Spring Round-up

The clocks go forwards in Europe today. Time to look forwards and backwards.

Since my interview with Emma Woodhouse I have been ill with something that seems to change every day. With all the hallmarks of Covid, that friend from (precisely) five years ago, but a negative test, I have whispered and coughed my way through the last ten days and am now coming out the other side.

Normal service will resume shortly. But at this time of new beginnings, what better way to look forwards?

Do you remember the Silence of the Lambs? The silence was the important point

Newer readers might not know how Crime Guy started, and what my primary strand is. I started, appropriately enough, writing Crime Guy here on Substack during the pandemic in the summer of 2021. I started it on Medium, which was my home for ten years or so, but then moved here when it looked like everyone else was going this way. Four years later, and things have exploded on here as Meta and Twitter have imploded. A really good friend of mine was listening to me try to explain Substack. I have to say at this point that she was and is a she. “Ohhhhhh! Substack is OnlyFans for clever people.”

Anyway, Crime Guy started to cover the killing of Sophie Toscan du Plantier in 1996. It quickly got the attention of some of the filmmakers working at that time including Jim Sheridan. He phoned me from a noisy place, which I am certain was a pub, one Friday night in the autumn of 2021 and gave me some tips which led to articles about Ian Bailey’s coat, among other things.

You can only look so long at Sophie before you run out of material, and my goodness there is a lot. I have seen the large dossier including statements and high quality photographs that was put together as part of Ian Bailey’s libel trial. There is very little of this case that I do not know about, and I enjoy answering questions on the case. But no, I have no idea who killed her.

I made a short list of cases which interested me at that time and came up with “the four” below. I am about to change this list, keeping only Suzy and Sophie. It might be that we go with two, I do not yet know. Let me know in the comments!

Claudia Lawrence

Claudia was my age when she vanished in 2009 from York, a few short miles from my hometown. I was gripped by the case, as was anyone who remembers it. The police are pretty clear they know who took her and I presume therefore they know why. But Claudia was never found and it is, in a legal and practical sense, virtually impossible to have a trial without a victim. I will not be pursuing this case unless significant new evidence emerges.

Penny Bell

I saw the fairly recent appeal by Lauren Bell, Penny’s daughter. Penny was murdered by the male passenger of her car in broad daylight in 1991. The case is utterly tragic and mysterious but it is clear the police know who that male passenger was. I will not be pursuing this case unless significant new evidence emerges.

Suzy Lamplugh

Suzy! My goodness. I really thought I new this case before this year. I did not. Some amazing local (to London) experts have been in touch and shared their theories. I walked the route with Mrs Crime Guy on a cold early February day and decided to come back. We will be walking the route again, most likely in May, with a couple of genuine experts.

Sophie Toscan du Plantier

I still think I know as much about this case as anybody. Well, perhaps not Jim Sheridan. He has a film coming out, hopefully this year, called Re-creation which is a sort of motion picture treatment of his series Murder at the Cottage for Sky TV. That series is strongly recommended. I will post news from Jim if and when I receive it.

Crime Guy History

I started Crime Guy just a few weeks before hearing that I had a book contract to write about 1920s Peaky Blinders British gangs. That book expanded quite quickly to include the female gangs, whom I found far more interesting. At the time nobody else seemed to know about them except Caitlin Davies. I have got to know and respect her in this time. But I could not have known that the same summer, Emma Woodhouse (no, not that one) was learning about these women too and Emma had fixed herself on Mary Carr, perhaps the least known of the better known women.

Of course now, everyone knows Erin Doherty is Mary Carr. Even if you don’t have Disney+ you will have heard of her. Stephen Graham is her new BFF, although only because he has actually met her and I have not. They are together again right now on Netflix in their biggest drama ever, Adolescence.

Those two deserve all their success. One thing Instagram and to an extent Substack give you is instant feedback. It happens to be addictive. Many are far more addicted than me. But what Stephen and Erin show us, and what this meander through my own archives shows us, is that hard work in the background can pay off. Yes you need a little luck, but those who work hard and look for the connections of the universe make their own luck.

What is next?

More of the same. I like the history thread, and I love the 1990s vibe of my core cases. There will be more audio. I will have news of my next book, WW2 Gangs. You will be able to guess some of the interviewees coming up by reading my comments and noting who likes these posts. But I won’t announce anything today as there is many a slip… For now, just enjoy the weather because you do not know how long it will last. [Never long here. Ed.]