Collateral damage. Robin Bowles. 2022.

Whenever a serious crime is committed, police swarm around, asking searching questions, poking and prying. They impose themselves on the grief of those who were intimately connected with the victim and the alleged perpetrator. Then they are gone. The blue lights disappear, as does the blue-and-white ribbon. The stream of uniforms and suits moves on to the next drama.

Victims of crime organisations usually focus on people who were attacked, injured or affected in some way. They ignore the plight of close personal contacts who may be suddenly thrown into a shocking nightmare as the truth is uncovered: the collateral damage.

During her 24 years writing true crime books, Robin Bowles has been the confidante of criminals and others caught up in this vortex. In this book of case histories, she recounts some of the experiences shared with her by the living victims of famous - and infamous - crimes.