A hand in the water : the many lies of Albert Walker Cover Image

Book

A hand in the water : the many lies of Albert Walker

Schiller, Bill 1951- (Author).

Record details

ISBN: 9780002557511
ISBN: 0002557517
Physical Description: xi, 290, [16] pages of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm
print
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Toronto : HarperCollins, ©1998.

Content descriptions

Summary, etc.:

"On a sunny day in the month of July 1996, fisherman John Copik and his son borrowed the fishing trawler Malkerry and set out for the Roughs, an area rarely fished. As the net was pulled in, Copik noted that it felt unusually heavy. Perhaps they'd caught a porpoise?" "To their surprise, the net contained the body of a man. The body had been stripped of its identification. It was the Rolex watch strapped to its arm and the serial number etched beneath the bracelet that finally allowed British police to identify the victim as Ronald Platt. Strangely enough, when they went to visit Platt's closest friend, they discovered a man called Ronald Platt who was very much alive." "So begins the incredible true story of financier Albert Walker, a small-town Canadian who disappeared without a trace in 1990 along with millions of dollars of investors' money--and his 15-year-old daughter, Sheena. Years later, they are discovered living together as man and wife along with two small children in a small English village. Sheena is their mother. No one seems to know who the father is, except that the children call Walker "Dad."" "Why did Walker, a man described by many as charming and gentlemanly, a man embraced and trusted by his community, bolt from Canada to live in disguise in England? How did he contrive to launder the millions of dollars others placed at his disposal? Why did Sheena run away with her father and assume the name of Ronald Platt's girlfriend, Elaine Boyes?" "From Paris, Ontario, to Calgary to Toronto and on to the Cayman Islands, London, Paris and Geneva, master investigative journalist Bill Schiller uncovers Walker's carefully hidden tracks and along the way discovers a story that is so full of astonishing detail, of betrayed trusts of every kind, of multiple identities and vaunting ambition that it could only be true." "The world watched as this most sensational of murder cases came to trial in Devon, England. On the stand, as the prosecutor's star witness, Sheena Walker testified that her father had directed her from prison to change her testimony. Yet, despite the surprising and often shocking revelations at the trial, the fact remained that the police had everything they needed to convict Walker, except for one very important element. The police had no witness to Platt's presence on Walker's boat on July 20, 1996, the night the murder is believed to have occurred. Book jacket."--Jacket