The Write Stuff
I’ve had two books published, but I’m not going to be retiring to a farmhouse in Lot-et-Garonne with a pigeonnier converted to a writer’s studio anytime soon.
My royalty cheques are, frankly, an embarrassment, both to me and, if they had any shame, Random House…
White Gold

‘Three fishermen from the Scottish Highlands received a total of 55 years in prison after being found guilty of smuggling into Britain cocaine worth more than 100 million – the biggest drugs seizure by customs officials in the country’s history’ – The Times
Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, the Highland fishing village of Ullapool was a tough place to make a living. With huge Eastern bloc factory ships buying up the local catch, however, there was money to be made for those who had the stomach for it. Renowned for its lawlessness – drinking and fighting offered the Friday-night entertainment – it was no place for the squeamish.
One man was gaining quite a reputation for himself locally – Chris Howarth, known to everyone as ‘Crazy Chris’. In the summer of ’89, he met an expatriate Scot living in Malaga (referred to as ‘Mr X’ in the subsequent trial) who offered him some work of a dubious nature and set in motion a chain of events that would lead to what would be the UK’s largest ever drugs haul.
Around the same time, working on a tip-off from a local informant and intelligence from their Spanish counterparts, Customs and Excise became aware of a major plot to smuggle huge amounts of drugs into the UK around Ullapool. As a result of this information, Operation Klondyke was born.
For the next 18 months, Howarth and Mr X would be under constant surveillance. The trail would lead from Ullapool and the east coast of Scotland to the Costa del Sol, Gibraltar and Venezuela. It would uncover distribution channels from Colombia’s notorious Cali cartel to Europe and North America, operated by ruthless Spanish smuggling outfits. And it would finally lead to the UK’s most valuable seizure of drugs, on a Scottish road as it was being transported down to the lucrative London market – half a tonne of virtually pure Colombian cocaine.
White Gold at last tells the inside story of Operation Klondyke – seen through the eyes of both the hunters and the hunted.
“This true-crime narrative recounts the circumstances around the largest-ever drugs haul in Britain. Masterminded from malaga and implemented by some Ullapool ne’er-do-wells, the story unfurls with pace, veering between outright farce, drunken violence and the chilling proximity of the truly despicable. Based on interviews with one of the Highland fall-guys and Customs and Excise officials, it manages to remain impartial even though legal injunctions forbid the naming of the central villain.” – Scotland on Sunday
“A great story, full of hilarious characters, including the main one, whom disaster follows like a shadow” – FHM
“A grimly fascinating tale of a life lived on the wrong side of the tracks” – Mail on Sunday
“5 stars – an excellent read” – Amazon customer
“5 stars – a fascinating, fast-paced account of how the police pieced together an amazing drugs bust” – Amazon customer
“4 stars – as a native of Ullapool, the stories been a bit glamourised, but still a great read. Growing up we all knew that our some of our mates fathers were in jail for drugs, but it was never talked about so its really interesting to actually hear what really went on that year” – Amazon customer
“1 star – reads like an article from the News of the World and would be better suited to such readers” – Amazon customer
“1 star – Badly written drivel” – Amazon customer
No One Takes My Children

No One Takes My Children is a breathtaking account of Donya Al-Nahi’s heroic quest to track down her children, after her Iraqi husband snatched their four children and fled to the Middle East. It is a dramatic, emotional and ultimately inspiring story of how one woman’s determination and spirit in times of adversity achieved incredible results.
“If you have children it will make you want to pull them close and hug them tight. Donya al-Nahi demonstrates how a mother’s love can move mountains” (Sharon Hendry, The Sun)
“A powerful story” (Sunday Life)
“If you enjoyed Not Without My Daughter, you will love No One Takes My Children” (South Wales Advertiser)
“5 stars – The unique, well written and often gripping story of how Donya came to be an angel of mercy re-uniting mothers with their children when their children have been abducted by their Muslim fathers and taken back to their fathers’ homelands never to be seen again…” – Amazon customer
“5 stars – a great read” – Amazon customer
“1 star – This story simply does not have the ring of truth about it and I always found myself wondering if the book had been more than just “normally” ghost written – at times it seemed that the ghost writer probably had a much greater input than the author… A waste of time and money” – Amazon customer