Episode 1 - Steve Hutley - Rehabilitation & Training

Steve Hutley was one of the youngest members of the South Atlantic task force. He witnessed the horrors of war and was living on the munitions vessel. In reality this was a floating bomb and susceptible to attack by the Argentinian forces at any time. Following his service he joined Essex Police and became an accomplished dog handler. He outlines the highs and lows of the role.

Steve explains how the skills he attained in the Police have served him well in his business. He now runs Rehabilitation and Training https://www.stevehutleydogrehab.co.uk/ which specialises in the support of families whose dogs need a little help! Steve has been published in national magazines.

Steve is also a member of www.ex-jobservices.com Ex- Job Services supports businesses that are operated by former members of the Police and Military

https://www.facebook.com/stevehutleydogrehab https://www.instagram.com/rehabilitation_and_training/

https://www.facebook.com/exjobservices

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Matt Telfer Maleary is the son of a former Police officer. By the age of 10 his parents had divorced and he was living with his father and two siblings in Rural Essex.

Matts brother Simon joined the Royal Navy and this was part of the inspiration to join the armed forces. Matts dream was to become a Royal Marine but his initial contact with the recruitment team was very negative. He was told in no uncertain terms that he wasn't suitable to join up. Undeterred Matt made the changes required and returned to the recruitment centre where he was accepted to the Royal Navy.

Matt explains how he travelled to HMS Raleigh to commence his basic training. Having completed training he was deployed on HMS Invincible and during this time he applied himself to become fit enough to undertake the Royal Marine selection process.

It was fate that pitted Matt against his brother Simon in the Royal Marine selection process. Matt went on to attain his "Green Beret" and the prestigious Kings Badge https://www.rmhistoricalsociety.org/history/kings-squad-and-kings-badge, and Simon returned to the Royal Navy where he saw out his career.

Matt was deployed to Sierra Leone and for a number of personal reasons decided to leave the military. He went into a spiral and was in a self destruct mode when the 2nd Gulf War commenced and he decided he needed to get his life back on track. He began a man guarding role and has since moved through the industry to become a director of a security company based in London.

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Don Sheppard - From Laindon to The Normandy Beaches

Don Sheppard was born on 4th May 1920. 2 years after the end of the 1st World War,19years after the passing of Queen Victoria.

Don lost his father at the age of 16 and when he was 19 the war in Europe had started. Don was called to arms in 1940 and was eventually part of the force that fought in North Africa, Sicily and eventually Normandy.

He witnessed the battle at Arnhem and saw bodies being buried during the liberation of Belsen.

Don concluded the War in Hamburg and eventually returned to the UK where he began work at Fords in Dagenham.

Sit back and listen to this wonderful man tell his incredible story.

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Kirsty Last served as a Police officer in Hampshire, Western Australia and Essex. She completed her time in the Police on major crime. She eventually left the organisation when she had a clash of personalities with her Detective Inspector. Whilst her departure was difficult at the time and made her unwell, she had no idea of the success that she would have in the outside world.

By the time she had finished already started the path to supporting members of the Hard of Hearing community. Whilst in the Police she learnt British Sign Language and subsequently became qualified as a Lip Speaker which she successfully uses every day.

Kirsty can assist in interpreting for those who are hearing impaired under a number of different circumstances. Her skills assist in reducing the stress and frustration felt by those who are in need of her support.

Kirsty has worked for clients in both the public and private sector and is one of only two people in the UK who have the appropriate accreditation to work for the Police. She is vetted to a sufficient standard that allows her to work with a number of agencies and often operates in court situations.

Kirsty is on Linkedin she can be contacted on eastcoastlipspeaking.co.uk/ or via her entry at www.ex-jobservices.com where she is a valued member.

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Kevin Gay was only 20 when he joined Essex Police. He was posted to Southend and to move back towards the location where his future wife lived he transferred to Stansted Airport, where he became an authorised firearms officer.

Kevin then sought a specialist role and moved to the elite Force Support Unit where he became an integral part of the team. His role on the FSU was varied and he undertook surveillance, method of entry, public order deployments and many other interesting roles.

Kevin was promoted and returned to West Essex. He was deployed to the G8 conference at Gleneagles and was a public order commander in Northern Ireland during the volatile period when "Orangemen" marched. This was a very political deployment and Kevin had a team of officers including firearms support due to the aggressive nature of the event. Kevin witnessed first hand the deployment of water cannons.

Even was promoted to Inspector and concluded his service as a traffic inspector where he would oversea the investigations of fatal road collisions.

Kevin has an autistic son (Callum) and Following his retirement Kevin became the Head of Pact For Autism. Pact is located in Harlow but supports families who has an autistic member.

If you need advice or support you can contact Kevin and the team on the links below

https://www.facebook.com/PACTHarlowForAutism/

https://www.instagram.com/pactforautism/

https://twitter.com/pactforautism

https://www.pactforautism.org.uk/pact-videos

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Gary Hayes was born in the East End of London. His family moved to Dagenham where he was raised by his parents who still live in the area.

At the age of 17 Gary was preparing himself to join the Royal Green Jackets. Having joined the Army he served in Germany and left the military after 3 years.

Gary ran his own business and was involved in the close protection of a number of high profile figures from the world of sport and entertainment including Jerry Lee Lewis. His business partner removed the companies assets and left the UK. Gary was left to deal with the aftermath.

Gary eventually joined the British Transport Police and his career was exciting and full of the incidents you would expect for the British Police at that time, until 7th July 2005. This was the day that terrorists carried out their attacks on the transport network in London, a date that will remain in Gary's mind for the rest of his life. Following the attack he was tasked with assisting in the temporary mortuary where the bodies of the bombings were taken following their recovery from the Tube and buses that had been targeted by the terrorists. Gary describes how he assisted in the identification process and hands the remains of eh cowards who carried out the atrocity to the hostile undertakers.

During the interview Gary shares his views on stop and search and includes his personal knowledge of knife crime and dealing with the victim of a fatal stabbing.

He will also describe how he was involved in an off duty incident that resulted in him standing trial for assault where he was convicted. This resulted in him losing his job despite the fact he had PTSD. The judge identified that he was suffering and as a result gary did not go to prison. The way in which his forces professional standards team conducted themselves still causes Gary anxiety.

Gary is the Co-Founder of PTSD999 and gives talks and guidance to organisation including the Police, Military and Fire service

www.ptsd999.org.uk/

www.facebook.com/ptsd999official

https://twitter.com/ptsd999

The team can be contacted on 07957 252955

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Dave grew up in the East End of London and in 1979, at 16 years of age, enlisted into the army. After basic training Dave was posted to the 2nd Battalion the Royal Irish Rangers and completed tours in Canada, Gibraltar, South Armagh and a United Nations tour in Cyprus. He also spent two years stationed in West Berlin where his duties included guarding Rudolf Hess in Spandau Prison.

In 1988 Dave was selected for, and passed, an intensive six-month selection course for transfer into the Small Arms School Corps. During his time with the SASC Dave completed tours in Germany, Canada, America, Kenya and Northern Ireland rising to the rank of Warrant Officer Class 1 (Sergeant Major Instructor). In 1999, while seconded to the Royal Air Force, Dave was awarded an Air Officers Commendation in the New Year Honours List for his charity work. In 2000 Dave was chosen to take up a newly created SASC Training Advisory role at the Sultan of Oman’s Military Academy.

After 26 years of exemplary military service; in 2005 Dave was offered the position of Yeoman Warder (Beefeater) at HM Tower of London. Dave left the army and now lives and works in The Tower of London interpreting history and regaling visitors from across the world with his fascinating anecdotes. He, like all the Yeoman Warders, is also a member of Her Majesty’s Bodyguard of The Yeoman of The Guard. In 2010 Dave became a Freeman of The City of London.

Since February 2009 Dave has been a Special Constable in the Metropolitan Police and currently works as a member of the Counter Terrorism Unit helping to deter/detect crime, particularly that with a terrorism link, across London. In 2013 Dave was awarded a Borough Commander’s Commendation for his voluntary work helping to get homeless people off the streets and into permanent housing. In February 2018, having completed 9 years of Voluntary Service, Dave was awarded his Special Constabulary Long Service Medal.

Dave is an enthusiastic fundraiser and is constantly involved in charitable efforts to raise funds for good causes and to help those less fortunate.

PRESENTATIONS:

An Extraordinary Life: Behind the Scenes and Ceremonial Duties at HM Tower of London.

The Tower of London: The history of HM Royal Palace and Fortress, The Tower of London.

Prisoners and Punishment: At HM Tower of London and on Tower Hill.

The Tower and The Blitz: Damage and Heroism during The Blitz.

A Special Contribution: Selection, Training and being a Special Constable in ‘The Met'.

Dave is about to retire from the Tower and commence the next chapter of his life. He is available for talks for any organisation and can be found at Ex-Job Services

Grab a cuppa and sit back as Dave spends an hour with you.

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Allen Evershed was born in 1941 . He recalls the day the King died as he took his 11 Plus. He went on to join the metropolitan police and finally retired in 1994 as a Chief Supt.

Allen witnessed some of England's finest hours and was present at some of the worst.

He was the official radio carrier for the 1966 World cup, Watched Henry Cooper knock Cassius Clay to the ground, Handed a phone to an IRA suspect at a siege and was one of the first senior officers to attend the scene of the Marchioness. This episode encapsulates the policing styles of the 60s, 70s and 80s.

Sit back and listen to the memoirs of Allen, who witnessed the golden age of Policing first hand

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Simon Willett worked in agriculture before joining Essex Police. He loyally served without fear or favour for 30 years. His formative years in the Police were spent at Colchester in uniform until he joined CID where he found himself attached to a number of major investigations including Operation Apache. Apache was centred on corrupt practices by 2 serving Essex Police officers who were running an informant called Darren Nicholls. Nicholls was the man who drove Michael Steal and Jack Whomes to Rettendon where they murdered Tate, Tucker and Rolf.

Having served on CID Simon was promoted to Brentwood where he met a number of famous people including Frank Bruno. He then applied for the detective Sergeant post on the Child Abuse Investigation Team. It was on this team that simon dealt with child abusers and attended the deaths of a number of young people.

Simon was successful in his application to special branch and was posted to Stansted Airport where he concluded his service. He is a family man who undertakes country pursuits and enjoys his countryside conservation.

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Colin is a serving officer with Essex Police. He started his policing career with the Special Constabulary and joined as a regular in 2003. He has undertaken a number of roles, but his experiences dealing with fatal road collisions as a road scene manager has caused him significant issues which have been identified as PTSD.

