The Pottery Cottage Murders

Carol Anne Lee

• 05 maart 2020
• 9781405543729

Samenvatting:

Praise for Carol Ann Lee:


The Murders at White House Farm
'Finally, a responsible author, Carol Ann Lee, has written a true account'
Mike Ainsley, senior investigating officer on the Bamber case

'The definitive account'
Yorkshire Post

One of Your Own: The Life & Death of Myra Hindley
'Brilliant . . . like In Cold Blood'
Frankie Boyle

'Scrupulously unsensational and as good a biography of Hindley as we'll get'
Sunday Times

'Intelligent and impressively fair-minded'
Scotsman

Roses From The Earth: The Biography of Anne Frank
'Vivid and shattering. A work of real sympathy and imagination'
Mail on Sunday

'Excellent . . . serious, sensitive and scrupulous'
Sunday Telegraph

The Hidden Life of Otto Frank
'Significant and fascinating. An absorbing biography of Anne's father'
Financial Times

'Riveting reading . . . scrupulously researched and ultimately haunting . . . Heart wrenching'
Boston Herald

A Fine Day For A Hanging: The Real Ruth Ellis Story
'A forensically researched book that casts a haunting new light on the last woman to be hanged in Britain'
Daily Mail

Includes an exclusive interview with Peter Howse and Carol Ann Lee

A psychopathic criminal on the run from prison. A family of five held hostage in their home. A frantic police manhunt across the snowbound Derbyshire moors. Just one survivor.


The definitive account of the terrifying 1977 Pottery Cottage murders that shocked Britain.

For three days, escaped prisoner Billy Hughes played macabre psychological games with Gill Moran and her family, keeping them in separate rooms of their home while secretly murdering them one by one. On several occasions Hughes ordered Gill and her husband Richard to leave the house for provisions, confident that they would return without betraying him in order to protect their loved ones.

Blizzards hampered the desperate police search, but they learned where the dangerous convict was hiding and closed in on the cottage. A high-speed car chase on icy roads ended with a crash and the killer being shot as he swung a newly sharpened axe at his final victim. This was Britain's first instance of police officers committing 'justifiable homicide' against an escapee.

The story of these terrible events is told here by Carol Ann Lee and Peter Howse, the former chief inspector who saved Gill Moran's life over forty years ago.

Peter's professional role has permitted access to witness statements, crime scene photographs and police reports. Peter Howse and Carol Ann Lee have made use of these, along with fresh interviews with many of those directly involved, to tell a fast-paced and truly shocking story with great insight and empathy.