Life story – how my life changed from the unexceptional to extraordinary This is a true account of my life as a young professional photographer who then became a commercial Fraud Investigator, specialising in the Detection and Prevention of Theft, Fraud and False Accounting within the construction Materials Industry. Operating two full time surveillance teams across the United Kingdom and on occasions into Europe we developed unique covert surveillance equipment and techniques to capture and bring before the Criminal Justice system, employees who were caught stealing from their employers. The motivating factor was twofold: Firstly, to protect innocent staff members from potential redundancies. Secondly, to increase the profitability of each site we visited. Thefts could range from a just few pounds to many thousands of pounds. On one occasion one site in the North of England was losing approximately £60K per month (12m over three years) which meant redundancies and plant closures.