David Wilson (criminologist)

Born in Sauchie, Clackmannanshire, David Wilson was raised on a dairy farm outside Carluke, South Lanarkshire with his three sisters. He studied at the University of Glasgow (1975–79), Selwyn College, Cambridge, and at the Cambridge Institute of Criminology, where he gained a PhD in 1983. He was awarded the St Andrew's Scholarship of New York, 1979–80. and became a National Teaching Fellow in 2012. He wrote about his childhood experiences and a murder that took place in the town of Carluke in 1973 in his book Signs of Murder (2020 - [https://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/client/david-wilson/work/signs-of-murder Sphere]).

Recruited directly from Cambridge, he joined Her Majesty's Prison Service as an Assistant Governor at HMP Wormwood Scrubs in 1984. It is said by some that at the age of 29 he became the youngest governor in the country. In fact he was the Assistant Governor in charge of Finnamore Wood camp, a small annexe to HM YOI Huntercombe. He then worked at HMP Grendon where he ran the sex offenders' treatment programme, HMP Woodhill, and HMYOI Finnamore Wood.{{cite web|url=http://yorkpen.wordpress.com/2012/11/11/interview-professor-david-wilson/|title=Interview with Professor David Wilson|author=Ally Swadling|publisher=University of York|date=11 November 2012|access-date=14 March 2013}}

While at HMP Woodhill, Wilson helped design and managed the two units for the 12 most disruptive prisoners in the country. This experience brought him into contact with some of the most notorious offenders of the last 30 years, including Charles Bronson and Dennis Nilsen.

Latterly he was Head of Prison Officer and Operational Training in the Prison Service, on whose behalf he made official visits to Northern Ireland and the United States. It was after he returned from a trip to advise on penal reform in Albania on behalf of the Council of Europe, and, noticing how much better the prisons were there, that he resigned from Her Majesty's Prison Service in protest at prison conditions. In 2001 he completed a report of the 4,200 Muslim prisoners in British prisons and his review concluded there were no examples of extremist recruiting.{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1730141.stm|title=Preaching caution in prisons|date=28 December 2001|access-date=11 August 2019|language=en-GB}}

Wilson has written about these experiences in his memoir, My Life with Murderers.

After a short time with the Prison Reform Trust, Wilson joined University of Central England in Birmingham (now Birmingham City University), was given a professorship in 2000 and made emeritus Professor in 2017.{{cite web|url=http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/killers-behind-bars-birmingham-criminologist-1743176|title=Killers Behind Bars: Birmingham criminologist links convicted murderers to unsolved cases gone cold|author=Nick McCarthy|work=Birmingham Mail|date=14 March 2013|access-date=14 March 2013}} A member of the British Society of Criminology, his research covers aspects of prisons and imprisonment, murder and serial murder.{{cite web|url=http://www.bcu.ac.uk/elss/school-of-social-sciences/staff/david-wilson|title=David Wilson|publisher=Birmingham City University|access-date=14 March 2013}}

Wilson has advised various police forces as a criminologist, and in 2006 was also involved in the Ipswich serial murder case, as an advisor to Sky News. Subsequently, Steve Wright was arrested and prosecuted for this series of murders. Wilson co-authored a book with the former Sky broadcast journalist Paul Harrison about their experiences on this case. Wilson also approached convicted murderer Peter Tobin to discuss the Bible John killings, but did not secure a meeting with Tobin.{{cite web|url=http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/books/features/a-life-of-crime-professor-david-wilson-trying-to-understand-why-serial-killers-kill-1-816044|title=A life of crime: Professor David Wilson – trying to understand why serial killers kill|publisher=The Scotsman|date=4 July 2010|access-date=14 March 2013}}

Wilson acted as: Vice-chair of the Howard League for Penal Reform (1998–2014); Vice-president of New Bridge; and Chair of the Forum on Prisoner Education (2000–2006). He is a former Chair of the Commission on English Prisons Today, whose president was Cherie Blair, and is the current Chair of the Friends of Grendon Prison. In 2012, he was made a National Teaching Fellow of England and Wales.

