Páginas de sangre

by Thomas Harding, Sergio Lledó Rando (Translator)

En junio de 2006 el anciano Allan Chappelow, un reputado fotógrafo y experto en George Bernard Shaw, fue encontrado en su casa londinense bajo una montaña de papeles y desperdicios. Lo habían golpeado brutalmente hasta matarlo. Casi tres años después, Wang Yam, un disidente político chino, fue declarado culpable de su asesinato. Ambos acontecimientos enmarcan uno de los más intrigantes rompecabezas criminales a los que se ha enfrentado jamás la policía y la justicia británicas, en el que se mezclaron el sexo furtivo, la usurpación de identidad, patologías extrañas e incluso asuntos de seguridad nacional. A partir de los hechos públicos y otros datos que no llegó a conocer la policía, Thomas Harding reconstruye un caso que llevó a las autoridades a una decisión inusual: fue la primera vez que un juicio inglés se celebró a puerta cerrada.

«Páginas de sangre es el A sangre fría de nuestro tiempo». Tony Parsons

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, Audiobook, Thriller, Mystery

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

Thomas Harding is a bestselling author whose books have been translated into more than 20 languages. He has written for the Sunday Times, the Washington Post and the Guardian, among other publications.

He is the author of HANNS AND RUDOLF which won the JQ-Wingate Prize for Non-Fiction; THE HOUSE BY THE LAKE, which was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award; and BLOOD ON THE PAGE which won the Crime Writers’ Association “Golden Dagger Award for Non-Fiction”. For all his books, reviews and updates, go to thomasharding.com and follow him on X/ twitter @thomasharding

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thomas Harding is an excellent author and I have enjoyed previous books by him, such as, “Hanns and Rudolf,” which looked at his own family history. As such, I was pleased to have the chance to review his latest work, looking at a true murder case. Now, I believe that Thomas Harding could probably make reading the phone directory interesting and he drew me in immediately, writing about eighty six year old, Allan Chappelow, being discovered dead in his house. Allan Chappelow was a reclusive author, a hoarder and a man whose house was in such a state of disrepair that it took police officers days to locate his battered body – even though they were standing in the very room where he was, eventually found.

Harding teases out this story and makes the background of this mystery fascinating. He reveals that, as a child, Chappelow was a near neighbour of his – the rather odd, eccentric man he lived near for eighteen years of his life. Of course, this immediately draws us into the book and, by far the most interesting part of this book, is the author recreating the life of story of Chappelow himself; a rather tragic, lonely figure, who was fascinated by George Bernard Shaw and whose early promise descended into a rather shambolic existence.

Where this book fails rather, is in the true crime element of the book. The police were alerted about Allan Chappelow by his bank, who were concerned about unusual activity on his account. It seemed that Chappelow was a victim of identity fraud and Wang Yam was arrested and convicted for his death. Harding suggests that Wang Yam was a bit player used by a gang of fraudsters, who argues that he never met Chappelow. The real problem is that the murder trial excluded the press and public; unusual but sometimes necessary due to issues of national security or for the protection of witnesses. As such, there is much information that Harding is not able to see, or use, and that makes this book a little bit of a damp squid in terms of revealing sudden information to solve the case, or even speculating on what could have happened.

As someone who had an elderly, handicapped family member, became a victim of identity fraud, I suspect I am not going to be overly sympathetic to Wang Yam, regardless of whether he was guilty or not. Fraud is not a victimless crime and Yam was involved in some way, with the target an elderly and vulnerable victim. Saying that, of course it is not a good thing for a man to be unjustly accused of a much more serious crime than the one for which he (or she) has been found guilty of. However, I finished this unsure of where the guilt actually lay and Harding did not have enough evidence to convince me that he had solved the crime. For me, the story of Allan Chappelow was what made this book came alive and it was fascinating to read of his past. Although I was very interested, ultimately, I felt it was a good work of journalism, but less successful as a true crime book. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

[Blaine DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Torn about this non-fiction book which examines the trial of Chinese-born Wang Yam who was accused of murdering Allan Chappelow in his London home. What made the case interesting was the fact that it was the first trial in England that was held "in camera" without press or spectators. Chappelow was a strange fellow and Yam even stranger. The book started fast for me but after the first hundred pages started to falter. As with all books like this, the obvious purpose of the book is to question the murder conviction, and while there are some problems with the prosecutions case, Yam is certainly not a very sympathetic defendant and by the end of the book I come away with the conclusion that it is possible that Yam did not commit the murder, but had been involved in so many fraudulent transactions that he is probably where he should be for the next 20 years.

