Deputy prison Governor, Giles Lawson has doubts about the suicide of a lifer who raped and killed a young girl. No one takes his concerns seriously, so he rattles cages and upsets some important people. Ordered to drop it by his boss he ignores him and and is suspended. Convinced now that he is right in his suspicions, he enlists the help of the prison chaplain and, through him, an investigative journalist.
As they get closer to the truth, things spin out of control and they find themselves trapped in a dark world of murder and retribution that threatens not only their lives but those of Giles’ wife and teenage daughters.
Single Cell was published by Diamond Crime in April 2021.
Single Cell Excerpt
PROLOGUE
HMP HILL SUTTON
Stan Walters, Senior Night Shift Officer on B Wing, opened the slider on the cell door and glanced in. A small light, high above the door, threw a shadow over the large and loudly snoring shape in the small bed. It was one of the only two, fought-over, single cells on the run. The other fourteen were all doubles.
Stan closed the slider. It was the same routine every night. He listened outside each one and looked into every other, so, on the four rounds during the shift, each cell was checked twice ‑ not strictly by the book, but good enough for him. He tried to be considerate and make as little noise as possible on the metal walkways. He was glad he’d worn his own boots tonight and not the heavy leather sole-and steel toe cap standard issue that made soft steps tricky. His feet always ached in those too. Anything that could ease the pain was worth a bollocking from anyone who gave a shit what he wore.
Tonight, for some reason, the shift had seemed to go on for ever, even with happy feet. But this was his last round and by four thirty he had reached the sixteenth and final cell on the wing. As he pulled back the slider and glanced in he was thinking about home and snuggling up to his wife’s warm and sleepy body, and hoping the kids didn’t wake up before they had a chance for a bit of a cuddle.
In the far corner of the cell he could see a pair of feet dangling a foot off the ground.
‘Fuck!’
Frank Clarke, serving a fifteen-year minimum sentence for the murder of a young woman with severe learning difficulties, was found hanged in his cell at Hill Sutton high security prison at four thirty a.m. on July 24th
He was alone. The man who shared the cell with him, Ralph Bateman, was in the infirmary after a severe asthma attack the night before.
Clarke’s death was reported to Assistant Governor Giles Lawson at four forty a.m.
Lawson informed Prison Governor, Gerald Wright, of the death at four forty-five a.m.
Later, Lawson coordinated the investigation into the death with the Inquiry Chair, Assistant Chief Constable Patrick Duggan of the West Yorkshire Police. On September 15th, the Inquiry into Clarke’s death returned a verdict of suicide.