DS Hunter Kerr Investigations Archives

The Beast of Barnwell by Michael Fowler

Michael Fowler’s DS Hunter Kerr novel, SHADOW OF THE BEAST features a horrific serial killer. Read on to find out more about where the inspiration for the Beast of Barnwell ― the murderer in this story ― comes from.

The ‘Beast’ is loosely based on Peter Pickering from Wombwell, near Barnsley, who was dubbed ‘the Beast of Wombwell’ by the press following his conviction in 1973 for the rape and murder of 14 year-old Shirley Ann Boldy, when he was jailed indefinitely.

Peter abducted Shirley Ann as she walked back to school at lunchtime, driving her to woods in the village of Barnburgh, where he tortured and raped her before stabbing her with a kitchen knife. Peter had to flee with her body in his van when he was disturbed by three men walking in the woods who tried to intervene after hearing her screams for help.

Arrested later that day, he had dumped Shirley Ann’s body, cleaned his van, burned his clothes and sandpapered and bleached his shoes in a hope of hiding evidence; however, he eventually confessed, blaming his mother for the killing, telling detectives that she would never allow him to have a girlfriend, and he could see her face as he killed Shirley.

The killing of Shirley Ann came just five months after he was released from prison after a six-year jail term for sex attacks on a teenage girl in Doncaster and Scarborough.

Detectives who dealt with Pickering firmly believed that Peter was responsible for more rapes and murders and were particularly interested in him for the unsolved murders of 13 year-old Anne Dunwell, from Rotherham, who was raped and strangled in 1964, and 14 year-old Elsie Frost from Wakefield, who was stabbed five times in 1965. He was visited several times while detained in Broadmoor by detectives and interviewed in connection with these murders, but he refused to cooperate.

However, in 2017, detectives had a breakthrough. Forensic evidence linked Peter to the murder of Elsie Frost and a fresh investigation was launched. During this re-investigation detectives discovered that Peter was renting a storage garage in Sheffield, and getting a warrant, they opened it up and found handcuffs, diaries and exercise books, which contained confessions. One of those confessions was the rape of an 18-year-old woman from Barnsley, which was undetected and after tracing the woman, who was then in her sixties, Peter was charged with that rape and convicted in 2018. Before he could be sentenced for that rape and also charged with the Elsie Frost murder, Peter died. He was 79.

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Author Q&A with Michael Fowler

Hi Michael! Welcome to the Sapere Books blog!

We are very excited to be publishing your HUNTER KERR detective series. Could you tell us a bit about what first got you into writing?

I started at about the age of twelve, and it was a science fiction apocalyptic story, written in two exercise books from Woolworths. I had an uncle, who was not only an avid reader but had a wonderful imagination, and as a teenager, I would spend many autumn and winter nights with him developing characters and drafting first chapters in front of a glowing coal fire with just a single table lamp burning. It made for a wonderful atmosphere and it was my uncle who introduced me to crime fiction.

Where and how do you like to write?

I have a study set out with everything I need. I start my day walking my dog on fields at the back of my home, and as I’m walking, I am working through what I will be writing when I return. I then hammer away at my keyboard for about five hours, doing some refining along the way, and then take my dog out for his second walk, reflect on the piece I have just written and do a mental edit. I’ll then return and make a few adjustments.

What part of the writing process do you find most difficult?

I am a constructive plotter, and so work out a beginning and end, and build in significant events in the middle, to drive the story. In my study I have a huge whiteboard, and I ‘run’ my stories as if they were a major incident (from my detective days), with photographs, timelines, and spider lines connecting characters to story, so I can keep track.

How much research do you normally do before you start writing?

Not a great deal. Because my crime novels are based very much on my previous career as a detective, I am drawing on those experiences.

How real do your characters become?

Many of my characters are based on people I know or have met, so it’s quite easy for them to own their story.

Do you ever feel guilty about killing off your characters?

Not the villains. As I have said above, they are generally based on the villains I have come across during my career and so I find bumping them off quite cathartic. However, I have just killed off one of my leading detectives in my Hunter Kerr series and I had a great deal of angst about doing so.

What are you working on at the moment?

I am working on a new character who is a forensic psychologist in a psychological thriller, which is a huge shift for me as my previous novels are police procedurals.

What is your favourite book?

I am such an avid reader I don’t have a favourite book or character. However, there are a few recent reads that stand out among others, and they are: Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes; The Dry by Jane Harper; Her Every Fear by Peter Swanson; Fall from Grace by Tim Weaver, plus The Bone Field by Simon Kernick.

Which book do you wish you had written?

The Bone Collector by Jeffery Deaver – I love the unique element of a paraplegic crime scene examiner detecting a crime from his bed.

Tell us something surprising about you!

I am also an established artist. I have exhibited in London’s Mall Gallery with The Society of Marine Artists, The Society of Oil Painters and the British Federation of Artists. In 2009 I was awarded the SAA Professional Artist of the Year.

Michael Fowler is the author of the DS HUNTER KERR INVESTIGATIONS series.

Click here to order HEART OF THE DEMON – the first book in the series – now!

COLD DEATH – the second book in the series – is available to pre-order.

Picking my First Villain by Michael Fowler

Michael Fowler is the author of the DS HUNTER KERR INVESTIGATIONS series.

In 2010, after 32 years as a cop, and an even longer time as a passionate writer and lover of crime fiction, Heart of The Demon — the first in the DS Hunter Kerr series — materialised as the book I always told myself I could write.

It is inspired by a true crime event. As a Detective Sergeant, I was following up information in relation to a girl who had been missing for a number of years, and much of her previous history was recorded on her original missing report that had been filed away and stored in the basement at Barnsley Police station.

Whilst seeking it out, I came across a large cardboard box, which, upon rooting through, I found it contained the court file and crime scene photos for a man called Peter Pickering, who was dubbed ‘The Beast of Wombwell,’ and I couldn’t resist rummaging through the contents to get an insight into his crimes.

Peter Pickering was first convicted of attacking two schoolgirls in 1966 and was jailed for six years.

In 1972, five months after his release, he abducted 14-year-old schoolgirl Shirley Ann Brody in his home town of Wombwell, near Barnsley, drove her to secluded woodland, where he raped her and stabbed her while wearing yellow washing-up gloves — a detail that gave rise to his other tabloid nickname, the “maniac in the marigolds”.

Following that murder he was locked up in a psychiatric hospital, but it was always believed he had committed more attacks and murders, and he was interviewed by detectives on numerous occasions over several decades. The focus of those interviews were the murders of 14-year-old Anne Dunwell, from Rotherham, in 1964, and 14-year-old Elsie Frost, from Bradford, in 1965.

He refused to cooperate. However, following another investigation, detectives found evidence linking him to the rape of a Sheffield woman, committed just weeks before he abducted and murdered Shirley Ann Brody, and last year, at the age of 80, he was convicted of that rape.

Early this year Pickering died, taking his secrets to the grave. The finding of the Peter Pickering case file in Barnsley Police Station basement became a light-bulb moment for me as a writer, and has not only provided some of the background for Heart of the Demon, but has also inspired another of my Hunter Kerr novels, Shadow of The Beast.

Michael Fowler is the author of the DS HUNTER KERR INVESTIGATIONS series.

Click here to order HEART OF THE DEMON now!