Listen to Colin`s story and how he is trying to deal with PTSD by immersing himself in photography.

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Karen was born in 1966 to a Greek mother and a Chinese father. Her parents parted company and karen and her siblings went with their mother who eventually left them to fend for themselves. Karen was eventually re-united with her father who took custody and karen moved to Cheltenham where she was educated and brought.

Karen's father was a Kung Fu Master, restauranteur and above all a loving father, who guided his children to working hard and and having high values.

Karen became Miss Cathay Pacific in 1984 and she won £5k and two first class seats to Hong Kong. 10 years later Karen had fallen out of love with her job and was successful in her application to Essex Police. Having joined she undertook a number of roles including CID and Firearms. At the conclusion of her Police career Karen continued her journey by opening Aspects Of Beauty in Colchester . Karen is an entrepreneur and an avid listener of The Diary of a CEO

Sit back and listen to this enchanting story of life where hard work and fearless determination get you to the place you want to be.

Facebook Aspects of Beauty

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Andy Merry was born in Kent to a family of service personnel. His father had been in the Royal Navy and transferred to the Royal Marines. His mother was a Wren.

Andy served in Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, Belize and Northern Ireland. He explains in detail what it feels to be in a life or death battle and how the failure of a grenade to detonate saved the lives of 6 Iraqi combatants.

Following a distinguished career He worked in Maritime security and eventually applied for the Tower of London where he took up his role as a Beefeater. Andy has since been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis he has undertaken a battle with MS and has raised £60k for charity by climbing Mont Blanc. He is now making plans to row across the Atlantic followed by an extreme cycle ride across the USA. the route will be from The Bike Shed in Shoreditch to California

He has met Royalty and states that his proudest moment was being part of the team who guarded the body of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as she lay in state in the Great Hall in Westminster.

Andy is not a tour guide. He is a member of the Queens Body Guard!

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Neil was a doorman before he became a Police officer. Neil was initially posted to Brentwood where he found himself subject of a criminal investigation whilst in his probation. He was exonerated. However, it jaded his view of the Police service and the senior management of his force.

After 6 years Neil resigned and commenced his journey as an Estate Agent with his brother Matt. The pair opened Charles David Cason and are on the ascendance. They are increasing their business footprint and are offering business opportunities to former members of the Police or Military by way of a franchise.

Social Media Links

Instagram

Facebook

LinkedIn

YouTube

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Simon Coxall was born at his grandmothers in Hereford, He migrated with his family back to their family home in Woodford. He comes from a family who had served in the wars. His grandfathers had been in WWI and his father had been awarded the DFC during the second world war having served in Bomber command. Simon’s father was in his 40s when he was born and describes his upbringing as traditional.

He attended the prestigious Bancroft School where he attained his A levels. In 1977 he attend University where he studied Politics and History.

Having successfully attained his degree Simon undertook training in journalism and eventually worked on a number of publications including the Walthamstow Guardian.

As a lad he worked as a cleaner at the London Rubber company in Walthamstow. It was during this time that hehad his first interaction with the police following an incident.

A friend who had joined the police encouraged Simon to join Essex Police. Simon worked his way throughthe ranks and attained the rank as Chief Superintendent with Essex Police . Simons undertook a number of roles including the investigation into the Combat 18 Murder of Christopher Castle, The head of Child Abuse Investigations, Divisional Commander and ultimately The overall Head Of Crime for Essex Police.

Simon is an avid cricket fan, artist and since retirement an Archaeologist. He has a love for the Roman Empire and has taken part in a dig at the Western Front.

He talks with delight about being published and his works being available for other academics and how he saw his publications in Cambridge University Library.

Simon is part of a group that has ensured that the boys of Bancroft School who died in the great war are not forgotten and all but 2 of those killed have wreaths placed on their graves by the Bancroft Old Boys.

Simon has strong views regarding the issues in the Ukraine which he shares with the appropriate authorities by writing letters!

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As the lead singer of the politically and socially conscious Specials, Hall achieved U.K. fame and cult status through songs such as “Ghost Town,” “Gangsters” and “Too Much Too Young.” With Fun Boy Three he enjoyed chart success with the songs “Summertime” and the Bananarama featuring hits “‘Tain’t What You Do (It’s the Way That You Do It)” and “Really Saying Something.”

Born Terrence Edward Hall on Mar. 19, 1959 in Coventry, England, his parents worked in the car industry. Hall was traumatized as a schoolboy after he was abducted by a paedophile ring at age 12 and taken to France where he was sexually abused and later abandoned. In interviews, Hall has said the incident left him scarred for life and caused life-long depression, forcing him to drop out of school at 14 after becoming addicted to Valium.

The young Hall found work as a manual labourer, his only escape coming through music. He played with local punk bands, including the Squad, before being spotted by Jerry Dammers who asked him to become the frontman of his ska revival band, the Coventry Automatics who in early 1979 would change their name to the Specials. He featured on the Specials’ first single, “Gangsters,” which garnered the band attention after radio play on the BBC.

The Specials’ eponymous debut record followed in October 1979. Produced by Elvis Costello, and released on Dammers’ indie label 2 Tone Records, The Specials featured only one charting single, a cover of Dandy Livingstone’s “A Message to You, Rudy” and initially had mixed reviews, but since its release has become a classic and socially significant record. Released at a time of high youth unemployment in the U.K. as well as race riots, strikes and callous Thatcherite economic reforms, the album tapped into the pervasive feeling of despair in the country and the barely concealed tensions within society. In 2013, NME ranked The Specials at number 260 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

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Richie originally lived in Brightlingsea he went through his schooling in this North East Essex Town. At the conclusion of his schooling he became an apprentice at Woods in Colchester. He continued his education at Colchester Institute.

Richie wanted to pursue a career with the RAF, but was unsuccessful in the officer selection process. His feed back recommended certain aspects of improvement including working in a uniform role as part of a team. Richie joined 2623 Squadron at RAF Honnington 2623 Squadron as a reservist. He was encouraged by Lee Newton and Steve Hutley to Join the Police.

Richie was on the last course held at Ashford PTC in Kent and wore blue shirts. The white shirts were issued mid course.

At the conclusion of the training Richie was posted to Colchester and following his probation he worked at St Anne's AKA White City as part of the Community Policing Team. White City has significant Social deprivation and was 13th worse ward in the country.

Richie was deployed to a "Hit and Run" where the victim subsequently died. Enquiries established that the person died as a result of an assault. This incident triggered a period of sickness and when he returned to work he went to work on the rural team at Copford. It was during his time at Copford he Identified that he had anxiety and depression – He received support from Essex Police and Flint House. (Police rehabilitation centre)

Ritchie decided the he needed to move from Policing and initially went into sales. However, after much consideration he chose a path of social care, He has supported mental health patients, dementia care and worked with domestic abuse perpetrators. He advocates the use of Clare's Law.

Covid meant that he had to diversify and he is now a gardener and Handy man, but with a difference. He is dementia friendly, and as well as being a handy man he also maintains a watching eye over his clients and liaises with family members if there is any issue.

Ritchie has his demons discusses his battle with alcohol and how he has been sober for 6 years. Ritchie is now a practising Buddhist and vegan. He explains his way of life and how it has made him a more balanced person.

Privet Property are on Social Media Instagram Privet Property and are members of www.ex-jobservices.com

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Mike Sutton led the RAF’s legendary 1(Fighter) Squadron into action against ISIS in 2015 and conducted what remains the first and only gun attack by a Typhoon against the enemy. An RAF fighter pilot for 18 years, he flew the Jaguar low level strike jet before becoming an instructor on the first RAF Typhoon multi-role attack squadron. During his time as a tactics instructor he conducted a live scramble in response to a potential terrorist hijacking, introduced new precision weapons to the RAF frontline and served on operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. He left the RAF as a Wing Commander aged 39, and now flies commercially providing operational readiness training for the UK armed forces. He was awarded the OBE in 2017.

Sit back and listen to his fascinating story.

Links

Click here to buy Typhoon

Twitter - @mike_sooty

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Born in King's Lynn, Norfolk, England, Jonathan grew up in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, and attended King Ecgbert School in Sheffield. He has a passion for aeroplanes,becoming a pilot of both gliders and light aircraft, his favourite being the Cessna 172.

When just eighteen, he left the UK to live on the border with Lebanon and Syria, where he was frequently caught up in air raids. His diary from this time provided the source material for the best-selling book 'Kibbutz Virgin'.

Jonathan then worked in a bank in Grantham, Lincolnshire, but left the UK again to live in the Negev Desert close to Gaza. Days off were frequently spent in Gaza City drinking coffee and chatting with the locals.

Heading north to Germany he worked as a labourer in a Baumschulen, living in an old red-brick tenement with a group of mad Polish workers and crazy craic-loving Irishmen. He then travelled on to Australia where he stayed for twelve months, becoming an illegal immigrant after over-staying a six week tourist visa. He undertook casual work and had an unforgettable adventure hitchhiking across the continent, from Brisbane to Darwin, across the Red Centre to Adelaide, and back to Brisbane.He then spent three months in New Zealand, hitchhiking around the North Island. His astonishing experiences down under are detailed in his non-fiction travel book 'Oz- A Hitchhiker's Australian Anthology'.

Returning to the UK Jonathan became a police officer and for the next thirty years he worked in some very busy and challenging multi-cultural areas of inner city England as a uniform police officer, almost always on the 'front line'. He worked in the City of Nottingham at various police stations, for ten years working as the beat officer for the Nottingham City Hospital. He dealt with bizarre cases such as a doctor with disturbing sexual habits, dishonest staff and patients, and unscrupulous thieves who ruthlessly targeted the hospital on a daily basis. His extraordinary experiences as a hospital cop are detailed in his book 'Hospital Beat.'

Commended several times during his police career culminating in 2007 when he won the coveted Community Police Officer of the Year Award. For a while he wrote a regular column in the national UK police magazine Police Review, where his professional writing began.

He has a lot of interesting stories to tell about his time in the police, as you can imagine, and they are detailed in his book 'Who'd be a Copper?'

You buy Jonathans book by visiting Amazon and clicking this Link

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Paul Mullaly served a distinguished career with Essex Police but at 24years took the jump to work with the brilliant Harry Redknapp at Portsmouth Football Club.

Paul was the player liaison lead for the club and worked with superstars such as David James and Sol Campbell. He talks of the supporting side of Harry and Sandra Redknapp and how he witnessed the winning of the FA Cup first hand.

Paul has worked for defence team as a result of the Lord Stevens enquiry into alleged irregularities in the footballing world.

