Hugo Whitehead moved to Ironbridge, where he met and started to go out with Anne-Marie, who had previously gone out with the now missing Tyler Powell.

Strike and Robin first hear about Hugo Whitehead from Ian Griffiths, at his house in Ironbridge. He tells them that Hugo moved to Ironbridge with his parents and older brother. Hugo ‘was a big mouth, real Flash Harry type’ aged around twenty (Chapter 66). Tyler Powell’s girlfriend, Anne-Marie, ‘fell for Hugo’ and left Tyler for him.  Hugo and Anne-Marie wanted to go to Birmingham to watch a concert, but Hugo was unable to borrow his father’s car, so he asked Tyler if he and Anne-Marie could get a lift with him. On the day of the concert Tyler was feeling ill but allowed Hugo to borrow his car. Hugo had only recently passed his test and he crashed the car. ‘Anne-Marie was killed outright and Hugo was in a coma for three months. Brain dead’ (Chapter 66).

Griffiths says that a rumour started by the Whiteheads that Tyler had tampered with the car, causing the crash, eventually lead to Tyler leaving Ironbridge. The Whitehead family also moved away after Hugo died (Chapter 67).