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Pottery Cottage: the crime that shook Britain
January 1977. England’s Peak District. A violent fugitive attacks his prison escort and escapes over the wintry moors.He stumbles on an isolated cottage and takes a family hostage.What transpires will send a shiver down the spine of Britain.Award-winning investigative journalist and author, Alan Hurndall has spent the best part of a decade piecing together the events surrounding Pottery Cottage and offers this hour by hour account of the trauma and the controversial police operation as they close in on their man.Using the Freedom of Information Act, he gained access to previously confidential police files, witness statements and official reports.He “I was a young reporter on The Star, Sheffield when this story broke, and it has always held a fascination for me. It has a place in criminal and social history in the sense that many felt the Permissive Society was to blame.’Pottery Cottage is a dark, psychological thriller that happens to be true. It will shock and anger in equal measure. It might even make you weep. But it will certainly provoke you into asking searching questions about yourself and how you might act in such a crisis. What would YOU have done?
- GenresTrue CrimeCrime
185 pages, Paperback
Published October 25, 2019
33 people are currently reading
111 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
May 8, 2020
Gripping
I was a year old when this crime happened, and only came across this book as a recommendation, whilst reading UK True Crime books. I found it absolutely fascinating and well written. Especially interesting as my Dad was Governor of Leicester prison 20 or so years later. He then worked for the Home Secretary visiting prisons all over the UK to inspect security and make reports and recommendations in order to reduce the risk incidents like this from happening again before he retired. I hope he helped.
I was a year old when this crime happened, and only came across this book as a recommendation, whilst reading UK True Crime books. I found it absolutely fascinating and well written. Especially interesting as my Dad was Governor of Leicester prison 20 or so years later. He then worked for the Home Secretary visiting prisons all over the UK to inspect security and make reports and recommendations in order to reduce the risk incidents like this from happening again before he retired. I hope he helped.
April 2, 2020
Pottery cottage by Alan Hurndall
One of the or the most fascinating true life crime books I have ever read.It drew me in the second I started to read it and could not stop until I had finished.It is wrote in a way that you feel you are actually going through the ordeal with the family.
Highly recommended
One of the or the most fascinating true life crime books I have ever read.It drew me in the second I started to read it and could not stop until I had finished.It is wrote in a way that you feel you are actually going through the ordeal with the family.
Highly recommended
June 5, 2020
Gripping from the first sentence
I hadn’t heard about this case before but saw a review and decided to read the book. What a harrowing story. The way it’s told in this book had me enthralled from the word go. I could not put the book down. If you’re interested in true crime it’s a must read, excellent book but a very tragic case.
I hadn’t heard about this case before but saw a review and decided to read the book. What a harrowing story. The way it’s told in this book had me enthralled from the word go. I could not put the book down. If you’re interested in true crime it’s a must read, excellent book but a very tragic case.
February 25, 2020
Incredibly interesting book.
I did not know about the pottery cottage murders and read this very quickly. In a day in fact.
So many errors and such scary and harrowing consequences and a very sad story.
Cannot wait to read the new book out in March.
Very well written and very informative.
I did not know about the pottery cottage murders and read this very quickly. In a day in fact.
So many errors and such scary and harrowing consequences and a very sad story.
Cannot wait to read the new book out in March.
Very well written and very informative.
August 25, 2025
shocking crime but very good read
Well worth reading I only live half an hour away but had never heard of these murders. What an evil man
Well worth reading I only live half an hour away but had never heard of these murders. What an evil man
January 8, 2020
I was disappointed, because of the high rating (4,8).
The book is badly edited: lots of small errors, such as too many spaces or no spaces after a full stop. This annoys me. Also you get less value for money because there is a white line between most sentences.
Yes, what happened is harrowing, but the story is not very suspenseful. It's all written down rather matter of factly. It did not grip me.
Shame...
