Spike Island [antikvár]

Author^s Note Small liberties have to be taken with clock and calendar in a book of this kind, and some superficial detail has been altered in the interests of the public who became involved. All names have been either changed or omitted, except where they belong to sundry outsiders, such as public figures and novelists, who are mentioned in passing. This means that I am unable to list here those police officers who deserve a special vote of thanks for assisting me in my research, giving so generously of their time and of their trust. Neither am I able to apologise to the few who did all this only for their tapes to prove impossible to transcribe, which left me to salvage vital fragments from my notes. Yet nobody who chanced to fall within these pages sought to be singled out, and it is equally true that everyone serving in 'A' Division at the time contributed something to this portrait, however indirectiy. So perhaps it is most fitting that I should simply say a heartfelt 'thank you' to one and all. Aside from those whose anonymity must be respected, I am particularly grateful to Duncan Campbell, Steve Morrison and Gayle Broughall for the parts they played in the initial stages of this study, and to Messrs G. J. Fellows, E. F. Bazley and G. V. Thomas, without whose help I could not have undertaken it. Three Liverpudlians - Laurie Marlow, Mary Jones and Tony Mclver - must be remembered for their splendid Northern hospitality, and I am greatly indebted to my agent and publishers - Pat Kavanagh, Lord Hardinge of Penshurst and André Schiffrin, and to Sonny Mehta - for their steadfast encouragement. But above all, perhaps, I should express ray gratimde to the person who made this book possible in the first place: Mr K. G. Oxford, Q.P.M., the Chief Constable of the Merseyside Police. It took a remarkable chief ofiicer to allow a 'warts and all' study to be made of a division under his command (to use his own expression), and to accept the result as he has done. I can only hope that I have made the most of this singular opportunity so far as my ability wül allow. Oxfordy g October igyg J.McC.