KATE SNELL
BOOKS
the care home swindler
The inside story of one of Britain’s most shocking scandals - a man who conned the elderly out of millions and the dark reality of what happens behind closed doors in the care system.
David Barton, owner of Barton Park Nursing Home in Southport, built a web of deceit with the help of corrupt professionals who exploited those in their care.
Through access to witnesses, victims’ families and court records, Kate Snell uncovers a multi-million-pound fraud of greed and betrayal - and the wider failures of a system meant to protect the vulnerable.
Published by Little, Brown, March 2026.
Diana
Her Last Love:
Biography of the final year of Diana, Princess of Wales.
The book captured global attention, making headlines across newspapers, radio, and television.
Published by Andre Deutsch, it was serialised in the Mail on Sunday, New York Post, Paris Match, Gente (Italy), and New Idea (Australia). A French edition was released by L’Archipel, with translations also published in Italian and Japanese.
The book was later adapted into the feature film Diana, starring Naomi Watts, produced by Ecosse Films.
deceived
An in-depth account of conman Robert Hendy-Freegard, who posed as a British spy and manipulated, controlled, and effectively kidnapped a group of students and women across the UK.
Published by Orion Books in the UK, Australia, America, and Canada, and translated into Polish and Dutch.
Kate also produced and directed the accompanying documentary 'The Spy Who Stole My Life', featured in the Daily Mail.
“The reader has to admire Snell’s tenacity. Diana Her Last Love is nothing if not thorough. In the course of her research, Snell travelled between London, Calcutta and Lahore. She has a gift for capturing the colour of towns, houses and interiors. She captures her interviewees expertly too. Snell’s chapter headings add to the pace and drama. The selling point of this book will be the depth of the revelations. What is more, it will sell and sell.”
South China Morning Post