The Men Who Wore Straw Helmets
Policing Luton 1840-1974
T J Madigan
Published by The Book Castle 1993
Original price £ 8. 95p
ISBN 1 871199 11 5
This is the biography of Luton’s own
police force, a story that turns full circle.
The beginings of Luton’s policing can be traced as far back as the 1830s
when a single parish constable on duty in the day and two nightwatchmen were
responsible for policing the 4,000 inhabitants. In 1840 the population, now grown to 7,000 policed by three
officers, Luton became part of the Bedfordshire force. But the township continued to grow and the
population increased to a little over 23,000 served by twenty two officers when
its borough status enabled it to police itself from 1876. For over seventy years the borough happily
governed its own affairs until the force became merged with the county in 1947,
following the mass post-war amalgamations of smaller forces.
Later, with county borough status
gained, the Luton County Borough force emerged briefly from 1964 to 1966, only to
end with another amalgamation and the borough again being policed by the
surrounding county of Bedfordshire. At
least the force bore the name Bedfordshire & Luton Constabulary keeping the
borough’s policing ancestry intact.
Finally, as a result of local Government reorganisation, Luton lost its
policing ‘identity’ altogether in 1974, when the county’s police became styled
the Bedfordshire Police.
The sub-title indicates the content
while the reference to ‘the men who wore straw hats’ is an affectionate
reminder of Luton’s history as the world centre for the straw hat trade and the
fact that the borough force wore straw helmets in the summer months. Indeed straw helmets are pictured on the
front cover and at various strategic points throughout the book.
The author, Tom Madigan, was
particularly well qualified to write such a history having served in all of
Luton’s five police forces, under nine of its chief constables and wearing five
different hat badges in the process.
His researches brought to light an excellent selection of photographs
which are incorporated into the history.
Like most city and borough forces
with histories covering the growth of the industrial revolution, the population
and infrastructure increased enormously.
The consequent growth and development of Luton is charted as is that of
its police following on, sometimes, slightly behind events. The author captures the various police
authorities attempts to remain abreast of the times and independent of outside
influences.
Tom Madigan’s book is an example of
how to write a force history. It falls
into four parts with chapters set out
in chronological order unfolding as Luton and its police force area grew in
size and changed in character over twelve decades. Thematic chapters deal with the more notable crimes, as do
particular topics which justify sections of the book to themselves. Mr Madigan
has resisted the temptation to include every pay scale and crime statistic,
other than where they are particularly pertinent, allowing the story to
flow. Not only is it a ‘good read’ in
its own right but, to the delight of genealogists, a work of reference with an
appendix listing all who served from the earliest times to 1947.
P R
Crime
in Hertfordshire Vol 2 Murder and Misdemeanours
Edition:
Vol 2
Author:
Simon Walker
ISBN:
1-903747-28-7
Publishers:
The Book Castle
Price
£9.99
Publication
Date: 2003
Publisher’s
Title Information
Murder
and Misdemeanours during the last Four Centuries.
This
volume is a collection of detailed accounts of crimes drawn from across the
county, from 1602 to 1939. Locations include Hatfield, Hemel Hempstead,
Hoddesdon, Berkhamsted, St Albans, Ware, Hitchin, Datchworth and Bishops
Stortford - some of the incidents may be familiar, most will be new to the
reader. The rape of Maria Wells by her
own father, and the publicity given to her testimony in court, was a tragedy
for all concerned. Did Jane Norcott
commit suicide, or was it murder? Why
did Mary Boddy stab five-year-old George Hitch?
Included too are lesser offences, such as theft and poaching, though in the past these have attracted serious penalties in their own right. There is a chapter on highway robbery. Child cruelty, counterfeiting and "riding a horse whilst under the influence of alcohol" all appear in this book.
But
this is more than just a collection of bloody crime; it provides an insight
into the way in which many of our Hertfordshire forebears lived their lives.
