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Monahan and Ross both pleaded not guilty to murder on both charges, each blaming the other for the killings. Another man implicated in the murders, Paul
Dunwell, avoided prosecution by agreeing to give evidence for the prosecution against the pair. Justice Otton, who presided over the case, described
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Monahan's mother died in a car crash when he was seven; he was separated from his sister when she was twenty months old. Following the crash his grieving father turned to alcohol and became a violent drunk, inflicting much of his angst on his subsequent partners and on the young Erwin. Monahan
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committed his first crime when he was ten, breaking into a sweet shop. He eventually notched up 53 criminal convictions, including for burglary, theft, criminal damage, assault and mugging, and ultimately two convictions for murder, for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
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42:, a national newspaper in the UK for people in prison, as well as doing charity work, since his release. While he was in prison, fees for his articles were paid not to him but to the
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113:(as "Erwin James"), recalling his time in the French Foreign Legion. In 2009 he admitted that part of the article contained information detailing experiences in
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Monahan and his co-defendant, William Ross, whom he had met in a squat in London, were convicted of murdering theatrical agent
Greville Hallam and
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22:(18 April 1957 – 19 January 2024) was a British convicted recidivist criminal and murderer who became a newspaper columnist and wrote for
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the circumstances leading to his arrests and convictions were not revealed, but in April 2009 Monahan's full name became public.
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James died after hitting his head in a fall on 19 January 2024, at the age of 66. After his death
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in April 2009 that his behaviour had been unforgivable and that "I seek no forgiveness now."
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346:"Open door: The readers' editor on... truth and fiction in a writer's life story"
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with a minimum term of 14 years, subsequently increased to 25 years by the
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and Africa. After receiving information from Ross, Monahan was traced by
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Monahan as "brutal, vicious and callous" and sentenced him to
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Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by
England and Wales
445:"Erwin James, former Guardian prison columnist, dies aged 66"
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from 1998, writing under the name "Erwin James" whilst still
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For the majority of the time during which he wrote for
70:. Cochran was murdered three months later after being
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Bartholomew, Jem; Grierson, Jamie (23 January 2024).
519:English prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment
509:People convicted of murder by England and Wales
138:, who had first commissioned him to write for
105:In January 2006, Monahan wrote an article for
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16:English murderer and columnist (1957–2024)
164:Redeemable: A Memoir of Darkness and Hope
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117:was untrue, as he had not served there.
62:Angus Cochran in 1982. Hallam was found
344:Butterworth, Siobhain (27 April 2009).
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158:The Home Stretch: From Prison to Parole
504:Soldiers of the French Foreign Legion
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251:from the original on 4 February 2022
152:A Life Inside: A Prisoner's Notebook
484:English people convicted of murder
245:insidetime & insideinformation
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499:21st-century pseudonymous writers
494:20th-century pseudonymous writers
318:James, Erwin (13 January 2006).
46:charity, which had helped him.
213:James, Erwin (2 October 2007).
373:James, Erwin (24 April 2009).
291:"The Guardian and Erwin James"
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400:"Ex-editor Erwin James dies"
184:Mayes, Ian (2 August 2003).
289:Katz, Ian (24 April 2009).
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270:Mayes, Ian (19 May 2001).
241:"Meet the Editorial Team"
44:Prisoners' Advice Service
489:The Guardian journalists
479:English male journalists
418:"Erwin James Obituary"
76:French Foreign Legion
20:Erwin James Monahan
424:. 12 February 2024
406:. 22 January 2024.
320:"Legion of Honour"
247:. 6 January 2015.
186:"The inside story"
127:Monahan wrote in
96:life imprisonment
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34:A Life Inside
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449:The Guardian
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426:. Retrieved
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382:. Retrieved
379:The Guardian
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353:. Retrieved
350:The Guardian
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327:. Retrieved
324:The Guardian
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303:10 September
301:. Retrieved
296:The Guardian
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30:incarcerated
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474:2024 deaths
469:1957 births
428:12 February
404:Inside Time
39:Inside Time
463:Categories
255:2 November
171:References
422:The Times
384:12 August
355:12 August
329:12 August
278:. London.
64:strangled
60:solicitor
50:Biography
299:. London
249:Archived
221:. London
198:17 March
194:. London
136:Ian Katz
80:Corsica
166:(2016)
160:(2005)
154:(2003)
115:Beirut
72:mugged
68:London
225:2 May
430:2024
386:2020
357:2020
331:2020
305:2010
257:2022
227:2010
200:2008
88:Nice
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