He was one of the most highly regarded and respected police officers in Norfolk who became a top author.
Now, Maurice Morson has died at the age of 86.
Many of you will have known Maurice or read his books, including one, which was reprinted, about a mystery that dominated his life – the disappearance of 13-year-old April Fabb.
The Lost Years published in 1995 and revised, analysed and updated in 2007 and 2012, is a haunting and compelling chronicle of hope and disappear.
April went missing on April 8, 1969. She cycled from her home at Metton in north Norfolk, to see her sister at Roughton. She spoke to friends on the way. A farm worker saw her riding her bike and then – nothing. She had vanished.
The re-publication of The Lost Years was supported by April’s family and raised funds for the restoration of St Matthew’s Church at Metton where April had attended Sunday School.
Whenever Maurice spoke about April you could see the pain and frustration on his face. He, and others, had done all they could over so many years to discover what had happened to April.
Sadly her fate remains unknown.
Maurice had joined Norwich City Police in 1956. He was in the force until 1987 when he retired as Detective Chief Superintendent and Head of Norfolk CID.
For the next 11 years he worked as head of security at the University of East Anglia and started writing books.
He was a driving force behind the Norwich City Police Association and his books made sure the force was not forgotten in the mists of time.
Maurice was born in 1936 and during the war lived with his mother on Hilary Avenue in Norwich. His father was a regular soldier who became a Far East prisoner of war.
"I remember the Baedeker Raids which hit the city in April 1942," he said.
"I recall lying in bed and listening to the thump, thump of the bombs falling, and seeing plaster-dust float down from my whitewashed ceiling, as the building trembled."
After completing his National Service in the Royal Norfolk Regiment, Maurice joined the former Norwich City Police in the 1950s and rose through the ranks from PC Morson to Detective Chief Superintendent Morson investigating major crimes across the county.
No one knew more about the old city force than Maurice. He wrote A City’s Finest with brilliant illustrations by Terry George in 1992.
That was followed in 2000 by the brilliant A Force Remembered: The Illustrated History of Norwich City Police 1836-1967, dedicated to the memory of his wife Christine who died in 2000.
Rough Justice: The Story of the Norwich Scandal was published in 2004, Norwich Murders two years later and then Norfolk Mayhem & Murder in 2008.
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Proceeds from the updated and revised editions of The Lost Years also went to commemorate April's name at her school along with the restoration work of the church.
As Maurice wrote: "It is a reminder of the agony of the unknown and a spur to revelation and conclusion, a story which is timeless, ever progressing yet still awaiting an ending.
"The reader is invited to contemplate the known with the unknown, track the path of professional and amateur detectives, embrace shock and terror, maybe understand the morbid, insensitive and plain interfering and inevitably be drawn to personal opinion, or even deduction, all arising from a date forever carved into Norfolk history."
Maurice was a father to Elaine and Neil, father-in-law to Nick and grandfather to Daniel, Jacob, Joel, Charlie and Sam.
His funeral will take place at St Faiths Crematorium on Thursday, April 13 at 11.30am. Donations to the Norfolk Constabulary Benevolent Fund directly or c/o Allcock Family Funeral Services, Falcon House, 96a City Road, Norwich NR1 2HD.
- To read all of the EDP obituaries and tributes click here.
- To pay tribute to a loved one, email norfolkobituaries@newsquest.co.uk
- To read all obituaries and tributes join the Facebook group Norfolk's Loved & Lost.
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