[Bren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este es un libro sobre un extenso trabajo de investigación periodística sobre un true crime ocurrido en Inglaterra en 2006.

Comienza desde relatarnos los hechos, una biografía muy pormenorizada de la víctima, Allan Chappelow, quien era, a que se dedicaba y de un modo un perfil psicológico, después nos relata los hechos de la investigación, para luego llegar al punto de encontrar a un sospechoso al que se le dio un trato desde el principio de culpable.

Después se relata el juicio, la vida de completa de Wang Yam, un hombre de origen chino, su vida, educación y la forma en que llega a Inglaterra en calidad de refugiado, toda su vida hasta el día del asesinato, juicio, declaración de culpabilidad e incluso su actual vida carcelaria, además de sus varias apelaciones a la sentencia, puesto que él siempre se ha declarado inocente.

Ahora bien, este libro ha sido interesante en el sentido de que tanto la investigación, como el juicio tienen muchas cosas que se salen de contexto, que no son claras, no son obvias y ya sea por que las autoridades y juzgados no quieren dar su brazo a torcer y admitir que se equivocan o bien porque la ley es imperfecta, hay demasiadas cosas que no cuadran, que no están bien y por lo tanto son dignas de enfatizarse.

Pero la cuestión aquí es que el Wang Yam tampoco es un hombre totalmente inocente, un pobre hombre víctima de la justicia, lo cierto es que no es ninguna blanca paloma y es donde en muchas ocasiones uno no sabe qué pensar, no sabes si creer o no en la tan gritada inocencia que dice.

Lo que si es verdad es que este caso es extraño, con muchas connotaciones nada claras, que deja muchas interrogantes y que al final del día nos deja con ese sentimiento de que el aparato judicial, muchas veces trabaja más en beneficio propio que en pos de la verdad y de la justicia.

Personalmente me ha gustado mucho este libro, más que cualquier otra cosa, me ha resultado interesante, viendo como ha avanzado la tecnología para resolver casos, todavía hay muchos que parece que se estuvieran manejando en el siglo XIX y hay gente siendo juzgada sin pruebas contundentes y con secretismos que solo te hacen pensar en ¿qué tiene que esconder el gobierno?

Me parece que el autor no es precisamente un narrador 100% objetivo, pero se lo puedo pasar por alto porque me imagino que hacer todo este trabajo y estar en medio de todo este lío y no tomar partido sería tarea difícil.

[Roman Clodia · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a disappointment this book is! Harding is an excellent investigative journalist but the problem here is that the trial with which he's concerned was held in secret and under a 'gagging order' which forbids anyone to even speculate why that was so. As Harding himself says, any partial alternative view 'is speculation. A decade since the killing of Allan Chappelow, little is certain'.

Given that the usual reason for this kind of order is the protection of national security, there must be far more to the story than Harding can even speculate about since nothing in the current story has anything much to do with national politics, though there are intimations that the accused was an informant to the security services.

Harding does make some guesses about Chappelow's personal life but they're unsurprising, and don't really fit with the details of the murder. Even that, though, is less full that I expected: for example, there is talk of 'burns' which don't seem to fit with the scenario that Harding tentatively outlines but we're not told enough to even judge that.

That there was more going on than came out in the public trial seems almost certain - but, through no fault of his own, Harding cannot either investigate or write about it. Very frustrating.

[Repix Pix · Rating 2 out of 5]

Muchísima paja y poquísima chicha.

[Helen · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars ⭐⭐

The murder case at the centre of this book is only moderately interesting (the state of the house and the circumstances in which Allan was found being the draw), and the rest of the book not nearly as interesting as it could have been. There are too many unanswered questions due to Harding not being allowed to even speculate on why the trial was held in secret and so it feels somewhat unsatisfying. The detailed accounts of police procedure and paperwork felt like filler or substitute for what really needed to be said, though no doubt important questions on the legal system were raised. Wang Yam is clearly an inveterate liar and fraudster, doing his defense no favours and possibly allowing the Met to have claimed they 'got their man' while leaving the real killer to walk free.

[Alice-Elizabeth (Prolific Reader Alice) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before going into this book, I did have some doubts about whether or not I would like this. The result is that I mainly did like it, apart from a little slowish pacing in the middle. This is a very recent case here in the UK (I was 7 when the murder happened, 19 at recent court developments) however the basis for Blood On The Page is about an author living in a posh London home alone is reported missing. Despite lots of visits, his body isn't discovered for a while. When it is, he was buried under 4 feet worth of paper with horrible injuries. The investigations and secret trial made for interesting reading. A very creepy read!

