A top West Yorkshire murder squad detective, who headed inquiries into many serious Bradford crimes, is making it big as a novelist.

Former detective superintendent Bob Bridgestock took up writing four years ago, after retiring from the West Yorkshire force where he spent 30 years.

He and his wife Carol, a support worker with West Yorkshire Police for 17 years, co-wrote their first novel, Deadly Focus, about senior investigating officer Jack Dylan who leads the hunt for a missing young girl.

Mr Bridgestock wrote most of the book, in the style of police reports, while his wife worked on the emotional side and crafted it into a novel. Now a publishing company has given the husband and wife team a contract for five books in the ‘Dylan’ series.

The couple are also in talks with a production team about turning Dylan into a TV series.

Mr Bridgestock worked on many major cases during his police career, including the Yorkshire Ripper inquiry and the murder of Morley schoolgirl Sarah Harper. He was also senior investigating officer in the shooting murder of Bradford private hire driver Mohammed Basharat, led the case of three Bradford men for the murder of Kevin Jackson, stabbed with a screwdriver when he tried to stop car thieves and headed the investigation into Bradford paedophile Glyn Kenyon, who was given 17 life sentences for attempted murder and sex offences against two young girls.

Mr Bridgestock, who now lives with his wife on the Isle of Wight, said: “What we bring to the writing is the human side. People are used to the serious face of the detective at press conferences, but beneath the mask you have got a human being.”

The couple, who now have an agent in Japan and another in Europe, have been described as the most promising crime writers in Europe. They will be signing books at Waterstone’s in Bradford on Tuesday, April 17.