Troubled Blood introduces us to Dennis Creed, the notorious serial killer who is the main suspect in the disappearance of Margot Bamborough. We learn that he is currently in custody at Broadmoor, a high- security psychiatric hospital in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England.
Completely surrounded by a high brick wall, Broadmoor certainly looks like a prison and, in fact, many of the patients have been placed there by the criminal justice system. The most noteworthy being Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper. You can read more about Broadmoor and its other infamous patients here and here.
Initially, Strike’s request to interview Creed is denied, but thanks to some clever plotting on Robin’s part, he’s eventually allowed to visit Broadmoor.
“’Strike, I don’t want to upstage you or anything,’ she said, failing to suppress the note of triumph in her voice, ‘because finding Douthwaite’s incredible, but I think you ought to know … you’re going to be allowed to interview Dennis Creed in Broadmoor, on September the nineteenth.’” Troubled Blood, Chapter 63
“The high-security mental hospital that is Broadmoor lies slightly over an hour outside London, in the country of Berkshire. The word ‘Broadmoor’ had long since lost all bucolic associations in the collective mind of the British public, and Strike was no exception to this rule. Far from connoting a wide stretch of grassland or heath, the name spoke to Strike only of violence, heinous crimes and two hundred of the most dangerous men in Britain, whom the tabloids called monsters.” Troubled Blood, Chapter 68
“Strike’s first glimpse of the infamous hospital was of a fortress raised on ground. It had been built by the Victorians in the middle of woodland and meadows, a red-brick edifice with a clocktower the highest point in the compound.” Troubled Blood, Chapter 68
“The surrounding walls were twenty feet high, and as Strike drove up to the front gates, he could see the heads of hundreds of Cyclopean security cameras on poles.” Troubled Blood, Chapter 68
There are a couple documentaries on Broadmoor available on Youtube, which you can watch below:
You can see where Broadmoor is located on the map below: