Dick Kirby - Scotland Yards Ghost Squad: The Secret Weapon Against Post-War Crime

This book is dedicated to my grandchildren:

Emma Charlotte, Jessica Louise &

Harry Thomas Charles Cowper and Samuel Henry

& Annie Grace Jerreat.

In addition, it is dedicated to the stalwarts who

made up the Ghost Squad:

Charley Artful, The Ferret, The Yokel and Nobby.

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 451 3

eISBN 9781844683666

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 MPG Books Group

Pen & Sword Books Ltd incorporates the Imprints of Pen & Sword Aviation, Pen & Sword Maritime, Pen & Sword Military, Wharncliffe Local History, Pen and Sword Select, Pen and Sword Military Classics, Leo Cooper, 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

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Sir Ronald Howe CVO, MC, Assistant Commissioner (Crime) and supporter of the Ghost Squad

Percy Worth MBE, Chief Constable of the CID and originator of the Ghost Squad

Sir Harold Scott, GCVO, KCB, KBE, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and nervous backer of the Ghost Squad

Jack Capstick Charley Artful

Henry Nobby Clark (1924)

Henry Clark (1985)

John Gosling The Yokel

John Gosling, in retirement

Gosling watching a suspect (early 1950s)

Mathew Brinnand The Ferret

John Jamieson

Mathew Brinnand (1989)

Jack Capsticks retirement party: John Gosling ( left ), Jack Capstick ( centre ), Walter Pedlar Palmer ( right )

Percy Burgess

Tommy Butler ( left ), a shy suspect, George Burton ( right )

An Austin 16

A 1948 Wolseley in far better condition, as is the Austin in the above illustration, than the cars used by the Special Duty Squad

The silver cigarette case presented to Gosling by the Honourable Charles Wynn

The cigarette cases inscription

Some of the combatants in The Battle of Heathrow who went on to assist the Ghost Squad: left to rightleft , Det. Sgt. Micky Dowse, Det. Sgt. Bob Acott, DFC, Det. Con. Donald MacMillan, Det. Sgt. Allan Jock Brodie, DFC, Det. Sgt. George Draper, Det. Sgt. Johnny Franklyn

John and Marjorie Gosling on holiday at Dovercourt Bay, circaleft 1950

Det. Sgt. Charley Hewett, also from The Battle of Heathrow

Acknowledgements

I owe a tremendous debt to so many people who contributed to the compilation of this book. Brigadier Henry Wilson of Pen & Sword Books was the person who agreed to its publication; my sincere thanks to him. Martin Gosling MBE, the son of one of the books principal characters, John Gosling, provided me with a splendid foreword and unlimited access to his late fathers papers, and for that, his friendship and for being a genial host, I thank him. John Brinnand, the son of one of the other founding members of the Special Duty Squad, Matthew Brinnand, was good enough to provide me with details of his father and other members of his extended family, for which I am most grateful. Jacqueline Ridgwell JP, the niece by marriage of Henry Clark, and Mavis Bidmead, Clarks sister, conspired together to unearth a great deal of information regarding their illustrious relation which they were good enough to make available to me; my profound thanks to them both. Mick Priddle was kind enough to engineer an introduction to Shirley Woodall, the daughter of Percy Burgess, who agreed to make available to me her late fathers privately published memoirs, and I am indebted to both of them.