margie Danielson, a divorcee and mother of three, had fantasies of finding the perfect man. Then one night, in a smoky country and western club, she found him. Sean Paul Lanier was charming, handsome, and kind - everything Margie had dreamed of. Soon after, their whirlwind romance took flight. Sean showered Margie with flowers, jewellery, expensive gifts, and his intense
Drawing on a selection of sources and illustrated with more than fifty images, this collection of grisly tales explores the shadier side of Harrogate's past. It is suitable for those interested in the criminal history of this part of North Yorkshire.
The crime world's most enduring mystery, the identity of Jack the Ripper, has plagued professional historians, criminologists, writers and amateur enthusiasts for over a hundred years. This newly updated volume offers the fullest ever overview of the Whitechapel Murders case. It collects not just the key factual evidence but also 17 different arguments as to the identity of the Ripper, including the more recent theories from Patricia Cornwell and others.
Jack the Ripper's brutal murders have left an ineradicable stain on the gloomy streets of Whitechapel and surrounding area. This title features cases of Henry Wainwright, tried in 1875 for the murder and dismemberment of his mistress, Harriet Lane; Polish-born Israel Lipski, charged with the murder of fellow lodger Miriam Angel in 1887; and, more.
Part true-crime story, part inspirational autobiography, criminal Wayne McKay has lived the hard yards and come out the other side triumphant. His story was written as a way of dealing with his past and to show others that there is always light at the end
Lenny McLean's life story is an inspirational one. A bare-knuckle fighter by profession, he was one of the most notorious figures ever to emerge from the East End of London. His untimely death in 1998, following a battle against cancer, was a tragic loss for family and friends and left his legions of fans shocked and bereft.
A gripping collection of stories of human criminality at its most bizarre. These unusual, sensational murders recall not only gruesome historical crimes, but also touch on shocking and macabre modern murders. Included are details of ground-breaking advances in crime detection, law enforcement and forensic science. This is the top-secret report on the most grisly, and unusual, criminal activity of our time.
The idea of the wandering murderer, leaving a trail of mutilated bodies in his wake, has long fascinated followers of true crime. By charting the geography of the killers actions, Mapping the Trail of a Serial Killer takes an innovative approach in exploring the killing sprees of 25 international mass murderers of the twentieth century. With specially commissioned maps pinpointing each killers actions, Mapping the Trail of a Serial Killer reveals the patterns of behaviour and enables the reader to understand some of thinking of the minds of men such as Ted Bundy, who circled in ob university dorms, or Andrei Chikatilo, whose killings happened along railway routes, to Ian Milat who picked-up and killed backpackers in New South Wales, to Volker Eckert, a German lorry driver who murdered prostitutes across western Europe.
Each case is examined with timelines of the killers
The scene is Baltimore. Twice every three days another citizen is shot, stabbed, or bludgeoned to death. At the cente of this hurricane of crime is the city's homicide unit, a small brotherhood of men confronted by the darkest of American visions. This book presents an account of casework and an investigation into our culture of violence.
Police officers are no longer encouraged to chat off the record to criminals, and in some ways that's a pity. Years ago a lot of useful information got exchanged over a quick pint with a snout down the pub, or in a break from interrogation, when both copper and suspect would stop and light up. Those were the days when hair-raising accounts of slashings, fit-ups, dodgy deals, blaggings and petermen would filter through to the rest of us and pass into folklore. Today the banter and swapping of stories is gone (and smoking in interrogation cells is of course banned) so it is only here that these tales can be told. Villains is written in page-turning style by those who had intimate dealings with the shady characters
For more than fifty years, two ruthless gangs have dominated the Tyneside underworld. Initially, the Conroy and the Sayers families lived side by side in relative harmony in the West End of Newcastle, but the birth of the drug-fuelled rave culture in the late 1980s changed everything. This title explores the origins of this gangland war.