The book is badly edited: lots of small errors, such as too many spaces or no spaces after a full stop. This annoys me. Also you get less value for money because there is a white line between most sentences.
Yes, what happened is harrowing, but the story is not very suspenseful. It's all written down rather matter of factly. It did not grip me.
Shame...
January 13, 2020
I can't describe the range of emotions that I went through reading this book. Disbelief and anger mostly. It reads at times like a diary. I was engrossed the majority of the time.
The style of the book worked well for me. I felt the coldness of Winter and I could almost taste the whisky and cigarettes. Very descriptive at times.
I live not far from where the murders took place so this is what appealed to me.
Absolutely unbelievable that this took place.
The style of the book worked well for me. I felt the coldness of Winter and I could almost taste the whisky and cigarettes. Very descriptive at times.
I live not far from where the murders took place so this is what appealed to me.
Absolutely unbelievable that this took place.
September 9, 2023
Pottery Cottage - Shockingly True Story
This book was a well written account of a heinously vicious murder of a family of innocent people.
Reading this book highlighted that this could happen to anyone and the question of why didn’t the family react differently is really a moot question - unless you are in that position it is pointless to think anyone would have behaved differently.
This book was a well written account of a heinously vicious murder of a family of innocent people.
Reading this book highlighted that this could happen to anyone and the question of why didn’t the family react differently is really a moot question - unless you are in that position it is pointless to think anyone would have behaved differently.
December 27, 2019
I live near Chesterfield but am too young to know about the terrible ordeal.
I hope Gill has been able to get on with her life in France. She must be an extraordinary women to have lived through such a horrendous incident and survived.
Well done Alan on a sensitive book that did not sensationalise the events.
I hope Gill has been able to get on with her life in France. She must be an extraordinary women to have lived through such a horrendous incident and survived.
Well done Alan on a sensitive book that did not sensationalise the events.
June 13, 2023
I could not put this book down. Gripping from the start. It’s even more horrifying knowing that it’s based on a true story. I had no knowledge on this case before I read this and it’s shocking to think about. You can really feel the fear they were all feeling. This book really touches you emotionally.
February 2, 2024
This was a very difficult read. It's so horrible to think that the events of this book actually happened. The poor family, but especially Gill. My heart really went out to her, hoping that she was being told the truth the whole time, losing her entire family like that. Hurndall tells the story so well but that doesn't make it any easier to hear.
March 13, 2020
I could vaguely remember this crime but certainly not all the details. I was rivetted and horrified at the same time. I found it both sad and appalling and had to keep reminding myself that it was true.
Alan R Hurndall has written an excellent book, factual but certainly not boring.
Bardoc
Alan R Hurndall has written an excellent book, factual but certainly not boring.
Bardoc
August 30, 2020
I started and finished this book in one afternoon. As a Chesterfield native I’d been told as a child the basic story as we would drive past the cottage. I never knew all the details however.
Brilliantly written book - even more interesting if your a local.
Brilliantly written book - even more interesting if your a local.
January 3, 2023
Horrifying and gripping
These horrifying crimes are exceptionally well told by Alan Hurndall. What a disturbing and horrific story, a must read for anyone from the Chesterfield area. I feel ashamed to have not already known about this poor family.
These horrifying crimes are exceptionally well told by Alan Hurndall. What a disturbing and horrific story, a must read for anyone from the Chesterfield area. I feel ashamed to have not already known about this poor family.
March 20, 2023
Gripping
I had my 10th birthday on the 1st January 1977. Unbeknown to me, not far away from where I lived, all this was happening. My parents must have been so worried at the time. An insightful read and left me gripped.
I had my 10th birthday on the 1st January 1977. Unbeknown to me, not far away from where I lived, all this was happening. My parents must have been so worried at the time. An insightful read and left me gripped.