He is now teaching young golfers in their academic endeavours.

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Paul Nicholls is a former Dog handler with Essex Police.

He is originally from Chelmsford but comes from a family of Police officers. His grandfathers and father were also with Essex Police.

Paul trained at Shotley and was posted to Harlow where he worked with a great team of characters. He was posted to "Rural Essex" where he had to use a repeater radio when speaking to control!

After 13 years he secured his boyhood dream on the Dog Section. He describes his love for the job and the dogs who were without doubt his best friends.

Paul carried out training in Finland with Ilkka Hormila and was encouraged to introduce body recovery dogs to Essex Police. His love for Police dogs is such that he raised £65k to place a memorial at Oaklands Parks as a national memorial. he also instigated a medal in recognition of the service provided by dogs in Police service.

He was ably supported by Mandy Chapman and Linda Belgrove of Essex Police Retired Dog Fund www.essexretiredpolicedogs.co.uk/ Essex Retired Police Dogs Fund Twitter

Paul was diagnosed with Parkinson's and had to take medical retirement as a result. However, his illness wasn't going to slow him down. He was instrumental in organising a table tennis league for Parkinson's sufferers. He also runs the England Walking Football team for Parkinson's sufferers, which follows on from the great work carried out by his inspiration John Roche.

Paul makes no bones about his dark thoughts and his consideration to take a "One way trip to Switzerland" He has undergone radical surgery that has improved his quality of life!

Paul has become an Artist and has been displayed at the OXO Gallery , Paul has been awarded the QPM for services to Policing and was presented by Her Majesty the Queen. Whilst waiting for the ceremony he met Sir Mo Farah .

Sit back and listen to this charming guy.

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Phil Norton commenced his Police career in the Metropolitan Police as a cadet. He served at Canon Row and became a visible presence in central London.

He recounts the day he was on duty when the bomb was detonated at Harrods by the IRA. He vividly discusses how he had to clear the road for a colleague to take the injured to the hospital. He attended Broadwater Farm in Tottenham an describes the screams of officers as they battled with the rioters and how he was on the frontline at Wapping during the news international dispute

Phil transferred to Essex and was part of the team that undertook the investigation into the Essex Boys murders and discusses his frustrations at the alleged corruption of some Essex Officers who were handling the informant Darren Nicholls .

Phil had always been a man of faith, and God has always been part of his life. However, his faith was compounded when he was involved in a serious road collision and by rights he should have been killed or seriously injured. His view is that god and his angels saved him on that fateful night.

Following his police career Phil has dedicated his life to helping others. He is part of the Street Pastors team He attended the tragedy at Grenfell Tower and assists at the foodbank.

Listen to Phil's lovely story and enjoy his travels through life.

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Dave Mangan is a former Lancashire Police officer who had previously served with the Royal Military Police. However he commenced his Police career in Cumbria. He met his wife at the Police treatment centre in Harrogate and as a result transferred to Lancashire.

During his service he trained as a diver and carried out a role as a decompression chamber operator. his skills were utilised with those who had suffered carbon monoxide poisoning. He describes the recovery of weapons and bodies from the water.

Dave thrived in the field of Public order and operational planning. During his career he gained qualifications as a Sports Ground Safety Officer, L5 Crowd Manager, Trainer and Assessor in the work place. As a senior police officer was accredited by the College of Policing as a Silver Public Order Commander, Bronze Commander, Policing Events Qualified and Tactical Firearms Commander.

Upon completion of his UK police service, he was employed as the Strategic Lead for Safety and Security at Sheffield Wednesday Football Club where he was responsible for overseeing the safety and security of Hillsborough Stadium, liaison with the SAG, SYP and other key stakeholders. During his employment he attained my Diploma in Stadium Spectator Safety through MITRE Training.

he continued to work in the event industry as a senior member of FGH Security with Strategic responsibility for delivering complex security and crowd safety operations for major events including successful delivery of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and working as Safety Officer at Cartmel Racecourse.

In September 2013 Dave was on a tour of the UK with his father Mike. On 11th September 2013, Mike sadly died when he was in collision with a vehicle in Wheddon Cross, Somerset Lancashire Police. As a result Dave produced Mikes Last Ride which has been published as a book and since its inception Mike’s Last Ride has won a national award from EVCOM (Event and Visual Communication Association) in the Social Media Campaign category and a silver award at Cannes Corporate Media and TV Awards for Informational films. It also came runner up in the 2014 ACPO Outstanding Contribution to Road Safety category.

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Scott was born in Stirling and from an early age he showed an aptitude for playing the Bagpipes. At nearly 16 he had been into the Army recruitment office where he was keen to join the Royal Military Police. However, the Sgt informed him that the RMP were not recruiting. As luck would have it the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were and the fact that Scott plays the Bagpipes appeared to be a bonus!

Scott served in Northern Ireland and considers it one of the toughest deployment that he took place in. There were many laughs and the diverse nature of the Army brought Celtic and Rangers fans together who then had to police the Catholic (Cetlic) And Rangers (Protestant) public of Northern Ireland. It was all compounded when a ring tone on a mobile phone played "The Sash My Father Wore"

During a deployment there was a ceasefire and this enable the military to wear their "Soft Head Wear" in the case of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders this was the Glengarry ,and for Scott he wore the distinctive Pipers Glengarry which is black and white. He was one of the many Military extras in the video for the Cranberries hit Zombies which has been viewed by 1.3bn people!

Scott was part of the team that policed Drumcree where those who were working with the military during the day were fighting them at night! He also witnessed the issues of Holy Cross where children were being taken to school and facing hostile behaviour. The protestant protestors threw urine filled balloons at the children and their parents.

Scott Travelled the world and served in Iraq. He was based with Prince Harry fighting the insurgents. He latterly served in the Falklands where Prince William was carrying out his role as a helicopter pilot. Whilst in the Falklands he took part in cleaning the memorials of those killed during the conflict in 1982.

Scott was hand picked to be the Sovereigns Piper. This followed a selection process that saw Scott meeting Queen Elizabeth II and having lunch with her. Little did he know he was in the most important interview of his life. Scott was selected and commenced his role.

During his time he played for heads of state and would meet the Queen everyday. She referred to Scott as Pipes. Whilst at Balmoral Scott`s wife Morvan became unwell and was seen by the Queens Physician. Morvan was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The royal family rallied round and the Methven Family received the support that they deserved at this trying time.

When Morvan passed in 2018, Scott decided to stand-down from the role and care for his two children.

Scott now teaches pipers across the world both online and in person. He is available to support any event !

Visit his website for more information www.militarypiping.com

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Nick Inge graduated in 1991 with a BA (Hons) Economics and in 1994, having travelled and worked overseas, joined the police. He soon developed an interest in plain clothes policing and a specialism in recruiting and handling informants. Initially this was working with informants who provided information about local crime but not long after specialised in serious crime and counter-terrorism policing. This involved working alongside the Security Services as well as the National Crime Agency, managing informants that were pivotal to high-profile operations tackling terrorism, domestic extremism, serious crime and corruption.

He was promoted to Sergeant in 2008 and after a brief stint back in uniform spent the rest of my career managing teams involved in all aspects of informant handling.

He retired from the police in June 2019.

Nick is now the CEO of a specialist speak up business, iTrust Assurance Ltd. iTrust have developed a truly inclusive, ground-breaking app which they supply to organisations that allow their staff to anonymously report wrongdoing. They also provide specialist speak up consultancy, training and technical expertise.

He is also the co-founder of Worldly Wise. We are a not-for-profit organisation which through our network of fantastic volunteer ambassadors, give support, guidance and inspiration to young people both in the UK and overseas.

Nick has written two books - ‘Exposing the Truth – Whistleblowing Uncovered’ and ‘Jeopardy’, both of which are available on Amazon.

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Christine Burke is currently residing in Wheaton Illinois. She was originally from Fort Lauderdale - Having attended college Christine decided to join the Police service having worked for the public defender. After serving in Florida Christine joined the Police service in Arizona. Christine worked as an undercover officer in Florida and took part in a 21 Jump Street operation.

Christine discusses the difference in gun ownership between the US and UK. She explains her rational to leaving the Police service. The escalation of violence tower the police caused her concerns. In 2017 she identified that the man she had been calling Dad was not her biological father, this information was as a result of a DNA Test. Her hard work has identified 44k family members.

Christine has created a program where people can become a certified Genetic Genealogists. Christine can assist people in tracing family members, as well as supporting law enforcement teams.

Christine has simplified the process of using DNA in personal and public life.

Christine can assist individuals and organisations in their quest. Visit her website www.genealogyforlawenforcement.com for more information.

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Murray was born in Malta where his father was serving with the Royal Navy. Upon leaving the Navy Murray’s father joined Dorset Police and then transferred to Essex where Murray’s mother originally came from.

Murray attended Southend High and on his own admission he did not do particularly well. Murray’s father gave clear direction that he was to either join then police or military. In 1972 Murray Joined the Cadets At Essex Police where he was led by Chief Inspector John Hedgethorn. In 1975 he Joined the regulars where he was posted to Southend.

Whilst he was still a probationer he was posted to Harlow Traffic. He was so new in the Police he didn’t have a permit to drive traffic cars without appropriate supervision! He eventually moved to Harlow CID.

Murray became an instructor at Ashford Police Training School and having been promoted to the rank of Inspector he returned to Southend but did not enjoy this time. He decided that he would leave the Police Service and follow his dream to move to the United States.

Murray successfully held executive positions for a number of well known companies specialising In employee relationships. He now works in the world of real estate and as a company they turn over $4bn per annum.

Murray has distinct memories regarding the events of 9/11 and has a view regarding US gun laws.

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Michael Walsh is a member of the Garda. He began his career in Dublin and undertook a number of roles. He moved to Templemore where he began a 10yr tenure as a trainer. He then moved to Galway where he is now the Crime Prevention Sergeant for the county of Galway.

As a recruit he Joined the International Police Association and is now sits on the International Executive Board as Treasurer. Michael has travelled the world an has taken part in St Patricks day parades in New York, Boston and Chicago.

Michael discusses his role in the police and as treasurer and includes the benefits of being a member of the IPA. He runs the IPA Guinness Forum and he is proud of the IPA and what it stands for in the world of Policing.

His aim is to raise the profile of this brilliant organisation You can find details on the IPA Website

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Ray joined Essex Police in 1976. He had previously worked as a trader at Lloyds of London.

As a police officer he worked in a number of locations including Basildon and Grays. As a Detective Sergeant he worked at Chelmsford and was promoted to Inspector at Basildon where he started as a uniform Inspector but soon moved to CID when he became involved in the investigation relating to the murder of Steven Pell.

