Bernard O'Mahoney served in the army for three years and saw a tour of duty in Northern Ireland (described in his book Soldier of the Queen). He then travelled extensively and worked in the building and security industries. Renouncing a criminal past, he wrote about his experiences of the dark side of the nightclub world in the bestselling Essex Boys, and in The Dream Solution he revealed who murdered 21-year-old Alison Shaughnessy.