Although it's hard to believe now, Rose West was once a beautiful little girl with long, glossy dark hair and big brown eyes. Looking at those pictures of her, it is almost impossible to comprehend that she would grow up to become one of Britain's most notorious female murderers. Crime Writer Jane Cater Woodrow looks back at the start of Rose's life to piece together what it was that turned her into a monster. Was there always a predisposition to cruelty or did something happen in her young life? This book has 274 pages and is 19.8cm x 12.9cm x 1.9cm.
Ruth Ellis was the last woman to be hanged in Britain, convicted for shooting her lover David Blakely. This title shows Ruth as somebody damaged at a very early age who strove to make something of herself, only to be caught up in something much bigger and end up paying with her life.
Barlinnie is one of the most notorious prisons in the world and for a hundred years it has held Glasgow's toughest and most violent men, swept up from the city streets. It has sparked rooftop protests and cell block riots, and been home to godfathers of crime. This title deals with riots, death, retribution and redemption in this prison.
A true story of desire and death, 'Heart Full of Lies' is a case study describing an ambitious psychopath and her ill-fated victim. Lisya, a Texan with a slew of male victims in her wake, meets Chris, a handsome pilot. She not only wants to destroy his reputation but wants his million-dollar fortune.
First published in the mid 70s, Snowblind established itself as an essential piece of crime-writing. Telling the story of the legendary Zachary Swan, a mover in the cocaine trade who set the standard for those who followed, Sabbag's riveting account is a compulsive insight into an underworld populated by crazy characters and driven by paranoia. This book has 357 pages and is 19.7cm x 2.5cm
On Wednesday 2nd June 2010, the villages and towns of West Cumbria awoke to an ordinary sunny day. Hours later, 12 people lay dead and 11 more were wounded after taxi driver Derrick Bird embarked on a terrifying killing spree. This is the tragic story of one of Britain's most shocking criminal atrocities.
Voodoo Killers chronicles the disturbing history of ritualistic killing around the world with shocking examples of human sacrifice past and present, voodoo hexes, sexual slavery and satanic murder. It is a history that incorporates vampires, serial killers and rapists as well as institutionalized killers such as Aztec high priests and Spanish Inquisitors who murdered in the name of religion. The art of murder knows many forms, but few can be more harrowing than murder for supernatural or ritual fulfilment. Premeditated, organized, torturous and, in the past, encouraged and even sponsored by the authorities. Voodoo killers stand alone in the annals of horror.
You're Nicked! is a page-turning insider view of the golden era in the Metropolitan Police Force. Dick Kirby, that loose cannon of the Flying Squad, recounts his hair-raising adventures from the 1960s through to the 1990s in a style that's not for the faint-hearted. His frank account of the way policing used to be takes us straight into the crime-ridden streets of Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam and of course London. Whether he's carrying out arrests in a hostile East End pub or dealing with a schizophrenic arsonist in a blazing building, Kirby tells it straight. Trapping some of London's most vicious armed robbers and nabbing the thief who cracked the Flying Squad commander's safe, his exploits are described with his trademark black humour, often shocking and always uncompromising.
ORGANISED CRIME IS NOW THE COUNTRY'S THIRD BIGGEST INDUSTR GANGLAND SHOOTINGS, MUISI-MILLION POUND DRUG DEALS AN VICIOUS TURF WARS HAVE SPREAD OUT FROM THE INNER CITIES AN NOW AFFECT EVEN THE MOST RURAL COMMUNITIES. THE DAY-TO-DAY IMPACT OF CRIME ON OUR LIVES HAS NEVER BEEN GREATER.
