Paul Heslop was born in Dilston, Northumberland and joined Newcastle upon Tyne City Police in 1965 (now Northumbria Police). He transferred to Hertfordshire 12 years later and was first stationed to Rickmansworth. Most of his police career was spent as detective, in both forces, including secondments to the Regional Crime Squad on Tyneside, then in the Home Counties and London. In total he spent eight years as Detective Inspector at Watford (1987-1995) and he finally retired in 1995, with 30 years' service.

He Wrote series of "old crimes" articles for Watford Observer and wrote country walks for Limited Edition magazine for eight years. His published books are:

• The Job - 30 Years a Cop (autobiography) (2000)


• The Walking Detective: an Account of a Solo Walk from Cornwall to Caithness (2001)


• Old Murders and Crimes of Northumberland and Tyne & Wear (The People's History, Co Durham, 2002)


• Bedfordshire Casebook: A reinvestigation into murders and other crimes (Book Castle, Bedfordshire, November, 2004)


• Hertfordshire Casebook: A reinvestigation into murders and other crimes (Book Castle, Bedfordshire, August, 2006)


• Cumbria Murders (Sutton, Stroud, Gloucestershire, November 2007)


• Murderous Women (The History Press, 2009)


• One Man's County (Froswick, 2010)


• Murder & Crime in Northumberland (The History Press, 2011)


• Murder & Crime in County Durham (The History Press, 2013)

All published books can be obtained at bookshops, or through websites such as Amazon.