The Many Faces of Crime: A True Detective's Chronicle
DENNIS MCGOOKIN
RIGHTS SOLD: (UK) The History Press - Published May 2024
AVAILABLE: All other rights available and handled by The bks Agency
‘I have an excellent memory for faces. I recall the face of every dead body I have ever seen. Every murder victim, every suicide, every cot death and every death reported as unexplained.’
At the age of 22, Dennis McGookin was made a Detective Constable in the Criminal Investigation Department of Kent County Constabulary. He had no way of knowing at the time, but this career decision would put him at the heart of some of the most notorious crimes in Britain, including the case of Kenneth Noye, the so-called ‘M25 Road Rage Killer’, and the largest human-smuggling homicide investigation in British history.
Told with forensic detail, but also humanity and heart, The Many Faces of Crime is the story of an extraordinary career that took McGookin from the south side of Belfast to the diplomatic echelons of Beijing, and put him face-to-face with both victims and murderers.
Dennis McGookin was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1953 and educated at Annadale Grammar School. He lived on the south-side of the city with his parents and two siblings. In 1970 a family tragedy occurred which changed his career plans, when the Provisional IRA targeted his maternal uncle. Instead of joining the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and for the sake of his parents, he decided to join the Kent County Constabulary in England. His initial posting was in the multi-cultural town of Gravesend, where he would visit his first murder scene. At the age of 22 years he was appointed as a Detective Constable in the Criminal Investigation Department and, over the following 28years, he would specialise in this form of policing. Later he was promoted to Detective Sergeant at Dartford, where he would first encounter the notorious criminal Kenneth Noye following the killing of a Metropolitan Police Officer. At the age of 33 years, he was promoted to Detective Inspector, in-charge of the CID in Margate. In March 1990 he was appointed Detective Chief Inspector and served in the Complaints & Discipline Department. He later took command of the CID for the Borough of Swale. In 1996 he was appointed as the force’s first Senior Investigation Officer (SIO) in this rank. In October 1996 he was promoted to Detective Superintendent, taking command of the Force Crime Management team and, later, the Force Serious Crime Unit. In the summer of 1998, he was appointed as the Head of the Major Crime Department, where he remained until his retirement from the Force in October 2002. Later that year, he formed his own company specialising in major crime reviews, training of detective at all ranks of the service, including Chief officers on crime related courses.
