Douglas Maxim

### Relatives

Unnamed Father, Unnamed Mother, Edwin Maxim (Middle Brother), Benjamin Maxim (Youngest Brother).

## Biographical information

### Place of birth

Wythenshawe Hospital, Wythenshawe, Manchester, England.

## Physical description

### Eye color

Blue.

***Douglas Maxim*** is one of three major characters within *Bloody Monday To Guts Sunday.* Within the story he is the eldest of the Brother Maxim and the leader of the brothers whilst they commit to their crime wave.

## **Pre-Book History:**

*Douglas Maxim* was born and grew up in Wythenshawe, Manchester, during a time when the council estate was at its most crime filled.

Growing up, he and his brothers were domestically abused by their father, who died from a reckless lifestyle.

Throughout his youth he worked alongside his best friend, Jimmy Saturn, within Manchester's criminal underworld. He never left Wythenshawe, settling in Newall Green.

According to his P.N.C. Record in the novel, Douglas was arrested on the 12/07/2008 for robbery and on the 01/03/2009 for grievous bodily harm (G.B.H.) by Greater Manchester Police (G.M.P.).

In between 2009 and 2018 he kept a low reputation, especially after Jimmy Saturn robbed a string of banks in Wales and fled for Brazil in the 2010s.

Sometime within 2015 the Maxims' mother died of cancer.

Before the Summer of 2018, Douglas, alongside his brother, Edwin, made a gas pipe explode within Strangeways Prison in Manchester and aided their youngest brother, Benjamin, to escape.

## **Appearance & Personality:**

### **Physical Appearance:**

* **Eye Colour -**Dark Blue.
* **Hair Colour -**Dark Brown.
* **Hair Style -**Short, well-kept.
* **Facial Hair -**Thick stubble.
* **Skin Colour -**White.
* **Height -**6'1" (185.43cm).
* **Weight -**13st (182lbs).
* **Accent -**Mancunian accent.
* **Age (End Of Novel) -**27-years-old.
* **Other Features -**Has a tribal sleeve tattoo on his right arm.

### **Attire & Arsenal:**

Douglas Maxim tends to wear dark-coloured suits, except without the blazer during the Summer months, without a tie, his first few top buttons undone and his sleeves usually rolled up. On his wrist he likes to wear his black Converse watch. Douglas tends to wear black dress shoes.

Maxim uses a Browning Hi-Power 9mm pistol, the former standard issue sidearm of the British Military. It is believed that Jimmy Saturn was the one who supplied the brothers with these pistols. With Gibraltar being the brother's destination before Brazil, it would be logical that the Brownings were stolen from a British military base in Gibraltar and snuck into England.

### **Personality:**

Douglas is the most level-headed of the Maxim Brothers. He is able to remain calm under intense situations and is very experienced in criminal behaviour and procedures. Douglas likes to view himself as a professional, with a high drive and high family values - to an extent that he overlooks Benjamin's heinous rap sheet.

Douglas seems to be the most honourable out of the brothers, as he keeps his promises as best he can, especially to their dead mother and Colin Muir.

Although Douglas has a confident demeanour, he is prone to violent anger and takes "*banter*" too far between himself and his brother, Benjamin.

Douglas does not share the racist and homophobic views of his younger brothers, this is displayed when he disapproves of their racial and homophobic actions, and even comes to the aid of their first hostage, Naomi Winters, on numerous occasions.

## **Biography:**

***Warning this section contains spoilers of the novel ahead***,

### **Monday:**

Douglas, with his brothers, gets on a train in Edinburgh destined for London. They proceed to rob the train knowing a Scottish mobster named Earl Placard is there with a £1,000,000 in cash inside a briefcase. He orchestrates the robbery and gains additional swag. Doug points out Naomi Winters, a stewardess and they kidnap her. He, Naomi and Edwin depart the train before Benjamin becomes highly irritated with the passengers and shoots three people, two of which are killed (one being Earl Placard).

Doug leads his brothers and hostage continue southwards and Edwin suggests they rob some country pubs to help with their expenses. Douglas wants to keep Benjamin close and so orders Ed to remain in a hotel room with Naomi whilst they rob a pub. The robbery is successful.

Douglas reprimands Edwin for beating Naomi up, but understands it had to be done. They are interrupted by an obnoxious man staying at the hotel, named Tim. As Tim barges his way into the room he is dealt with and stabbed to death by Ben.

Doug thinks quickly and tells his brothers to take Naomi to their getaway car and then he proceeds to use gas from the oven and cooker to blow the flat up.

### **Tuesday:**

The quartet find a second place to stay. Edwin informs his brothers that one more pub heist is required before they can continue onwards down to the Eurotunnel.

Douglas desires to do the job with Benjamin, however, Edwin moans that he thought of the idea and so he should be the one to do at least the last one they plan to commit to. Doug relents and allows this, yet does not like the prospect of Ben being on his own with their female hostage.

The robbery gets underway and seems to be going well, until Ed's inexperience costs him his life, as the owner of the pub shoots and kills him. Doug shoots the manager dead in retaliation and flees with a bag full of money and items they had stolen.