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

In June 2006 police were called to search the home in a road in Hampstead. The reclusive owner, a writer called Allan Chappelow, had not been seen for a number of weeks. The house was borderline derelict, it had an overgrown garden, trees growing inside the building and piles of rubbish in every room. They searched, but could not find anything, but a couple of days later returned with a police dog and then discovered that there was a body in a room underneath half a tonne of papers. What began as a missing person inquiry was now a murder inquiry.

As the murder inquiry began they had no leads on what the motive might have been and who the killer might have been. As the leads developed they found that bank cards and money had been used by a Chinese dissident named Wang Yam. As the police started to close in on him, they realised that he had recently left for Switzerland and put a note out on Interpol. Yam had been in the UK for a number of years, claimed to be a grandson of one of Mao’s closest aides, had been divorced, been made bankrupt and sailed fairly close to the law with some of his financial arrangements.

He was arrested in Switzerland and escorted back to the UK where he was arrested for the murder of Allan Chappelow. He made history in his trial though, as it was the first in to be held ‘in camera’: closed, carefully controlled, secret, unheard of in modern Britain. But there were certain things about this that didn’t add up and there was no DNA evidence to place him a the scene of the crime.

It was a case that had intrigued Thomas Harding for a long time. He knew the area well, having grown up just around the corner from the deceased’s home. But investigating this case came with onerous obligations; the court order would stop him and many others speculating about any of the details of the case or they would be in contempt of court.

I thought that this was a really good book about a relatively recent case that is not as straightforward as it sounds. The research is meticulous and he writes with a very strong narrative as he peers into the murky aspects of the case. If you like true crime, this is worth reading.

[Nick Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fascinating investigative tale, about the 2006 murder of an elderly recluse in Hampstead, London, was very interesting indeed. Thoroughly researched and well put together, Harding aims here to outline the case and the subsequent prosecution of a local Chinese man found to have used stolen cheques and the deceased debit and credit cards. The book follows strands outlining the victim's history, the biographical details of the accused, and the progress of the investigation, murder trial and subsequent appeals.

It's very well put together, for all that I didn't completely agree with the author's style and his viewpoint. The skipping around in time frame and point of focus felt like an artificially dramatic device I didn't think necessary, and the amount of focus on certain aspects I felt led to a level of bias (and I prefer my non-fiction to not be biased, or at least not to make me feel like I am being given a biased viewpoint). The interspersed sections of 'case notes' I also felt a little strange, it reminded me of HhHH and the fact I didn't need to hear the author's thoughts as he wrote his book. Most frustratingly, the legal restrictions on reporting and writing about parts of the murder trial performed in camera meant that it all felt a little incomplete - not the author's fault, but nevertheless a noticeable gap.

Thought provoking also because of the questions it raised about how someone who is a liar, fraud and thief becomes more likely a murderer in the eyes of the police and judicial system. The soundness of a conviction under question versus the fact that someone who has committed lesser crimes probably deserves to lose their liberty anyhow.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

The murder of Allan Chapellow is arguably one of the strangest and most compelling cases in recent British legal history. An elderly and reclusive man, Chappelow lived in a dilapidated house in Hampstead, on a street where properties sell for millions. A writer, he had penned biographies of George Bernard Shaw, though he hadn't produced much in his later years. Sadly, he was to meet a violent end, bludgeoned to death in his house, his body dripped in candle wax and buried under a heap of his own manuscripts. The man convicted of the murder, Wang Yam, is a Chinese immigrant who claims to be a descendent of Ren Bishi, a leading member of the Chinese Communist Party at the time of Mao. Indeed, the man Wang Yam claims is his grandfather was Mao's right hand man. But what really sets this case apart, is that a section of the trial was heard in camera, behind closed doors, on the grounds of national security. Not only is this the first murder trial in UK history to be held partly in secret on the grounds of national security, but a remarkable court order is in place that prevents the media, not just from reporting why this might be, but from speculating as to the reasons behind it.

Harding's interest in the story stems from the fact that he grew up on the street and knew the victim as the odd character who lived a few doors from him. An author and journalist, Harding has written for national newspapers and has published a number of titles on recent German history. I haven't read any of his previous work myself, but they were well received. This is important because Blood on the Page has come in for some criticism.

