The tone was sombre but respectful, touched with humour. Neil Nixon was saddened by news of the death of his fellow Carlisle United fan and author Paul Harrison, and put his feelings into an obituary.

In the pages of Hit the Bar!, the fanzine of United’s London Branch supporters club, Nixon reflected on some of the known features of Harrison’s life: his writings on the Blues, including two club histories which are on many supporters’ shelves; his interest in unsolved mysteries, explored in other books.

Less familiar was Harrison’s Jewish faith, while a darker passing reference was made to “acrimonious dealings” with Carlisle United which had “blighted his life”. Mainly, though, it was a fond farewell from one scribe to another.

And yet, six years after that tribute, it appears that Nixon was premature in his goodbye.

On the weekend of June 18-19 this year, the Slaughter in Southwold crime-writing festival took place in Suffolk. Among the guest speakers listed: the renowned author Paul Harrison.

According to organisers, a “bereavement” led him to pull out at the last moment, the same reason given for other cancelled appearances at libraries in the East Riding area recently. Yet he has given talks elsewhere – the Bloody Scotland writing festival three years ago an example – while a personal website, showcasing Harrison’s writing, was launched only last year.

It is true that there are different authors out there who share the same name. But photographs publicising the above confirm this to be one particular Paul Harrison.

So, for a man supposed to be deceased, life appears to be going on. What, then, of his curious “death” and subsequent re-emergence?

First, we must rewind to August 28, 2010. That day, an email from the account pcrpconsultants@aol.co.uk was sent to Simon Clarkson, then chairman of Carlisle United’s London Branch supporters group, of which Harrison was a member.

Beginning “Dear sir or madam,” it reported the “untimely passing of one of our own, practising Jew, and author Paul Harrison (54)… on an archaeological dig in Egypt on Wednesday 25 August 2010.”

Harrison, it added, left behind a wife and two children, following “several years” with a heart condition which “severely arrested his love of life, family, football, Leeds Utd and CUFC”.

Amid a potted account of his life, a sour note was added: “Due to absolute ill-feeling and mistrust, his family request no contact or mention from representatives of CUFC in any form whatsoever.” The email ended by saying Harrison’s “remains” would be flown to the UK, to be buried in the parish of Garforth, Leeds. It was signed ‘AJ Doyle’ – Doyle being the surname of Harrison’s wife, Mandy.

For some reason, this tragic tale was not looked into further by the media – other than by Neil Nixon, that is, who emailed all Harrison’s known accounts for information that could help with his obituary, but received no reply.

And yet, only four months later, a book called Keep Fighting, about the Leeds United legend Billy Bremner, was published, accompanied by a book signing in a Waterstone’s branch in the city. Paul Harrison was the author – and attended the signing.

Further publications, including a biography of the pioneering black Leeds player Albert Johanneson followed: again, written by the same man.

And yet, over the months and years, there have been some strange and contradictory messages, some of them seemingly from Harrison himself, about whether or not he had indeed passed away.

It cannot be stressed enough that there is no evidence that Harrison died. A call to Lawnswood Cemetery, which holds all burial and cremation records in Leeds, including Garforth, received this reply: “We don’t have any records of a Paul Harrison who was buried anywhere in the city in and around those dates”.

Questions to the British Embassy in Cairo have yet to elicit a response, but such a newsworthy death does not appear to have been reported in any media, Egyptian or otherwise.

Yet the apparent untruth was quick to reach other ears. The “ill-feeling” Harrison bore United may have referred to a legal case he was launching against the club regarding the copyright status of some photographs United published in the 2009-10 period.

A hearing was due to take place at Romford County Court – but, according to the court’s records, they were told “the claimant passed away” shortly before it was set to begin and so the case was ‘stayed’, or suspended.

Who informed court officials of Harrison’s death is not clear.

Oddly, the ‘pcrpconsultants’ email address bounces back messages today, suggesting the account is no longer in use. A Google search for such a consultancy firm also produces nothing convincing.

Interestingly, there was a brief moment in 2014 when the mystery might have been raised. In an article in the Sunday Express about another of Harrison’s books, it was claimed he had been the victim of a “malicious internet rumour”. The implication was that supporters of the imprisoned murderer Jeremy Bamber may have been responsible for the death hoax.

Further investigation, though, sheds a different light. On the Leeds website One Mick Jones back in November 2010, a forum poster with the username AlbertJ wrote in fulsome praise of Harrison’s Bremner book. Further posts identified AlbertJ as the author of the upcoming Johanneson book – and, hence, both publications.

One user was intrigued enough to ask whether this was the same man behind earlier works on Carlisle. AlbertJ denied this: “It’s kinda weird having to prove who I am… but here goes. I am Paul Harrison the Leeds supporter… as far as I am aware the Carlisle book bloke is dead. I am not the man!”

This was just two months after the fateful email, and directly contradicted subsequent events – not to mention Harrison’s own website, which today lists all his Leeds and Carlisle books.

