Do you have the inspectors name? If so, it would be quite simple to check if he was a real person. The police are usually one of the best public services in terms of keeping their records.



In fact, after a few moments googleing I've found Merseyside Police. I'm sure you're inspectors name would be mentioned in one of these journals.

Still, even if the inspector is a real person, it doesn't mean what happened to him was real. In my opinion Tom does sometimes take 'real' people and place them in his stories - at least when he can be bothered to undertake his "extensive research".