The Wrong Man: The Shooting of Steven Waldorf and the Hunt for David Martin by Dick Kirby

The Wrong Man: The Shooting of Steven Waldorf and the Hunt for David Martin Reviews

• 
  Paul Aylott

  Written by a former Flying Squad detective, it is the story of one of the most violent criminals in the UK, and yet I suspect for most people they will not recognise him, until they see the name Steven Waldorf. Waldorf was shot by the police as they were convinced he was Martin, the two could be have been twins, the fact Martin's girl friend was in the back seat of the car , probably sealed Waldorf's fate, although he luckily survived. David Martin was a career criminal and due to his slight build was commonly mistakenly for a woman , he also dressed as a woman , which caused officers to drop their guard when dealing with him. He shot and wounded a police officer and a security guard, escaped from police stations and prisons . The penultimate time he was arrested he pulled a hand gun on police and was shot by a police officer in the head only for the shot to be deflected by bone and he survived. Escaping from custody this book describes the hunt to recapture him, which results in disaster . He was eventually arrested by the Flying Squad and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment he hung himself in Parkhurst prison. The two police officers who shot Waldorf faced trial for attempted murder, having been charged a few minutes after the conclusion of their final interviews, incredible as today the enquiry would drag on for years. Both were acquitted of all charges, but life would never be the same for them. Another seminal moment in policing, a radical overall of firearms training and counselling for officers, one of those involved had been threatened by Martin with a gun previously and one must ask how he came the one to approach the car with a drawn firearm? He was the best person to identify Martin, but it was in my opinion a poor decision. Good read and recommended to my ex colleagues.
  
• 
  Nick Rippington

  For a time David Martin was "the most dangerous criminal in London". Having escaped from his holding cell after a court appearance, the authorities were desperate to get him back in custody. One fateful day in 1982 armed police believed they had cornered him in Central London, having kept his model girlfriend under close surveillance. What happened next went down in history as one of the worst mistakes in Metropolitan Police history, a shootout in a busy London street in which an innocent man, Steven Waldorf, was gunned down. Waldorf somehow survived and the Flying Squad were called in to pick up the pieces. This is an amazing joyride of a true story expertly recalled by Dick Kirby, one of the original Sweeney, who through meticulous research plus his own memories and wealth of experience brings a thrilling manhunt vividly to life. It's all delivered with an acerbic wit and disdain for the jobsworths and political animals who put face-saving ahead of crime bashing in their list of priorities. A first-class read
• 
  Mandy

  I was hoping for something more biographical on David Martin, rather than this waste of trees.
  I read this as I have seen the TV drama of this 'Open Fire'. I think somewhere in the book it describes this as a 'TV Series' it was not. It was a extremely well made drama by LWT in 1994, but never a series, so this makes me doubt the rest of the book as being 'factual'. More like a trashy crime novel that was penned as a story for the Sweeney but failed to grab Ted Childs' attention.