A senior Bradford detective, who worked in the city for more than 30 years, is investigating a new career as an author.

Former detective inspector Gerry O'Shea has written and produced his autobiography - 'The Irish Detective in Yorkshire' - which tells of his journey from rural Ireland to becoming a senior officer in Bradford.

The story recounts how he overcame discrimination when he arrived in the city as a young man, and gives an insight into how he investigated serious crimes in the district.

Mr O'Shea, who has lived in Bradford for 40 years and still spends much of his time here, said writing and self-publishing the book had been hard work but he had got a lot of satisfaction out of it and he is now working on a second book.

He said: "I always wanted to write and had dabbled at short stories over the years. I never had the time, but when I retired I set my stall out to do this."

Mr O'Shea is launching his book at Bradford City Library in City Park, at 5.30pm today. One pound from every book sale will go to the police charity COPS, Care of Police Survivors.

He said: "I spent last summer writing the book, then did the editing and formatting, which was a learning curve, and self-published it. I don't expect to make any money out of it, but the feedback I have had so far has prompted me to start work on another one. It will be fictional but based on characters I have met throughout the course of my career."

'The Irish Detective in Yorkshire' tells of Mr O'Shea's rural upbringing and how he integrated into the Bradford community when he arrived here as a 20-year-old, before joining the police.

He said: "When I arrived in Bradford the IRA were carrying out atrocities and people were suspicious and hostile towards the Irish. But I immersed myself into the community and people saw that I wasn't a terrorist or a thick Irishman."

He joined West Yorkshire Police and worked for most of his 32-year career in Bradford. His book recalls his involvement in the Janice Wood investigation, a landmark case of its time because it was a murder conviction without a body; and the 1977 Mary Gregson murder on the canal towpath at Shipley, which was solved 30 years later through DNA technology.

Mr O'Shea also tells of his involvement on the fringes of the Yorkshire Ripper investigation.

He said: "More experienced officers were seconded in numbers to the Ripper Squad and young officers like me were left to deal with everything else. I was able to give an insight into the climate of Bradford at the time and how people were living in fear of the Ripper."

Mr O'Shea, who has two sons serving with West Yorkshire Police, said former colleagues had been surprised but very supportive about his writing.

'The Irish Detective in Yorkshire' is available on Amazon.