Dick Kirby - The Brave Blue Line. 100 Years of Metropolitan Police Gallantry

DICK KIRBY

has also written

Rough Justice Memoirs of a Flying Squad Detective

Real Boys Own stuff, this. Tinged with a wry sense of humour which makes this an excellent read. METROPOLITAN POLICE HISTORY SOCIETY

The Real Sweeney

These are the real-life accounts of a tough London cop. DAILY EXPRESS

Youre Nicked!

Its full of dark humour, tense busts and stand-offs. As crime rates rocket, this book will go down well. DAILY SPORT

Villains

All of the stories are told with Dick Kirbys acerbic, black humour in a compelling style, by a detective who was there. AMERICAN POLICE BEAT

The Guvnors Ten of Scotland Yards Greatest Detectives

Scotland Yard legends are vividly brought to life by a man who has walked the walk, the Flying Squads own Dick Kirby. What a brilliant TV series this would make! JOSEPH WAMBAUGH, AUTHOR OF THE CHOIRBOYS

The Sweeney The First Sixty Years of Scotland Yards Crimebusting Flying Squad

This thoroughly researched and enjoyable history, crammed with vivid descriptions races along like an Invicta Tourer at full throttle. DAILY EXPRESS

Scotland Yards Ghost Squad

A superb description of crime-busting at the front end. BERTRAMS THE HEART OF THE BOOK TRADE

First published in Great Britain in 2011 by
Wharncliffe Local History
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS

Copyright Dick Kirby 2011

ISBN 978 1 84884 652 4

ISBN 9781844684335 (epub)

ISBN 9781844684342 (prc)

The right of Dick Kirby to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

Typeset in 11/13pt Plantin by Mac Style, Beverley, East Yorkshire

Printed and bound in the UK by CPI

Pen & Sword Books Ltd incorporates the Imprints of Pen & Sword Aviation, Pen & Sword Family History, Pen & Sword Maritime, Pen & Sword Military, Pen & Sword Discovery, Wharncliffe Local History, Wharncliffe True Crime, Wharncliffe Transport, Pen & Sword Select, Pen & Sword Military Classics, Leo Cooper, The Praetorian Press, Remember When, Seaforth Publishing and Frontline Publishing

For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact
PEN & SWORD BOOKS LIMITED
47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England
E-mail: enquiries@pen-and-sword.co.uk
Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

Contents

This book is dedicated to my parents,
Win and Charlie Kirby God bless your memory.
And to all the Metropolitan Police officers
who aspire to be heroes
this is your manual.

would like to express my appreciation to the staff at Pen & Sword Books for their hard work, especially my publishing manager, Brigadier Henry Wilson for his encouragement and wisdom. In addition, my thanks go to my editor, George Chamier, for his eagle-eyed expertise.

My thanks go to Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington for his splendid foreword. The following cast a wide net to find contributors for the book: Sioban Clark, Maureen Whitford and Linda Bailey of the Metropolitan Women Police Association, Bob Fenton QGM, Secretary of the ex-CID Officers Association of the Metropolitan Police and Susi Rogol, editor of the London Police Pensioner magazine; my thanks to them all.

I received the most enormous assistance from the Friends of the Metropolitan Police Historical Collection, including Alan Moss of History by the Yard and Keith Skinner of Causeway Resources. In addition, Phillip Barnes-Warden, Neil Paterson and Paul Dew from the Met Collection, Pamela Papp and Katie Hamilton from the Peel Centre Library and especially my son, Mark Kirby; all provided diligent and painstaking research on my behalf.

Others who kindly gave of their time and assistance were: Keith Foster, Research Advisor, London Metropolitan Police, Andrew Brown, Assistant Departmental Record Officer, Metropolitan Police Directorate of Information, Leanne Fagan, Croydon Local Studies Library and Archives Service, my son Robert Kirby and Catherine Powell of Police Review. My grateful thanks go to my granddaughter, Jessica Cowper, for her translating skills.

I would like to thank the following for the use of their photographs: the Metropolitan Police, John Barrett BEM, Steve Bocking, Sioban Clark, Harry Clement BEM, Alan Fairfax, Arthur Garner GM, Anthony Gledhill GC, William Griffiths CBE, BEM, QPM, Derek Hall QGM, Julian Hurst, Media & Information Manager, Metropolitan Police, Margaret Jackson GM, Diane Lowrie, Maurice Marshall, Terence McFall GM, Kathleen Parrott GM, Ernie Pawley GM, Rod Phillips BEM, Jan Scott and Phillip Williams GM. Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders; the publishers and I apologise for any inadvertent omissions.

The following and others who, for a variety of reasons wished to remain anonymous provided unstintingly of their time to provide the content of this book and I am grateful to all of them: Raymond Charles Adams BEM, QPM; John Anthony Allport MBE, QGM, BEM; Peter Ansell; Jacqueline Ashley-Collins; Peter Atkins; John Henry Barrett BEM; Barry Baulch; James Wallace Beaton GC, CVO; Steve Bocking; Dave Bowen; Derek Bradley; Ethel Violet Bush GM; Mick Carter; Harry Charles Clement BEM; Peter Connor JP; Dave Dixon; Russ Dunlop; Brian Ford; Jeanette French; Stuart French; Arthur Howard Garner GM; Anthony John Gledhill GC; Alan Goodman; Mick Gray; William Ian Griffiths CBE, BEM, QPM; Derek Arnsby Hall QGM; Michael Hills GM; Steve Holloway; William Hucklesby QPM, FRGS; Margaret Shaw Jackson GM; Reginald Alfred Walter George Jenkins BEM; Marion Jones; Dave Little; Diane Lowrie; Maurice Marshall; Terence Frederick McFall GM; Roy Medcalf; Graham Melvin; Jim OConnell; Kathleen Flora Parrott GM; Brian Ernest Walter Pawley GM; Rodney Andrew Phillips BEM; Mick Purchase; Susan Raif; Gordon Reynolds; Bob Robinson; Jan Scott; the late Lou van Dyke and Phillip John Dixon Williams GM.

I have already mentioned several members of my family, but it would be quite wrong not to include my daughter Suzanne Cowper and her husband Steve, who came to my rescue on a number of occasions when my lack of computer skills became so blatantly obvious that help was required and assistance was made immediately available. So to them and my youngest daughter, Barbara Jerreat and her husband, Rich, plus my lovely, assorted grandchildren Emma, Harry, Samuel and Annie Grace my thanks for your help, love and encouragement. Most of all, my love and my thanks to my dear wife Ann, who despite being privy to all my faults and foibles has stuck with me for almost fifty years.

Any faults or imperfections in this book are mine alone.

Dick Kirby

was in the Police Service for forty-two years, serving from Police Constable to Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and was very proud to be known on retirement as the Coppers Copper. The Police Service is in my blood. Part of that is the incredible pride I have in all those officers and staff who are serving or have served this country within the Police Service.