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In the early hours of 19 June 2004, 16-year-old Liam Kelly was lured to a location in Liverpool and shot dead. The following year, another Liverpudlian, 22-year-old mother of three, Lucy Hargreaves, was shot dead in her own home. Her partner and their 2-year-old daughter escaped after the house was set alight by leaping from a first-floor bedroom window. For more than fifteen years, six-foot six-inch, broadly built, ginger-haired Kevin Parle has been wanted by the police for both murders. How could he have evaded national and international crime investigators for so long? Who is harbouring him? Author and former Scotland Yard detective and undercover cop, Peter Bleksley, is determined to find the answers. He has immersed himself again in the world of serious and organised crime, this time armed only with a pen, a notebook and a mobile phone. He has vowed not to rest until Parle is found. This gripping story goes behind the scenes of the hit BBC Sounds podcast, Manhunt: Finding Kevin Parle.
Looks at 10 unsolved murder cases in the 21st century.
Peter Bleksley was the best of the best. An undercover detective with CID and SO10, he was the man called in to deal with the most sensitive situations and the most dangerous criminals. This is the story of his life and career.
'Shocking, scathing, entertaining.' Guardian 'Incredibly compelling.' The Times 'Heart-breaking.' Sunday Times Where can a tin of tuna buy you clean clothes? Where is it easier to get 'spice' than paracetamol? Where does self-harm barely raise an eyebrow? Welcome to Her Majesty's Prison Service. Like most people, documentary-maker Chris Atkins didn't spend much time thinking about prisons. But after becoming embroiled in a dodgy scheme to fund his latest film, he was sent down for five years. His new home would be HMP Wandsworth, one of the largest and most dysfunctional prisons in Europe. With a cast of characters ranging from wily drug dealers to senior officials bent on endless reform, this powerful memoir uncovers the horrifying reality behind the locked gates. Filled with dark humour and shocking stories, A Bit of a Stretch reveals why our creaking prison system is sorely costing us all - and why you should care.
TV's top fugitive hunter investigates the UK's worst unsolved murders. Roughly ten per cent of all murders in the UK go unsolved. Here, Britain's top ex-undercover cop shines new light on cases up and down the country in search of answers. Peter Bleksley's life has been devoted to investigating. As an undercover detective for the Metropolitan Police and in his ability to get to the bottom of a case was legendary as he dealt with some of the world's most feared criminals. His success rate in solving murders as a serving officer was one hundred per cent. Using the investigative skills gained from decades of experience and access to archives and contacts in the force, Bleksley shines new light ...
On 28 November 2004, banker and father-of-two Alistair Wilson was shot three times on his doorstep in a killing more commonly associated with inner city gang wars than a sleepy seaside town in the Scottish Highlands. All these years later, the question remains: why? Who would wish to kill this respectable husband and family man in such a brutal fashion? Was it simply a tragic case of mistaken identity, or did someone have reason to end Alistair's life? And what was the significance of the envelope handed to him before he was fatally wounded? Over the years, lines of enquiry have been investigated and dismissed, gossip has spread, theories offered and rumours debated at length. And yet, so long after Alistair's death, no arrest has ever been made and precious few motives have been made public. In this gripping true crime investigation, Peter Bleksley, top ex-undercover cop and The Chief on Channel 4's Hunted, strives to uncover the truth and hunt down Alistair's killer. He travels to Scotland, speaks to experts, and draws on his decades of investigative experience in order to provide new insight into Scotland's most mysterious murder case.
It's that time of year again . . . Turn up 'Last Christmas', get the mince pies out and head back to the 80s in the remarkably honest and fascinating autobiography from one half of the world's greatest pop duo THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'I couldn't put it down. Such a fantastic book' Chris Evans, Virgin Radio ________ School mates. Band mates. Soul mates . . . When Andrew Ridgley took George Michael, the new boy at school, under his wing, he discovered a soul mate. In Wham! George and Me, Andrew tells the story of how they rode a rollercoaster of success around the world while making iconic records and surviving superstardom with their friendship intact. It is a memoir of love, music, the f...
Every Friday afternoon at 3.30, the whole office at talkSPORT Towers stops to listen to the station's most popular feature, Clips of the Week, presented by Paul Hawksbee and Andy Jacobs. For all the professionalism of the presenters, there are always those moments when things don't quite go right, and words get jumbled up, or a guest on a phone-in says something so extraordinary you have to stop and think: did he really just say that? For 13 years now, the hosts of the afternoon show have been running this feature, in the process collecting almost 4000 hilarious clips. In this book we get to read the very best of the best; they include Alan Brazil's occasional on-air lapses, as when he introduced racing reporter Rupert Bell: 'Here's talkSPORT's Rupert Bear...'. There's also the unbeatable moment when a Scottish caller was campaigning for Hearts' goalkeeper Antti Niemi to play for Scotland. The presenter replied that he was ineligible as he was Finnish, only to be told: 'He's no' finish, he only 28!'
My dad stopped me at the top of the stairs, 'What are you doing? You've got a fight tomorrow!' 'But I can earn more money like this.' 'Look son, you've got to make a decision. What do you want to be? A thief of a fighter?' 'Dad, I think I want to be a thief.' The Karys, the Richardsons and men like Buster Edwards or Freddie Foreman may be better known, but by the end of the sixties they were either in prison or living in enforced exile. Joey Pyle was (and continues to be) ever bit as notorious, feared and respected. His broad range of criminal contacts and associates ensured he was either involved in or very much aware of every major criminal escapade that took place. From the murder of Jack the hat by the Kray twins to the Great Train Robbery, from the fatal shooting at the Pen Club to the American Mafia's attempts to penetrate London's casino scene, Pylo has seen it all.
Four million quid. There it was, inches away from me on a hotel table. Not in conventional currency, but in the world's deadliest commodity. Heroin. The guy sitting opposite me was there to sell it. I was there to buy it. This was the trap we'd set for the biggest fish in international drug trafficking. And we were about to fry him alive...Peter Bleksley was the best undercover cop Scotland Yard ever had. In over ten years operating in covert squads, he came up against some of the most hardened, lethal and bizarre underworld operations, constantly putting his life on the line so that the deadliest villians would end up where they belonged: behind bars. A master of disguise, he assumed numerous identities in order to get close to his targets - drug dealer, counterfeiter, gangster and hit man to name just a few. So determined was he to nail his man, he would even have to take cannabis or cocaine to remain above the suspicion of gang bosses.