Wilson has published widely on the criminal justice system generally and prisons specifically, and was the Editor of the Howard Journal of Criminal Justice (2000–2015), and is the author of more than 20 books.

Wilson appears regularly on television and radio, both as a commentator about the criminal justice system and as a presenter.{{cite web| url=http://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/david-wilson/ | title=David Wilson|publisher=Curtis Brown|access-date=14 March 2013}} He is a regular contributor to the press and writes mostly for The Guardian{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/profile/davidwilson | title=David Wilson | work=The Guardian | access-date=14 March 2013 | location=London | date=20 March 2008}} and the Daily Mail. He writes a regular column in The Herald. On television he presented four series of The Crime Squad for BBC1, and also Leave No Trace and Too Young to Die? about the plight of young people on death row in the USA. On BBC2 he presented Who Killed Ivan the Terrible? and was an expert on the game show Identity. On Channel 5 he co-presented Banged Up, which was nominated for a Royal Television Society award. Wilson developed and presented two series of Killers Behind Bars: The Untold Story,{{cite web| url=http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/325866/I-m-the-real-life-Cracker | title=I'm the real-life Cracker|author=Leo McKinstry|publisher=Daily Express|date=11 June 2012|access-date=14 March 2013}}{{cite web| url=http://www.bcu.ac.uk/news-events/news/killers-behind-bars-returns-to-our-tv-screens | title=Killers Behind Bars returns to our TV screens|publisher=Birmingham City University|date=7 March 2013|access-date=14 March 2013}}{{cite web| url=http://www.channel5.com/shows/killers-behind-bars | title=Killers Behind Bars |publisher=Channel 5|access-date=14 March 2013}} which was developed initially from the standpoint of an academic look at criminal profiling to counter that shown in fictional series such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

In 2016, Wilson presented the critically acclaimed Interview with a Murderer on Channel 4, about the murder of Carl Bridgewater. This documentary won the Broadcast Award and the Royal Television Society Award in 2017. By 2023, Wilson had presented 4 series of the true crime show, David Wilson's Crime Files. All series had 10 episodes, with episodes in the first series being an hour long and episodes in the subsequent series being half an hour long. It was broadcast on BBC Scotland.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00072vr|title=BBC Scotland – David Wilson's Crime Files|website=BBC|language=en-GB|access-date=11 August 2019}} He co-presents Channel 4's In the Footsteps of Killers and is a regular on ITV's This Morning.

Wilson appeared on BBC Radio 4's Ramblings series on 1 October 2020, walking with Clare Balding from Wicken, Northamptonshire to Leckhampstead, Buckinghamshire whilst discussing his life.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

Wilson gives public lectures and delivers lectures for schools through the company [https://www.ecademi.co Ecademi]. He has made several theatre tours – most recently in 2024 with the novelist Marcel Theroux. In 2016 the TV drama Dark Angel attributed his book Mary Ann Cotton: Britain's First Female Serial Killer as its inspiration.{{Cite news|url=http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/joanne-froggatt-star-new-itv-drama-dark-angel|title=Joanne Froggatt to star in new ITV drama Dark Angel|newspaper=ITV Press Centre|access-date=1 November 2016}}

Wilson is married to Anne, a practising lawyer. The couple live in Buckinghamshire and have two children.{{cite web| url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-ents/book-features/the-anatomy-of-the-serial-killer-1.927125 | title=The anatomy of the serial killer | author=Barry McDonald | publisher=Herald Scotland | date=19 October 2009 | access-date=14 March 2013}} He played and still enjoys watching rugby and supports Northampton Saints and Glasgow Warriors.

