Murder in the Graveyard: A Brutal Murder. A Wrongful Conviction. A 27-Year Fight for Justice.

A gripping true crime investigation into the longest miscarriage of justice in British legal history.

In September 1973, Stephen Downing was convicted and indefinitely sentenced for the murder of Wendy Sewell, a young legal secretary in the town of Bakewell in the Peak District. Wendy was attacked in broad daylight in Bakewell Cemetery. Stephen Downing, the 17-year-old groundskeeper with learning difficulties and a reading age of 11, was the primary suspect. He was immediately arrested, questioned for nine hours, without a solicitor present, and pressured into signing a confession full of words he did not understand.

21 years later, local newspaper editor Don Hale was thrust into the case. Determined to take it to appeal, as he investigated the details, he found himself inextricably linked to the narrative. He faced obstacles at every turn, and suffered several attempts on his life. All of this merely strengthened his resolve: why should anyone threaten him if Downing had committed the crime?

In 2002, Stephen Downing was finally acquitted, having served 27 years in prison.

Immerse yourself in this masterful account of Hale’s long, dedicated and often dangerous campaign to rescue a long-forgotten victim of the British legal system; the longest miscarriage of justice in British history.

‘An Extraordinary story of innocence and persecution, determination and grit … it had me rattling through the pages’ SOPHIE DRAPER

• For fans of I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara, The Fact of a Body by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich, Making A Murderer, Teacher’s Pet, The Jinx, The Staircase, Serial and Dr Death
• Reissue of a OP 2002 book, Town Without Pity, which sold 80k HBs (and was never released in PB)
• The original book was shortlisted for a CWA Gold Dagger
• Town Without Pity was used as the basis for the BBC TV drama In Denial of Murder
• Earlier this year the Stephen Downing case was featured within Judge Robert Rinder’s crime series on ITV
• For this brand-new book Don Hale has reviewed his original notes in detail to add many more details about his personal story and highlight the remarkable roller-coaster journey he went on and the enormous impact it made on both UK and European law.
• We are partnering with the Wireless Group on a true crime podcast based of Murder in the Graveyard to be releases shortly after publication. The podcast will present a series of new interviews, providing readers with a unique insight into Hale’s fight for justice. It will feature eight episodes which will be released weekly and available on all well-known podcast platforms.

Competition: I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, The Fact of a Body, People Who Eat Darkness, Town Without Pity; My Favorite Murder; Lost Girls; Mindhunter; Ted Bundy; The Face of Evil; Catching A Serial Killer; Dead in the Water. John Grisham, Michelle McNamara, Richard Lloyd Parry