But there was one story in particular that stood out to David the most – the tragic tale of Brighton club owner Harvey Holford, who shot and killed his wife Christine in 1962.
Harvey Holford was a nightclub owner, friend of the rich and famous and lived what would have been an enviable life in the early 1960s.
One of Holford’s vehicles with a boat in tow. (Image: The Argus)
He was often seen driving a large red limousine, open-topped in fine weather, with a speedboat trailing behind.
Holford and Christine married in 1960 at Dorset Gardens Methodist Church, Brighton, but Christine had a number of lovers – including washing machine tycoon John Bloom.
Christine and Bloom were staying in Nice, France, in August 1962 and were followed by Holford, who flew into a jealous rage once back in Brighton and cut off his wife’s hair.
The couple patched things up but when Christine told her husband that he was not the father of their daughter, Karen, he snapped.
Holford shot and killed Christine and swallowed a number of pills in an attempt to kill himself.
He spent three days unconscious but was saved by doctors.
Holford and Christine on their wedding day. (Image: The Argus)
Holford was accused of murder, remanded in custody in Lewes Prison and committed for trial at Sussex Assizes.
But on the day before the trial, he fell from a first-floor landing and fractured his skull, but survived.
A jury of all men cleared Holford of murder but he was convicted manslaughter through provocation and diminished responsibility.
He was sentenced to three years in prison but released on parole after a year and a half, though this was at a time when the death sentence was still given in many murder trials.
Holford was sentenced to three years in prison. (Image: The Argus)
After being released, Holford changed his name to Robert Keith Beaumont and ran an estate agency in Ditchling Road.
Holford then turned his hand to politics and stood in the 1974 general election as an independent for Brighton Pavilion.
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Newspapers found themselves in a dilemma as to whether they should reveal Holford’s true identity, but when his manifesto included the death penalty for people who murdered children, the decision was made to print the information.
Holford received just 428 votes.
He almost entirely disappeared from public life until dying from leukaemia in 2006, aged 77.
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