Donna Collins

One Chatty, adrenaline-seeking, Gate-loving Thriller Writer.

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  • Janet Leach: The Woman in the Room

    When people revisit the Cromwell Street murders, attention almost always centres on Fred and Rose West — the perpetrators, the house, the excavations, and the headlines. But there was another figure inside that story who became psychologically and legally entangled in one of Britain’s most infamous investigations. Her name was Janet Leach. And she occupied one of the most uncomfortable positions imaginable: seated across from a man calmly confessing to multiple child murders, and tasked not with interrogation — but with safeguarding his rights. The Role No One Wants to Understand Fred West was arrested in 1994 following the discovery…

    Continue reading →: Janet Leach: The Woman in the Room
  • What Rev. James Boys Really Recorded in Coggeshall When people search for supernatural history in Coggeshall, Essex, they often expect ghosts, executions, or medieval horrors. What they find instead, if they look closely enough, is something arguably more disturbing: a clear, first-hand record of how fear, belief, and authority combined to destroy a vulnerable woman without any formal crime ever being proven. The most important figure in this story is Rev. James Boys, who was Coggeshall’s vicar in the late seventeenth century. Boys did not leave behind a catalogue of hauntings or miraculous events. He did not write about ghosts…

    Continue reading →: Fear Without Ghosts:
  • Who Killed John Marshall? It was a bright spring day in Essex when John Marshall drove away from his home for the last time. The 34-year-old car dealer, a man known for his confidence and deal-making, told his wife he had a business meeting and would be gone for “just a few hours”. He never came back. A week later, his black Range Rover was found abandoned on a quiet suburban road in Sydenham, South London. Hidden beneath a mound of straw, police uncovered John’s body in the back of the car. He had been shot twice — once in…

    Continue reading →: A Forth Essex boy Murder?:

Welcome to The Blog, my cosy corner of the internet dedicated to all things Thriller, Crime, and Writing.

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