Showing results by author "Stu Armstrong" in All Categories

In the early hours of a September morning, one of Britain’s most beloved natural landmarks, the iconic Sycamore Gap tree, was deliberately and coldly felled. The world-famous tree, nestled beside Hadrian’s Wall in the heart of Northumberland, had stood for centuries as a symbol of serenity, history, and connection. Its loss sent shockwaves through the public, igniting anger, sorrow, and an urgent call for justice. This book tells the full, unflinching story behind that shocking act.

Ever since the 1950s, through its heyday of the '70s & '80s, the Spanish Costas and Islands have been synonymous with figures from the British Underworld. Some on the run, some just for sun and fun, Spain has been magnetic to British criminals.

Bare Knuckle Kings: 19th Century Champions by Stu Armstrong takes listeners into the heart of the bare-knuckle boxing world during one of its most vibrant and dangerous eras—the 19th century. This meticulously researched book brings to life the champions who rose from humble beginnings to forge legacies in a sport that was as raw as it was revered. Armstrong highlights each fighter’s journey, from their origins to the brutal and often bloody matches that cemented their reputations as legends of the ring.

Strap in for a high-octane dive into the dangerous world of Britain’s most feared and ruthless armed robbers. Notorious, Volume 2: Armed Robbers explodes with the true stories of the criminal masterminds, violent blaggers, and street-level soldiers who took on banks, payroll vans, jewellers and the Flying Squad itself.

Shadows on Scotswood delves into one of Britain’s most haunting criminal cases, reimagining the story of Mary Bell, a young girl who shocked a nation with her crimes in the 1960s, child murder committed by a child would be huge news. Set against the bleak, gritty backdrop of Newcastle’s Scotswood neighborhood, the book explores Mary’s troubled childhood, marred by neglect, abuse, and a toxic family environment that would shape her life in ways no one could have foreseen.

Narco—what exactly does the word mean? Originally, narco was simply short for narcotics, but since President Reagan's "War on Drugs" in the 1980s, a narco is the word adopted by the Drug Enforcement Agency and is simply referred to a person who traffics or deals in illegal narcotics. Since the Netflix series, the word has slipped not only into popular culture but also the dictionary, very often thought of as the billionaire cartel bosses of South America such as Mexico's El Chapo of the Sinaloa Cartel, and perhaps the most famous of all, Columbia Medellin Cartel boss Pablo Escobar.

Step inside the minds of the most cold-blooded murderers in British history. In Volume 1 of the Notorious series, acclaimed true crime author Stu Armstrong brings you face-to-face with the UK’s most infamous killers—men and women whose crimes shook the nation and left trails of horror, grief, and unanswered questions in their wake.

Bare-knuckle boxing is now a sport in its own right, after emerging from the shadows over the last decade in the UK, and now stateside in the USA. Bare-knuckle boxing is now the world's fastest growing combat sport. But the purest form of pugilism has its critics, and many of them all quote the same things: “It's brutal." "It’s dangerous." "It's illegal.” And each of those statements is totally incorrect! Find out exactly why bare-knuckle boxing is medically proven to be safer than gloved boxing.

The Cult Next Door: Britain’s Quietest Nightmare is a chilling blend of true crime realism and psychological thriller, set in the deceptively peaceful suburbs of Berkshire. When seven residents vanish without a trace from Lavender Close, an ordinary cul-de-sac in Reading, the nation is stunned. But behind the disappearance lies a sinister truth: a cult has been operating in plain sight, its rituals masked as community meetings, its leader cloaked in charm and manipulation.

On the night of February 5th, 2004, twenty-six Chinese migrant workers stepped onto the cold sands of Morecambe Bay in Lancashire, England — unaware that within hours, twenty-one of them would be dead. In this harrowing and powerful true crime account, Stu Armstrong exposes the dark underside of human trafficking and labour exploitation in modern Britain. Blending real events with immersive, character-driven fictionalisation, the story is told through the eyes of Ming, one of the survivors.