In Blood on the Page, Harding details the murder, delves into Allan Chappelow's life and that of Wang Yam, and follows the investigation to trial and eventual conviction. He details the various appeals that Wang Yam and his lawyers have mounted and tells us how he has acclimatised to prison life. In all of this he does a good job and he's certainly talented as both a writer and biographer. Where this book falls down somewhat is in the injection of his own voice into the narrative, for throughout, Harding's views and opinions come off the page to an unusual degree.

Wang Yam was convicted of Allan Chapellow's murder on the strength of purely circumstantial evidence. There was no forensic evidence linking him to the crime scene. There was however compelling evidence - CCTV images for example - of him using Allan's credit cards and accessing his bank accounts in the days after his death. Wang Yam claims that this was because he had fallen in with Chinese gangsters who had provided these to him and that he did not murder Allan. The problem with this however is that Wang Yam quickly proved himself to be a fantasist, at least he seems to have a difficult relationship with the truth. When questioned by the police, and later in court, he couldn't identify the gangsters he was supposedly in hoc to. In fact, his whole life's history appears to be uncertain, it's not even clear that he's telling the truth about being related to Ren Bishi.

That said, there is some evidence that he might be telling the truth about the murder of Allan Chapellow, or at least that we ought to pause before declaring him guilty. Apart from the fact that there was no forensics to tie him to the scene, cigarette butts littered the room that Allan's body was found, the DNA from which matched neither Allen nor Wang Yam. A neighbour came forward to say that weeks after Wang Yam was jailed, he was threatened with a knife by a man on his doorstep rifling through his mail. While a witness gave evidence at his appeal that he had met a man matching Allan's description, using the same name, cruising Hampstead Heath for sex. Might Allen have been murdered by someone else, perhaps someone he brought back from the Heath? If so, Wang Yam is only guilty of theft and fraud.

There are certainly questions to answer in this case and looming over it all is the national security concerns, whatever they might be, which led the trial to be heard, in part, in secrecy. We are likely never to know what these were, what they relate to, or how this knowledge might alter our understanding of the case. Some reviews have said this absence makes the author's task impossible and that Blood on the Page suffers as a result. I think that's unfair and that Harding has produced a compelling and readable account of the case regardless.

More problematic to my mind is his seeming determination to believe Wang Yam's account. Again, other reviewers have accused Harding of naiveté, even gullibility. While this might be a little harsh, he does seem to be blind to Wang Yam's deeply flawed character. To Harding's great credit he recounts Wang Yam's erraticism faithfully. For example, he tells us Wang Yam's lawyers don't believe much of what he said, while when he contacted his supposed cousin, she told him that Wang Yam was not related to her. But despite this, he presses on with his faith in his subject regardless. This is most apparent in these odd sections of the book at the end of each chapter, which he titles "case notes" where he outlines his thoughts as his investigations unfold. These are totally superfluous to the text as a whole and serve nothing more than to give the impression Harding's a bit of a naïf.

In conclusion, this is a well written book and a good account of a very strange case indeed. It's a complicated case and this review can't possibly do justice to all the evidence that Harding has marshalled, and to be fair to him, presented to the reader in a thoroughly readable and accessible manner. Wang Yam might or might not be innocent of Allen Chapellow's murder and after reading this book I certainly have been left with some doubts. But equally, Harding's is not a sympathetic portrayal. Wang Yam appears dishonest and a compulsive liar. While this in itself does not mean he's guilty of murder, equally I did not reach the end of this title as sure as the author of his innocence.

3 out of 5 stars

[Laura Newsholme · Rating 3 out of 5]

This should have been a fascinating look at the trial of a Chinese man for the brutal murder of an 86 year old man in Hamsptead in 2006, but for some reason, it just didn't quite grab me. I liked the structure of the narrative, following chronologically and featuring relevant in depth looks at the background of the two men, Wang Yam and Allan Chapelow and I also liked the inclusion of the author's case notes in between the chapters. Unfortunately, I think that the book suffers from the fact that much of the information brought up during the trial cannot be included or even speculated about, due to certain portions of the trial being conducted in secret. As a result, the book doesn't really introduce any new theories or evidence and is therefore only a re-telling of the process followed. I suspect that the author was frustrated by his inability to dig further and perhaps he should have waited until the removal of the gag order before publishing. Overall, this is a well researched book but it is a little bit dull.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