Within the hotel room, Ben hears things from Naomi which she rebukes. He tries to force himself on her and attempts to rape her. Naomi fights back, which leads to Benjamin brutally murdering her with a meat cleaver.

Douglas comes back to the horrific scene and instead of telling his youngest brother of Ed's fate, he instead tells him that they have to leave immediately and alludes that their middle brother has been captured by police and not murdered. Ben buys into Doug's lie.

### **Wednesday:**

Douglas and Benjamin attempt to come up with a way to get a hostage and make it successfully through the Eurotunnel. The murder of Naomi grates heavily on Doug and he spares no verbal wrath towards his brother.

They stop to get petrol at a petrol station. By this time the news has identified Benjamin Maxim, and so Doug tells his younger brother to stay in the car as he collects items for them both and buy petrol.

Ben disobeys his brother's orders and enters the petrol station. The two argue briefly before a verbal altercation with the cashier and Ben breaks out. Benjamin racially abuses the Middle-Eastern worker before he pulls out his pistol and proceeds to rob the petrol station. After the robbery Doug confiscates Ben's sidearm.

The brothers are forced to stay at a lake, posing as campers because Douglas states that it is too risky for them to stay in any sort of accommodation.

During the night they both drink a toast to Edwin, Ben still believing he is imprisoned and not dead.

### **Thursday:**

Douglas robs a second car and continues to be annoyed by Ben. During their drive, Doug becomes more stressed, attempting to think of a solution to their Eurotunnel problem. Eventually, they go on the motorway, which Douglas explains is almost suicidal as they are Britain's Most Wanted on road full of cameras and law enforcement.

An idea hits Doug, he then tells Ben that they should find a caravan park and take somebody with a passport as a hostage, hide in the caravan as they get into the Euro Train and then they would be home free. Benjamin is all aboard for this plan and the duo go into the next caravan park they see.

Douglas goes into the check-in office and looks around, the Muir Family (Colin, Roxanne and Mark) enter and tell the clerk that they are having issues with their electricity source at their bay. The Muirs talk of their upcoming holiday to Paris and Doug targets them as their next hostages. Roxanne notices the Mancunian and gives him a flirtatious look.

Doug returns to Ben and finds him staring with fervour towards teenage girls playing in a nearby park. He scolds his brother for this and then informs him of his plan. The plan is to pose as workers or neighbours and get Colin out of the caravan so they can take him hostage, and by proxy his two children. Doug makes a point that if Ben touches or goes anywhere near Roxy, there will be trouble.

The Maxims proceed with their plan. They manage to convince Colin to re-check his power source after Benjamin yanked the plug out and from there held him at gunpoint.

They enter the Muirs' R.V. and inform them of what is going to happen in regards to getting them successfully though the Eurotunnel and onto mainland Europe. The brothers agree to take turns to watch their hostages as they sleep.

### **Friday:**

The group make it to the Eurotunnel, with Douglas sat in the front watching Colin and Benjamin in the back watching the Muir children. As the inspection comes and requirement for passports, the Maxims hide in the bathroom with Roxanne, who they force to strip down to her underwear and pretend to take a shower. There is a tense scene where Mark desires to give up their captors, however, Colin talks him out of it of fear of repercussions after the Maxims vowed they would go on a killing spree if found out.

Police climb aboard with a sniffer dog and demand to be let into the bathroom, already wet from the shower being on, Roxanne, with a gun up against her back, comes to the door with a towel wrapped around her to prove she is alone and her face matches her passport I.D. photo.

The policemen apologise and then allow the Muirs to carry onto the Euro Train. The Maxims come out of their hiding place and celebrate as they arrive in France.

Douglas demands they stick to the coast and make their way through to Spain via Bordeaux. He speaks with his contact, Jimmy, on the phone to see what the next steps should be.

Colin convinces Doug that they should stay in a caravan park he is familiar with. During the night time, Douglas banters with Benjamin and the younger brother takes it seriously and leaves, frustrated that he cannot best his brother verbally and the fact he hears more and more flirtatious things coming out of Roxanne's mouth, which everybody with them denies.

During his walk outside to clear his head, Ben has a smoke and is joined by a Frenchman. As the Frenchman talks in his native language, Benjamin believes the man is insulting him and proceeds to burn his face, then beat him to death in the car park.

Ben returns to the caravan and due to his mental state, Douglas takes the lion's share of the watch, out of fear that his younger brother may attempt to sexually assault Roxanne. During this time, Doug had been taking cocaine to help him stay awake and cope with the situation he's in. The cocaine is the only thing that helps him stay awake and watch his brother's movements.

### **Saturday:**

The following morning the group are back on track. Colin thanks Douglas, knowing why he stayed awake for most the night, to which Doug feigns ignorance. As a token of gratitude, Douglas suggests that his hostages be treated to a nice meal before they separate the following day, as they had calculated it that the Maxims would arrive in Jaca by Sunday and be collected by Jimmy's associates to complete the rest of their journey to Gibraltar before taking a flight to Brazil.

