CUT-THROAT. The Vicious World of Rod McLean - Mercenary, Gun-Runner and International Drug Baron

Softcover. Fact is often stranger than fiction and when Rod McLean, an escaped drug baron and alleged MI6 agent, was mysteriously found dead in a London flat after 2 months on the run, even Hollywood couldn't have scripted it better. McLean had served only 7yrs. of the 28yr. sentence he received following a 1996 sting operation off the Caithness coast in which a Customs officer lost his life. Despite being described as one of the most ruthless and important figures on the country's drug scene, McLean had found his security status downgraded from Category A to D and had been transferred to HMP Leyhill, an open prison, which had seen 82 prisoners escape in 2002 alone. Shortly after the media accused the security services of helping him to escape, McLean was found - dead. But not only did it take the Metropolitan Police 29 days to make this news public, it also took them that long to inform Avon and Somerset - the very police force who were still trying to recapture him. Why? Who was McLean and what made him so important? So important, in fact, that the home secretary David Blunkett had been compelled to order a report into his disappearance, much of which still remains secret to this day. The author is Rod McLean's nephew. Illous. + Maps. 255pp. 8vo softcover. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. A review copy with loosely inserted slip. F.