Most notable for heading the Stalker Inquiry

The Stalker enquiry was a police investigation into the shootings of a number of suspected members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) by the Royal Ulster Constabulary in 1983.

A policeman in Manchester before transferring to the CID where he worked for 16 years, rising to the rank of Detective Superintendent. He was in the Serious Crime Squad, the Bomb Squad and was the first head of the Drugs Squad.

In 1978, aged 38 he was appointed head of Warwickshire CID, the youngest Detective Chief Superintendent in the country - later becoming Deputy Chief Constable of the Greater Manchester Police, the biggest police force in the provinces.

He has travelled round the world studying terrorism and crime in Europe, the USA and South America. On his return he worked for 2 years in Northern Ireland.

Now writes regularly for several newspapers including the Sunday Times, Sunday Express, and the Daily Telegraph and writes frequent crime features for The Sun.

His book Stalker topped the best sellers for many weeks with world-wide sales of over 400,000, later returning to the best sellers list in paperback.

More famous Lymm residents