Two years later with his first qualifications secured, he enlisted on a full-time 2-year Higher National Diploma Course in Civil Engineering, which he achieved with distinctions in 1986. At this point Paul and Eileen were expecting their first child, Jonathan, so it seemed an appropriate time for Paul to take a break from further education for a year.
It was in 1987 and he joined the then Department of Transport where he continued his professional development as a bridge maintenance engineer working on some of the regions most prestigious projects.
He returned to further education, part-time, in September 1987, enrolling on a Bachelor of Engineering Honours Degree in Civil Engineering, which lasted 3 years. In 1989 he was awarded his honours degree, which was presented at the Town Hall in Bolton Lancashire - one of many students receiving the honour that day and notably alongside Sir Ian McKellen who was there to accept an honorary arts doctrate.
As part of his continuing professional education, Paul completed 2 bridge designs as part of the M6 J30 to J32 Widening at Preston, Lancashire as well as completing a year gaining site experience. In 1995 he sat his professional exams to become a Corporate Member of Institution of Civil Engineers (MICE) and to become a Chartered Engineer. He was successful at both endeavours.
It was during his studies that he became more and more interested in writing, choosing to join the Writers' Bureau.
Paul has been a great fan of traditional crime authors like Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for most of his life. Contemporary favourites, straying slightly from the crime genre, include Dan Brown, James Herbert and Ruth Rendell and PD James.
He is also an avid watcher of small and wide screen adaptations of such novels, often spoiling the plot for the rest of his family by reasoning the outcome before the end of the film or TV programme. It was during one such episode that his eldest son told him 'why not write your own crime novel?', so he did! The result was "In The Mood", a murder mystery spanning 42 years. It is a tale of blackmail, abuse, revenge and eventually, murder, all of which is uncovered in present day 1985 following a freak road traffic accident.
The first 2 chapters are set during the war and included on this website to wet your appetite! See what you think and look out for Paul's second novel also involving New Scotland Yard's Detective Inspector Philip Graves, currently in production, "The Schutstaffel Array".