Product Description

At the height of her fame former Page 3 girl Tracy Kirby was in constant demand and commanded huge fees for personal appearances. A dramatic falling out with the modelling world left her destitute but she refused to be beaten and began pursuing a career in television while working part-time for a bureau de change. A week before she was to begin presenting a major Channel 4 show, Tracy was arrested. The bureau turned out to be a front for a massive international drugs gang run by some of the most notorious and dangerous gangsters in the world. As her entire world crumbled around her, Tracy was sent to Holloway prison and told that after trial, she could expect a sentence of at least 18 years. Tracy found herself driven to the brink of suicide by a world where brutality, sexual violence and cruelty are considered the norm. She spent two years in prison before the charges against her were finally dropped and she was allowed to go free. From the unglamorous truth behind the glamour industry to the harsh realities of the women's penal system, The Model Prisoner is an extraordinary story told with wit, intelligence, humour and above all, courage.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #293443 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

About the Author
Tracy Kirby is the former Page 3 girl in the SUN who ended up in jail - literally, the model prisoner. Tony Thompson is Crime Correspondent of THE OBSERVER.

Customer Reviews

An eye-opener......
Finished this book in a couple of sittings and was left with the over-riding feeling of - you'd never want to end up in jail after reading that! -
What a well written account of the unfortunate set of circumstances that left Tracy trapped in jail for so long. Must have been a living nightmare.
I felt a few more dates of when some of the events occured would have been helpful - also a short follow up on the friends, acquaintances and prison buddies -

Just pray that this never happens to you...
This is the follow-up to Mr Thompson's Gold Dagger winning book, The Infiltrators.... Ms Kirby's story is genuinely compelling and Mr Thompson does an excellent job of laying it all out for us. The book flows smoothly from Ms Kirby's background, through the good times, to the horrifying ordeal of her incarceration while awaiting trial. He cleverly weaves in timely flashbacks to earlier experiences in Ms Kirby's life to fill in details and answer questions that arise as the story unfolds. Overall a well-told true story about how one can accidentally and quite unknowingly stumble into a terrible situation - one which becomes a living nightmare.

Excellent
As someone who does not read so often and who finds it hard to be captured by a lot of books this was a remarkable read. A present for Christmas I could not put it down. I found myself there with Tracy through every step but also found myself wanting to shout 'you stupid girl, not again'. This is a story of what happens to someone who wants to follow there dreams but is too trusting and and as a result becomes used and abused both physically and mentally. The model prisoner will have you hooked from beginning to end, but unfortunately leaving your trust in the justice system slightly tarnished!