Ray transferred to The Metropolitan police as a Superintendent and was posted to Belgravia. It was in the MPS that he worked with Assistant Commissioner Mike Todd. Ray and Mike had been Pcs together at the start of their careers in Essex. Ray concluded his service after 30years service at Havering

Ray has always been involved in charity projects and was a heavily involved with the Rotary Club of GB ad travelled to Sri Lanka where he took part in a project to support the local community. During this trip he had an overwhelming urge to visit a church. When he returned to the UK his interest in the church continued and resulted in a meeting with Rev Martin Fletcher of St Luke's Tiptree. Martin encouraged Ray to visit the church and for Ray this was inspirational.

Ray took the bible with both hands and has now become an ordained priest. He resides in Hockwold and dedicates his time to his parish. He is a bee keeper and works part time at 48th OSS at RAF Lakenheath.

Listen to Rays story

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Leigh Norris is a serving Chief Inspector with Essex Police and in April he will be undertaking the Marathon des Sables -

This race consists of …..

• 250+ kms (156 miles)
• Six stages over seven days
• A long stage of 80+ kms (52+ miles)
• Self-sufficient, but with water rations and communal goats’ hair Berber tents supplied and pitched each night
• Temperatures of more than 50°C

There are a number of motivators to undertake this race including the untimely death of his father who was only in his 30s.

Local businesses including Adventure Island Nisa

The race takes place on 23rd April and those wishing to sponsor Leigh can follow the link Sponsor

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Jag Singh is a serving Leicestershire Officer. His family originate from the Punjab and moved to the UK in the 1960s. Jag`s Father had £3 on him when he arrived.

Jag joined the police and has become the vice president of National Sikh Police Association Jag explains the purpose of the association, The importance of the turban and the principles of being a Sikh.

The association maintain a social media presence Twitter Facebook Instagram

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Andy attended school in St Albans and his first job was as a milkman. In 1979 he joined the Metropolitan Police as a Cadet he then moved to the regular service and was working in Tottenham when Keith Blakelock lost his life during the riots.

Andy was a member of St Albans Hockey club and went on to represent Gt Britain and played along England Hockey legends such as Sean Kerly and Ian Taylor who went on to win Gold at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. In 1991 Andy was voted UK Hockey Player of The Year.

In his police career Andy was a firearms instructor with SO19 but in July 2005 andy was part of the team undertaking an operation following the attempted bombings in London on 21st July 2005. The entire country was on high alert and bombings and a Brazilian National Jean Charles da Silva e de Menezes was wrongly deemed to be one of the fugitives involved in the failed bombings he was engaged by the police and fatally wounded. These events took place two weeks after the London bombings of 7 July 2005, in which 52 people were killed.

Andy spent 16yrs with England and Gt Britain Hockey, but his published article in the Times prevented his attendance at the 2016 Rio Olympics as there were concerns over his safety and had he attended there would have been increased the risk to the remainder of the team.

Andy cites the 9-2 defeat against Holland in the 2012 Olympics as one of his greatest sporting disappointments and the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo as one of the most unusual due to Covid.

He has undertaken a number of Hockey related challenges including the dribbling of a hockey ball in the London Marathon with Jason Lee. He also did the same on the 3 peaks challenges and Annapurna in the Himalayas. Even Ed Sheeran get a mention in in this podcast.

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Patrick was born in Boston his parents had emigrated from Galway. Patrick attended catholic schools and graduated from Boston College and Suffolk University Law School

Patrick was commissioned to the US Navy via the Officer Candidate School - He served on the USS Blakely and was Boat Group Commander for Assault Craft Unit TWO

In civilian life Patrick was the Assistant General Council, Suffolk County Sheriffs Department and is partner and founder of Geraghty & Geraghty LLP (Law firm)

Patrick was navy Reserve from 1991 to 2006- In 2006 he was recalled to active duty where he served as the US European Command liaison/ assistant to the defence attaché to Iceland.

As a member of the State Department Patrick served at the US Embassy Oslo (Norway), US Consulate General Ciudad Juarez (Mexico), US Embassy Paramaribo (Suriname), US Embassy Kabul (Afghanistan), US Embassy Reykjavik (Iceland).

Listen to his captivating story.

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Mike was born in Bolton and after schooling Joined the RMP he served in Hong Kong, West Germany and joined the SIB where he commenced his career as a Detective. He was involved in the investigation of a variety of incidents including cot deaths.

When he was promoted to Sgt, Mike was posted to Londonderry in uniform. He decided that he wanted to join the metropolitan police and eventually commenced his training at Hendon. He was initially posted to South London and got involved in the community and began to become a beacon to members of the Army Cadets.

In the early 90s the crimes changed; banks had removed the glass at the counter which resulted in suspects jumping over the counter. It was following a series of robberies that he was handed a book of images by DI Ian Macdonald . Mike identified a gap in the forensic management of images and the investigations improved.

Mike began to manage the CCTV Unit in Southwark. Southwark became the most prolific publisher in the Police Gazette. The Met Circulation Unit commenced.

Mike commenced the Super Recognizers and was fully supported by Simon Foy. The drafted members of staff were complemented by a team of volunteers who were subsequently recognised for their efforts by the Home Secretary of the day, (Theresa May).

The work of the team was global and supported a murder investigation in Hastings Victoria. Mike works closely with Professor Josh Davies and quotes work by Professor Richard Russell

Recently, Mike viewed the image of Lord Lucan and concluded that the image provided by the media was not the missing Lord.

Super recognisers were used in the Hillsborough investigation and identified the remaining victims in the crowd using CCTV. Super recognisers were used if the murder of Alice Gross and the Grenfell Tower disaster. During this the super recogniser identified 17 people who were committing fraud. Mikes Legacy is Super recognisers across the world.

Mike is a published author and has written books relating to Freemasonry and can be found on Amazon. He is a Colonel in the Army Cadets and heads the music for the UK and Gibraltar. He works with young offenders and identifies people as future leaders.

Listen to Mikes story 

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Sandra is from a large Italian family. Her parents had come to London in the 60s and settled.

Prior to joining the police Sandra worked in a Building society where she witness an armed robbery and met the Flying Squad for the first time. This incident and the fact that her brother was a police officer she was inspired to follow her dream.

In 1991 at the age of 20 she commenced the process of joining the Metropolitan Police and was eventually was posted to Wembley and when she was on nights her mum would cook a large lasagne for the entire team. The team took her under their wing and included her in everything including drinks after nights in the section house, the initiation processes. She sees the nicknames as terms of endearment and not seen as malicious.

Sandra was taken to the 2 area AMIT and was involved in investigations where local knowledge and good use of intelligence detected some very serious crimes. She became a trainer on the murder teams and became a mentor. She has worked closely with the Police Sikh Association and having retired she set up Sandra Mosely Coaching where she assists serving officers who are seeking promotion.

Sandra has joined the Women's Institute and loves being an active member but its not all "Jam and Jerusalem"

Sit back and enjoy her story.

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Born in Yorkshire to a working-class mining family – Lived in the Belgian Congo as a child his father was involved in the tobacco industry.

Mick joined the City of London Police 1972 as a cadet and lived in the City Of London Section House at Bishopsgate. In march 1973 the IRA set a bomb at the Old Bailey Mick was used with the other cadets in the casualty bureau.

In 1975 the Moorgate tube disaster took place- Cadet Margaret Lyles was in the carriage and had to be cut from the wreckage and sadly lost her leg.

He was one of the first on the scene of the Daily Mirror shooting and witnessed the fallout of Operation Countryman

In a fit of pique decided that he and 2 others would resign from the police, and drive to Australia in a VW Camper. They managed to get to Iran as the revolution was about to take place and had to fly back to the UK.

After returning to the UK Mick applied to re-join the police but this time it was Essex. Mick discusses his time at Rochford and the impact of the Miners strike on him and his family.

Mick continued his service with Essex Police and concluded his service as a temporary ACC.

It was the diagnosis of his wife having breast cancer that was the motivator to retire from Essex Police. He attempted to become the Police and Crime Commissioner for Essex Police and narrowly missed winning the popular vote.

.

Mick is now a key decision maker with Stockvale who own Southend leisure icons such as Adventure Island and the Sea life centre.

Listen to Micks brilliant story. 

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Paul joined the Royal Corp Of Transport in 1971. He was the driver for for Brigadier O’Cock who was the victim of an IRA bombing and lost his hand.

Paul was based at Regents Park Barracks which was the location that the SAS prepared for the assault on the Iranian embassy.

At the conclusion of his military service he joined the Royal Ulster Constabulary where he served across the Province. He discusses the murder of Rosemary McGookin and the impact it has had on his life.

Paul is a published author and his books can be found on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Paul-Rees/e/B08LQMN1CB/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

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Mandy Chapman is a former Metropolitan Police Officer who commenced her career at Southwark. Her desire was always to become a dog handler and following a successful application and period of training she was posted to Catford Dogs.

Upon completion of her 30years of service she began volunteering for Essex Police it was during this period she was selected to become the custodian of Baloo. Baloo is a Belgian Malinois and in October 2018, Baloo’s career as a police dog was prematurely ended when she was hit by the car being driven by a suspected criminal as they fled a crime scene. Sadly, Baloo’s injuries were so severe that she needed metal plates screwed into both sides of her pelvis and her front leg amputated.

Mandy is a a very busy person and works with many important organisations

1. Dogs On The Street,
2. Her work with Paul Nicholls ensured the Police Dog Memorial came to fruition.
3. Essex Retired Police Dogs Fund
4. OK9
5. Lady Bathurst and National Foundation for Retired Service Animals

Mandy and Baloo have been guests of honour at Crufts with Chief Constable Pippa Mills and was delighted when her friend Clare Todd and Stella won the Hero Dog award

Mandy And Baloo will attend events and support officers who need a figurative arm around their shoulder at their time of need. There is a Team Baloo Fund that people can contribute to, to ensure that the great work that Mandy and Baloo carryout can continue.

Sit back and listen to this lovely story

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Nigel was born in Wanstead. His father was an anaesthetist who had served with distinction in the the RAF. His family are Jewish with 3 of his 4 grandparents coming from Eastern Europe. His grandfathers milkman was Benny Hill!

He is related to Naftali Imber who provided the lyrics to the Israeli national anthem and is unapologetically proud of his Jewish heritage.

Nigel attended Bancroft’s school in Woodford where he attained his exams. After School he attended the Hebrew University In Jerusalem and then college in Chelmsford. He was called to the Bar in 1977. Nigel was advised to join a barristers set in the Inner Temple as there is more parking. Nigel progressed in his chosen career and "Took Silk" in 1997. He successfully worked an a number of very high profile cases.

During the podcast we discuss the first murder trial that Nigel was involved in, sitting at the old bailey and the death penalty.

Nigel was the chair of "Criminal Bar Association" and is very passionate about the working conditions of barristers.

He is an author and his book Nothing Like The Truth can be purchased on Amazon. Nigel is available for public speaking engagements and cites Larry Davy as one of his comedy heroes.

Sit back and listen to this charming charismatic barrister!

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Adrian Tudway was born in Leicester and eventually moved to Richmond. As a young man Adrian joined the elite Royal Marines. Having completed his training he was posted to 45 Commando situated in Arbroath.

At the beginning of April 1982 Adrian and his colleagues were granted leave. They began their journey home and when he arrived in Kent he was greeted by the Police who informed him that he was to return to Arbroath at once. Adrian’s war had begun.

Having loaded supplies 45 Commando went to the port where they boarded the RFA Stromness and began the long journey to the South Atlantic. During engagements with the enemy there would be an order to baton down the hatches, Adrian and his fellow marines were below decks and they could hear everything that was taking place. Adrian shares his vivid memories of the conflict and the sight of the HMS Antelope being sunk as 45 were re-supplying troops.

The significance of the 11th and 12th of June will remain with Adrian as this was the battle of Two Sisters where hand to hand combat took place with the Argentinian forces. Adrian recalls the strike on HMS Glamorgan as it provided cover fire for the land based troops.

At the conclusion of the war Adrian returned to the UK on the Canberra. This journey took 3 weeks and upon his arrival to the UK he had a fleeting sight of his families and he was transpoback to Arbroath. He was then posted to HMS Warrior which was the operational HQ for the Royal Navy.

Adrian eventually joined the Metropolitan Police and became a specialist In hostage negotiations and recovery of individuals including Norman Kember . He worked across the world undertaking the roll and worked with some esteemed members of the military including Billy Bingham. He attained the rank of Chief Supt and retired in 2014.

Adrian is now in the world of private industry and supplies safe booths to customers who require this specialist holding cell. These are unique and can be used in a number of arenas such as public events as well as additional areas in police stations. The occupants can be kept under constant supervision.

Sit back and listen to Adrian’s remarkable story.

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Part 1

Colin Sutton is the son of a police officer, who as a child lived in Enfield. He is an avid Tottenham fan.

His grandfather was born in 1893 and was a major influence on Colin. He had joined the Leicestershire regiment during the 1st World War, and was injured on the Somme. Colin sites his grandfather as being a visionary he informed Colin that all politicians are corrupt Tories for Sex, Labour for Money.

Colin went to Leeds University to study law but didn’t complete his degree, He joined the police in 1981 But not before he had an unfortunate experience at the Royal Courts Of Justice with a judge!

During training Colin discovered that he wasn’t a natural at Drill. He was initially posted to Tottenham where he walked the infamous Broadcaster Farm. Having completed his final probation exam he was “Encouraged” to take his Sergeants Exam, this encouragement came to fruition in the following January which he passed and came in the top 100 which meant he was interviewed for the Special Course at Bramshill.

Colin discusses tactics and the subsequent arrests whilst in uniform as a Sergeant, The virtues of residential training where “Wrong Uns” would be routed out therefore removing the likes of Couzens and Carrick. We also discuss the Casey report. 

Colin served at Paddington Green which was the police station used in Terrorist investigations and met some very interesting "Customers"

He describes himself as a "Wood Done Good"

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Part 2

Colin discusses his move to West Yorkshire Police and his views on drugs and tactics used to bring burglars to justice.

Colin discusses his return to the South of England and joining Surrey Police where he worked with Sir Mark Rowley. However, Colin was so unhappy in Surrey Police he returned to the Metropolitan Police. Colin worked with esteemed detectives such John Sweeney who had previously been the SIO on the Keith Blakelock murder.

Colin discusses how he became involved in the investigation of the murder of Milly Dowler and the subsequent conviction of Levi Bellfield. We discuss how Martin Clunes played Colin in the dramas Manhunter and Nightstalker, and how Paul Gascoigne met Colin and Martin at Good Morning Britain.

We discuss the relationship between the Police and press and how it was destroyed by senior Metropolitan Police leaders during the arrest of journalists under the banner of Op Elveden . with the police and the lack of research carried out by media including the BBC during the recent interview Elon Musk.

Colin works closely with Revelation Films who produce The Real Manhunter and has several projects in the pipeline which will be released at a later date.

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Bob Scott was the son of a service family and travelled the length and breadth of the UK. He joined Essex Police as a cadet in the late 60s and his career as a regular officer.

In March 1973 Bob was posted to Basildon as a PC. He loved the challenges that Basildon presented. He was quickly identified as a thief taker and aged 21 he was taken to the CID.

He decided that he wanted to move from from detecting crime to preventing crime. This desire saw Bob move to the Regional Crime Squad which was another level.

He talks candidly about his experiences as an undercover officer during a period when the rules had not been written. Bob went on to write the rule book and nurture officers who had a desire to become undercover officers and test purchasers

Bob retired from the police to begin his company IntraOrbis Limited

Listen to his story

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By the age of 2 Jamal and his family had fled the Taliban rule in Afghanistan to a safer environment in Pakistan.

By the age of 6 the UK and American forces had commenced their operation in Afghanistan. This support inspired Jamal's family to return to Afghanistan.

Jamal met British troops on patrol and decided that he wanted to join them. He learnt English and aged 17 he became an interpreter. He actively supported interviews with Taliban leaders and worked in the community he loved.

he discusses how he was followed home after a duty and how he was wounded during a skirmish and was eventually medivac to Camp Bastian.

He is now in the UK and is fighting the authorities for recognition of his injuries. He has support from Lord Dannatt who is the former head of the British army.

Click on the listen button.

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Trevels family originally came to the UK from the West Indies. At the age of 15 he joined the Army.

Trevels sporting skills saw him travel the world to compete for the army in a number of sports.

after a successful military career Trevel went on to work with Kent Police and became their head of training.

Trevel now works in the private sector and is passionate about the services he can provide.

Sit back and listen to one of life’s gentlemen!

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The murder of Yvonne Fletcher

On 17th April 1984 PC John Murray had been deployed with WPC Yvonne Fletcher to St James Square. Their objective was to police a demonstration out side the Libyan Embassy on St James Square, London.

Whilst in attendance a person within the embassy opened fire on the protestors. WPC Fletcher was shot. She was placed in an ambulance where they administered treatment, PC Murray got into the ambulance to travel with Yvonne to hospital. PC Matt Johnson was a traffic officer and he had been dispatched to carryout a routine ambulance escort. Little did he know that Yvonne Fletcher had been fatally wounded. John Murray made a promise to Yvonne that he would personally track down the persons responsible

For the past 39 years John has battled with the authorities to get the evidence and information that is needed to identify the killer and bring him to justice. He has funded the investigation with his own money but has received support from the Police federation. However, John had no boundaries and having retired from the police he took the investigation to another level when he bribed prison guards in Libya to speak to vital witnesses

Matt has written "No Ordinary Day" with the assistance of John Murray - Matt describes the book as testament to Johns determination and bravery to combat the authorities to get to the truth.

John has arranged a fundraising event in June 2023 and has received significant support from locations such as the Nomad Hotel which is the Old Bow Street Police station.

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In 1992 Sharon joined teh City of London in 1992. She was only 19. Sharon loved the family type atmosphere that the City Of London had to offer.

Sharon was a Prevent officer within the community where she worked the ground in the City Of London. she saw her role as dealing with the Islamic issues and the extreme right wing.

Sharon had a varied career and tells of her time as a community officer she also tells her story of 7/7 and the impact it had on the City.

Sharon explains how her own traumatic life events directed her to take up supporting people and now works in private industry where she supports individuals with their "Life Battles" Visit Sharon's website .she will "Help you find your balance"

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Andrew Hayman CBE QPM is a retired British police officer and author of The Terrorist Hunters. Hayman held the rank of Chief Constable of Norfolk Constabulary and Assistant Commissioner for Specialist Operations at London's Metropolitan Police, the highest-ranking officer responsible for counter-terrorism in the United Kingdom. Hayman was directly responsible for the investigation into the 7 July 2005 London bombings.He has also spoken for the Association of Chief Police Officers, first on drugs policy,and later on counter-terrorism. In this podcast Andy talks candidly about his time in the police service including his meetings with the late Queens Elizabeth ll.

Click on the link and listen👇👇👇👇

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Zoe Hingston was born in Sri Lanka and moved to the North East of England as a child. She progressed through school and University and qualified as a solicitor. She worked in Germany as a lawyer and decided that she wanted to join the Police.

Having joined Northumbria Police Zoe was posted to the West End of Newcastle where she fitted in well with her police family. Zoe began to think that the police were doing what they could to support diversity within the community but this wasn't always mirrored within the Police service its self. Therefore Zoe became an active member of the Black Police Association(BPA) she became the secretary of the association and represented the membership.

In March 2022 Zoe left Northumbria Police and is now head of inclusion for Newcastle United.

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Brian Short is a former member of the Band of The Royal Marines. His father was killed in Suez 2 months before brian was born. He was only 22.

At 15½ Brian joined the Band of the Royal Marines. He undertook basic military training and went to the Royal Marine School of Music in Deal. Following his training he was deployed to the band.

Brian took part in the Royal Tournament and lived above Olympia. He served on the Ark Royal and was a participant in the television series Sailor.

In 1982 Brian and his band mates were informed that they would be going to the Falkland’s. He travelled to the port and boarded the Canberra. They were completely unaware of what was taking place in the South Atlantic.

Brian describes his trip including the boarding of a Monkey at Sierra Leonne during a battering session with local traders.

By the time the Canberra had arrived in the Falklands it had been fitted with 26 machine guns.

21st May 1982 is a day Brian will always remember. A helicopter landed on the deck and Brian was summoned with his colleagues to assist and in the helicopter were the bodies of 3 marines and an air crew man. The body of Sgt Andy Evans was amongst the dead and he was known personally to Brian and the Argentinians became his enemy.

Brian describes the moment the bodies of the marines were committed to the sea during the burial.

He also describes the moment a marine fell from a landing craft from HMS Fearless. This was the last image of Foxtrot 4 before it was sunk by Argentinian forces.

Following the liberation of the Falkland the Canberra was used to transport Argentinian Prisoners of War back to Buenos Aires. During the sailing Brian was presented with a signed thank you card made from a menu.

Brian decided that he needed to put the memoirs of the Falklands war into writing. He took a year to write “ The Band That Went to War”.

The description of arriving back to the UK is enlightening and emotional!

Following the War brian continued his service. He is promoted and became an instructor at the Royal Marine School of music in Deal. In 1989 the IRA detonated a device that killed 11 and injured 22.

In 1991 Brian joined Kent Police. He found the transition relatively easy. He enjoyed his time in the police and concluded his time as a constable. Brian maintains his love of music and his passion for the Band of The Royal Marines.

Listen to his brilliant story.

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Lindsay Siviter was born in Birmingham and by the age of 12 she had fully immersed herself in true crime. Her love of crime included television dramas and she was voted the number 1 fan of Morse. Lindsay became a friend of Colin Dexter and John Thaw. She appeared in the last 5 episodes of Morse. The death of John Thaw had a significant impact on her life.

Lindsay attended Oxford Brookes University and has worked in the Science museum in London, in Paris as a tour guide at the Louvre, and was an archivist at the American Cathedral.

Lindsay is an expert in the Whitechapel Murders and Jack the Ripper, She carries out tours of the area and passes on her knowledge and passion. She is currently working hard to dispel the myth that Sir William Gull was involved in the murders.

In 2013 she commenced work at Scotland Yard`s famous Crime Museum. She was able to see and hold the items from infamous crimes and criminals including Crippen, Christie and Nielson.

Lindsay has 5,000 crime related items in her home including personal items belonging to Lady Lucan and Dr Crippen.

Lindsay sits on the committee of the Police History society. She is now a volunteer at St Pauls Cathedral. 

If you want s a speaker, commentator or professional tour guide then email Lindsay

Sit back and listen to her podcast!

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Cliff was brought up in Stanford Le Hope in South Essex. As a youth he played rugby in Thurrock, the team coach was a member of Essex Police. He encouraged Cliff to become a Police cadet.

Having joined Essex Police he was posted to Clacton and served there for 5 years. One evening Cliff was on the “Public Order” Bus and the Sergeant (Tim Stokes) opened Cliffs eyes to the world of the Force Support Unit.

He was initially posted to the shift run by Jed Stopher. Cliff had a dual role , he was a diver and a firearms officer. He went on to be part of the weapons training team.

Cliff recalls his experiences whilst training to be a diver and how he was part of the team that carried out the body recovery of the crew of the Korean Air Crash.

He discusses the life he now leads in Australia and how he got through the visa application. Life wasn't all roses when the Roomes family arrived. He thought that work would be available at once but it wasn't. He even tried to join the police but was told that his typing skills were too slow!.

He misses his friends and the immediacy that geographical closeness bring. He also cites a large bath as a another missing item in his life.

Cliff loves his life in Australia and will gladly talk to those who are looking to move "Down Under"

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Tracey is originally from Ashton Under Lyne. Aged 18 she joined the RAF having been a member of the Air Training Corp since the age of 12. Her initial contact with the ATC was met with resistance as there were no females in the group.

Prior to joining the RAF, Tracey applied to Greater Manchester Police and they told her to get life’s experience.

Tracey was delivered to the train station to commence her Training at Raf Swinderby.

At her passing out parade Tracey`s Dad decided to stand and cheer on his own as the parade was mounted. The remainder of the friends and family remained seated and quiet.

Tracey also attended police training school to become an RAF Police Officer. Following her police training she was posted to RAF Manston, which is now the refugee centre. She was the only female on the flight. There wasn’t the acceptance that she expected especially from the wives of her colleagues.

Tracey undertook the Special Investigators Course, and this was ground-breaking due to the lack of females in the role at the time. She was posted Ludlow Manor, worked on several investigations, and travelled the length and breadth of the UK. However, her tenure was short term due to military cuts.

Following her posting to London she began to actively seek alternative employment. She applied for South Yorkshire Police and was successful.

Tracey loved the training environment and won the baton of honour during her Police recruit training which mirrored her achievement in the RAF.

Tracey was posted to Doncaster Town Centre. It was here that she worked with premiership Referee Howard Webb.

Having undertaken the path to promotion she came top in her board to Sgt and was posted to corporate development. Having seen an advert in Police review Tracy transferred to the Metropolitan Police and was posted to Wandsworth, It was a baptism of fire.

Sally Benatar offered Tracey advice as to how she would get to her dream job. She initially moved to Intel and subsequently took a place at SO15. Upon promotion she went to Royalty and Specialist Protection. Tracey would have the responsibility of saluting the Queen as she entered and left any venue.

Tracy’s proudest moment was when she represented the Met Police at the Festival of Remembrance.

Since retirement Tracy has moved to the private sector where she teaches in the Middle East. She cites Happy Valley as being one of her favourite TV Shows.

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James Lee – Born on the Wirral and his initial aspiration was to join the Royal Marines. He decided that the Marines looked like hard work.

He became an auto electrician and decided to join the Army. He went onto become a member of the Royal Corp of Transport. Having concluded his training he was posted to Munster and became part of the British Army Of The Rhine.

He spent time in Belfast driving the “Pigs” and only saw the bad parts of Northern Ireland.

James's passion for travel commenced during his early service in the army. He would get in his car and drive round Europe. In Christmas 92 he went to Russia and travelled on the trans-Siberian express. He had to be debriefed by the Royal Military Police. The following year he travelled to China and visited the Great Wall and Tiananmen Square.

Having been posted to Bielefeld he was given the adventure training lodge to look after. It was during a trip to the Naafi he was informed by a staff member he was being posted to Bosnia.

He was posted to Southampton where he oversaw the movement of military equipment. He was then posted to Shorncliffe and then Cyprus where he was promoted to Staff Sgt. During this period he was deployed to Iraq where he was involved in the Draw Down and personally typed every name on flight manifests.

He was deployed to Afghanistan and was attached to the US Forces in Kabul – the Americans were moving 400 containers a day into the region compared to 3 for the UK.

We discuss the decompression zone in Cyprus - Ian Moore gets a mention.

James has published a book called “Licking the Taliban's Flip Flop” This highlights the experiences and light-hearted side of being in the military.

At the conclusion of his military career James undertook his private pilot’s licence and went on to become a flying instructor and is also a registered commercial pilot

James now travels with other pilots across Europe to improve the skill sets of other pilots.

Jon Hunt AKA The flying reporter is a former BBC journalist and featured James and Buddy Aviation on his channel. This has meant his popularity with adventurous clients has significantly increased.

You can find james on social media Twitter Facebook and LinkedIn

Sit back and listen!

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Louise was born in Melbourne Australia – around the age of 12 she watched a television show called Quantum this was her inspiration to join the Police service..

Following university, she joined Victoria Police her dream was to get involved in Forensic. After a few years she transferred to Queensland. She undertook general duties and became a detective. She was posted to Logan and then Hendra. She was then posted to Mackay which is a tropical mining town.

We discuss inclusivity in the police service and the impact on LGBTQ officers.

Sport has always been a passion, and cricket was the prime activity. Louise went on to represent Australia. She has played at Lords and the MCG and won the Lords Taverners Young Player of The Year in 1993. She played in 2000 world cup In New Zealand, Ashes Tour 2001 and in 2005 was part of the winning World Cup team in South Africa. Louise

Louise is a Captain in the Australian Army reserves and has been deployed on active service to Afghanistan with British, Danish, New Zealand soldiers and officers at the Army Officer Academy in Kabul. Pre-deployment training meant that Louise went to Sandhurst where she saw the first hand the function of this prestigious officer training academy.

Louise decided to leave policing and seek a new career. She applied for the role of integrity officer for Tennis Australia having seen the success of her partner Tracy with Racing Australia. With in 8 weeks of making the application she was appointed.  Her role includes the safeguarding of children, allegations of match fixing and any other issue that could bring tennis into disrepute. The teamwork with the closely with the ITIA based in London and she hopes to travel with her role.

Listen to her lovely story

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Steve Davies Joined the junior leaders and was sent to Shorncliffe in Kent. He passed out there having completed his initial training, and was sent to Winchester to complete his training.

He joined his battalion- 3rd Royal Green Jackets in Berlin and began his life in West Germany. During this time he’s guarded Rudolf Hess and enjoyed the lifestyle.

He was posted to Caterham in Surrey and undertook ceremonial duties at Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London. Steve was medically discharged from the army after developing pneumonia which affected his breathing.

After leaving the military Steve travelled the world and ran his own business. He finally returned to the UK.

Steve maintained his passion for the military, albeit quietly. His life changed when he attended a family members wedding. It was during this he saw the grave of a young rifleman.

The Rifleman had died 6 weeks before armistice, his grave was in a state of disrepair. Steve took it upon himself to tidy the area around the grave. This was the catalyst to his passion for restoring graves.

Steve then undertook formal training in headstone restoration to ensure he could continue his great work.

He attended a war cemetery in Dover which was within a civilian cemetery and as he left, he saw a grave which appeared to belong to a recipient of the Military Cross. However, it was the grave of colour Sgt Mcweeny, he was with the 44th Regt which became the Royal Anglians and had won the VC.

Steve tidied up this grave and now looks after 57 VC graves in the Southeast. 

One of his restorations was the grave of the Rear Admiral Lucas Davies who is buried in Merryworth. He was the first gazetted recipient of the VC.

The oldest grave he restored is from 1667 where 3 children had been laid to rest. The Most distinguished was Major General Sir Wilbraham Oakes Leonard VC who is buried in Brighton.

The Remembrance trust are great supporters of Steve and as a result he has rubbed shoulders with the Princesses Royal.

Listen to his great story!

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Faye Ford had a passion to travel and at the conclusion of her schooling Faye focused on the travel industry. At the age of 18 she became a rep and worked with children. Aged 21 Faye moved into the adult travel program and as a holiday rep she would deal with the fall out following violence disorders, sexual assaults and sudden deaths including suicides. Her final role was as an Elf in Lapland!

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At 30 Faye decided that she needed to return to the UK to support her family. Faye decided to join West Midlands Police. She went to Ryton and was posted to Handsworth where Faye worked in the community. She was eventually selected to work within offender management and the restorative justice team. The job meant she was present when criminals met their victim or the victim’s family. The process gives the victim the opportunity to ask the suspect why they were targeted.

After 17 years in West Midlands Police Faye decided that she would “bite the bullet” and leave the police. She had become disenchanted with the lack of support and direction by the senior management and the police federation over the pension issues and working conditions.

