Christopher Berry-Dee, the UK’s bestselling true-crime author since records began, is facing allegations of domestic violence and child sexual abuse from former family members and a former student. Berry-Dee, 78, declined an interview because of a recent near-death stroke and medical advice to avoid heavy stress, but denied committing any of the crimes alleged.
The allegations span decades and include claims about his second wife, Tracey Dee, his daughters Zoe and Sasha, and a former student identified by the pseudonym Helen. Police and prosecutors took action in some cases, but the source material does not establish criminal convictions for the alleged abuse.
The allegations and Berry-Dee’s response
Tracey Dee alleges that Berry-Dee repeatedly beat her, knocked her unconscious, threatened her with a butcher’s knife and pointed a loaded shotgun at her during their marriage. Her daughters say they witnessed injuries and violence. Berry-Dee denies abusing Tracey, saying he never threatened her and disputing details about her scar and injuries.
Helen says Berry-Dee began sexually abusing her after she joined his Portsmouth art school at 13 in 2000. She says the abuse continued for months, including sexual acts and a violent rape shortly after her 14th birthday. Berry-Dee denies having had a sexual relationship with her and calls her account fiction. In 2009, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority awarded Helen £18,480 after finding, on the balance of probabilities, that she was a victim of violent crime.
- Sasha says she reported memories of inappropriate touching in 2025 after those recollections resurfaced in 2024. She requested that her police interview be paused in February 2026 after arrangements for a video-recorded interview stalled.
- Berry-Dee denies Sasha’s allegation, calling it unfounded and possibly engineered by her mother.
- Berry-Dee’s stepdaughter Tracy Hurdle reported him to police in 1983, alleging rape when she was 12. He was arrested and charged in 1984, but the case was dropped after the prosecution offered no evidence.
How the earlier cases were handled
Helen reported her allegations to Hampshire police on 11 September 2006 and was interviewed on 26 September. A 2007 police report recorded that Berry-Dee would not be charged under the law then applying to unlawful sex involving children aged 13 to 16. The Crown Prosecution Service later said there was insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction, according to a 2008 letter cited in the investigation.
Tracey left Berry-Dee in 1994 while he was working in the United States. She obtained a court order preventing him from removing their children from her care, after which his contact with his daughters was sporadic. Zoe says she last saw him around 2008.
Questions about his true-crime work
Berry-Dee built a three-decade career by corresponding with convicted murderers and writing about their crimes. NielsenIQ BookData figures cited in the investigation put his total sales at nearly 1 million, making him the UK’s bestselling true-crime author since records began.
The investigation also questioned quotations attributed to Ted Bundy. Margaret Vandiver, a retired criminal-justice professor who was with Bundy in his final weeks, said some quotations sounded like Bundy while others did not. Kenneth Bianchi, known as the Hillside Strangler, said Berry-Dee fabricated statements attributed to him. Berry-Dee says his quotations come from open sources and are carefully checked, and acknowledges lying to secure interviews.
Families connected to cases covered by Berry-Dee’s books have also accused him of insensitive or damaging conduct. In one dispute involving the Babes in the Wood murders, Nicola Fellows’s uncle Ian Heffron sued Berry-Dee for libel in 2007 and later recovered his legal costs from the author’s royalties through a third-party debt order.
What remains unresolved
The allegations about Sasha had not progressed to a completed police interview in the material supplied. Devon & Cornwall Police attempted to arrange a video-recorded interview in February 2026, but Sasha said she was told therapy support could undermine her credibility; she then asked to pause the interview.
The source material reports allegations, denials, police records, prosecutorial decisions and a compensation finding. It does not report a criminal conviction against Berry-Dee for the alleged abuse. His response rejects the allegations, while the accounts of the people interviewed remain disputed.
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