July 21, 2020
Brilliant
Brilliantly written read it in two days couldn’t put it down no one knows what they would do in this situation themselves
Brilliantly written read it in two days couldn’t put it down no one knows what they would do in this situation themselves
October 8, 2021
An absolutely devastating local real life story. Definitely recommend
March 11, 2023
I can’t believe this was true I read a lot of fictional crime and this is worse than anything
June 13, 2023
Could not put this book down, fascinating read, well researched, frighteningly real you feel you are almost involved. A tragedy for all involved.
March 30, 2024
Absolutely brilliant , couldn’t put this book down .
November 11, 2020
Had this been written as fiction it would be largely implausible. That it is a true story is in itself incredibly shocking and an awful exposé of 1970s policing in the UK. I read this in just over a day while on holiday last week. Until a friend lent me the book I hadn’t heard of the Peak District killings at Pottery Cottage. I grew up in South Yorkshire, very close to where this horrific sequence of events took place and although I had left England a few years before it happened I know the area well and am still stunned at how and why this crime occurred.
The level of detail on the timing of missed opportunities to capture the perpetrator (an escaped prisoner) rescue the trapped family and for them to escape their hostage situation are all indicative of bad luck, bad judgment and bad decisions, not to mention police incompetence and even indifference.
It would be easy to blame the police and then the family, especially the couple whose child and elderly parents were victims. The situation was so unprecedented, the prison escapee was so violent and unpredictable that at so many points I thought 'now I would have escaped/ raised the alarm/ tried to phone someone' - but would I? When someone is responsible for the lives of others (especially loved ones) I don’t believe we can ever put ourselves in that person's shoes and say we would have acted differently. In many ways this book asks more questions than it answers and rightly so, but despite my frustration at the missed opportunities I honestly can’t say what I would have done.
Highly recommended indeed!
The level of detail on the timing of missed opportunities to capture the perpetrator (an escaped prisoner) rescue the trapped family and for them to escape their hostage situation are all indicative of bad luck, bad judgment and bad decisions, not to mention police incompetence and even indifference.
It would be easy to blame the police and then the family, especially the couple whose child and elderly parents were victims. The situation was so unprecedented, the prison escapee was so violent and unpredictable that at so many points I thought 'now I would have escaped/ raised the alarm/ tried to phone someone' - but would I? When someone is responsible for the lives of others (especially loved ones) I don’t believe we can ever put ourselves in that person's shoes and say we would have acted differently. In many ways this book asks more questions than it answers and rightly so, but despite my frustration at the missed opportunities I honestly can’t say what I would have done.
Highly recommended indeed!
February 8, 2021
A very vivid account of an horrific incident that I remembered well from my teenage years.This crime made everyone feel vunerable and afraid,it was the stuff of nightmares and horror films.The author does a fantastic job of of telling this story and makes it so real and heartbreaking.I did'nt remember all the facts but they are so much more frightening now after reading this.When I first saw the photo of Billy Hughes ,I thought he was quite good looking ,normal even and could not understand what would make someone do those wicked things,but then I did not then know about psychopaths.Mrs Moran had a chance to escape ,as did her husband,but trusting goodness and humanity,reason and sanity as we all would do,paid an awful price.I could not put this book down and yes I'm left thinking what would I have done?
August 7, 2021
A prisoner escapes from prison and manages to reach a desolate farmhouse where he holds the family hostage for days. He goes on a killing spree before finally trying to escape but the police get him. This true account tells the story of those days and how events came to be.
This was such a harrowing read. That poor family trapped with a mad man. They tried everything they could to keep him happy so he would just leave but it wasn't enough. This covers his escape, his times with the family and the aftermath investigation of how this could even have happened in the first place. Its told in almost real time making it more chilling. We jump from the family with him to the Police and their various efforts to find and catch him. The writing is descriptive and honest offering a fair account of the story. Dark and tragic.