Author’s
Introduction
This collection is complementary to my earlier book, Crime in Hertfordshire: Latin and Disorder. That volume dealt with the development of law and order from the Anglo-Saxon period to the mid twentieth century; how the law and the courts developed and functioned; the punishments inflicted on offenders; and how the forces of law enforcement grew from hue and cry to the police forces we are familiar with today.
This
book is a compilation of cases either from Hertfordshire or with a very close
Hertfordshire connection. One or two
are quite well known, most are less so. The last chapter contains miscellaneous
cases about which there is not sufficient information available to form a
chapter in their own right, but which are sufficiently interesting to be worthy
of inclusion.
Of
necessity the bulk of the cases date from the 17th century onward, as the
records of early crimes are imperfect.
For many years magistrates tried minor offences and few if any records
were kept. In some cases Manor Courts
tried trivial offenders, but for the most part they interested themselves in
matters of land transfer and the like. More serious offenders appeared at the
Quarter Sessions or Assize Courts, but even here the record keeping was meagre:
presentments and indictments exist, sometimes with the verdict and sentence
recorded, sometimes not. Some records are missing altogether. Gaol records tell
us who was in gaol, and for what offence, but unless corresponding court
records exist, they tell us nothing of the story behind the crime.
Later,
pamphleteers and publishers of broadsheets did a roaring trade in cheap
accounts of the more sensational cases, often in graphic and gory detail.
Sometimes they were accurate, sometimes not. Nonetheless they are an invaluable
source of information, not just about a particular crime, but also the
attitudes of the time. In some respects people have little changed - the love
of sensationalism is an obvious example. In other ways they seem very
different. Belief in the supernatural, attitudes towards poverty and the
cruelty visited upon offenders spring to mind.
With
the development of newspapers we frequently find the same case reported in
different publications, allowing comparisons to be made. Like the broadsheets
and pamphlets, the reports were often in great detail, but now much more
reliable. Later court records too are far more complete than their
predecessors.
In
the past, as now, most crimes were of a petty nature. Various forms of theft
predominated, accounting for between two thirds and three quarters of
appearances before the courts. The major differences were the type of goods
Murder
and Misdemeanour in Hertfordshire
stolen
and the sentences handed down by the courts. To be representative, ideally a
large selection of petty thefts of minor items should be included. Whilst these
minor offences are interesting in themselves, not least in the light they throw
upon social history, the sensational crime beckons, and most of the offences in
this book fall into that category. I have nonetheless found space for some of
these petty cases in the final chapter.
If
pamphlets and newspapers are to be believed, many a prisoner executed did three
things; he confessed to his crime; he wrote or made an address to the public at
large exhorting them to learn by his example; and thirdly, and less
surprisingly, he turned to religion. In many of these confessions and addresses
the prisoner suddenly acquired a remarkable erudition, which leads one to
suspect that the confessions and addresses are fabricated, or at least
influenced, by the authorities - frequently the chaplain of the gaol where the
convicted person awaited execution.
There
has to be some concern about the guilt of offenders in the early days, when
forensic science was either non-existent or in its infancy. How many innocent
people were convicted on evidence that would today be considered highly
suspect? It is only quite recently that courts have recognised that most
people's power of observation is poor. In the past, if a witness was prepared
to swear in court that he recognised the man in the dock, that was usually good
enough for the jury. And if a police officer said that the defendant had
confessed, why then, it must be true.
On
the other side of the coin, many crimes must have gone unrecognised as such,
and guilty people escaped justice. It is interesting to speculate how modern
techniques would have aided the constables, watchmen and the early police
forces. Imagine how useful genetic analysis of samples would have been, for
example, in the case of the gang rape of Sarah Dye.
The
truth will never be known, but the suspicion must be that many innocent people
were convicted, whilst many guilty people went free. The safety of modern
convictions is not perfect, but it is better than ever it was in the past.
I
have kept place-names and spellings as they appear in the sources consulted. In
most cases they are the same, or at least similar, but occasionally villages
have been swallowed up and roads demolished or re-named.
Of
particular interest is the role of the public house in cases of violent or
sudden death. In several of the cases in this book the body was taken, not to a
mortuary or doctor's surgery, but to the local public house. Many of the
initial inquest hearings were held there too. This may seem strange, but then
many magistrates' courts, and even ecclesiastical courts, were also held in
pubs. Before the formation of the county police, they even served on occasion
as temporary lock ups for prisoners. Why was this? The answer is simple: if not
the pub, then what other building could be used? In many smaller communities
the only alternatives were private houses and farms. Thus the pub becomes the
logical choice. Added to that fact, what more convivial location for what was
often a sombre business? The practice fell into disuse following the Licensing
Act of 1902, which stipulated that inquests were not to be held in licensed
premises unless there was nowhere else to hold them.
All
the maps in this book are reproduced from the Ordnance Surveys of the period
1833-1835. They were updated at different times through the nineteenth century,
with the addition of such features as railways. Whilst they are not always
contemporary with the events described, for consistency I chose to use the same
surveys throughout. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries saw growth in
population and urbanisation, but in a rural county like Hertfordshire these
were not as significant as they were in the industrial midlands or London, nor
the explosive expansion of the twentieth century. Most of the features, whether
of landscape or town, survived and appear on the maps.
Hertfordshire
Casebook
Edition:
1st
Author:
Paul Heslop
ISBN:
1903747708
Publishers:
The Book Castle
Price
£9.99
Publication
Date: 2007
Publisher's Title Information
This is a book about crime and punishment in Hertfordshire. It spans from the time when perpetrators were hanged for murder almost up to the present day. Cases. range from the 19th century killing of Constable Benjamin Snow, to the murder of retired Colonel Robert Workman at Furneux Pelham in 2004. There's the case of Mary Ansell, hanged in 1899 for poisoning her sister, a chapter on the infamous Coronation Riot at Watford in 1902, and two 'domestic' murders, at Rickmansworth and Waltham Cross, when Charles Coleman and George Anderson were hanged, Hertfordshire's last executions. There's the Brickel Wood case, when 26-year old Janet Oven was shot dead on her way to work, and the murder of Jessie Freeman, 71, by a schoolboy, Donald Litton, at Redbourn. Two murders in the 1950s remain undetected: the 'Kid Gloves' case near Leverstock Green, and Anne Noblett of Marshalls Heath. The case of Duffy and Mulcahy, the so-called Railway killers, is included, along with two others of national notoriety: the kidnap and murder of Muriel McKay, and the rape and murder of Janie Shepherd, whose body was discovered on Nomansland Common, near Wheathampstead. There's the case of 20-year old Nicola Brazier, abducted, raped and shot dead near Wormley, and Graham Young, who poisoned his workmates. More recent cases include the killing of PC Frank Mason at Hemel Hempstead, and 81-year old Joan Macan, murdered in her garden at Ashridge. In many of the latter cases information has been obtained first-hand from detectives who were involved in the investigation.
The
Author
Paul
Heslop was a policeman for over thirty years. His experience and understanding
of the criminal justice system give authority to his unbiased assessment and
analysis of the cases in this book, which should entertain the reader and
provide food for thought.
Review
Writing a casebook of murder is not an easy task. To anyone who has never tried to write one, it may seem as if the only aim is to summarise each crime. Not so. A successful book in that sub-genre of true crime needs to have much more. There is always a wider story, wrapped around each crime. That needs to be explained. Then there are other elements such as the forensics involved and the nature of the police officers who have to take on the case. A crime after all, spins a web of human actions, and on both sides of the law.
Paul
Heslop has mastered that craft. He is a
former policeman and has served in Hertfordshire, so he knows the geography and
topography behind the stories at first hand. That is also important in this
writing, because the reader needs to be taken into an imaginative journey, with
the visual experience dictated and explained as the narrative progresses. This again Heslop has the skills to do very
ably indeed.
The
book begins with some Victorian cases and some of these are fragmentary in
their sources, but nevertheless, the dramatic interest is there. But things really warm up when we reach
1921, with the murder of an old lady by a thirteen-year-old boy, Donald Litton. Heslop brings out the legal issues very
clearly and explains the attitudes to such anomalous events at the time, when
of course, hanging was a capital offence.
The teenager escaped the noose but experienced 'His Majesty’s Pleasure.'
In the case of the so-called 'Kid Gloves
Murder' of 1956 we have an unsolved mystery - surely the category of
crime-writing that most readers love to absorb, often with the rather
optimistic wish that they may solve it.
But apart from this nasty killing on a deserted country road, Heslop brings
out the nature of 'two firsts' in detective work: the use of an identification
parade of cars and the help given by a graphic artist from London in producing
a kind of Identikit of a man seen by some schoolboys, who watched the awful
events happening.
There
are always very complex crimes that tend to arise in these collections too, and
Heslop has one of the most infamous killers of modern times 'on his patch' so
to speak, for this book. The man in
question is Graham Young, the poisoner.
This was a man whose life ended in Broadmoor, convicted of poisoning his
father, sister and a school friend. To
write that kind of story demands another level of narrative, with a richer
texture, and Heslop does this by steadily bringing out the sheer panic and
paranoia that happens when there is a suspected ‘killer bug’ in a workplace, as
was the case when Young worked at a Bovington company that made photographic
instruments.
One
of the most challenging aspects of writing a crime casebook is how to present
the material. Often, a murder story (in
the days of hanging) had its own innate structure: crime, followed by
investigation, then followed by arrest and trial, and finally the events on the
scaffold. Paul Heslop opts to have a
'Verdic' coda for each crime and that helps the reader to maintain a grasp on
often very complex cases.
The images are a workable
mix of generic and local pictures and of portraits balanced by significant
locations linked to the crimes. They
have been sensibly placed and they add to the reading pleasure of what is a remarkably
interesting book on crime history, rooted in a place that has seen some very
significant investigations. I look
forward to reading more from Paul Heslop.
Stephen Wade
Crime In Hertfordshire Vol. 1 Law And Disorder
Edition:
1st
Author:
Simon Walker
ISBN:
1903747139
Publishers:
The Book Castle
Price
£9.99
Book
Description:
Authoritative, detailed
survey of the changing legal process over many centuries.
Review
This
is an example of local history at its best: pleasantly readable, meticulously
researched, attractively presented and, because we all have some knowledge or
experience of law and disorder, likely to appeal to readers well beyond the
boundaries of Hertfordshire.
The story Simon Walker tells is fascinating. He takes us from the laws
of the Anglo-Saxons, vaguely familiar to older readers from early history
lessons, or perhaps the wit and word-play of "1066 and All That",
through medieval law enforcement with its sanctuary, benefit of clergy and
often brutal punishments, to the gradually evolving system as we know it today.
Examples and illustrations throughout are taken from the records of
Hertfordshire towns.
A
useful glossary is appended, and a comprehensive list of sources. The author's
interest in his subject has opened its windows for a wider public. A good read!
Pearl
Norman
Deadly
Deeds
Edition:
Author:
Len Woodley
ISBN:
1903747384
Publishers:
The Book
Castle, Dunstable.
Price
£8.99 RRP UK
Publication
Date: 2003
Publishers
Description of the Book
Included
in this book are accounts of fourteen murders that have occurred within the
County of Buckinghamshire, plus one from central Europe, The Author was a Police
officer for thirty years, serving in both uniform and C.I.D
REVIEW
Peaceful
Buckinghamshire! Who would have thought there would be even one murder in that
pastoral corner of England? Len
Woodley’s Deadly Deeds recounts fourteen capital crimes committed there from
the early Victorian age to the modern eighties. After a lengthy career in the
Bucks Constabulary and a stint as a Coroner’s Assistant, Woodley’s
post-retirement hobby is researching old murders. In this volume, he presents some killings yet unsolved, some
macabre events and a few murders that would be an easy solve for the armchair
detective.
This volume of
Buckinghamshire murders shows that capital crimes are not strictly the purview
of those we think of as "the criminal class".
The opening chapter describes the killing in Slough of Sarah Hart in
1845, a crime for which her wealthy lover was executed. In fact, many of the incidents described by
Woodley as "Deadly Deeds", were crimes of the moment or extraordinary acts by
ordinary people.
While the constabulary of
the times were completely un-used to law breaking at this level, according to
Woodley’s research they always got their man.
This is PC Plod at his best, painstakingly and patiently slogging toward
an arrest. We see investigators
sometimes benefiting from lucky breaks, but usually just plodding along without
the Hollywood style of flashy investigation and amazingly brilliant deductive
powers of fiction.
This is light reading which
would never satisfy the true detective enthusiasts, those who delight in the
more gory details and complicated plots of the almost-perfect crime. Woodley
has gathered what information is available on these murders and put it together
in a very readable volume for the occasional reader of whodunits. In much the same way that a crime story
might be serialised in a newspaper or magazine, these stories are presented so
as to pique our interest without losing us in the minutiae of the long
investigations.
It is a good read, filled
with the kind of stories which serve to interest and amuse us without being a
boring account of police procedures.
Each of his chapters is short, probably a perfect length for the
commuter’s distraction on the ride home or a weekend in the country.
Phillip Day
The
Last Patrol, Policemen killed on duty while serving in the Thames Valley
Author:
Len Woodley
ISBN:
1903747023
Publishers:
The Book Castle
Price
£8.99 RRP UK
Publication
Date: 2001
This book as the name implies, deals with those Policemen who have been
killed on duty by a criminal act within the area now covered by the Thames
Valley Police - namely the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and
Oxfordshire. This is a large police area.
In the 1960s there were a considerable number of Police mergers and
reorganisations throughout the United Kingdom and a number of forces
disappeared, or were ‘swallowed up' to form larger Police units. One of these amalgamations encompassed the
five forces of Berkshire, Reading Borough, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and
Oxford City. The new force thus created on 1st April 1968, was to be
henceforward known as the Thames Valley Constabulary. The name was later changed to the Thames Valley Police. Why? What’s in a name?
These changes and amalgamations were happening about the time I joined
the last City force, the City of London Police. In October 1968 my initial training was carried out at Eynsham
Hall, Witney, Oxfordshire; this was because City of London policemen were
trained with the county forces and this was the Initial Training Establishment
for that area. Many of my classmates
belonged to Thames Valley, my room-mate was, and his first posting was Bicester.
Two of these murders occurred in my service. One of these Officers was
Detective Constable Ian Coward; I remember that one very clearly.
This review of cases ranges from PC Joseph Gilkes, a Constable who, in
1869 died in Oxford, to the truly terrible day at Hungerford, 19th
August 1987, when so many people, including PC Roger Brereton were murdered and
others were wounded in that picturesque Berkshire town.
It encompasses Police Officers encountering poachers, ejecting some
drunken men from a public house, checking details of members of the visiting
forces involved in a fracas in wartime England, attempting the apprehension of
burglars and questioning some vicious, ‘stop at nothing’ criminals over their
behaviour in a motor car.
It is a fact, that any Police Officer could deal with these sorts of
incidents every day. These Police
Officers all started on their last day of duty, as though they were going out
on normal Police work, as many hundreds of Police Officers still do every day
all over the country. Not one gave a
thought to the possibility that he might be involved in, or sent to, a
life-threatening job, but all must have occasionally feared, that by the very
nature of their work, they could become a tragic, innocent victim.
This
is a well-written, not too expensive book and will appeal to any police
historian; particularly those who served, or have an interest in the Thames
Valley Police.
Rob
Jerrard
This
book is a study of murders by policemen while carrying out their duties within
the area now served by the Thames Valley Police. The earliest of the eight
murders occurred in 1869 and the last chapter is a detailed account of
"one dreadful day in Hungerford". Twenty years on, the name of this
small Berkshire town still carries a chilling resonance.
The
author joined the local police straight from school and having served at
various Buckinghamshire stations he continued after retirement to work in other
capacities associated with law. He has researched his narratives meticulously
and, while clearly on the side of those upholding order, allows each account to
speak for itself.
Unlike
the 1869 death of PC Joseph Gilkes, which was a purely local tragedy, today the
death in action of a police officer is headline news, with images of the victim
shown repeatedly on nation-wide television. The recent murder of a trainee
policewoman in Bradford is an example of this, but already she is
"yesterday's news" - the shock rarely lasts.
The
restricted scope of this short study will limit its appeal for the general
reader. Nevertheless, it is a salutary reminder that hundreds of men and women
in the emergency services are facing dangerous situations daily while we, the
public, take it for granted that they will be there for us in our time of need.
Pearl
Norman
Authors
Preface
The
killing of a Police Officer in this country has always been a fairly unusual
event and when one is murdered on duty the matter is given, as it should be,
great coverage on television, in the newspapers and on the wireless. This is, in my belief, right and proper, not
only because a man, or increasingly nowadays, a woman officer has lost his or
her life but because generally, that Police Officer has been on duty without
being armed with a gun, as he or she would be in virtually every other country
in the world. Whether this would be any
different if the Police were armed, is a matter of conjecture and one which
society in this country will have to address if it becomes increasingly more
violent. Out of all the Police Forces in the United Kingdom, I have taken one,
the Thames Valley Police, which was formed in 1968 and comprises the counties
of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, and written the story of the
Policemen who have been killed on duty as a result of criminal action. I have taken events from 1869 up to modern
times and they nearly all arise from chance encounters with members of the
public, as the Policemen involved went about their work. The only one who was on a specific
assignment was the last, Police Constable Brereton, sent to Hungerford in 1987
specifically in response to a number of calls from members of the public. All were unarmed, except for the small
truncheon they carried, if they were in fact carrying them at the time of the
incidents described.
The
several forces which policed the area now known as the Thames Valley Police
District were formed from 1835 onwards with initially the passing of the
Municipal Corporations Act of that year, which allowed a number of forces to be
created in towns such as Reading, Buckingham, Maidenhead etc. The County and Borough Police Act of 1856
next compelled the counties to form their own Constabularies, hence Berkshire,
Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. These
were gradually whittled down over the years until 1968 when the five forces still
remaining were amalgamated into the Thames Valley Constabulary, (later renamed
Thames Valley Police).
In
the one hundred and seventy years since the formation of the first forces,
eight Policemen have been killed within the Thames Valley area (I am excluding
those who have died as a result of an accident, or have been killed by enemy
air raids). I am hopeful of course,
that this is the complete and final list.
One
further point intrigued me; of the eight deaths I have narrated, six occurred
within the County of Berkshire, three in one town, Hungerford; the other two
happened in Oxfordshire, whilst none have been murdered in
Buckinghamshire. I can offer no
conclusions on that.
Bedfordshire
Casebook
Author:
Paul Heslop
ISBN:
1-903747-57-0
Publishers:
The Book Castle
Price
£8.99
Publication
Date: 2004
This
is a book about crime and punishment in Bedfordshire. It focuses mainly on the
time when perpetrators were hanged for murder and lesser crimes, or sentenced
to hard labour, or transported abroad for what today would be regarded as minor
offences.
They
range from the 17th century incarceration of John Bunyan, whose 'crime' was to
preach outwith the established church, to rape and terror perpetrated by the
man they called The Fox, on the South Bedfordshire borders, in the 1980s. There's the case of Sarah Dazley of
Wrestlingworth, hanged for poisoning her husband; a chapter on riots, including
the wilful destruction of Luton Town Hall in 1919; and Lucy Lowe, the woman
convicted of murdering her baby at Stagsden. ‘Domestic violence’ features: the
brutal murder of his wife by Joseph Castle in Luton in 1859, and the murder of
23-year old Ruby Annie Keen at Leighton Buzzard by Leslie George Stone in
1937. We have the murder of Old Sally
Marshall, at Little Staughton, in 1870; a Luton mugging that ended up as murder
when William Worsley, convicted on the evidence of an accomplice, was hanged;
and the A6 murder at Deadman's Hill, the infamous Hanratty case, still topical
today. Many others are included, as
well as chapters on ‘execution and punishment’, and prison reform, which began
in Bedfordshire thanks to John Howard.
In
many cases the author offers his ‘verdict’ on the justice or otherwise of each
case, having regard to careful scrutiny of all relevant facts. He is well
qualified to do so. Paul Heslop was a
policeman for over 30 years, mostly as a detective. His experience and understanding of the criminal justice system
give authority to his unbiased assessment and analysis of the cases in this
book, which should entertain the reader and provide much food for thought.
Foreword
by
Ian Whinnett
In
his deliberations the modern detective is faced with a series of possibilities,
some of which can be confirmed by scientific fact. Others, often the result of a hunch, can only be assembled, then
fairly and skilfully placed before a jury for consideration. Analysis of historical cases is a
fascinating pastime, provided one is equipped with the appropriate guide.
Paul
Heslop is well qualified to present accounts of these varied crimes, which will
provoke interest and debate far beyond the county of Bedfordshire. As a police officer, Paul was open-minded
and deep thinking, yet persistent and meticulous. This lively, extremely well
researched book takes the reader way back to crimes, investigations and trials
of long ago, as well as some more recent cases.
It
will enlighten, amuse, intrigue and surprise.
You will, however, be encouraged to reach your own conclusions.
Ian
Whinnett served for over 30 years in the Hertfordshire Constabulary, rising to
Detective Superintendent. In this
capacity he was responsible for the investigation of crime throughout that
county, as well as targeting major criminals as Branch Commander in the
Regional Crime Squad over an area covering the northern Home Counties and
Bedfordshire. Many of his cases were high profile, including investigations
into murders which invariably led to a successful conclusion. He is more than qualified to judge the
merits of Paul Heslop's book, itself a journey of reinvestigation into similar
crimes.
THE
AUTHOR
Paul
Heslop is a former policeman who served in two police forces, Newcastle upon
Tyne City Police (later Northumbria) and Hertfordshire Constabulary. He joined the Newcastle force in 1965, in
the days when coppering was done on foot, supervised by patrol sergeants and
inspectors, and on the street contact with the public was seen as an essential
ingredient in policing.
In
a career spanning over 30 years Paul served in CID, Special Branch and Regional
Crime Squads in both forces, as well as uniform duties. As a detective he was directly involved in
the investigation of murder and other crimes.
As detective inspector at Watford, Hertfordshire, he had operational
responsibility for investigation into serious crime: murder and suspicious
deaths, robbery, rape and sexual offences, child abuse and domestic violence,
as well as routine offences. His regional crime squad work throughout the
northern Home Counties included the investigation of suspected criminals in
Bedfordshire, as a result of which he became acquainted with the county.
Since
his retirement from the force in 1995 Paul has established himself as a
successful writer. His autobiography,
an account of a walk the length of the country, and a book on ‘old crimes in
the North East’ have been published.
His work for newspapers and magazines includes such diverse topics as
crime, local history and walking, and health and safety features. He is an
ardent fellwalker and climber of Scotland's mountains. He lives in the Lake District.
This is an excellent little
book painting a picture of selected crimes in the county over three
centuries. After dealing with each
crime the author adds a passage entitled, ‘The Verdict’, a device that prevents
the reader from ploughing straight on to the next section. It is the ‘reinvestigation’ referred to in
the title and requires the reader to think about what they have just read and
to ask questions. For example, did the
facts justify the verdict? Sometimes
they didn’t, although the verdict may well have been correct with
hindsight. Was a proper defence
advanced? Sometimes not, because the
law originally did not allow an accused to give evidence. Were there apparent missed opportunities
where, if the investigator, prosecution or defence pursued a certain line, more
detailed evidence might have become available? Sometimes yes - but then hindsight is a wonderful thing.
So instead of going straight
into the next section one finds oneself turning back to reconsider the issues
raised. Bearing in mind most of the
cases involved capital punishment, you might think ‘getting it right’ would be
an important issue for the jury. But
then, going back a few centuries, perhaps the accent was on getting it morally
correct rather than logically just.
Remember, it is a casebook,
not a ‘murder’ casebook. True, the
majority of cases involve homicide, but there are others which make equally
fascinating reading. Take, for example,
the case of John Bunyan. In the mid
1600s he was arrested for preaching other than within the confines of an
established church. His refusal to
promise not to similarly offend cost him eleven years of his life behind bars,
plenty of time to write a couple of books and plan Pilgrim’s Progress!
Then there is the burning of
Luton Town Hall. It could have been
avoided of course. The high dignitaries
of the borough treated themselves to a banquet (ratepayers’ expense naturally)
to celebrate National Peace Day in 1919.
It would have been nice if they had laid on a similar function for the
ordinary folk, especially those who had risked life and limb in the Great
War. But they didn’t and the
downtrodden, feeling suitably miffed, rioted and the town hall was gutted
within hours. When it was rebuilt,
considerable fireproofing went into the construction!
The murder cases examined
span the period from the 1840s to the 1980s.
One is tempted to remark that nothing changes in Bedfordshire. People still killed their relatives or they
killed for sex or plain greed, or in some cases, for no immediately apparent
reason. Poisoning of husbands seems
less fashionable nowadays though.
The first chapter is the
story of Sarah Dazely who, in the early 1800s, was not exactly sparing with the
arsenic as far as her second husband (and possibly her first and a child) were
concerned. In ‘The Verdict’ the author considers
that Sarah, who denied her guilt to the end, was unlucky in her trial venue and
the judge. The evidence against her was
overwhelming but the sense of ‘fairness’ was lost because she could not give
evidence on her own behalf.
The final two cases relate
to James Hanratty and Malcolm ‘The Fox’ Fairley. Hanratty, figured in the
1961 ‘A6 murder’ of a man and the attempted murder of his girlfriend. The facts are relatively well known but were
muddied at the time by a man named Alphon, who insisted on claiming
responsibility for the crime. Certainly
a lot was written about the A6 murder
for four decades throwing doubt on the ‘guilty’ verdict and subsequent capital
punishment. The controversy came a halt
only when a DNA profile linked Hanratty to the female victim.
Fairley went on a campaign
of rape, assault and theft in the 1980s - 79 offences in all, to which he
pleaded guilty. In mitigation his
Counsel referred to his use of minimal violence and the fact that when, on one occasion,
the shotgun went off it was ‘accidental’ and he hadn’t intended to use it. These arguments did not impress the trial
Judge who passed a sentence of imprisonment for life.
Mr Heslop ends with a
commentary on the rights and wrongs of capital punishment. One gets the impression he is against it and
he ends the book with comments on life imprisonment in well deserved
cases. This, he says, "should mean for
the remainder of an offender’s life, never to be released. Period."
PR
Additional Books to be Reviewed
