The Child Who

Acknowledgements

Love and thanks, as ever, to my unfailingly supportive family and friends. For their help and insight during the research and writing of this book, I owe a debt in particular to Sandra Higgison, Darryl Hobden, Andy Hood, Hanne Stevens and Amanda Thornton. Without their collective generosity, in terms of time and expertise, I would still be staring at a blinking cursor. Thank you, equally, to all at Macmillan, Penguin, the Zoe Pagnamenta Agency, Andrew Nurnberg Associates and Felicity Bryan Associates. Emma Bravo, Kathryn Court, Sophie Orme, Zoe Pagnamenta, Maria Rejt, Tara Singh and Caroline Wood all deserve an extra special mention.

I would like, as well, to detail here the books that have most informed and guided my research for The Child Who: Blake Morrison’s heartbreaking, exceptional As If; Gitta Sereny’s The Case of Mary Bell, as well as her astonishing series of articles about the James Bulger case published in the wake of the resultant trial in the Independent on Sunday Review (and available now as appendix to the aforementioned book); Alex McBride’s fascinating and entertaining Defending the Guilty; and, finally, Infant Losses, Adult Searches by Glyn Hudson Allez, a devastatingly insightful analysis.

Last, and above all, I would like to say thank you to Sarah, my wife, and to my two sons, Barnaby and Joseph: for being there, and for being who they are.