I was born in Bath. My father had fought throughout the entirety of WW2 and served with the Green Howards, the Long Range Desert Group, the embryonic SAS and the 10th Battalion Parachute Regiment. My mother worked for the Admiralty during the war and then settled in to post-war homemaking. I had always wanted to join the Army and did so in 1976, becoming an infantry soldier in the Gloucestershire Regiment. After less than a year, I transferred to the Intelligence Corps and completed three tours in Northern Ireland.
I left the forces in September 1983 and joined the Metropolitan Police, training at Hendon College. I served as a uniform patrol officer and a CID detective at Kensington Police Station. In 1987, I was accepted into Special Branch and served there until 2001 when I was seconded to the National Criminal Intelligence Service (one the precursors of today’s National Crime Agency). From 2004 to 2009, I served within SO15, the Counter Terrorism Command, and retired as a Detective Sergeant. I never discuss what I did in either the armed forces or the Police and now work on a part time basis as a security advisor for a world leading company supplying intelligence analysis software.
I started writing as a teenager and haven’t really ever stopped. Having read and memorised every word of the ‘Writer’s and Artist’s Yearbook’ for over a decade, I submitted my manuscripts to dozens of agents and publishers; always rejected. It was only when the Kindle platform became available that I was able to self-publish my first book. However, without any form of promotional or marketing skills, it sat very firmly at the foot of the ratings table. Now, I have found a publisher and, irrespective of future sales, I can finally see one of my books in print form. If you’re a writer, never, ever give up!
Outside of work and writing, I am a member of a recording band named Rogue Herries (after the Monty Python ‘Cheese Shop’ sketch), and our videos are readily searchable on YouTube.
‘Made Of Steel’ is my second novel and it forms part of a loosely linked trilogy. My first work, a dystopian novel recounting an extraterrestrial attack on all of existence, is due for re-publication here during 2024.
APS BOOKS/APS PUBLICATIONS 