• {{cite book|title=The Longest Injustice: The Strange Story of Alex Alexandrowicz|date=1999|publisher=Winchester: Waterside Press|author=Alex Alexandrowicz|author2=David Wilson|name-list-style=amp|ISBN=978-1-872870-45-8}}
• {{cite book|title=Prison(er) Education: Stories of Change and Transformation|date=2000|publisher=Winchester: Waterside Press|author=David Wilson|author2=Anne Reuss|name-list-style=amp|ISBN=978-1-872870-90-8}}
• David Wilson & John Ashton (2001) What Everyone in Britian Should Know About Crime & Punishment, Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|1841742694}}.
• David Wilson, John Ashton & Douglas Sharp (2002) What Everyone in Britain Should Know About the Police, Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|1841742619}}.
• {{cite book|title=Images of Incarceration: Representations of Prison in Film and Television Drama|date=2004|publisher=Hook: Waterside Press|author=David Wilson|author2=Sean O'Sullivan|name-list-style=amp|ISBN=978-1-904380-08-5}}
• {{cite book|title=Serial Killers: Hunting Britons and Their Victims 1960–2006|date=2007|publisher=Hook: Waterside Press|author=David Wilson|ISBN=978-1-906534-41-7}}
• {{cite book|title=Hunting Evil: Inside the Ipswich Serial Murders|date=2008|publisher=London: Sphere|author=Paul Harrison|author2=David Wilson|name-list-style=amp|ISBN=978-0-7515-4024-6}} – This co-author is the Sky broadcast journalist and not the former Police Officer of the same name.
• {{cite book|title=The Lost British Serial Killer: Closing the case on Peter Tobin and Bible John|date=2010|author=David Wilson|author2=Paul Harrison|name-list-style=amp|ISBN=978-0-7515-4232-5}} – This co-author is the Sky broadcast journalist and not the former Police Officer of the same name.
• {{cite book|title=A History of British Serial Killing|date=2009|publisher=London: Sphere|author=David Wilson|ISBN=978-0-7481-1172-5}}
• {{cite book|title=Looking for Laura: Public Criminology and Hot News|date=2011|publisher=Hook: Waterside Press|author=David Wilson|ISBN=978-1-904380-70-2}}
• {{cite book|title=Mary Ann Cotton: Britain's First Female Serial Killer|date= 2012|publisher=Hook: Waterside Press|author=David Wilson|ISBN=978-1-904380-91-7}}
• {{cite book|title=Pain and Retribution: A Short History of British Prisons, 1066 to the Present|date=2014|publisher=London: Reaktion|author=David Wilson|ISBN=978-1-78023-283-6}}
• {{cite book|title=Female Serial Killers in Social Context|date=2015|publisher=Bristol: Policy Press|author=David Wilson|ISBN=978-1-4473-2646-5}}
• {{cite book|title=Serial Killers and the Phenomenon of Serial Murder: A Student Textbook|date=2015|publisher=Hook: Waterside Press|author=David Wilson|author2=Elizabeth Yardley|author3=Adam Lynes|name-list-style=amp|ISBN=978-1-909976-21-4}}
• {{Cite book|title=My Life with Murderers: Behind Bars with the World's Most Violent Men|last=David|first=Wilson|publisher=Hachette UK|year=2019|ISBN=978-0-7515-7414-2}}
• David Wilson (2020) Signs of Murder. Sphere. {{ISBN|0751578762}}.
• David Wilson (2021) A Plot to Kill. Sphere. {{ISBN|075158214X}}.
• David, Wilson (2023). Murder At Home: How our safest space is where we're most in danger. Hachette UK. {{ISBN|978-0-7515-8495-0}} Hardback Published 23 March 2023

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.professorwilson.co.uk/ Professor David Wilson website]
• [http://www.bcu.ac.uk/elss/school-of-social-sciences/staff/david-wilson David Wilson BCU home page]
• [https://www.theguardian.com/profile/davidwilson Articles at The Guardian newspaper]
• {{GoogleScholar|5NYixsYAAAAJ}}
• [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1730141.stm BBC News article]

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Category:1957 births

Category:Living people

Category:People from Clackmannanshire

Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow

Category:Alumni of Selwyn College, Cambridge

Category:British prison governors

Category:Academics of Birmingham City University

Category:British criminologists

Category:British prison reformers

Category:Scottish television personalities