IN GANGS, AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR TONY ' THOMPSON TAKES US ON A GRIPPING JOURNEY INTO THE /UNDERWORLD. FROM TRIAD HUMAN TRAFFICKERS IN DOVER AND ECSTASY FACTORY OWNERS IN LIVERPOOL, TO ALBANIAN VICE BARONS IN LONDON AND GUN-TOTING TEENAGE CRACK DEALERS IN BIRMINGHAM, GANGS. REVEALS THE INSIDE STORY OF CONTEIVIPORARY ORGANISED CRIME
In 1992 Ray Krone, a former sergeant in the US Air Force was sentenced to death for the murder of Kimberly Ancona, a bar manager found stabbed to death in a restaurant near his home in Arizona. There were countless holes in the prosecution's case and ten years later the victim's clothes were examined using newly-developed DNA testing technology. Krone was completely exonerated and released from jail, but not before he'd spent an entire decade on death row.
Dead Men Walking tells the incredible stories of those men and women who have lived their lives behind bars with the constant threat of death by fellow prisoners, or by state execution, hanging over them. What is it like to live out your days inside one of the world's toughest prisons, knowing you'll never again see beyond the exercise yard? Is it really possible to make friends, or form relationships inside? What should you do if, like Ray Krone, you've been sentenced to die for a crime you did not commit? This book examines the life-stories of men who claim to be innocent, men who were eventually proven innocent, and of those who are so dangerous life simply has to mean life.
The Krays are dead and buried, but the myth lives on. Their name alone conjures up images of power, violence and greed. This biography traces their history from childhood and early adolescence to manhood and death, charting their rise to the top of the criminal tree and their ultimate downfall.
This investigation into spree killing analyses the psychology of this chilling and relatively new phenomenon. Cawthorne carefully examines each case and shows how the killers suppress their rage and violent fantasies until a small incident sparks off their fatal rampage.
Talks about the mindset of predatory criminals - their motives, various plans of attack, and way of thinking - and then teaches simple lifestyle techniques that will help reduce the risk of becoming victimised. This book provides analysis based on real-life cases, in addition to insights from victims and criminals themselves.
The crimes of Jack the Ripper have haunted the imagination of the world since his murderous reign drew to a close late in 1888. Jack the Ripper: The Casebook is an invaluable survey of the killer, his times and the web of complex and contradictory theories that have sprung up in his wake.
Containing a fully illustrated 64-page book with 18 items of removable memorabilia, Jack the Ripper: The Casebook allows the reader to become the detective, presenting all the information, evidence and conclusion gathered thus far.
Infiltrates groups of the deadliest criminals in countries as varied and far-reaching as Los Angeles, Bulgaria and Kenya. The author, while investigating Neo-Nazi football hooligans in Poland, is tear-gassed at a football match as he shadows an elite police riot squad. Risking his life, he goes deep into the realms of gangland culture.
In this hard-hitting collection, acclaimed author Nigel Cawthorne examines ten of the most sickeningly twisted men who are still alive today. Some of them, like serial killer Dennis Nilsen and cult leader Charles Manson, are thankfully behind bars. Others, including the world's most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden, are still at large.
Unbelievably, one of them, Robert Mugabe, is still clinging to the reins of power and continues to inflict suffering and economic mayhem on the desperate people of Zimbabwe.
Inside this book is the gut-twisting story of Charles Taylor, the blood-soaked African general who has 'recruited' thousands of child soldiers, and one of the most shocking cases of recent years: that of Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man who imprisoned and sexually abused his own daughter for almost a quarter of a century.
Madeleine Smith, a young woman from a prominent Glasgow family, stood accused of the murder of her lover. The evidence against her seemed overwhelming. But after what was described as Scotland's trial of the century, she received the verdict of 'not proven' and walked free. This book gives a picture of the events surrounding this infamous case.
Fact proves far stranger than fiction in this collection of real-life crimes, scandals, tragedies and murders which either influenced the works of the world's most popular mystery writer or affected the lives of many famous personalities involved in her long and brilliant career.
Levi Bellfield preyed on young women...with murder on his mind.
