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The Press
August 28, 2002
A City Possessed
Letter to the Editor
by Colin Eade, Bryndwr, Aug 20
I was a member of the team that investigated Peter Ellis. I met Lynley
Hood, author of A City Possessed,
just after his trial.
She had already taken a position that Ellis was innocent, as had most of the
media. Hood went on to produce a book where anything done by the victims and
families were suspicious, while everything done by Ellis could easily be
explained.
I later sent her two letters asking why she was not interviewing prosecution
families. She did nothing so I phoned the editor of the publishing company
that later rejected her book. The message came back from Hood was that if
families wanted to be involved they should contact her.
Is this research? This book lauded for its investigative research was centred
on unofficial information and speculation. Like a witch-hunt.
Only those who could give the answers she wanted were interviewed. Where were
the victims in all of this?
Reply by Lynley Hood
During my research for A City Possessed
I conducted detailed interviews with several police officers and other key
professionals involved in the Civic Crèche case. I also studied court records
and other documents made public in the course of various legal proceedings.
I obtained additional information under the Official Information Act. This
material included statements made by complainant parents during the
investigation and prosecution of the case. In addition, I studied media
interviews given by these parents, and read the book written by a complainant
mother.
An account of my repeated attempts to interview the complainant parents, and
of my meeting Colin Eade, can be found in chapter one of A City Possessed.
Readers are invited to draw their own conclusions.
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