I am spending the summer writing and researching some new cases in the autumn, plus a closer look at the new case review of Sophie Toscan du Plantier. Have a great summer! — Just a short note to say that I will be heading away on summer vacation soon and I have decided not to post new articles to Crime Guy during that time. I want to research some new cases for you and also keep up to date on Sophie Toscan du…

An invitation to discuss future articles. Are there other types of crime that interest you? — Long-time readers will know that I sit at the very end of the squeamish side of true crime reporting. Although I find murder compelling, it being by common agreement the very worst of crimes, it is rarely carried out with the clinical precision of an Agatha Christie poisoning. …

Crime Guy can at last report a significant new development in the violent death of Sophie in West Cork, Ireland. Will the case finally be unlocked? — News broke last week that the Irish police are to conduct a full review of thousands of documents and forensic evidence to try and break open the killing of French film producer Sophie Toscan du Plantier in West Cork in December 1996. The most interesting aspect of the cold case…

Why is amateur sleuthing a mug’s game in the UK? It is time for change. — Longer-term readers will know that I started writing about true crime after being inspired by Michelle McNamara’s long hunt for the Golden State Killer. I had always been interested in true crime, but Michelle’s story was a huge inspiration. I really liked that she developed trust with the police to…

The headline is the only fact you can take from recent media reports about John Cannan. Their relentless connection of Cannan to the missing estate agent Suzy Lamplugh is a red herring. — Many months or years ago, I created a Google Alert for the term “John Cannan”. I get perhaps two hits a month and it is never really news. Today was different. I received 6 separate alerts for basically the same story: John Cannan is dying faster than I am, and…

When is it okay to leave a child unattended? This surprisingly simple question has some complex answers that change with the decades. — We were never left unattended at home in the 1980s and 1990s. Not for a minute. But we had a lot more freedom than a 2020s child has. There was no way to track our movements, so we would roam freely around our neighbourhood after school until the evening meal…

Further resources and links on the Christopher Laverack case that shocked Hull in 1984 and for decades beyond, as the killer was not caught at the time. I am looking in more detail at this case for a number of reasons. One is that it is not a cold case…

I finally turn to a more detailed investigation of the 1984 murder of 9 year-old Christopher Laverack. — The first episode of Murdertown Series 1 on Crime+Investigation focuses on two Hull murders. One of those, the murder of 9 year-old Christopher Laverack, has been one of the motivations for my getting involved in Crime Guy. These childhood experiences cause lasting ripples. Something in the news, some tiny memory…

I take a break from crime to show you around a place where I do a lot of research, thinking and writing. The quietest place in London? — The London Library is a well-kept secret, a huge labyrinth of shelves snaking for a total of 17 miles behind a townhouse facade in St. James’s Square. Most people seem to hear of the library through someone else. Perhaps you are a fan of George Smiley, John le Carré’s spy…