Former Pennywell School pupil Gary McMahon has been writing from an early age and Rain Dogs is his first full-length novel to be published.

Gary, 39, who writes in his spare time in between working as a draughtsman, has already had two books published – horror Rough Cut and a collection of short stories called Dirty Prayers.

He said: "Rain Dogs is about a young man who was put in prison for murdering a burglar who broke into his house.

"The book starts when he is just coming out of prison and he's trying to rebuild his life, but is haunted by the boy he killed."

Gary, who now lives in West Yorkshire, was born in Millfield and moved to South Hylton – where his mum Anne Kirtley and sister Kirsty McMahon still live – when he was about seven.

After leaving Pennywell School he went to Wearside College to complete a business studies course and then went to Newcastle University to study engineering.

He has written in his spare time since school, always opting for chilling horror stories.

"I've always seen the dark side of life," said Gary, who is married to Emily, 29, and has a son Charlie, four.

"I take my inspiration from everything around me. For instance, when my son was first born I was putting one of those flat-pack cots up for him and I was getting increasingly frustrated.

"It gave me the idea for a story about a man who goes insane trying to put up a flat-pack and I sold it to a magazine in America."

Gary originally wrote as a hobby and is now working on a series of ghostly short stories set in modern-day Sunderland.