The Muirs graciously agree, however, Ben is not happy about this. They stop at an Italian restaurant in Southern France. The meal seemingly goes well, however, Benjamin nearly caused a fight between the Maxims and Muirs as he had his hand on Roxanne's lap and began to track further up her leg, until he stopped when called out and said he had no idea what he was doing and apologised.

After the meal, Colin, privy to Douglas' cocaine habit and Benjamin's inability to remain sane whilst one cocaine, orchestrates it so that Mark pickpocketed Doug and handed the cocaine sachet over to him so that he could give it to Ben later in the night.

The group stop for the night in a hotel. As with the previous night, Ben becomes frustrated with Doug over banter and Roxy and decides to take a walk. During his walk he kills a hotel maintenance worker who had been using a hammer, sighting him as giving him a headache; as he's killing the worker he visions himself killing his brother.

Benjamin returns to the hotel room and joins in on the group playing cards and then Monopoly. Colin says he needs to go toilet, where Douglas threatens that if he isn't back from the toilet in two minutes, he would kill Roxanne. Colin says he needs a *number two*and insists on Ben watching him instead so there was no unnecessary timer.

Doug laughs and hurls homophobic remarks towards his brother and Muir father, however, when Colin calls him out on not trusting his brother, Ben takes the initiative and goes with the old man to the toilet to guard him.

Within the toilet, Colin is able to manipulate an already frustrated Benjamin into expressing his annoyance at his older brother, and to take cocaine; this is aided by Douglas continually shouting homophobic slurs at them from the dining-room.

Fuelled on drugs, Ben returns to the table and after noticing Roxy flirt with his brother, he becomes insane and the Maxims fight each other. During the chaos, Colin steals one of their sidearms, Roxanne grabs a knife and Mark runs out the room to the nearest payphone to call the police, taking the second pistol.

Douglas manages to overpower his brother, he is shot by Colin but fights through the pain and chokes the old man to a presumed death. Benjamin grabs and wrestles with Roxanne. It seems the two brothers are on the same page once more, as Ben nods towards Doug when he tells his younger brother that he's going to find and sort out Mark.

Doug confronts Mark and doesn't want to kill him, yet Mark aims his pistol giving Douglas no choice but to shoot and kill him first. Before dying, Muir informed his captor that the police had been called, this prompts him to make haste back for his hotel room.

Re-entering the room, he finds his crazed sibling attempting to rape a bloodied and beaten Roxy. Doug stops this and scolds Ben for this, and as the two seem to reconcile once more, Benjamin attempts to kill his brother. Douglas manages to reverse this and in an act of desperate self-defence, he murders his kin.

Maxim breaks down and gives up, yet when Roxanne thanks him and tells him that Colin is still alive, Doug regains the motivation to grab their swag within a briefcase and make a run for it.

### **Sunday:**

In the early hours of Sunday morning, Douglas kills a Frenchman and steals his car. The police soon arrive on the scene and discover the murdered hotel worker and speak with Roxanne.

Soon enough, the police chase is on. Doug manages to evade the police until he crashes into a lamppost. Upon regaining consciousness, he shoots another Frenchman and steals their car after a brief shootout with the police.

He follows the road signs for the Franco-Spanish Border, and eventually manages to avert the French police cars with more shooting and high level driving. With only a police helicopter to contend with, Douglas calls Jimmy to ask for his help. Initially Jimmy does not answer his phone, however, he calls Doug back as he is driving in the opposite lane. Answering the phone, with the stereo blaring, it is hard for Douglas to understand what Jimmy is saying, and so as he overtakes a car and goes to turn the music down, an oncoming truck smashes into Doug's car.

Douglas is killed instantly from the crash, the novel ends with Jimmy asking for Doug on the phone, then hanging up. The end has a collection of newspaper headings from the following day that covers the events that had unfolded during the previous week where the Maxims had ran rampant. These newspapers are parodies of real newspapers.

## **P.N.C. Record:**

***Warning this section contains spoilers of the novel ahead***,

**Disclosure & Barring Service England & Wales**

**P.N.C. Record:**

**Date of Creation:** 12/07/2008

## **Trivia:**

* Douglas Maxim was born and resides in the same areas as Darryl M. Finch-Ellis. Finch-Ellis has now moved out of Newall Green, however.
* The Maxim surname is named after the Maxim Machine Gun.
* Douglas is named after *James Douglas*, Lord of Douglas, also known as the Black Douglas, who was a Scottish knight and feudal lord who fought for Scottish independence alongside *King Robert Bruce*.
* Douglas' tribal sleeve tattoo was based on the same tattoo Finch-Ellis had in mind when he was in Sixth Form, however, quickly changed his mind upon seeing how they looked on regular people.
* Douglas' codename "Butch" during the train heist is named after Butch Cassidy, a famous American train robber.
* Douglas' Zodiac sign is a Gemini.
* Maxim's favourite alcohol is Chivas Regal.
* Doug is a Manchester United F.C. supporter.
* Douglas' original name was *Dean*.
* His way with women is partly inspired by *Ted Bundy*.