[Stephen Goldenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Harding’s previous book, ‘The House by the Lake’, an entertaining mixture of family history and a history of 20th century Germany, and I like true crime books so this book was a must-read for me. It is certainly an odd and compelling story. Allan Chappelow, an elderly author, is found murdered in his dilapidated family home in wealthy Hampstead. The police quickly home in on Wang Yam, a refugee from Mao’s China, who was found to have used Chappelow’s credit card and check book. He is convicted and given a life sentence.
Thomas Harding is attracted to the case many years later, partly because it took place near where he grew up but also because it was one of the very few murder cases to be tried partly in camera. A large section of the book details the fascinating, and very different, back stories of the two participants. Despite Harding’s meticulous research, he appends each chapter with a ‘case notes’ section in which he frequently has to explain why he was prevented from getting information (mainly through the dangers of breaching the official secrets act).

[kellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engaging and thought provoking true story of tragic murder.
June 2006 the body of millionaire author was found battered to death in his own home. Allen Chappelow was a keen photographer and author yet in his later life he was an 86 year old recluse who spent most his time in his run down home in Hampstead London.
The murder trail was a massive case back in 2006 and more so on how it was handle, the case was held in secret, former home secretary Jacqui Smith took the very unique view that she needed to intervene for the good of national security.
Wang Yam has always denied the charges against him and due to his use of the victim credit cards he was charged with the murder, there was very little in the case that revealed how or if at all the two men were connected, however evidence emerge that Wang was an MI6 informant.
I love how well this book was written and explored the lives behind the two men, using past records, letters the victim wrote to family and how people around each men shaped their adult lives.
This book shows a very unique case in our British justice system and if you love true crime this is defiantly a book for you.

[Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

BLOOD ON THE PAGE is an excellent slice of modern-day true crime, well-written by Thomas Harding who never loses track of his narrative flow and focus as the story progresses. The tale of a reclusive literary figure, found brutally murdered beneath a pile of his own papers, is frightening in itself and the early chapters in particular quite disturbing. Then, halfway through, I found this book becoming a tragedy of sorts, as I made up my own mind as to the reality of the situation and just who the murderer was likely to be - or not to be.

Harding supplants the details with plenty of background material, both on the victim and the accused, but I found this adds to the story rather than detracts from it. Yes, it's an annoyance that half of the trial was held in secret, but this merely adds to the sense of mystery surrounding the whole series of events. I wonder if we'll ever discover the truth about what really happened?

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harding investigates the murder and robbery of a reclusive writer in London in 2006. He was attracted to the case as it was in his locality and the trial of the accused was held partly in camera, the first murder trial in modern times to be done so. This is a comprehensive look at the lives of the deceased and the accused and the terrible crime that happened. Very interesting and it poses some thought-provoking questions.

[Isabel Hernández · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excelente relato que denota una gran labor de investigación. El autor usa la ingente recopilación de datos de manera muy inteligente para estructurar la obra, con gran habilidad narrativa y descriptiva y consiguiendo mantener la atención del lector.

[Hannah Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

still don't know who did it or why trial was held 'in camera' (in secret) uuugggggg

[Brittney Gibbon · Rating 4 out of 5]

In June 2006, police were called to number 9 Downshire Hill in Hampstead. The owner of the house, Allan Chappelow, was an award-winning photographer and biographer, an expert on George Bernard Shaw, and a notorious recluse, who had not been seen for several weeks. Someone had recently accessed his bank accounts, and attempted to withdraw large amounts of money. Inside the darkened house, officers found piles of rubbish, trees growing through the floor, and, in what was once the living room, the body of Chappelow, battered to death, partially burned and buried under four feet of paper.

The man eventually arrested on suspicion of his murder was a Chinese dissident named Wang Yam: a man who claimed to be the grandson of one of Mao’s closest aides, and a key negotiator in the Tiananmen Square protests. His trial was the first in modern British history to be held ‘in camera’: closed, carefully controlled, secret. Wang Yam was found guilty, but has always protested his innocence.

I think I’d have to say this is one of the best true crime books I’ve ever read. The case itself is so intriguing – why was the trial held in camera? Why was evidence overlooked and leads not followed up on? Wang Yam absolutely seems like a shady guy but with some many inconstancies and holes in what supposedly happened, how was he found guilty? What was the evidence given that the rest of us aren’t allowed to know about?

Harding writes that it was as though there was a brick wall around this case. With the gagging order and the fact that almost everyone he reached out to made it impossible for him to get information, or just refused to answer his questions, it’s clear that without a huge amount of time and dedication we wouldn’t have this book.

