Mick Bannerman, parentless from birth, had all the classic qualifications for becoming one of life's misfits and, for a while, that's the way he was until his marriage to Cora.

Success was his until his insatiable appetite for other women brought with it ruin - and a search for yet another career.

And then he found it in the army which taught him the skills that he eventually used to become a master criminal. He had a talent for leadership, planning and cunning, and with his trained syndicate of men he carried out the most daring robberies on record.

With BANNERMAN, Charlie Chester - an international star of entertainment - can now add novelist to his long list of talents.