TRIBUTES were last night paid to legal academic, crime writer and broadcaster Vincent Burke, who died on Saturday, aged 80.
Mr Burke was a familiar voice on BBC Radio Merseyside and produced audio books that delved into the gritty detail of local murders.
They included the notorious Cameo cinema murder and the tale of young Joseph Clarke, who used hypnotism to win the favours of young women.
Mr Burke was also a law lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University, which awarded him a fellowship in 2001. His final public appearance was at a graduation dinner there last week.
The university’s vice-chancellor, Prof Michael Brown, told LDP Legal: “Vincent will be greatly missed as both an esteemed colleague and a true personality.
“He was a great supporter of the University and he will always be thought of fondly.”
Mr Burke’s first career was in insurance brokering.
But he initially rose to prominence in 1953 when he took Liverpool socialist MP Bessie Braddock to court for slander.
As a politician, he also won seats on Liverpool City Council and Formby Urban Council, with first the Labour Party and then as a member of the Conservatives.
In 1964, he unsuccessfully challenged Mrs Braddock in a general election.
And, by the late 1980s, he was chair of his Water Street-based insurance brokers, Berkeley Burke.
But, in 1987, he completed a career shift and graduated LLB after studying at John Moores. A Masters degree soon followed, which led to part-time teaching at the university.
He became best-known as the gravelly-voiced narrator of murder and mystery stories on Roger Phillips’s radio show.
The pair met when Mr Phillips needed a guest to comment on the OJ Simpson murder trial. They hit it off and came up with the idea for Mr Burke’s weekly slot.
Mr Phillips said last night: “He was a lovely guy that would help you out if you needed it.
“I really enjoyed his company.”
In a foreword to a supplement titled “Grisly murders that shocked Merseyside” printed by the Daily Post’s sister paper, the Echo, Mr Burke gave an insight into his fascination with the macabre.
He wrote: “Murder is all around us. The motive behind the terrible act can roughly fall into one of four categories – greed, lust, jealously or envy.
“These frailties are within us all. It is a weakness inside each and every one of us.
“Through the reporting of murder cases, we all get a glimpse into the human frailty that many of us cannot comprehend.
“Celebrated – whether that be the right or wrong word – murder cases are so fascinating because they delve where most of us would never want to visit. They lay the worst side of human nature out bare on the table for us all to see.”
Mr Burke left four children Dominic, Ben, Rebecca and Sarah.