What I loved the most though, was simply the way it was written. Harding covers so much – the crime itself, what he knows of the investigation, the trials and hearings (multiple because Wang Yam has had appeal after appeal), Allan Chappelow and Wang Yam’s individual histories AND he inserts his own case notes along the way.

The weaving together of so many angles and points of view was executed beautifully, creating a truly engaging and intriguing read.

My only criticism is that Harding comes off a little biased and too quick to accept Wang Yam’s version of events. I don’t know if the evidence provided was enough to find him guilty beyond reasonable doubt, but that doesn’t necessarily make me believe his cries of innocence, either.

[Jill Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

British author Thomas Harding's fourth book, "Blood on the Page", is his third work I've read. I was drawn to read this book by the excellence of his two previous books, "Hanns and Rudolf" and "The House by the Lake", but after having read "Blood on the Page", I'm not sure what I am left with. Harding, who lives in Hampstead, became interested in the murder of the 88 year old recluse, Allan Chappelow, who lived close to Harding. Chappelow was a noted author and photographer who was found dead in his the ruins of the interior of his house. He lay undiscovered under tons of paper and other debris and the police determined he had been murdered. He also had had his identity stolen and money was being withdrawn from his accounts. The police settled on a murderer, a Chinese man who had been living in England for 20 years or so. His name was Wang Yam and it was determined he had had something or the other to do with the murder of and the theft from Allan Chappelow.

Okay, Wang Yam had been running financial schemes since he had arrived in England in the 1990's. He'd grown up and had been orphaned during China's Cultural Revolution. While living in England, he had divorced his wife who had come with him from China, after fathering a daughter with her. He then met and eventually married a young Chinese girl, and had a son by this second marriage. We learn what he was "doing" while living in England but we never quite learn about the man himself. Maybe that's because having lived such a turbulent life both in China and in England, there was very little "there" to see of him.

The trial of Wang Yam was held "in camera", one of only a few held that way. Thomas Harding wrote a book about the people and the case but somehow never managed to draw me into the lives of either Allan Chappelow or Wang Yam. There's something missing in the book, and since I know Thomas Harding to be an excellent writer, I was a bit disappointed in "Blood on the Page". I'd say that if you haven't read Harding's work, that you might want to start with the two previous books I mentioned at the top of the review.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This could have been much more succinct, maybe about a quarter less. It is worth reading, the author is a bit weird (and gullible...) but it was enjoyable for sure.

[Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers the true and very strange case of the murder of Allan Chappelow, found murdered in his dilapidated house in Hampstead with Chinese immigrant Wang Yam subsequently found guilty of his murder. A resident of Hampstead, the author became fascinated by this story and decided to dig deeper and try to untangle the complicated web of a court case which left the public in the dark for large sections of the proceedings.

Allan Chappelow was a hoarder, a recluse by choice and an expert on George Bernard Shaw. When his bank became concerned about someone trying to access his accounts and cash cheques in his name the police were called and a search of Chappelow's cluttered house uncovered his beaten body. Enquiries lead the police to Wang Yam and this is where things start to get murky. The court case is one of very few to be heard "in camera" meaning certain sections cannot be reported or even alluded to. The press can't speculate on what the reasons for this are leaving everyone in the dark, including the author. It can make the book a frustrating read at points, the author constantly finds himself up against a brick wall of silence when trying to access documents. Wang Yam is a willing participant though, protesting his innocence he is far from a trustworthy figure but doesn't strike the author as a cold blooded murderer. He happily corresponds with the author and Harding obviously has a lot of sympathy for his plight.

It's an evenly written book. Harding has obviously done an enormous amount of research, at points it can be a little suffocating (I think I could have lived without the in depth description of a bus ride Allan Chappelow took in America, for example) but it seems that the author took more time to get to know the victim that the police did. He disputes their painting of Allan Chappelow as a lonesome recluse, pointing out that in his last months he undertook a trip to America to see family. There's many unanswered questions and some dispute about who the Chinese man in some CCTV or on the phone really was. I did question Wang Yam's conviction but I'm sure there will invariably be a podcast or article which will paint the other side and prove me wrong. As a piece of writing it was very absorbing and I enjoyed the author's notes at the end of each chapter of various leads he needs to chase up and small aisles. He writes about Allan Chappelow and Wang Yam with tastefully and with compassion. Even if you don't normally read true crime I would still recommend this. Both fascinating touching.

I received a ARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair review.

[Brian Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thomas Harding is undoubtedly a great journalist, researcher and author but he has somewhat cut himself off at the ankles in choosing this particular murder case.