To compound issues Faye was disheartened by the resignation process. She completed the process online and never saw a manager or had any feedback. She feels let down by her former managers and would welcome a meeting with a member of the senior team at west midlands police.

Faye now runs a successful photography company and is a travel advisor & agent She is also a member of www.ex-jobservices.com

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Born in 1962, Keith Dobson was one of three children His family came from a humble background.

He is from Gateshead, his parents were proud and hard working. His father worked for the CEGB (Central Electric Generating Board) and his mother was at home bringing up the family. She insisted that the family didn’t reside in a Council House or receive free school dinners, despite the fact they had relatively modest means.

In 1977 Keith joined the Army and despite his lack of school acumen he went to the Army School, where he obtained the qualifications to undertake his trade as a member of the Signals.

In 1982 Keith was deployed to the Falklands. He talks in detail of his experiences as he prepared to be deployed.

He recounts the support displayed by members of the public as they make their way to Southampton to board the QE2. However, his hopes of boarding the QE2 were quickly dashed when he was directed to travel with secure equipment on a cross channel ferry all the way to the South Atlantic.

Keith describes the moment he drives off the “Landing Craft” with his team. It was 3am and pitch black! The memory of water entering the vehicle will stay with him forever.

During the war Keith was charged with putting electricity and hot water into the compounds that were being occupied by Argentinian prisoners. It was during this he became aware to the Sir Galahad.

The tragedy of war became more real on 6th June 1982. His OC, Major Michal Forge and Staff Sgt Joe Baker were travelling in a Gazelle helicopter when HMS Cardiff dispatched a sea dart. The missile brought down the helicopter, killing the occupants.

At the conclusion of the war Keith went to South Georgia to collect marines and the bodies of those who had fallen. He regrets not visiting the grave of Ernest Shackleton

When they returned home the soldiers were searched by the RMP for war trophies.

Having concluded the search Keith exited the building and was unexpectedly met by his mum. They hit the town! When he returned home he received a welcome from the entire street and a CV party was held.

In the early 90s Keith left the military and moved to civi street, this lasted a couple of years before he joined West Yorkshire Police. He subsequently transferred to Essex and whilst at Brentwood he received a call from Sir Alan Sugar!

Keith transferred to the Metropolitan Police as a Superintendent and was posted to Enfield. He then moved to SO20 which was part of the counter terrorism wing.

At the conclusion of his service Keith took up a role connected to policing and is now a published author. His book “Crossing The Line” is available from Amazon Waterstones and WH Smiths We discuss the mechanics of writing a book and the pitfalls of English grammar rules!

Listen to his story

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Born in 1956 in Wiltshire. Kevin was the son of an RAF Dog handler who revolutionised the way that Police dogs were trained. Kevin's life as a child was transient. He lived in Cyprus and Malta and as a 10year old watched the 1966 world cup on a black and white TV, on an Italian TV Channel, the volume turned down with British Forces radio playing the commentary.

Kevin joined Essex Police as a cadet and went on to serve in a number of departments including the dog section.  Whilst on Chelmsford Traffic Kevin went to the scene of the Retendon Murders and escorted the recovery vehicle from the scene of the murders with the Range Rover to South Woodham Ferrer's Police station. Kevin had no idea that the bodies of Tate, Tucker and Rolfe were in the vehicle. This interaction featured in the ITV documentary “Coppers”.

Since retirement Kevin has trained as a Fitness instructor, Had a franchise, carried out patient transport and lived in Turkey. He has now moved to Spain where he carries out his passion for triathlons 

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Podcast contains Swearing -

Ben Close was born in Luton. His parents split up at the when he was just 5. His mother went on to marry a man who was physically abusive to her, and Bens stepsister and brother. He never harmed Ben as he was scared of Bens father. When Ben returned home from school he would arm himself and undertake a procedure of room clearance to ensure his safety.

At 16 Ben was initially unsuccessful in his application to the Army due to an early diagnosis of asthma. He appealed the decision, he went through a medical which he passed and was selected to join the Coldstream Guards.

Having completed his training, he was deployed immediately to Iraq. During the tour he shot at a car that was believed to contain a vehicle borne IED. The occupant of the vehicle was killed and it transpired that the person was a news reporter who had failed to comply with the directives.

On one occasion Ben was with a team when they found themselves stranded when their vehicle broke down. They had to march through the desert and ended up taking over an Iraqi police station  where they were finally recovered by colleagues.

When Ben returned to the UK there was no decompression, and he didn’t react well to the return to “Normality” He was arrested for assault and saved a 17yr olds life when they were stabbed in the throat.

The trouble that Ben had with the civilian authorities meant that he was unable to leave the army on a medical pension. He appealed this decision which he eventually one.

He initially had a fear of fireworks and could never watch a war film. Ben has appeared on BBC Radio 4 and GMTV and has worked as contractor.

Ben is now looking to delver his experiences to support fellow PTSD and domestic violence sufferers. 

He is now a published author of "When War Follows You Home" which is available from Amazon He can be found at Close Publishing

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Paul Bailey is an Essex boy. He joined the Royal Navy as an Operator Mechanic. He was trained in Radar and Electronic Warfare. After his training he was posted to HMS Invincible.

His first overseas deployment was Tenerife, where he met the boxer, Ricky Hatton. Following his grandfathers footsteps, he served on the iconic HMS Ark Royal. During his time he served across the world including the Falklands at this time he was on HMS Dumbarton Castle.

At the point of leaving the Royal Navy he discovered that he wasn’t prepared for his departure. Leaving the military is a daunting prospect and it has become apparent over time to Paul that he was not alone, several of Paul's friends have struggled with the transition and some friends taken their own lives. 

His first civilian job was at Alexander Palace where his endeavours were supported by his then boss Simon Fell. He classes the Ally Pally as being his best job in “Civi Street”. He moved to Charlton FC and from there he was head hunted to work at Tottenham Hotspur during their time at Wembley stadium. He is now head of operations at Chelmsford city racecourse. He is supported in his role by the owner of the racecourse and this makes for a great working environment. Paul has gone from leaving the Navy with little idea of what the future looked like to being in a position where his future is bright.

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Jenny's parents were part of the Windrush generation. Her father from St Vincent and her mother British Guiana. As a child Jenny remembers her father winning the football pools which meant they could buy a house in Ilford.

Jenny initially worked for the Caribbean times and was a PA to the editor. She was able to meet several black activists who had an influence on her in later life. Having been made redundant she decided that she wanted to join the police.

Having found the number in the “Yellow Pages” she called New Scotland Yard and called. Jenny was invited at once to the yard. Within six months she had been accepted. Jenny experienced adverse racist comments from the security guard.

Following training she was posted to Vine Street. She was taken to meet the borough commander whose opening gambit was to ask one of the male members if they masturbate!

As a probationer she was paired up with an officer who clearly had no time for her. She was unable to establish if it was because she was a probationer, black or a female or a combination of all 3.

Jenny experienced discriminatory language that her Sgt considered to be acceptable, he stated that it was his way of “Toughening her up”. People were openly racist and when that stopped, they became more sexist.

Jenny recalls the murder of Yvonne Fletcher in April 1984. On that day she was visiting a police station and following the shooting of Yvonne a well-meaning friend called Jenny`s mum to ask after her welfare which caused some concerns.

Jenny worked at NCIS and TSG – When she was posted to the drug squad her colleagues believed that she was “A Spy”, they had read a file and there was a memo relating to jenny and the Black Police Association.

Jenny discusses her views regarding Stop and Search and her personal experiences.

Its clear that Jenny is a person who has high standards and truly believes that the police should deal with the problems that senior management has caused. She is an advocate of getting the right person for the job and diversity should be part of recruitment process.

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Andy Unwin MBE is a serving member of the British Army. He was instrumental in the introduction of the medicine ball challenge. His decision to launch this project was made following the untimely death of his friend Reece Miller who was fondly known as smiler. Reece had taken his own life.

Andy considered his options to raise awareness . he saw that mental health was a weight which anyone can carry but it’s not visible. He took a medicine ball, a chain and a pair of handcuffs and wore the weight it for 2 weeks, day and night! He launched the concept on International Men’s Day 2018. Initially he was purchasing the equipment himself.

The first participant was Andy Reid MBE, andy is a Triple Amputee. Andy was becoming overwhelmed by the amount of interest when he received a welcomed call from Andy Perkins of the Royal Military Police. The pair joined forces and the project goes from strength to strength.

The team now receive significant support from the Army Benevolent fund  and Combat Stress who provide the equipment to willing participants!

The likes of JP Morgan, The Fire Service, Members of the Police and Security Institute have become active supporters.

Andy received the MBE because of his efforts. The announcement came shortly after Andy had lost his wife to suicide; it was a bittersweet experience. At the insistence of his mum, he attended the ceremony at Windsor Castle where he met HRH Prince William.

Andy's mantra is “Don’t make a permanent decision over a temporary emotion”.

If you want to take part or donate, please click on the link! Medicine Ball Challenge

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On the day the Royal British Legion launch the Poppy Appeal we ask for volunteers to join in and assist.

click on the link to find out more about volunteering

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Laura came from a family that had the military in their blood. Her father had been in the guards, and she wanted to follow his military footsteps but become a dog handler in the veterinary corp . However, when she joined the army in 2006, she was identified as having special awareness and sufficient confidence to become a member of the Royal Logistics Corp …. As a tank transporter! Laura was trained to Drive Oshkosh Trucks moving 62 Tonne Tanks across Europe.

Laura was never trained to drive the tank but was taught to disable the tank if there was a compromise. Much to her disappointment she was never deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. She describes herself as a tracksuit soldier where she would take part in adventure training and skiing.

Being a female in a male dominated world was difficult and it took an incident on a training exercise that assisted with acceptance.

She was selected to undertake peace keeping duties in Cyprus where she would escort dignitaries in the buffer zone. Laura was barracked in the iconic Leda Palace Hotel .

Laura started a family and decided to leave the military. She split with her partner and moved back to Devon. She was convinced by former colleagues to join the MPGS and started at Portsmouth and discovered that the MPGS had working dogs in Wattisham so applied and moved to Suffolk with her daughter and Cavalier King Charles. It was here that she met her partner.

Her experience at Wattisham wasn’t the best and she describes the atmosphere as filled with misogyny and decided leave the military to form her own business. She now has her own security business that specialises in providing working dogs to a variety of roles. She says that she has changed her rifle for a dog.

Laura acquired a Dutch herder crossed with a Malinois called Nala. She describes the Nala as being a Ferrari compared to a Vauxhall Corsa. Laura has high standards and recognises that the security industry can be murky and she ensures that she will not compromise in the standards that she applies.

