Dennis McGookin was born in Belfast in 1953. In 1970, a family tragedy occurred which changed his career plans, when the Provisional IRA targeted his maternal uncle. Instead of joining the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and for the sake of his parents, he decided to join the Kent County Constabulary in England.
At the age of 21, McGookin was made a Detective Constable in the Criminal Investigation Department, and over the following 28 years he worked on some of the UK’s most high-profile criminal investigations, including the infamous ‘M25 Road Rage’ killing and the subsequent hunt for notorious criminal, Kenneth Noye, to the death of 58 Chinese nationals found dead in a container at Dover Docks – still the largest human smuggling homicide investigation in UK history.
With forensic detail, McGookin also highlights other extraordinary cases he has investigated, including traveling 9,000 miles to Pitcairn Island in the Pacific Ocean where a sexual assault led him to uncover generations of sexual abuse.
By the time he retired in 2002, McGookin was the Head of the Major Crime Department – a remarkable achievement for the boy from Belfast, and in
The Many Faces of Crime
he recounts an extraordinary career in which he was responsible for solving some of the most renowned and complex crimes in recent years.
will appeal to a wide range of reader: fans of true crime, readers who are curious to learn what really happens behind the scenes of major crimes, and for the reader who wants to learn the real-life stories of those unfortunate individuals involved in the often tragic and sometimes inspiring facets of lives affected by crime.