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James F Linden's book 'Let the Devil Wear Black' is a true story of institutionalised fraud and corruption that was used to cover up a cancer-gas scandal that involved people at virtually every level, from a local factory with its national and international connections, through the organisations that are in place to protect individuals and the public, to the judicial system in the UK and possibly beyond.

Identities Revealed...

It is now 20 years since this happened so, in the spirit of any anniversary that has a zero at the end of the number, let's celebrate it by shooting the lock off Pandora's box and finding out the reality of what really went on.

In the book 'Let the Devil Wear Black', the location is set as Manchester so that those who were not particularly guilty of anything could live their lives in peace. However, this also lets the guilty get away with it.

Twenty years after the events that started this off, it is now time to reveal the real identities in this everyday story of corporate fraud and corruption and what better place to start than revealing that the real-life 'K. K. Gazelle's' factory site was the Courtaulds (formerly known as 'British Celanese', 'Acordis', 'Akzo Nobel', etc.) site in Spondon, Derby, UK.

The part of the site where 285 and 328 (TCEP and TCPP flame retardants, respectively) and the EBA and many more chemicals were made, was renamed 'Courtaulds Fine Chemicals' which appeared on headed note paper and everywhere you might expect a company name to appear, until somebody in sales wrote down the initials for it (as they are prone to do) and it was noticed that it spelled 'CFC' which also stood for Chloro-Fluoro-Carbons, a group of chemicals that were destroying the ozone layer and were an environmental disaster. It was quickly renamed 'Speciality Chemicals' and the CFC episode was kept quiet.

Continuing in the spirit of exposing the truth about this story, here are some more real names, in no particular order with no implication one way or the other of guilt or innocence:

In the book		Real Identity
Deryck Simpson		Trevor D. Smith
Gurj		Ranjit Kanvinde
Dr Martin Cotes		Dr Alan Walters
2800 Plant Manager (before Martin)		Howard W T Sutton
Eric		Allister Lovett
Col Burgess		Dan M. Smith
Roland Bosworth		Nigel Herbert Empson
InComp		Vistec Computer Services Ltd, Little Eaton, Derby
Sturges Nother		David Hicks
Crimp and Flagstaff		Warner Cranston Ltd, Clink Street, London
Penelope Cam		Jenny Waid
Percy Drabble		Richard Gray
David Snaith		Steve Dallaghan
Tod Bexley		David Corkhill
James Markfield		Mick O'Toole
Harry Stoke		Wilf Hey
Aaron Shimpson		Dr Alan Solomon
Gaia		Friends of the Earth
Manchester Mail		Derby Evening Telegraph
Lydia Brown		Caroline Smith
Industrial Tribunal		Regional Office of the Industrial Tribunal, 7th Floor, Birkbeck House, Nottingham
ROIT Chairman		Mr T. R. Capp
Paul Foot		Himself
Peter Mandelson		Himself
Maitland Gayle-Davis MP		Rt. Hon. Margaret Beckett MP

On this site, there are additional resources that will allow you to delve a little more deeply into the background of this scandal from extra information on some topics to things that you can try out yourself.

There is

• General information which is of interest to anybody, regardless of whether they have bought the book or not; and,
• Extra resources that add greater depth to your experience of the book.

	He was safe, as long as I didn’t follow him in which, I must admit, was tempting.

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