Deric Henderson – författare

The killer dentist, his mistress, how they murdered their spouses - and how they almost got away with it. Now a major four-part ITV drama starring James Nesbitt:- 'Unswitchoffable' Guardian- 'James Nesbitt is at his magnetic best' The Times- 'The most grown up drama of the week and it's brilliant' Observer- 'Terrific, intensely gripping' Daily TelegraphMay 1991 in the seaside town of Castlerock in Northern Ireland and the bodies of two people - police officer Trevor Buchanan and nurse Lesley Howell - are found in a car filled with carbon monoxide. Their spouses are having an affair and, it appears, the pair are so distraught they have taken their own lives. Their adulterous spouses - Sunday school teacher Hazel Buchanan and dentist Colin Howell - had met in the local Baptist Church. Following the apparent double-suicide, they continued their affair secretly but both later remarried other people.A series of disasters in Howell's life - bereavement, financial disaster, sexual scandal - made him reveal his darkest secrets to the elders of his church. Among other things, he told them that he and Hazel Stewart had conspired to murder their spouses nearly two decades earlier. That confession led to two of the most sensational murder trials ever seen in the United Kingdom, Howell's conviction for murder in December 2010 and Stewart's in March 2011, despite her protestations of innocence.'It was a dance between control and manipulation' - Colin Howell at the trial of Hazel StewartWith The Secret, distinguished journalist Deric Henderson has produced the definitive account of one of the most extraordinary murder cases to hit these islands for decades.

In some ways, I didn’t – don’t – want to remember any of it. Which is not to say that one ever forgets. I don’t know any journalist who worked through the Troubles, with its relentless cycle of murders and doorstepping the homes of the dead and funerals and yet more murders, who isn’t haunted from time to time by being an eyewitness to evil, to heartache and, yes, to courage too.GAIL WALKER, editor, Belfast TelegraphIn Reporting the Troubles sixty-eight renowned journalists tell their stories of working in Northern Ireland during the Troubles – the victims that they have never forgotten, the events that have never left them, and the lasting impact of the experience of working through those years.The result is a compelling account of one of the most turbulent periods in recent history, told by the journalists who reported on it. Beginning in 1968 with an eyewitness report of the day that civil rights protestors clashed with the police in Derry, the journalists give candid accounts of the years that followed – arriving on the scene of major atrocities; knocking on the doors of bereaved relatives; maintaining objectivity in the face of threats from paramilitaries and pressure from the state; and always the absolute commitment to telling the truth.This is a landmark book – a history of the Troubles told by the journalists who were on the ground from the beginning and including many of the biggest names in journalism from the last fifty years. Reporting the Troubles is a remarkable act of remembrance that is raw, thought provoking and profoundly moving.Contributors:Kate Adie, Martin Bell, Nicholas Denis, Sean O’Neill, David Armstrong, Wendy Austin, Trevor Birney, Suzanne Breen, Gordon Burns, Anne Cadwallader, Michael Cairns, Jim Campbell, Paul Clark, John Coghlan, Martin Cowley, Ed Curran, David Davin-Power, Deaglán de Bréadún, John Devine,  Noel Doran, Noreen Erskine, Paul Faith, Robert Fisk, Derval Fitzsimons, Tommie Gorman, Katie Hannon, Deric Henderson, Eamonn Holmes, Gloria Hunniford, John Irvine, Jeanie Johnston, Alan Jones, Hugh Jordan, Richard Kay, Martin Lindsay, Ivan Little, Jane Loughrey, Eamonn Mallie, Ray Managh, Steven McCaffery, Justine McCarthy, Alf McCreary, Denzil McDaniel, Henry McDonald, Jim McDowell, Eddie McIlwaine, Susan McKay, David McKittrick, Ivan McMichael, Gerry Moriarty, John Mullin, Bill Neely, Miriam O’Callaghan, Conor O’Clery, Sister Martina Purdy, Ken Reid, Brian Rowan, Chris Ryder, Gerald Seymour, Sam Smyth, Peter Taylor, Alex Thomson, Chris Moore, Gail Walker, David Walmsley, Ian Woods, Robin Walsh.

In this follow-up to their landmark first book, Deric Henderson and Ivan Little have gathered new stories from seventy journalists who have worked in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. These contributors write powerfully about the victims they have never forgotten, the events that have never left them, and the lasting impact of working through those terrible years.Reporting the Troubles 2, which includes contributions from a new generation of journalists, who came up in the years leading to the Good Friday Agreement, provides a compelling narrative of the last fifty years, and covers many of the key events in Northern Ireland’s troubled history, from Bloody Sunday in 1972 to the inquest into the Ballymurphy Massacre in 2021.Grounded in the passionate belief that good journalism and good journalists make a difference, Reporting the Troubles 2 is a profoundly moving act of remembrance and testimony.'I am sometimes asked to identify the most important story that I dealt with while I was editor of the Irish Times … I answer that the most important story was not published in a single day but over years. And it was not put together by any one journalist but by a whole cohort of reporters, photographers, feature writers and editors … For the most part they just got by-lines and the satisfaction of knowing that what they were doing was important, that the story had to be told, day by day, hour by hour. And that telling it could make a difference. It is difficult to imagine that there could ever have been a peace process without that.’CONOR BRADY, former editor, Irish TimesContributions from - Gordon Adair, Don Anderson, Ciaran Barnes, Colin Bateman, Jilly Beattie, Charlie Bird, David Blevins, Declan Bogue, Conor Brady, Stephen Breen, Eugene Campbell, Peter Cardwell, Mark Carruthers, Niall Carson, Paddy Clancy, Simon Cole, Liam Collins, Mark Davey, Donna Deeney, Michael Denieffe, Patricia Devlin, Michael Donnelly, Roisín Duffy, Gavin Esler, Michael Fisher, Jim Flanagan, Mike Gaston, Gareth Gordon, Jim Gracey, Paul Harris, Deric Henderson, Mark Hennessy, Gary Honeyford, Paul Johnson, Fergal Keane, Vincent Kearney, Gerry Kelly, Will Leitch, Ivan Little, Robin Livingstone, David Lynas, Darragh MacIntyre, Michael Macmillan, Kevin Magee, Stanley Matchett, Don McAleer, Roisin McAuley, Barry McCaffrey, Jonny McCambridge, Freya McClements, Sir Trevor McDonald, Lindy McDowell, Mark McFadden, Hugh McGrattan, Seamus McKee, Fearghal McKinney, Allison Morris, Rod Nawn, Malachi O’Doherty, Maggie O’Kane, Mike Parry, Lance Price, Colin Randall, Paul Reynolds, Maggie Taggart, Eric Villiers, John Ware, Nicholas Watt, Johnny Watterson, David Young.