Martin Baggoley is a retired probation officer, having worked in Greater Manchester for more than thirty five years. He has a masters degree in criminology and has written many articles on the history of crime and punishment for magazines in the United Kingdom and United States. He is also the author of several true crime books and this will be his fourth for Wharncliffe; his others are Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Manchester; Strangeways, a Century of Hangings in Manchester; Hanged in Lancashire. He lives in Ramsbottom with his wife Claire and they have two adult children.