Neil Root

When true crime really matters

A new documentary series puts the much-needed spotlight on miscarriages of justice and how the system has sometimes failed, leading to terrible, even fatal consequences With the current true crime documentary and drama tsunami dominating our…

Norma Medlicott obituary

My partner’s mother, Norma Medlicott, who has died aged 84, was a Christian in the best sense: kind and giving, non-judgmental and open-minded. She was involved with charity work over many decades through her church, St Stephen’s in Audenshaw,…

MURDER ON THE WIRE

The most famous case where a murderer was caught by the use of the telegraph was over 110 years ago that of the transatlantic flight of Dr. Crippen in 1910, when the electro-magnetic device was used to alert the police that he was on board a ship,…

Brave New World vs 1984 in 2022

Share In a white heat, between May and August 1931, the novelist Aldous Huxley wrote his classic novel Brave New World, with its dystopian vision of the future, the keys of his typewriter hammering out the work in less than nine weeks, in a rented…

A Shadow in the Past

Vera Page in April 1931, eight months before her murder Vera Page was born in April 1921, in Hammersmith, West London. She was the only child of a working-class couple: Charles, a painter for the Great Western Railway, and Isobel, a housewife. Vera…

Review: Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley

Culture Guillermo del Toro’s new neo-noir epic is a faithful adaption of Gresham’s eponymous novel and a modern morality play carried by nuanced acting and brilliant cinematography. In Guillermo del Toro’s recently released neo-noir epic film…

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This is NEIL ROOT's CRIMEWAVES , a newsletter about Exclusive True Crime & Crime Fiction.

Peter Lawrence obituary

Peter Lawrence, who has died aged 74, was in his early 60s when his youngest daughter, 35-year-old Claudia Lawrence, a chef at the University of York, went missing. Her disappearance in 2009 is a troubling case that remains unsolved. The event thrust…

Peter Sutcliffe: The Three True Crime Books Which Together Get Closest to the Truth

(Published in Red Herrings)Peter Sutcliffe, AKA the Yorkshire Ripper, is dead. He terrorised the north of England and spread fear throughout the country during his murderous rampage between 1975 and 1981. His passing, aged 74 of Coronavirus, while…

Mindhunter, Manson and Capote’s biggest scoop

(Published in Red Herrings magazine)Neil Root looks at the possible reality of the Manson Family’s true motivations for the brutal murders of the Tate/La Bianca murders fifty years ago, alluded to in the hit Netflix series Mindhunter, and how Truman…

Tri-force alliance collapses after discussions ‘ended without agreement’

Talks to secure the future of the Tri Force Specialist Operations alliance between the Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Avon and Somerset forces have ended without agreement. The collaboration, which has been in place since 2012, was seen as a way of…

SPA warns that Police Scotland may not be able to meet its long-term strategic objectives

The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) has revealed that Police Scotland is running a deficit of £34 million, less than in the previous year, but that the force still faces “considerable challenges ahead”. It added that the delivery of the force’s…

PCC says merger with Mayor could lead to ‘financial chaos’

The West Midlands police and crime commissioner (PCC) will consult the public on the proposal to hand the governance of West Midlands Police to an elected mayor. David Jamieson said he is “deeply concerned” that this plan, while harmless on the…

60 second security plan in Christmas counter terrorism drive launched

Counter-terror (CT) officers are asking shops and businesses to draw up contingency plans to “drastically improve reaction times in the event of an emergency” and prevent widespread panic. In the run-up to Christmas, staff will be issued with a ‘60…

Football arrests and banning orders decrease

The number of football-related arrests and banning orders in England and Wales were down by six per cent in the past season according to a Home Office report released today (November 15). There were 1,542 arrests made during the 2017/18 football…

Chief Constable: ‘Police officer joined as a predator'

A police force has been cleared of vetting failings after an officer who had been investigated for serious sexual offences before joining went on to rape a 13-year-old girl. Former Police Constable Ian Naude, 30, was convicted at Liverpool Crown…

Policing Minister: A billion pound more going into policing than three years ago

Nick Hurd made the statement in an adjournment debate on police pension cuts in the House of Commons yesterday (November 14) but admitted there is a problem with the pensions shortfall which currently remains “unresolved”. Mr Hurd said that his…

PCC ‘truly sorry’ over bullying allegations

North Yorkshire’s police and crime commissioner (PCC) says she is “truly sorry” after allegations she ‘bullied’ staff were upheld. Julia Mulligan said she had taken “very seriously” the conclusions of a police and crime panel that some of her…

Sixth consecutive annual fall in drug seizures revealed

Seizures of Class A and B drugs across England and Wales in the past year dropped to their lowest level since 2004, according to the latest Home Office figures. However, cannabis seizures have more than doubled. Seizures of herbal cannabis rose by…

Marked police vehicle parked outside police station stolen

A man accused of stealing a marked police van from outside a Suffolk police station appeared in court on Monday (November 12). The Vauxhall Vivaro van was taken from outside Lowestoft police station on Saturday evening (November 10) and found…