A storyline in Cornonation Street has prompted an unexpected flurry of media interest in the research of Dr Nick Fyfe of the Geography Department.
Followers of the soap (and Nick confesses he is not one) will know that fears for the safety of a witness to a murder has meant the witness and their family have been secretly relocated by a police witness protection programme. As the author of Protecting Intimidated Witnesses, described by a reviewer as 'the definitive guide' to witness protection, Nick was invited to appear on several discussion programmes to describe what being a protected witness was 'really like'. More recently, media speculation that Stakeknife, the alleged informer in the IRA, would need to change his identity and be secretly relocated, has prompted further interest in Nick's research on witness protection. At present, Nick is working on an international review of measures designed to facilitate witness co-operation in cases of organised crime for the Home Office.