The Cottontown Killer

Blackburn, Lancashire, 1948. When a child was stolen from her hospital bed and murdered, Scotland Yard sent the notorious detective John Capstick to supervise the investigation. With time running out, and with panic rising, Capstick was forced to adopt increasingly desperate measures to solve the case whilst political events led by a local MP were conspiring to prevent the suspect from ever being brought to justice.The real-life story of one of the most infamous cases in British policing history, this book carefully reconstructs the reality of crime and law enforcement in post war Britain, reconstructing events from the archived accounts of eye witnesses. It traces the history of Blackburn, reviews other notorious crimes that took place in the town, and details the immense societal and political changes that were taking place across the country. However, at its heart is the desperate race against time to catch a heartless killer who was responsible for an unspeakable crime.