Cameo Murders
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| The Cameo Murders | |
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| Author | Barry Shortall |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Crime, crime, Fact |
| Publisher | Bluecoat Press |
| Publication date | to present day |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 223 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 1-872568-60-2 |
| Preceded by | -- |
| Followed by | unknown (2006) |
The Cameo Murders is a book by Barry Shortall, first published in the United Kingdom by the Bluecoat Press in 1999. The book details the brutal and baffling murders of the manager and assistant manager at the Cameo Cinema in Liverpool in March 1949. The Liverpool City Police launched a massive manhunt and over 9,500 houses were visited and 75,000 people were interviewed. Over 1,800 fingerprints were taken and handwriting samples were obtained from 1,841 women. The subsequent conviction of George Kelly and Charles Connolly made legal history. The first trial was the longest trial in England and George Kelly became one of the few men to be tried twice for a capital offence. The conviction and execution of Kelly is one of the milestones which led to the eventual ending of Capital Punishment in Britain. The gross miscarriage of justice which resulted in the hanging of George Kelly forms part of the gripping account of the Cameo Murders book by Barry Shortall. Many however, would dispute that Kelly's execution had any effect on the abolition of capital punishment. Indeed, in George Skelly's book on the case, it's claimed that Kelly's execution was met with widespread public approval.[citation needed] . Rather was it the hangings of Timothy Evans (1950), Derek Bentley (1953) and Ruth Ellis (1955) which precipitated abolition. This book was partly responsible for the quashing of the convictions of both Kelly and his co-accused, Charles Connolly, in 2003.