A large part of the attraction for Harding in homing in on this murder case is that a chunk of the (two) trial(s) were held 'in camera,' that is, they were held in private and none of the evidence was released into the public domain. So far, so interesting. However, upon deciding that some of the evidence would be 'in camera' the presiding judge ruled that the media could not report on the private sections of the trial nor could they speculate on the reasons for the privacy.

Harding himself, in his epilogue, admits that this gagging order was like a brick wall around the case, he could not get beyond it nor could he even speculate on theories, lest he risk being held in contempt of court.

So, the main hook into this case is firewalled and out of sight, it leaves a strange and ineffable atmosphere over the whole piece. Harding chases the story down, points out what does seem like flaws in the prosecution case and gives good rationale as to why he thinks the conviction of Wang Yam is unsafe. However, despite his impeccable logic and very endearing writing style I could not wholly invest in his line of reasoning as there was always the spectre of the 'in camera' sections of the trial which must have had some bearing on the outcome.

This is not a straightforward case and the gagging order seems to have further confused matters. This in itself could be argued to be an unfair advantage for the prosecution, as indeed the point was during appeal.

This is a good book, well written, well researched and explains complex areas of law in an easy to digest manner. However, the banner headline that lures the reader in turns out to be something that, legally, the author cannot dissect or speculate about, so that the entire work necessarily turns into something else.

Still, an interesting read.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

In May 2006, an elderly and somewhat eccentric writer named Allan Chappelow was murdered. His body, buried under a metre or more of his own manuscripts, was not found for roughly a month, after the police were asked to check on him by his bank, who suspected that he was subject to fraud. Allan appears to have been a hoarder of sorts, and even when they are sure he needs finding, it takes several days. He clearly was subject to fraud, and the police fairly quickly identify a suspect, one Wang Yam, a Chinese dissident who came to Britain following the Tiananmen Square protests. He does seem to have been involved in the fraud, but was he the murderer?
What follows is a tale of confusing trails - the police, feeling that they have found their man, suffer from a severe case of confirmation bias, and fail to notice clues that two completely separate crimes might be involved here. They fail to disclose to the defence evidence relating to other possibilities: an apparent further case of postal theft only a few doors from Chappelow's house, another remarkably similar murder of another elderly eccentric. The case is not made any clearer by much of the trial being held in camera, with no reporters or others outside the immediate cast of the trial allowed to hear the evidence or even speculate on what it might be, even all these years later.
This is a troubling account - how much are our courts affected by confirmation bias? Does it harm justice when a case is tried in secret?
And last but not least, does Wang Yam finally get a fair hearing?
Read it and see!

[Michelle Anyerli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es el primer "true crimen" que leo y cabe destacar que me resultó un caso muy interesante y con una narración fluida en su extensa investigación; que deja notar la complejidad del caso.

La delicadeza con la que el autor habla de Allan y narra su vida, me resultó conmovedora (todo el caso de Allan es conmovedor) y es lo que hace que se sienta más la injusticia con respecto a la forma en la que las autoridades británicas llevaron el caso. Las cosas que desestimaron; los testigos y pruebas, aquello que pudo ser fundamental para encontrar al culpable. Porque aunque Wang Yam si es culpable de otros crímenes, no es culpable del homicidio y eso es más que evidente, sin embargo tampoco me resultó creíble, ni el origen de su familia ni demás cosas que dijo. Su tendencia a mentir hizo que no pudiera creerle por completo en él.


Tenía la esperanza de que en el último juicio de apelación, el jurado tomara en cuenta el testimonio de los expertos, los testigos y las pruebas que presentó la defensa de Wang Yam. Admito que fue decepcionante que no lo hicieran (quizás para no admitir que el otro juez se equivocó) lo más seguro. No quedó claro y creo que jamás lo hará, la razón por la que el juicio se realizó "in camera". Harding apesar no poder revelar toda la información y tomarse varios reparos para poder relata todo, pudo abordarlo de manera exhaustiva y coherente lo que permitió una mayor compresión del caso y las personas implicadas, que ahondara en sus vidas también fue fundamental para conocerlas y empatizar con lo sucedido toda bajo un velo de intriga y tensión.

[La Central · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Los límites entre la ficción, los hechos reales y las fake news son cada vez más borrosos. Nos creemos todo lo que aparece en una pantalla digital y lo difundimos al instante. Quizá a los lectores que sean nativos digitales les sorprenda Páginas de sangre: no es un libro en el que el crimen se resuelva rápidamente gracias a la tecnología y a la colaboración ciudadana. Es más, la sentencia del caso aún provoca interrogantes.

