Last updated 10:02, Friday, 11 July 2008

As Tony Scougal flicks through his collection of poems it is clear he feels passionate about the things he has seen and done.

From crime to rhyme... and other stories: Tony Scougal from Crosby-on-Eden with some of the books he has written

The former detective inspector, from Crosby-on-Eden, retired from the police force in 1999 after a 31 year career that had seen him work in Carlisle, Penrith and Kendal, in the CID, Special Branch and involved in investigations of espionage, terrorism and two spy cases in Barrow.

He also received the police medal for exemplary service awarded following duty in various parts of the United Kingdom.

After all this you would think that he would be ready to enjoy a quiet retirement but Tony, 58, isn’t a man who likes to take it easy.

The past few months have seen him publish his third novel and a collection of poems.

But writing wasn’t something that Tony decided to take up after retirement.

He started to write while he was working in the police force, publishing his first novel several years before he retired.

Since the age of 16 he has been jotting down his memories and experiences and these are the starting point for one of his latest book, Sunset.

Born in Southport, Tony moved to Cumbria as a youngster and it was at the age of 16 that he joined the cadets and was posted to Brampton before being seconded a year later to Haigh Colliery in west Cumbria.

He was also posted to work for social services, on ward two at the then Garlands Hospital in Carlisle before officially joining the police force at 19.

“I think you were sent to these places to broaden your horizons and to toughen you up by throwing you in at the deep end,” said Tony.

He jotted down his thoughts and feelings at the time but didn’t have any intention of publishing them in a work of poetry until persuaded recently by family and friends.

Sunset was released last month and charts his journey from a boy to a man in 77 poems.

Although Tony has tidied up the poems, they are much as they were written at the time, so the collection starts with a poem written by a 16-year-old.

“It is not meant to be William Wordsworth,” he said. “The poems at the start sound like they were written by a child because they were and I think this helps to bring out the raw emotion of a young man starting out.

“It is a reflection on the live and times of people my age.”

Tony insists the poems are a reflection of his life rather than an opportunity to pass judgement.

Working for the motorcycle police in the Seventies, he experienced a traumatic death on a call to a fatal motorcycle accident in the Lake District.

“It is something I will never forget,” he said. “The woman died in my arms.

“The first couple of times you meet death or destruction is the worst thing about being in the police force.”

This experience is recounted in his poem Tango Five Seven.

Looking back on his life Tony has noticed how times have changed since his early days in the police force.

“Young people used to fear the sound of the cell door closing but things have changed,” he said. “I don’t think there are enough policemen and women on the streets now.”

Although Tony was away on holiday in December 1988, the year of the Lockerbie air disaster, his colleagues were called to the crash site.

“They told me horrific stories about recovering bodies,” he said. “In a way I am glad I wasn’t on duty when it happened.”

And his experiences in the police force gives him the ideal background as a crime and thriller writer and creator of Billy Boyd, the protagonist in each of his novels.

When Tony wrote his first novel, The Fragile Peace (1996), which refers to the peace process, he used the pseudonym Paul Anthony.

He said: “I was still in the police force at the time so I didn’t want to reveal my real name because of the nature of my job and the subject I was writing about.

“I have kept the name Paul Anthony for my writing so people know the books are written by the same author.”

His second novel, Bushfire, is a thriller looking on the raging drugs culture and was published in 1999.

His latest novel, The Legacy of the Ninth, has just been released and is a thriller mixing fact and fiction, taking the reader from Masada and the Roman Empire to Roman England and modern Cumbria, with the dialogue of two characters from Carlisle written in Cumbrian dialect.

Tony said: “The nature of my job meant that I had to be aware of different religions and I became interested in Masada, which inspired me to write this book.”

Tony has published his latest books himself, a decision made as a result of the end of the Net Book Agreement, which had meant that booksellers couldn’t offer books to the public below the price marked on the cover. This meant that his previous publisher went bankrupt.

“The literary world has changed over the past 10 years,” he said. “It is very competitive and I decided to try publishing my work myself.”

As well as writing, Tony, who is married to orthopaedic nursing sister Margaret, and has three children, has ventured into the Carlisle nightlife scene with son Barrie, including The Glasshouse, Churchill’s and ML Sports Bar, something he describes as ‘not the easiest part of his life.’

Tony now enjoys having the time to devote to his writing and already has his next project lined up – a biography of Cumbrian boxer Charlie Shepherd.

He said: “I look back on my time in the police force with fond memories but I don’t miss it. I have seen too many graves.

“I find writing is a stress relief.”