The Road to Balcombe Street is a meticulously researched account of the IRA terror campaign in London between October 1974 and December 1975 that culminated in the six day siege at Balcombe Street. The IRA team was a well trained and disciplined group acting as an independent Active Service Unit in deep cover in London.  They avoided contact with Irish communities in London and remained undetected while they carried out over thirty bombings and shootings across London and the south east.  It remained for the men and women of London’s Metropolitan Police Bomb Squad to track them down and bring a halt to the bloody mayhem they conducted seemingly at will on the streets of the capital. 

Using extensive newspaper and news media archive research and the first-hand eye witness accounts of many of the police officers involved in the hunt for the IRA men, and access to some of the key players personal papers,  The Road to Balcombe Street chronicles the quite amazing story of a cat and mouse game of chase on the streets of the British capital and, for the first time, outlines in detail the ingenious scheme the police employed to catch the IRA in the act and bring their reign of terror to a close, and in the process thrusting Detective Chief Superintendent Jim Neville and Detective Superintendent Peter Imbert into the roles of hostage negotiators as they attempted to talk the four armed IRA men out of number 22b Balcombe Street and save the lives of the two hostages, John and Sheila Mathews.

"A page-turner as gripping as any thriller novel...
absolutely relevant to security work today."

Mark Rowe, Editor
Professional Security Magazine
September 2008