The powerfully-built nightclub bouncer kidnapped and murdered 13-year-old Milly Dowler as she walked home from school in broad daylight. She had stopped for a bag of chips with friends at a railway station cafe. The case horrified the nation when six months later her body was found 25 miles away by mushroom pickers in a quiet wood in the Hampshire countryside. Her abduction and death was described as every parent's nightmare.
He also murdered, in an equally horrendous manner, 19-year-old Marsha McDonnell and 22-year-old French student Amelie Delagrange with blows to the head after they got off late-night buses in South London. He attempted to kill Kate Sheedy, an 18-year-old he deliberately hit with his car as she walked home shortly after midnight, before reversing over her body. She survived only after major surgery in hospital.
Evil Bellfield was one of the most notorious killers of his time. His crimes, his dramatic trials at the Old Bailey, plus the stories of his young victims and the devastating impact on their families are examined in detail in this chilling study of the violent deaths and danger to innocent young girl at the hands of a total stranger
The historic city of Lincoln has a history going back to the Romans and a catalogue of crimes to match it. Combining research with photography, this title provides a feast of crime to haunt the imagination of any reader interested in criminal and local history.
Tales macabre and tales bizarre; all of them with murder in mind. Another evocative series of murder cases from criminologist Molly Whittington-Egan. The stories show that while the world has moved on, the human mind still deals with murder in the same old fashion.
From the moment they first cut a swathe of crime across the 1930s America, Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker have been glamorised in print, on screen and in legend. The reality of their brief and catastrophic lives is very different - and far more fascinating.
Go Down Together has it all; a fatal attraction, rebellion against authority, bullets flying and, in the end, a dramatic death at the hands of a celebrity lawman hired to hunt them down. Thanks in great part to surviving relatives of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, who provided Guinn with access to never-before-published family documents, this book reveals the truth behind the myth, told with cinematic sweep and unprecedented insight by a master storyteller.
Growing up, Sophie carried a terrible secret... She was her father's slave, in the most horrific ways imaginable. He spent a decade grooming her for abuse and when her mother finally walked out, that very night he told Sophie that from now on, she would sleep in his bed. Unable to cope, Sophie spiralled into suicidal misery. She began to self-harm to try and escape the agony. But one day she went too far and at 16, ended up in a psychiatric unit. A phenomenally courageous woman, Sophie now works for Samaritans and helps other people in need. Harrowing yet compelling, this is a searing and truly inspirational account of overcoming the worst self abuse and self-harm.
Athol Visser, or 'Ivan the Terrible', is a ruthless torture technician who has maimed and murdered his way around the globe. He killed his first victim at 16, his last at 60, and, in between, has been a mercenary, drug smuggler, gun runner and spy. This title offers the story of a degenerate, evil man who killed for pleasure.
Jack the Ripper is the ultimate whodunnit. The Whitechapel murders of 1888 remain unsolved and hundreds of theories have been suggested as to the killer's identity. However, many of the suggestions naming the infamous Ripper remain ill-informed and, quite frankly, ludicrous - until now!
Intends to reconstruct the murder in 1959 of a Kansas farmer, his wife and children. This title explores the circumstances surrounding this terrible crime and the effect it had on those involved. It focuses on the amoral young killers Perry Smith and Dick Hickcock, who are shown to be reprehensible, yet entirely and frighteningly human.
Every area of the UK has its share of violent crimes - events so shocking they linger in the community's collective memory for many years - and, in this respect, the north east of England is no different.
The cases include: The wages clerk shot through the head for the bag of money he was carrying as he travelled by train from Newcastle to Widdrington in 1910. The Monkwearmouth woman who was so drunk when her lover struck her about the head with an axe, exposing her brain, she was able to walk to the hospital where she died of her injuries. The homosexual who lured teenage boys to out-of-the-way places to have sex with them, strangled them and then made feeble botched attempts to burn the bodies.
Of course, no book on murder in the Tyne and Wear district would be complete without reference to Mary Bell, the eleven-year old who was convicted of killing two little boys, aged just four and three. Wade treats the case with unusual sensitivity, placing it in a context of poverty, alcoholism, family breakdown and the absence of any moral guidance.
