Nuttall is not the only woman to fall prey to the handsome former surgeon’s dark charm (he received, allegedly, over a hundred letters a week in prison), but in her case, the infatuation might cost her dear. A spokesman for Avon and Somerset police confirmed this morning that she has been suspended from her CID job and is expected to face misconduct charges for entering into a relationship with a convicted prisoner without informing her superiors. If it is found that she acted incorrectly, she may be dismissed from the police service.
At a press conference this morning, senior officer DCI Tim Latimer refused to condemn DC Nuttall. He said, ‘Clearly there needs to be a full investigation, but at this stage I’m proud that my officers, in particular Detective Sergeant Pete Weston and Detective Constable Liz Nuttall, were prepared to put the pursuit of justice before personal considerations.’
Hamish Wolfe has been unavailable for comment today and is believed to be with his parents at an undisclosed location, but Ms Nuttall told us that she couldn’t be happier that her fiancé’s innocence has been proven and that they can look forward to a normal life together. ‘I started to believe Hamish shortly after I became his liaison officer,’ she told us. ‘After that it was a question of finding proof, and of convincing my colleagues that there’d been a miscarriage of justice.’
The couple have not yet set a date for their wedding. ‘Soon,’ Ms Nuttall told us. ‘Very soon. Hamish needs some time, obviously, to get used to being in the outside world again. I’m going to need to be patient with him, cut him some slack but, yes, it’s going to happen soon. No, I haven’t spoken to him for a couple of days, but that’s fine. He needs some space.’
When I ask what would have happened if proof hadn’t been forthcoming, if she’d remained convinced of his guilt, she doesn’t have a ready response to hand. I decide to push a little and ask which came first, the belief in his innocence, or a dangerously irresistible attraction.
‘I fell in love,’ she says. ‘Obviously I’m much happier to love an innocent man, but if he’d been guilty?’ She pauses for a few seconds before giving me her answer: ‘I would have loved him just the same.’
Acknowledgements
My grateful thanks to:
My family, including my mother-in-law, who gets dragged on research trips during the coldest months of the year and who never seems to mind. My dog, Lupe, for being beautifully behaved during our stay at the Crown in Wells and for not killing the cathedral cat. Peter Warner, for advice on what lawyers can and can’t get up to with convicted felons. Adrian Summons for the detecting stuff. Brian Snell of the Mendip Caving Group, for help with disposing of bodies beneath the Mendip Hills. (Sidcot Swallet and Goatchurch Cavern are real caves, but Rill Cavern and Gossam Cave are my inventions.) Any remaining mistakes are my own.
My two UK editors, Sarah Adams and Frankie Gray, both of whom worked exceptionally hard to get Daisy to the publishable stage. A cheery wave, also, to Kelley Ragland at St Martin’s Press in the US, Andrea Best at Goldmann in Germany and all my lovely overseas publishers.
As ever, the Transworld team: Alison Barrow, Tom Chicken, Elspeth Dougall, Christina Ellicott, Larry Finlay, Giulia Giordano, Gary Hartley, Becky Hunter, Louise Jones, Naomi Mantin, Deirdre O’Connell, Gareth Pottle, Bradley Rose, Kate Samano, Bill Scott-Kerr and Nicola Wright.
By no means least, my agent, Anne-Marie Doulton, and her colleagues, the Buckmans.
About the Author
Sharon Bolton is the author of the bestselling Lacey Flint series, as well as a number of stand-alone thrillers, including Blood Harvest, which was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year. In 2014 she was awarded the CWA Dagger in the Library for her whole body of work.
Visit www.sharonbolton.com for more information, or join Sharon at www.facebook.com/SJBoltonCrime or @AuthorSJBolton