El cuerpo con signos de violencia de Allan Chappelow, residente en Londres y estudioso de la vida y obra del dramaturgo George Bernard Shaw, fue encontrado en su vivienda, por la policía, en el verano del 2006, sepultado y rodeado por deshechos. Wang Yam, disidente del régimen político chino y con un pasado de novela de espías, es arrestado, acusado de seis delitos, entre ellos el de asesinato.

Publicado originalmente en 2018, doce años después de los hechos, Harding decide reabrir el caso, o al menos investigarlo dentro de los cauces legales. Desmenuza las vidas de los dos antagonistas, entrevista al preso Yam, acude a familiares y testigos de la época, se dirige a fuentes oficiales… Sin embargo, no llega hasta el final, porque, al ser el primer caso que se celebraba a puerta cerrada en la historia moderna del Reino Unido, debe vigilar qué transmite." Amatulláh Hussein

[Pirate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thomas Harding never disappoints and always finds interesting topics a bit off the beaten path and which has a personal element to them beginning with Hannes and Rudolf. This one is because of a link with Hampstead and an intriguing murder in which both the victim and the perpetrator are as mysterious as each other. The former a noted expert on George Bernard Shaw whose ambitions were never really fulfilled, the latter Wang Yam a Chinese man whose back story reads like many who endured hell under Mao's 'social experiments' and then somehow persuaded the British authorities later on as an adult his involvement in Tianamen Square worthy enough for him to be accepted as a dissident. Trouble is with him it is hard to tell where truth and fiction/fantasy separates but there must be something politically sensitive about him given his trial was held in camera. Only problem I had with the book was the effort at one point to paint the victim Allan Chappelow as a predatory homosexual and that his death may be linked to that but ultimately this is an engrossing well researched tale and well worth a read as Harding's books always are.

[Myles Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

As others have said, this is less successful as a dissection of the "secret" trial and luckily Harding doesn't present it as an attempt to right a miscarriage of justice or expose flaws in the UK justice system.

Where it is extremely successful, in my view, is as a portrait of a true eccentric in Chappelow (and his family's wonderful house, which I have seen many times as I used to live around the corner, in fact close to his, for-now, convicted murderer!) and as a slow unveiling of the strange facts surrounding this mysterious episode. Harding is a very capable writer who is adept at creating a sense of place and time which kept me reading apace.

It's a limited recommendation, but a must read for any Hampstead or British murder-mystery enthusiasts!

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fascinating case but the book itself is not great, in my view. The author seems keen to believe a lot of what Wang Tam who was convicted of the murder tells him and doesn't appear to be sufficiently sceptical of Tam who has a history of fraud and deception (even pretending to be a member of a high profile Chinese family whereas 2 menbers of that family tell the author that isn't true). Also, the book has a lot of padding (eg the author's case notes) and he is clearly not very familiar with quite a lot of legal issues. So his conclusion that there probably has been a miscarriage of justice is quite flimsy (especially in view of the large number of legal proceedings, including the involvement of the Criminal Cases Review Commission).

[Lectora Mushroom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leyendo este libro no perdía la esperanza que Wang Yam saldría libre. Creo de corazón que realmente el no cometió ese crimen, pudo ser un estafador y mentiroso, pero no creo que llegara a tales extremos.

Pienso que hay algo más que un simple asesinato. ¿El Gobierno queriendo cubrir lo que se habló in cámara? Es muy sospechoso y muchos más que no quieran que ninguna persona especule sobre este caso. Buscando por internet no se encuentra ningún avance y son pocos los artículos que hablan sobre este mismo, cuando es un caso demasiado sospechoso el cual tiene muchos cabos sueltos.

Me agradó el trabajo que realizó el autor, el mostras la perspectiva del condenado y todo lo que se vivió en su momento, me parece una investigación muy bien elaborada.

[Malcolm Schaffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thomas Harding writes unique books picking unusual subjects researching them meticulously and never forgetting the human dimension . This involves the murder of a recluse , the conviction of a Chinese man, the peculiarities of the court procedure hearing some evidence in secret and the doubts around the evidence . He manages to cover both accused and victim’s stories and leaves one with unease about the conviction.There is however a huge gap no fault of the author I’m not being able to understand why the privacy notice was applied to extent that even speculation was barred by the court . Hopefully an unusual case that will not set precedent