So... if Harrison was not AlbertJ, who was? And if his ‘death’ was indeed a hoax carried out by others, why was it not corrected sooner, in the long period when many Carlisle supporters – not to mention Romford County Court – were convinced he had perished?

Earlier material raises yet more questions. In January 2010, seven months before the “death”, some members of the media, and Neil Nixon, received an email purportedly from Harrison’s son, Mark, claiming his father had suffered a heart attack and was in hospital, “unable to take on new work… until his health improves significantly.”

The very next day, a Twitter account named @PaulHazz was launched. With Albert Johanneson as its profile picture, its first of many posts mentioned Leeds United, while later comment was cutting about Carlisle United: a “grey and bleak northern outpost”, their ground “Dumpton Park.”

Surely this embittered tweeter could not be Paul Harrison, the man who grew up in the Crindledyke area of Carlisle and had often written of his lifelong affection for the Blues, including in his history books The Lads In Blue and Carlisle United The Complete Record, as well as a column in the club’s official programme?

Perhaps it could, given that @PaulHazz later revealed informed details about forthcoming books on... Billy Bremner and Albert Johanneson. “All news and publication detail will be on here,” he wrote, before the account stopped posting in December 2011.

Harrison remained apparently busy in this period, writing to at least two publications in Yorkshire inviting people to share memories of Johanneson for his forthcoming book. Around this time he had an Essex address – but then moved to the remote Orkney island of Sanday. There, he established a “writers’ retreat” guesthouse called Newquoy.

Harrison appears to have been a popular figure on the island, giving talks and blogging about his family’s new circumstances which, Mandy wrote, were intended to “rid ourselves of the pressures of city life”.

With a new Twitter account, @PaulyAitch, created in 2012 (its tweets are currently protected), the Johanneson book was also published that year, attracting coverage in national newspapers and also in Leeds, although journalists there struggle to recall actually meeting the author.

Its acknowledgements section is remarkably diverse. Harrison thanks such people as Brian Clough, Justin Fashanu, George Best, Frank Bruno and Pelé, while it also includes a reference to Harrison watching his first childhood game: the visit of Huddersfield Town to Brunton Park in 1968 to face “Carlisle FC”.


Paul Harrison in younger days That seemed an odd naming error from someone who once claimed to have arranged his marriage in the 1980 close-season so as not to miss any United matches, and who in 1999 apparently tried to take over his beloved club (Michael Knighton, then Blues chairman, denied this).

Whilst in Orkney, Harrison set up his own publishing operation, Valhalla, but this no longer seems to be operating: its website, having previously listed just three books in its ‘shop’, is now down. Indeed, it is unclear whether the Harrisons are even on the island any more. Newquoy ceased to be a guest house in October 2015 as it was put up for sale. In June this year estate agent Lows Orkney said the owners “moved south… due to ill health”, with Bridlington his most recent home area according to publicity for his recent, aborted, library talks.

The estate agent added that Newquoy had been under offer, then put back on the market in May. It is currently not listed as for sale.

The author’s broader activities, though, continue to intrigue. They include a vast series of claims about his work – including, on his website, that he is known among crime-writing peers as “the real-life Sherlock Holmes”. The Slaughter in Southwold website, meanwhile, sees fit to describe Harrison as a “media, crime and police consultant behind the creation of many well-known television detectives”, and “a former undercover football hooligan” to boot.

It seems an extraordinary CV – while there is a darker offshoot. In 2013, another book, The Cupboard Under The Stairs, was released by Mainstream Publishing, by the Carlisle-born author Paul Mason. It is a harrowing account of child abuse at the hands of a paedophile ring written by – the book says – someone who won the 2009 Una Padel award from the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies for work on the systematic abuse of males.

A basic internet search reveals this to be one Paul Harrison, making the use of a pen name rather half-hearted. Websites like Amazon and AbeBooks offer The Cupboard Under The Stairs with Paul Harrison very much part of the listed information.

Whether this is relevant to what happened later is unknown. But what is certain is that, six years ago, Paul Harrison “died” just as he was about to take Carlisle United to court and was then resurrected a few months later, as though nothing had happened.

United had engaged the Carlisle law firm Baines Wilson in anticipation of the Romford case, but neither they nor the club would comment. The Cumberland News’ findings will, though, alarm some at Brunton Park who had long presumed Harrison to be dead – while supporters who read Neil Nixon’s 2010 obituary, not to mention those who bought his books, may also be wondering what to think.

It is said that news of Harrison’s continued living was a topic of conversation among Blues fans in a pub before a game at Crawley last season. Nixon was among them, and is still struggling to believe that reports of his friend’s death were not all they seemed.

“This whole story stunned me when I first heard it, because I liked Paul first and foremost – we just hit it off and he was easy to talk to,” Nixon said. “If our paths ever cross again, the least I expect in return for that glowing obit is that he buys the next pint.”

The Cumberland News attempted to contact Harrison and received a reply from one of his previously-known email addresses, but the sender did not want to comment.