Page 162 - Once a copper 10 03 2020

Three adults and three youths
were charged with the murder;
the adults, Winston Silcott, Engin
Raghip and Mark Braithwaite
(the "Tottenham Three"), were
convicted in 1987. A widely
supported campaign arose to
overturn the convictions, which
were quashed in 1991 when
forensic tests cast doubt on the
Figure 73 Memorial to a fallen officer Keith Blakelock authenticity of detectives'
notes from an interview in
which Silcott appeared to incriminate himself. Two detectives were charged
in 1992 with perverting the course of justice and were acquitted in 1994.

Police re-opened the murder inquiry in 1992 and again in 2003. Ten men were
arrested in 2010 on suspicion of murder, and in 2013 one of them, Nicholas
Jacobs, became the seventh person to be charged with Blakelock's murder,
based largely on evidence gathered during the 1992 inquiry. He was found
not guilty in April 2014.

Blakelock and the other constables of Serial 502 were awarded the Queen's
Gallantry Medal for bravery in 1988. Their sergeant, David Pengelly, who,
armed only with a shield and truncheon, placed himself in front of the crowd
to save Blakelock and another officer, received the George Medal, awarded
for acts of great bravery.

So, although there have been three separate investigations into the murder
of PC Blakelock to date no one has ever been successfully convicted. The
investigation into his death remains open and his killers remain at large albeit
a lot older.
And the beat goes on . . .

But not for much longer. I had passed the 5-year milestone, I’d built up a
better than average arrest record, shown an aptitude for intelligence
gathering and investigative work, qualified to supervisory level and passed
the police driving course. I’d served my time away from the force on miners’
strike mutual aid without it affecting my local policing, completed more
football match duties than most, come face-to-face with serious crime and
criminals and played my part in two rounds of major civil disturbances.

A NEW BROOM – CHIEF CONSTABLE GEOFFREY DEAR

Geoffrey Dear, now Baron Dear, was described by the broadcaster and
writer Robin Day, as ‘the best known and most respected police officer of his Page162
generation’. Very few of us who had the honour to have known and worked