Page 218 - Once a copper 10 03 2020

making sure we didn’t step over the line with is clients and on many
occasions thwarted our efforts to bring his boys to justice. There would be
many a battle between us but mutual respect remained and we won more
than we lost with him. Occasionally, very occasionally, when the evidence
against one of his clients was so overwhelming, he would have quiet talk with
them and a co-operative admission would follow, resulting in crime being
solved in the way we preferred.

Throughout the summer of 1986 Josh was to keep Derek and myself very busy
with his antics, nicking cars, smashing into shops and stealing what he could
carry away. The frustrating part was no matter how many offences we
caught him for, because he was a juvenile (under 17) the courts had no
power to send him to a prison, they could only send him to detention centres
where he was free to walk out whenever he chose. We’d lock him up on
night, keep him in the cells, take him before court next day when they’d send
him to a DC. We knew we’d see him back at it that very night so it was easy
pickings, but frustrating because of the inconvenience he caused so many
victims of his crimes.

Within a few short months, our team was busy almost every day with mainly
self-initiated enquiries and arrests and I was exactly where I wanted to be, at
my happiest and most fulfilled, all that was missing was the security of my
future as a Detective. Promotion aside, I could think of no reason why I would
want to o back to uniform, I was loving locking villains up too much to
consider promotion.

Professional burglary is a crime that is often dramatized in movies. The
Hollywood master thief would drive expensive cars and live a rich lifestyle,
only to commit daring and creative heists by night. Movie burglars can
routinely dance between laser beams, or abseil down buildings, to
accomplish a clean getaway. This may seem like a meaningless fantasy to
some, but throughout history there are examples of amazing individuals who
made it big in the art of theft.
Charles (Charlie) Peace is commonly cited as one of the most prolific cat-
burglars in history. He broke into thousands of houses during his lifetime, and
maintained his criminal activity throughout his natural life. He was born in
Sheffield, England, in 1832, though he earned his infamous reputation for
burglaries committed while living in London. Peace was also a violent
individual and he committed various murders during his lifetime, and often
attempted to kill police officers who took him into custody.

Peace started off his life of crime in Sheffield, where he was convicted of
stealing a gold watch from an elderly man’s home. Over the following two
decades he was constantly in and out of jail for sophisticated burglaries in Page218
Manchester, Kingston upon Hull and Doncaster. He became a wanted