101 Interesting Facts on Britain's True Life Crimes

By Mike Gray

Are you interested in true life crime? Would you like to find out more about some of the most highly publicised crimes ever committed in Great Britain? Are you curious about the UK’s most notorious murderers, bank robbers, kidnappers, fraudsters and career criminals? If so, you won’t want to be without 101 Interesting Facts on Britain’s True Life Crimes? What event marked the start of the ‘supergrass’ era in the UK? Who were the Bridgewater Four and what crime were they convicted of? Can you name Britain’s supposed wealthiest criminal, also known as ‘Goldfinger’? Who was the ‘Black Widow’ and how did she come by her nickname? The answers can all be found inside Mike Gray’s fascinating new true crime book. Discover the truth about more than 100 actual events that grabbed the headlines and shocked the UK including details of serial killers, gangsters, thieves, crimes of passion, those who were caught or got away and the falsely accused. It is all inside this compelling book, a must-have read for all true crime fans.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Apex Publishing Limited
• Release date: Jun 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781910295342

Book preview

Title Page

101 INTERESTING FACTS ON BRITAIN’S TRUE LIFE CRIMES

By

Mike Gray

Publisher Information

First published as an eBook

in 2014 by Apex Publishing Ltd

12A St. John’s Road, Clacton on Sea,

Essex, CO15 4BP, United Kingdom

www.apexpublishing.co.uk

Please email any queries to Chris Cowlin

[e-mail]

Digital Edition converted and published by

Andrews UK Limited 2014

www.andrewsuk.com

Copyright © 2014 Mike Gray

The author has asserted his moral rights

All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition, that no part of this book is to be reproduced, in any shape or form. Or by way of trade, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser, without prior permission of the copyright holder.

About the Author

Mike Gray was born in 1957 in Lambeth, London. Mike was good friends with train robber Ronnie Biggs and has written various books on him and the great train robbery.

Facts

Derek ‘Bertie’ Smalls: Violent gang crime was almost out of control in London during the 1970s. Armed bank robberies were common and the police were struggling to find the men behind these highly organised crimes. Derek ‘Bertie’ Smalls was frequently involved in robberies but when the police finally caught up with him, he made history by becoming the first major informer in Great Britain. Smalls made a deal with Scotland Yard; he would provide them with information in relation to bank jobs going back several years, including the names of those responsible, in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Smalls became the UK’s first ‘supergrass’ and information provided by him led to the conviction of several career criminals, including the Wembley Bank Robbers. Bertie Smalls died in 2008.

Rachel Nickell (Wimbledon Common Murder): On 15 July, 1992, Nickell was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death on Wimbledon Common, in front of her two-year-old son. A police investigation put Colin Stagg in the frame as a suspect but there was no forensic evidence to back this up. The police set up a ‘honeytrap’, with undercover officer ‘Lizzie James’ posing as a potential girlfriend, to push Stagg into confessing to Nikell’s murder, which he failed to do. Stagg was charged and later acquitted. The controversial methods used in the investigation received a great deal of criticism. The case was reopened by Scotland Yard in 2002 and advanced forensic techniques led the police to a new suspect. Convicted sex killer, Robert Napper, pleaded guilty to Nickell’s manslaughter in December 2008, on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Napper was sentenced at the Old Bailey and is being held indefinitely at Broadmoor High Security hospital.

Brink’s-Mat Robbery: Took place on 26 November, 1983. A gang of robbers broke into the Brink’s-Mat warehouse at Heathrow Airport, London. The six-man team gained entry to the warehouse from a security guard with the intention of stealing £3 million in cash. Once inside, the robbers doused staff in petrol and threatened them with a lit match if they did not reveal the combination to the vault. To their surprise, the gang discovered three tonnes of gold bullion and made off with gold, diamonds and cash worth £26 million (£75 million in today’s money). It was described at the time as ‘the crime of the century’.

The Hull Arsonist: Bruce George Peter Lee (born Peter Dinsdale) is a self-confessed arsonist,