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Nick Fletcher


He has interviewed Roger Moore and Joan Collins, watched people sentenced to death in the high courts and has sped through the Sahara Desert in a Peugeot! You could say By The Dart’s very own motoring writer Nick Fletcher has had a varied life. The Kingswear journalist has two passions - cars and crime, and he still writes about both.


N


ick Fletcher has been writing about crime for 50 years. He started in the courts around Wolver- hampton and Staffordshire as a reporter for the


Midlands Express and Star. He covered high profile murder cases including Donald Neilson (The “Black Panther”) who murdered three men during post office robberies in the 70s. Nick was also in court for one of the last death sentences in the UK in the 60s. “That felt quite momentous” he says gravely. His work often ap- peared in national papers including the Sunday Mirror and The News of the World. He says he enjoyed the buzz of a busy newsroom and looming deadlines. During his time working for national newspapers,


Nick dipped his toes into the world of showbiz interviewing some top celebrities like Sylvester Stallone, Steven Spielberg and 80s actress Raquel Welch. “She was a formi- dable character and we actually had a little sparring match! She was promoting her keep fit book for stay at home mums and I questioned who would have the time to start exercising with all the demands of everyday life like washing, cooking and school runs. She bit back saying that she didn’t have any home help and managed to do it all by herself so others could do the same. I think she quite liked me by the end of the interview!” Nick says another memorable encounter was with Roger Moore: “Our chat, during a Lions Club charity event, was cut short when an actual lion bit my ankle! The organisers had acquired a cub for the press photos. The keeper took his eyes off him for a few seconds and he used the opportunity to walk up


Detective Max Slater. “He’s an ex-journalist turned private


detective who can’t help breaking the rules to find out the truth.”


behind me and sink his teeth into my leg!” But it is crime which really sparks Nick’s imagina- tion. He believes it all began way before he became a reporter: “I used to love Enid Blyton when I was young - The Famous Five, Secret Seven all that kind of thing. When you think about it - that was all about solving mysteries and finding the culprits.” He has written two novels and a number of short stories, all of which have been published and feature his much-loved creation - Detective Max Slater. “He’s an ex-journalist turned private detective who can’t help breaking the rules to find out the truth.” Nick loves the freedom of writing fiction - taking the story anywhere he wants but says there is something very gritty and addictive about real life crime which can be more extraordinary than fic- tion. This is why he has now turned his attention to writing a book about real life crime stories from along the south coast. One of the cases involves John Lee who was charged with a murder in Babbacombe in the late nineteenth century. He was sentenced to death by hanging but the trap door failed to open three times. The Home Secretary at the time stepped in and changed the punishment to life imprisonment due to the emotional stress caused by the unreliability of the gallows. When Lee was finally re- leased he spent his time lecturing on how he had escaped the hangman’s noose. The book, called South Coast Murders, will be published next year.


Nick’s second passion is motoring journalism. Before


he started writing for By The Dart he was reviewing cars for websites and regional newspapers. The job of motoring journalist comes with the perk of having


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