The singing detective

As a young cop of Greek heritage Nick Cecil was used to infiltrate ethnic gambling houses and became a key undercover in a task force assigned to smash illegal bookie syndicates in the 1950s. Much later he was sent to find The Great Train Robbery crook Ronald Biggs by putting his wife Charmian under surveillance when Biggs disappeared from his Blackburn home. Cecil tells an amazing story of becoming friends with the Biggs family (their kids played with his kids) and how close he came to catching the fugitive before he escaped to South America.

Contains a sample of The Great Pretender © 1955 performed by The Platters with words and music written by Buck Ram, courtesy of Mercury Records.

Contains a sample of White Sports Coat © 1957 performed by Marty Robbins with words and music written by Marty Robbins, courtesy of Columbia Records.

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