by Tony Thompson (Chair)
Former Detective Superintendent Graham Satchwell has authored a new book ‘The Great Train Robbery and The South Coast Raiders’.
Graham writes:
“The Great Train Robbery was immediately the subject of world attention in late 1963. Being the biggest and most audacious robbery ever committed, it quickly led to popular myths that have become embedded in our national psyche. ‘Robin Hood’ characters? The truth is quite different.
The plot. One year before the Great Train Robbery, Alfredo and Shirley live in poverty. Unemployed and threatened by a loan shark, and against Shirley’s wishes, Alfredo turns to crime. But he quickly finds himself on a very slippery slope towards murder and The Great Train Robbery.’’
Already reviewed by leading journalists, including Duncan Campbell (The Guardian) and Stuart Tendler (former chief crime correspondent with The Times), Graham’s book tells for the first time, the important backstory to the Great Train Robbery. This is realistic storytelling, some of it is ‘adult’ reading, and not for the faint hearted, but with the help of Train Robber Tom Wisbey, Graham seems to have captured well the culture and demeanour of the robbers.
Graham wrote to me: “No work of non-fiction can explore character and culture like fiction, and in writing this I had a great deal of help from one of the train robbers, Tom Wisbey. I honestly believe that no other work of fiction (book or broadcast) better captures who the robbers really were.”
“I must also thank some old colleagues for helping me improve the many drafts – Andy Bicknell, Peter Holden, Wayne Clayton-Robb and Gerry Stuart. As I typed that last full-stop, I was aware that I have likely failed to mention the help of at least one other, so please forgive me.”
The Great Train Robbery and The South Coast Raiders is now available on Amazon, in hardback, paperback and Kindle editions, and on order from bookshops.
Notes:
This article first appeared in Retired Lines, the NARBTPO newsletter.
Other (non-fiction) books by Graham Satchwell can be found on our virtual BookShelf.