Page 217 - Once a copper 10 03 2020

When I asked DCI Heatley what our role was, he simply said, “You know, the
volume stuff, burglaries, car theft, whatever crops up”. And so it was the new
team was formed, Burglary Squad rebranded – a rose by any other name.

DCI Heatley had plans for me that I wasn’t to learn of until a few months later,
but for now, I was where I wanted to be, in the CID office serving an
apprenticeship I hoped would lead to a change of title to DC and all that
went with it.

In practice, we were all under the supervision of the CID Detective Sergeants,
so when called upon, I was to assist and work alongside the DC’s as I had
done during my attachment.

The new team started slowly as we all got to know one another. Cliff Wesley
was immensely experienced, a great teacher and a merciless piss taker, so as
the junior I copped for it over and over again, but he warmed to me as I
soaked up the banter without biting too much. I have to say, from all the time
I worked with Cliff he was the consummate professional, an honourable and
diligent investigator with a sharp wit and a clever mind. Personally speaking,
in Cliff, I saw absolutely no evidence or slightest trace of the corrupt practices
the serious crime squad had been accused of.

Derek Forest was soon back on the scene as Mark Webster was now floating
between Kingstanding and Erdington. I liked Mark a lot, he was fun to be
around and the victim of many friendly blags because of a slight speech
impediment. However, having passed his sergeant selection boards, his mind
was understandably elsewhere, deciding where his future lay.

Derek and I were soon busily locking up villains. On evening we had a call
from a woman who had seen a man on a bus that she alleged had tried to
rape her. Her mother had quietly asked the bus driver to stop the bus and call
the police. When we arrived on the scene the bus was full of passengers all
no doubt wondering why they weren’t on their way. Derek and I met the
complainant on the bus and the suspect was pointed out to us. Fortunately,
after we introduced ourselves, the man agreed to leave the bus with us.
Once in the CID vehicle, the allegation was explained to the man and he
was arrested for attempt rape. Later, I was to search his house where I
recovered the clothing he had worn on the night for subsequent forensic
examination.

Derek and I worked well together now he was on our new team. We had an
outing to Stourbridge nick one night to interview a Kingstanding lad I’ll refer to
as Josh. This kid was a total whack job, a juvenile that the courts struggled to
keep contained. Burglary and car theft were his game, driving nicked cars
into shop windows so he could grab whatever he could and sell it for next to Page217
nothing to fund his love of the dreaded weed. He was always represented by
a well known legal executive called Doug. Doug was especially good at