Leif G.W. Persson

Leif GW Persson born on March 12 1945 in Stockholm is a Swedish criminologist and author best known for his crime novels and media appearances He grew up in Gärdet Stockholm and later moved to Valhallavägen After graduating from Norra Real he studied at Stockholm University from 1965 and earned his PhD in sociology in 1980 focusing on statistical measurement problems in criminology In 1982 he became an associate professor and in 1991 a professor of criminology specializing in police methods Between 1967 and 1977 he worked as an expert for the National Police Board He was involved in revealing that National Police Commissioner Carl Persson had sent a memo to Prime Minister Olof Palme about Justice Minister Lennart Geijers involvement with prostitutes which became the Geijeraffären As a result Persson lost his job at the National Police Board His experiences inspired his debut novel Grisfesten He taught at Stockholm University and was a full professor in criminology from 1991 to 2012 He also served as an expert for the Ministry of Justice focusing on smuggling crimes He supported journalist Per Lindeberg in research that led to the 1999 book Döden är en man about the 1984 styckmordet i Solna Persson also created an offender profile for the case In 2007 he was criticized for not publishing academic research or supervising doctoral students though he argued that his work had been presented in reports and investigations In 2008 he announced his resignation from the National Police Board criticizing the appointment of Bengt Svenson as Rikspolischef Despite initial resistance he was later asked to stay on Persson cocreated the TV show Grabbarna på Fagerhult with Jan Guillou and published related cookbooks like Grabbarnas Kokbok From 1998 to 2010 he appeared as a criminology expert on Efterlyst He briefly left the show in 2006 but returned the following season In 2010 he left Efterlyst to cohost Veckans brott on SVT with Camilla Kvartoft His crime novels often referred to as En roman om ett brott feature characters like Evert Bäckström Bo Jarnebring and Lars Martin Johansson In 2012 20th Century Fox acquired the rights to his books about Evert Bäckström including Linda som i Lindamordet and Den som dödar draken After CBS rejected the pilot Fox produced Backstrom in 2015 starring Rainn Wilson as a Portland Oregon detective Persson was married to Birgitta Liedstrand 19681980 Margareta Jönsson 19872002 and since 2003 to Kim Olsson He lives in Solna and rents a hunting estate near Gnesta He had his first son at 20 followed by three daughters including author Malin Persson Giolito