Trevor Malloy is just your average dead-inside council admin from the crumbling northern town of Smackleton—single, depressed, and one Greggs sausage roll away from a breakdown. Then one night, he smokes crack. Now he’s hurtling face-first into the seedy underbelly of small-town Britain: from pimping his girlfriend out of a stolen ice cream van to launching a crypto-dogging empire called DoggChain. Along the way, he botches robberies, runs a cactus porn studio in a garden centre, sells fake funerals to real pensioners, and starts an OnlyFans agency for people with extremely niche fetishes.

Butterbean: The Eric Esch Story by Stu Armstrong is an in-depth biography of the legendary heavyweight fighter Eric “Butterbean” Esch, tracing his journey from humble beginnings to global fame in combat sports. The book explores how Butterbean, once an overweight kid bullied for his size, defied expectations to become a dominant force in boxing, kickboxing, and mixed martial arts.

In the explosive sequel to Oligarch, former KGB operative turned deadly renegade Dmitri Korsakov returns to the shadows—this time to dismantle a global conspiracy that threatens to plunge the world into chaos. When a botched drone deal in London reveals the growing power of Black Lion—a clandestine international arms network—Dmitri is thrust back into a world of espionage, betrayal, and brutal violence. With the West compromised and old enemies resurfacing, Dmitri must cross borders and moral lines to stop a syndicate he once unknowingly helped build.

Fighting in my view can be classed as an art form, not the drunken scuffles outside of the kebab shop at closing time but equally matched fighters who have spent a lifetime training for that moment, not only physically but mentally. Every move that they make, offensive or defensive they have likely practiced many thousands of times for that split second in time. Now call that what you want, but I call that art!

In the ashes of the Soviet Union, one man rises from the shadows to seize power, fortune, and vengeance.

Step into the chilling world of Britain’s most dangerous women. In Notorious: Volume 6 – The UK’s Most Infamous Women, Stu Armstrong exposes the shocking true stories of female killers, gangsters, and masterminds whose crimes stunned the nation and shattered lives. For centuries, crime has been seen as a man’s domain, but history tells a darker, more complex tale. From sadistic child killers to ruthless crime bosses and manipulative fraudsters, these women defied societal expectations of femininity, wielding power and destruction in equal measure.

Danny Mercer was once on the right side of the prison bars—a respected officer in the British prison service. But when he crossed the line for the wrong woman, everything changed. Framed, betrayed, and thrown into the same system he once enforced, Danny finds himself fighting for survival among violent inmates who hate him for being a “screw,” and officers who loathe him for being corrupt. Inside, danger is everywhere.

Notorious, Volume 4 takes listeners deep into the invisible battlefield of the 21st century, where keystrokes are weapons, data is currency, and the enemy could be anywhere in the world… or right next door. From back-alley hackers and credit card cloners to billion-dollar ransomware syndicates and state-sponsored cyber armies, this explosive volume uncovers the shocking truths behind the most dangerous criminals you’ll never see. Meet the real-world villains, social engineers who manipulate minds, coders who hijack infrastructure, and corrupt call-center networks operating with near impunity.

The UK’s Most Infamous Prisons is a chilling, unflinching journey into the darkest corners of Britain’s prison estate, where high walls conceal not only the nation’s most dangerous criminals, but its deepest institutional failures. From the fortress-like corridors of HMP Belmarsh, dubbed “Britain’s Guantanamo,” to the violence-scarred cells of HMP Strangeways, this book explores the most infamous prisons in the UK. Each chapter focuses on a different institution, uncovering not just their notorious inmates, serial killers, terrorists, gang lords, but the grim realities of life inside.

Welcome to a world where class is dead, decency’s been pegged into oblivion, and Britain’s answer to a burning skip fire is on a global rampage of tits, tech, and total fucking chaos in this special edition of 'The Crackhead' books by Stu Armstrong.