Michael Charity

Seasons of Death Michael Charity

Gloucester's 1994 Cromwell Street police enquiry brought British and global media to the city's door via the evil acts of Frederick and Rosemary West. 20 years on, this intriguing book reveals the experiences of a photojournalist embedded on a major serial-killing investigation. The author's contacts becoming invaluable to Central Television, his coverage developed into three months, then a year-his longest news assignment in a career of over 50 years. This compelling true crime illuminates an artful press, public and police in the centre of a media storm, while pondering the mystery of Gloucester's Mary Bastholm, who disappeared in 1968. With human remains discovered in West's garden, the author poses the question: "Might missing Mary and Lucy Partington be victims of Fred and Rose West? " Police dismissed this as conjecture, but some weeks later Lucy's body was discovered in West's cellar. Mary's file remains open - her whereabouts a mystery.