Death Row - Mark Pearson [120]
Some three thousand children and teenagers under eighteen years old are, at any time, named on child-protection registers in England. Almost twice this number are registered at some point during the course of a year.
Around 40 per cent of these children are considered at risk of physical injury and some 22 per cent are at risk of sexual abuse. A further unknown, and probably large, number of young people experience abuse that does not come to the attention of the child-protection agencies.
More than 2,300 people were convicted in English courts during 1994 for sexual offences involving children under 16 years of age, and a further 1,700 admitted guilt and were cautioned.
Over 15,000 children and young people telephone ChildLine to talk about sexual and physical abuse.
The percentage of adults who experienced sexual abuse as children and have had long-term side effects is not known. However, in one British study 13 per cent of the sample of such adults reported that they had been permanently damaged. In another study, 20 per cent of women who had been exposed to sexual abuse as children were identified as suffering from mental health problems, predominantly depressive in type, compared with 6.3 per cent of the non-abused population. Similar increases in mental ill-health were found in women who had been physically or sexually assaulted in adult life. Another study found that almost half of the psychiatric in-patients studied, including both men and women, had histories of physical or sexual abuse or both.
(Statistics from Mind.org.uk)
From the Counselling Directory 2009
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Somebody once wrote that no Man is an Island, which is true unless of course it is the Isle of Man. And in a similar vein a book doesn’t just come out of the mind and efforts of one person alone. Many people have bought me drinks and given me copious advice at the bar whilst it was being written, and for the benefit of you, dear reader, I by and large ignored it. Some people, however, were useful: Mark and Maisie gave me the Annexe; John and Helen gave us the use of their lovely seaside home in a difficult time as the novel neared completion; Paul ‘Chabal’ Durrant gave excellent advice on Northern dialect; and Ron Cornell was adept at spotting continuity errors. Laura, Ellie and Woodsy, the best barkeep in North Norfolk, let me use their names and Robert and Lucy were both as good an egg as any you could find in a country farmhouse.
2009 started wonderfully and ended terribly, but Lynn, my dad and my family made all the difference.
In the main, the guiding lights for the safe passage of this novel came from the celestial beacons at Random House – namely Caroline Gascoigne and the Lone Star legend Tess Callaway!
The reader will note, as ever, that some places are real in the book and some are not.
Jack Delaney is going to try and walk the line, but London indeed is very real – and has a score or two yet to settle with him!
ALSO AVAILABLE IN ARROW
Hard Evidence
Mark Pearson
Jackie Malone has been murdered. Her body lies in a pool of blood in the north London flat where she worked as a prostitute. Deep knife wounds have been gouged into her corpse and her hands and feet are tied with coat hanger wire.
For Detective Inspector Jack Delaney this is no ordinary case. He was a friend of Jackie’s and she left desperate messages on his answer phone just hours before she was killed. Despite no immediate leads and no obvious suspects, the fear in her voice tells him that this was not a random act of violence.
Just as Delaney begins his investigation, a young girl is reported missing, feared abducted, and he is immediately tasked with finding her. Delaney knows he must act quickly if there is any chance of finding her alive, but he is also determined to track down Jackie’s killer before the trail goes cold. However, his tough and uncompromising attitude has made him some powerful enemies