When 16 year old Caroline Roberts accepted a job at 25 Cromwell Street, the infamous address of Fred and Rose West, she realised there was something very malevolent about the couple. Leaving their employment soon after, glad to be rid of them, the story should have ended there. A month later she was abducted by the West's and suffered violent sexual abuse at their hands before told that she would be killed and buried. A combination of quick thinking of sheer luck and quick thinking despite the trauma of what had happened, Caroline managed to escape to freedom. This book has 278 pages and is 19.7cm x 12.6cm x 1.9cm
The greatest archaeological find of the 20th century, and perhaps of all time, was the discovery in 1922 of the tomb of the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamen. Disputing the conclusions reached by the Egyptian team, this book presents a case that the cause of King Tut's death was most likely murder.
No one in the annals of crime is capable of arousing such passionate debate as the perpetrator of the Whitechapel Murders in 1888. Was he a demented Royal, a Masonic assassin, a sexually-frustrated artist, a member of the Czarist secret police, a crazed reformist or even an escaped gorilla? More than a century has passed since this unknown killer murdered East End prostitutes under the very noses of the police and yet we seem no closer to uncovering the Ripper's identity. Countless volumes have been written by warring researchers, seemingly unable to agree even on the number of his victims. Is it possible that we will ever know the truth, is the Ripper destined to remain an enigma, his place in history secured as both an English-heritage crime icon and a universal bogeyman?
In December 1995, three key members of the infamous Essex Boys firm were executed in their Range Rover after being lured to a deserted farm track by the promise of a lucrative drug deal. This book tells the true story of the gang that destroyed everything that stood in their way to take control of their fallen predecessors' drug empire.
When Jack the Ripper walked onto the streets of the East End he came to represent everything that was wrong with the area and with society as a whole. This book sets his murders in their historical context, examining in depth what East London was like in 1888, how it came to be that way, and how events led to this most infamous and grisly episode.
Graeme Pearson is one of the UK's most outspoken and respected senior police officers. In a career spanning forty years he crossed swords with some of the UK's most fearsome and brutal gangsters. This book tells the inside story of his fight against some of the most notorious criminals operating in Britain.
Dr Harold Shipman told his unsuspecting patients he was conducting blood tests as he injected them with a massive dose of heroin; they were dead within minutes. Before his trial, many assumed he was an over-zealous GP who went too far in providing comfort to dying patients. In the end, he was found guilty of deliberately and coldly murdering 218 of his patients. But although Britain
The Essex Boys firm was one of the most violent criminal gangs in Britain. This book returns to the scene of the murders and relives the bloody encounters of the gang. Divided by greed, bonded by the blood of their victims, Essex Boys' rise to the top of the criminal underworld was as dramatic as their final fall.
Bent Coppers is the disturbing inside story of the undercover 'Ghost Squad' and how it broke into the murky world of police corruption. Bent coppers really did believe they were untouchable. They stole cash and drugs, fitted up people, and some are suspected of involvement in murder. Only now can the full story of the Ghost Squad can be revealed.
In this heart-rending book, Jacqui Kirkby tells of the devastating impact Colette's murder had on her life. It robbed her not only of her beautiful daughter but also of her marriage and, at times, her own sanity. This is the remarkable story of a mother's loss, but also of her hope - hope that she would one day get justice for Colette.
The names of infamous crooks such as the Richardsons, Frankie Fraser and the Krays are all indelibly linked with the London gangland scene of the '50s and '60s. One man who stayed under the radar, however, was 'Scouse' Norman Johnson. This autobiography documents the many twists and turns that his life has taken.
PC John Donoghue reveals all in his fascinating and hilarious true account of a year in the life of a front line response officer. Names and places have been changed to protect the guilty... but if you call the police, maybe, just maybe, it could be Police Constable John Donoghue turning up at your door.