This was such a harrowing read. That poor family trapped with a mad man. They tried everything they could to keep him happy so he would just leave but it wasn't enough. This covers his escape, his times with the family and the aftermath investigation of how this could even have happened in the first place. Its told in almost real time making it more chilling. We jump from the family with him to the Police and their various efforts to find and catch him. The writing is descriptive and honest offering a fair account of the story. Dark and tragic.
December 23, 2021
Really interesting account of the Pottery Cottage murders that occurred near Chesterfield in 1977.
Billy Hughes attacked his prison guards on the way to court in the back of a taxi (as no prison vans were available) and escaped, fleeing across the snowy moors of the Peak District.
He broke into Pottery Cottage where he later murdered 4 of the 5 residents, an elderly couple, a 10 year old schoolgirl and the girl"s father. The mother Gill Moran was the only survivor, with Billy eventually getting shot after a police car chase.
Unbelievable to think of the opportunities they had to escape and that they didn"t. Shocking to think they were just unlucky to be the people living in the house he came to first.
Billy Hughes attacked his prison guards on the way to court in the back of a taxi (as no prison vans were available) and escaped, fleeing across the snowy moors of the Peak District.
He broke into Pottery Cottage where he later murdered 4 of the 5 residents, an elderly couple, a 10 year old schoolgirl and the girl"s father. The mother Gill Moran was the only survivor, with Billy eventually getting shot after a police car chase.
Unbelievable to think of the opportunities they had to escape and that they didn"t. Shocking to think they were just unlucky to be the people living in the house he came to first.
February 23, 2025
I can tell you how well written this book is. It is of course heartbreaking, it leaves me angry, upset and questioning why this family weren’t saved. And thankful that now days I would like to think the police would have more to them to save this family. Gill Moran as a mother I don’t know how she survived this. But she is strong and a survivor. I was truly moved by her. I honestly don’t know what else to say knowing this happened and round the corner from me it’s just unbelievable. Alan hurndall tells this story in a compassionate sensitive way as well as making it a thrilling read whilst reminding you that this is a true story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 12, 2025
this took place in the town my dad was born and it was the same year my brother was born being born and raised in Chesterfield its hard to believe something like this could happen back then although the book is good its also very frustrating.. I dont get why Gill didn't get help 4 chances was had and it never happened. I get trauma effects people in diffrent ways but it could have been done secretly and quietly. and the fact he was asleep and she had the opportunity to kill him and didn't the prison system failed this family the police failed this family this whole ordeal could have been prevented.
August 29, 2020
A gripping true account
This book really held my attention, I finished it very quickly. It never loses sight of the fact that it is a true story and I didn't feel that it was over dramatised. Probably all the more interesting to me as I lived in the area for many years, although not at the time of these crimes, so I recognise all of the landmarks and local descriptions.
An interesting read.
This book really held my attention, I finished it very quickly. It never loses sight of the fact that it is a true story and I didn't feel that it was over dramatised. Probably all the more interesting to me as I lived in the area for many years, although not at the time of these crimes, so I recognise all of the landmarks and local descriptions.
An interesting read.
February 3, 2022
This is a shocking true account of the events that took place at Pottery Cottage in rural Derbyshire in the 1970s.
The violent, unpredictable and volatile prisoner Billy Hughes escapes on the way to a court hearing and takes refuge in a rural cottage holding the Moran family hostage in their own home with deadly consequences for the family.
The book reads like a thriller novel.
The violent, unpredictable and volatile prisoner Billy Hughes escapes on the way to a court hearing and takes refuge in a rural cottage holding the Moran family hostage in their own home with deadly consequences for the family.
The book reads like a thriller novel.
April 2, 2020
A really interesting read
A good book. An interesting read on an awful situation. So much to learn from this on people and behaviours
A good book. An interesting read on an awful situation. So much to learn from this on people and behaviours
June 29, 2020
A really good read
Couldn't put down book recommended
Well written really tragic story really good read, if you like crime books get this
Couldn't put down book recommended
Well written really tragic story really good read, if you like crime books get this
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews