WELCOME. History Chief Constables World War Two & After World War Two & After (ii) HQ & Mount Browne Cadets CID CID @ Work Operation Accentor Terrorism & Search Traffic Dept. Motorway & Accidents Mike Hawthorn Public Order The Dorking Boys John Walters @ Woking Greenham Common Dog Section Firearms Operations Room Helicopter Underwater Search Divisional Areas WPC's Major Incidents Killed on Duty Retired Comrades Sports & Social S.C.M.C.C. The Day Book World War Two & After (ii)World War Two & The Years Following (ii): 1952 Ash Vale Booking Office Murder: Geoffrey Charles Dean a twenty eight year old booking clerk was murdered and the accused was James John Alcott born Lewisham 13 October 1929, a man with previous criminal convictions including one for murder when he was in the Grenadier Guards in Germany in 1948. He had lived a couple of miles from the station in a children’s home and the day of the murder he spent time at the station using the official phone – using a railway staff pass to do so. The murder was discovered at about 8.45 pm and the police were called and as until modern times, the first response came from Hampshire Police, Aldershot. This officer was soon followed by Sergeant D. Forehead from Ash Vale who knew Dean well. He noticed the safe was open. Dr Keith Mant undertook the PM at Farnham Hospital the cause of death was said to be multiple stab wounds. The suspect was traced to Aldershot and forensic evidence gathered. The suspects trousers which were blood stained had been thrown away but found by PC Ling and his police dog in some bushes. Alcott was tried at Surrey Assizes Kingston November 1952, found guilty and hung. The victim is buried in Ash Church where his grave stone can still be seen. 1952: Ted Wild: I joined the Surrey Constabulary in 1952 and started off in Caterham on the beat cycling around the periphery. I had one button up to the neck tunic which we had to wear on nights and a lovely cape which when not worn could be folded and carried over the shoulder or across the handle bars of your bike. My wife and I lived in a rented room in an old lady’s house in Foxon Lane and my father in law P.C. Harry Maynard advised me to ask the old lady to give me written notice to quit. This I then submitted with 'I beg to report' report to my superintendant and very soon after I was allocated my first Police House in Meadvale, Reigate Division next door to PC Dougie Driver (a traffic man) In Reigate we worked mainly the 6-2 2-10 and 10-6 shifts and the town beat had to be covered 24/7. There was no going for a meal break unless you were relieved. The outer beats could be split times and something like 10a.m. to 2p.m. followed by 10p.m. to 2a.m. was not unusual. Reigate town had a pillar system for communication and a police box in which you could sit in the Old Town Hall in the centre of town. Sunday evenings the traffic lights were switched off and police did traffic duty so as to promote the free flow of traffic returning from the coast into London. On the outer beats we had to make points at intervals at selected places such as the Manor House or the Vicarage or any where there might be a telephone installed as that was how we were contacted. You might have the situation where the butler would come out and politely inform you were wanted on the phone; that was if you were not already in the kitchen having a cup of tea with the cook. 1968 November 2: Leatherhead Theatre Murder: The News of the World: “Sudden death struck at a theatre yesterday and turned the spotlight on a real-life whodunit - the Murder of the Major. The crime that shocked a quiet country town had all the drama of a stage thriller----. It was 6.27 am in Leatherhead Surrey, and the rain lashed down. In the dim light a PC stumbled over a man’s body, crumpled below the stone steps leading from the back door of the stage at the town’s tiny repertory theatre. The dead man was 53-year-old Lawrence William Byrne, a retired major in the Northumberland Fusiliers, and secretary of the theatre’s Green Room Club. He had died from injuries to the head but there was no sign of the weapon.”At 8.30 am on the Sunday morning present at the scene was the Chief Constable Peter Mathews, ACC John Maskell, Detective Ch. Supt. Plaice, Detective Supt Simmons, and DCI Doyle. Incident Room: Inspector Short, DS Carter, DC Illing, DC Corbett and PC Joyce. Scene of crime search: DI Haynes, DS Ellerby, Pc Hopkins, PC Woodhams, PC Bartlett, DC Anderson, DC Newman, DC Fordham and DC Green. PC Woodman was with the body. Enquiries: DI Brunt, DI McGregor, DS McFadden, Detective Constable Hughes, Detective Constable Hammond, PCs Murphy, Hancock, Joyce, Harrison, DC O’Riordan, Byrne, PrattThe barman was arrested by DI Brunt at 8.30 am and later that evening admitted the crime. A bogus telephone call lured the major to the theatre where he was murdered. The barman William Ryan pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, and was sent to Broadmoor. It turned out that Ryan had pretended to be a police officer and called the victim back to the theatre where he suffered, according to the prosecuting counsel “a prolonged, sustained, brutal and violent series of attacks.” I January 1970 Enoch Powell came to the Dorking Halls. This was not long after his infamous “Rivers of Blood” speech that had made him a pariah to so many. It was a meeting of the Dorking Conservatives and was to be countered by the Surrey Anti-Apartheid Movement. There was a picket outside the Dorking Halls at 2 p.m., followed by a march through the town and a meeting at the Pethick Lawrence House in South Street, the headquarters of the local Labour Party. There were quite a number of demonstrators, about one hundred, and supposedly twice as many police from across the county. There was a great deal of noise but no significant problems. 1971 March: a new PC earned about £1023 a year, which was thought not to be very much. He, as it was mostly he, still would not be allowed to buy his own house until he had served for nine years. This was to allow the chief constable to post an individual anywhere in the county on a whim, or for discipline or “career development” as it was usually referred to. 1970s Ann Carter: Woking Police station: I can still remember my first day at Woking nick, although it seems a very long time ago now. My first meeting with Maurice Jackman was in his office, which was dimly lit with a desk lamp. I remember a rather pungent smell and was later to discover that the perpetrator of this miasma was Boots, his faithful Black Labrador who resided under his desk, waiting for ‘Mike the Bike’ to take him for his daily constitutional to Woking park. In those days we did not have the modern technology although the police station was certainly air conditioned as all the windows rattled and let in the most horrendous draughts. The cellblock resembled something from Dracula and the doors were three inches thick with metal plates at the bottom, often needed for the ‘kickers’. I still have one of the old ‘spy holes’ and the female cell key, which were given to me by the demolition company who had the job of knocking the place down. These days of course you do not have to run the risk of putting your eye to a peephole; they have cameras doing the job for you whilst you recline in front of a CCTV unit! 1978 25 July PC Bagley saw a wanted man run off and pursued him with his dog Jasper. When cornered the man produced a gun and threatened the officer and a shot was fired at the dog as it closed in. The man ran and a second shot was fire but the dog stopped the man and PC Bagley moved in, disarmed and detained him. Jasper received an RSPCA award Animal Plaque of Courage. Surrey Constabulary 'For those who served' 1851 - 1992 Editor: Robert Bartlett. Website Design & Maintenance: Denis Turner. Incorp. Surrey Constabulary Blog @: http://blog.old-and-bold.info/ To see all content, you will need the current version of Adobe Flash Player to view it. |