Laura's business is going from strength to strength she can be contacted via her website and is a member of www.ex-jobservices.com

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Richard is a former member of the Royal Hong Kong Police. He joined South Yorkshire Police when his contract concluded overseas and when he joined in the UK his role attracted extreme violence.

On one fateful day Richard was on a drugs operation and during this operation the suspect died. In the days following the incident Richard was subjected to significant scrutiny and the coroners inquest determined that Richard had done nothing wrong.

This experience provided Richard with an overwhelming sense of guilt isolation and gave him suicidal thoughts.

Richard subsequently left the police and turned to Academia to fully understand what had taken place. His lived experience makes him best placed to assist others who have been though traumatic experiences.

Richard was instrumental in forming the Daparian Foundation and cites Combat stress as being a saviour and motivator. #ptsd #suicideawareness #ptsdsymptoms #ptsdrecovery #truth #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealthmatters

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Darren Stanton trained as a classical pianist and music has always been his passion. However, at the age of 17 he discovered several distractions which steered him away from the Steinway.

He initially got his degree and wanted to be Robbie Coltrane if Cracker. Having worked in Nottingham Prison for some time he began to hate the environment and decided that he wanted to join the police.

Darren left the Police and in In 2010 Darren was asked to assess the body language of Cameron, Clegg and Brown in the General Election. Since then, he has assessed the likes of I’m a Celebrity, Rupert Murdoch and The Levison Enquiry.

His skills have been used in television projects in the USA. He is currently assessing the contestants in I’m A celebrity 2024 and Strictly Come Dancing for the media. We discuss the expressions of Nigel Farage and his micro expressions and the combative behaviour of Nella Rose. Love Island contestants Jamie and Camilla get discussed.

We worked together on teh show Rob Rinders/Vivica Fox Interogation room which is aired in teh UK, USA and Australia.

The selection of interviewers for Michael Barrymore was carried out by a Psychologist. We discuss our appearances on the Shaun Attwood podcast and the trolls who follow Shaun. The trolls associated to the Essex Boy conspiracy and the vile behaviour of keyboard warriors. Darren's tickets are available via event bright or from his website www.darrenstanton.com The entire recording took place whilst drinking tea from my @Yeti

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Paul Andrews had been educated at Boarding school but left school without significant qualifications. His escapade with his friends where he pierced a gas bottle to make a flame thrower ended in disaster when it exploded and put him in hospital for a month hadn’t assisted in gaining qualifications.

Paul attended Wethersfield for his initial training he was then posted to policing duties in the Colchester district. He went on to serve in Halstead where he loved being a community officer. He was then selected to be a search officer. He went on his search course and in June 2001 he concluded his course and then spent the next 10 months searching for the body of Daniel Jones. During the search he was one of the officers who found a safe concealed in Campbells home that contained images.

Whilst searching for Danielle, Paul and the team were searching an area where a box was recovered. Whilst playing pass the parcel with the box it was discovered that they were playing with a viable IED. It was believed this had been left in place by a Combat 18 team.

As a mutual aid search officer Paul travelled throughout the UK. He worked on the April Jones murder. Commonwealth games and The Soham Murders “Holly and Jessica”.

Paul went on to DVI for Essex Police. During this time paul attended 5 air crashes! Paul discusses challenges with management during searches and difficult managers! In the closing months of his service Paul was seconded to Cornwall to be the POLSA for the G7 conference. 

At the conclusion of his service, he had no idea how to write a CV and as he had no formal qualifications he was concerned about the future. He applied for job with Colchester City Council and whilst he wasn’t successful for that one, he was offered an alternate position.

Having taken a role at the council he was asked to lead a project to bring the Knife Angel to Colchester. He enlisted the support of Sir Bob Russell and Anne Oakes Odger.

#royalvisit #murder #presidentialvisit #obama #biden #trump #danielejones #search #murder #missingpersons #knifecrime 

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Paul Dunn is the former Regimental Sgt Major of the Welsh Guards.

His grandfather's had served in the British Army during world war 2 and they encouraged Paul to join up. Paul was selected to join the Welsh Guards and at 6` 3" he was an ideal candidate for the regiment.

He undertook the normal ceremonial duties and in 1996 took part in in his first the Birthday Parade Aka Trooping The Colour. Paul was promoted to RSM and led the birthday parade for the late Queen to celebrate her 89th Birthday.

Paul went overseas and saw war at first hand, He also experienced the loss of friends and senior officers, which to this day resonates with him.

Paul has now entered the world of private industry and is head of UK facilities for the @BritishAntarcticSurvey

#army #welshguards #afghanistan #queenelizabeth #troopingthecolour #traditional #tradition #toweroflondon #buckinghampalace

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Steve Burke is a former member of the Metropolitan Police. He didn’t have sufficient qualifications to enter college to become a motor mechanic. He had a friend who he played tennis with who announced that he was joining the Police Cadets. Steve was intrigued by this and after researching decided to apply. On Sept 9th 1973 Cadet Burke entered the Cadet School at Hendon.

During his time as a cadet, he undertook several activities from out of bounds to public service. He was attached to Dagenham Police and considered himself as a mill stone round the regular’s neck.

When Steve joined the regulars, he was posted to East Ham. At that time, the East End was still full of characters who had a colourful background. Many of whom had been there since WW2.

Steve witnessed the demise of the East London docks and the subsequent regeneration.

Upon promotion Steve was posted to Vine Street despite wanting to go to Hackney. He was a Custody Sgt, and this was a very busy custody suite. From there he was posted to Clubs & Vice where he dealt with importuning, obscene publications and prostitution. This was the time when human trafficking became a focus of police attention.

Steve went onto serve with the Diplomatic Protection Group where he had responsibility for Downing Street. Steve began his service during the time of John Major and Tony Blair. During his tenure he was trained in the use of firearms and was continually asking himself “What If”. He witnessed the arrival of  the great and the good.

When steve retired from the Police he worked in several roles and is now enjoying life in the west country

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Gary commenced his work life at a credit card company this was initially Access then became MasterCard. He became bored of working there and decided to find additional work go and work in the leisure industry.

He finally left Mastercard and went full time into the licence trade. Whilst running a restaurant in Romford he met the infamous Tony Tucker, and on the evening Tate, Tucker and Rolfe were murdered Tony Tucker had booked a table. Tucker and his group never turned up.

The following day Gary was informed that Tucker had been killed in the infamous “Essex Boys Murders”. Gary gave a statement and since then he has been accused of colluding with the Police. He receives calls from film and Tv producers to ask him to take part in projects.

Gary went onto run the world famous https://jongleurs.com/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dingwallsand and recounts the time he saw Paul Weller rolling around drunk with members of Oasis.

Gary has met every comedy great in recent history. His contacts are the who’s who of comedy entertainment. The Chalkwell Rooms successfully host top names and in March 24 Lee Hurst takes centre stage. Gary cites Terry Alderton as being a friend and Terrys first appearance was in the club run by Gary.

Gary is a participant of Ultra Ultra Ultra Marathons! In November 2024 he will be running in Namibia. However, it was running that inspired him to join the Police. Essex Officer Kirsty Snelgrove was a member of the local running club, and it was conversations with her that caused Gary to sign up! Garys running takes him all over the world and he supports https://www.duchenneuk.org/

However, he got to a point where he had to leave the police to pursue a life away from Law & Order. He ran a successful pub in Hertfordshire, having successfully built the business into a monster, but covid came and destroyed his business overnight. On the evening that the Prime Minister announced the measures restricting movement Gary went from 150 people to just 5 people in the space of 5 minutes. Mentally, physically, and financially, Covid was destroying him. Gary took a temporary role on in Herts Police where he is still working.

He knows Micky Flanagan who was a compare at a club run by Gary. Micky will greet him with conversations about the police and ultra marathons. Gary recounts the occasion that he carried drove the late Patrice O’Neal to London following a warm up show in Southend. Tom O’Connor played his very last gig for Gary and Gary had the pleasure of having lunch with Tom.

Gary has commenced the Comedy Bunker at the Cobham Hotel and gives touring comedians the opportunity to do warm up gigs The first act was Britain’s Got Talent Marcus Birdman who performed on 17th Dec 23

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Steve “Lobby” Thornton

Steve ‘Lobby’ Thornton, is a retired Metropolitan Police Officer, having completed 30+ years, and a Civilian Senior Firearms Instructor for 6 years. Starting as a Cadet in 1982, Lobby joined the job in 1983 and began working in busy Inner London before transferring to SO19, the Met’s Firearms Unit in 1995. He then worked as an Operational Firearms Officer and a National Police Firearms Instructor. Lobby is also an experienced Post Incident Support Program Selected Instructor, a Welfare Coach for the Police Firearms Officers Association, an Ambassador for Police Care UK , a TRiM Manager, and a Founder member of the National Prevention of Police Suicides Group. Lobby is a very proactive and forthright Wellbeing Champion, working tirelessly on behalf of colleagues within the Met and across the UK.

Steve has strong views regarding the way officers are treated by Professional Standards Departments across the U\k and the way officers are treated.

Trojan Wellbeing are their to help those in need!

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Simon Rogers is a former member of Warwickshire Police. He commenced his career at Rugby and walked the beat for 3 years. He went on to join the traffic department. Simon decided that he wanted to be a firearms officer and commenced the application. However, he was unsuccessful at is first attempt but the following year he went on to pass his firearms course and become a firearms officer.

Having served for a period of time Simon was a safety training officer and was identified as a candidate to become a firearms instructor this process is particularly arduous and following an extensive training course Simon qualified. We discuss the scrutiny that officers go through when a firearms deployment results in the discharge of a weapon. During his time at Warwickshire 4 officers were shot during the training within the range.

Due to the strategic location of Warwickshire Simon and had significant links with West Midlands and would work closely with other forces in the region.

We discuss the responsibilities of police firearms officers and how they administer support to individuals who have been caught in the “Hot Zone”. Simon also explains the response following an incident where a weapon is discharged and the scrutiny officers face by the authority. We discuss officers handing in their firearms permits under the current climate.

Simon believes that the federation should take a greater lead in the welfare of firearms officers, and this should not be left to the PFOA.

Simon is a member of the Security Institute and has flourished as a business. His company Turret Training provides specialist training courses that support “strategic threat and risk assessment and harmonise emergency planning allied to UK national JESIP protocols to security professionals. Turret Training was shortlisted for the Outstanding Security Performance Awards and Security and Fire Excellence Awards and was the first company to be awarded the first-ever Approved Training Provider certificate from the prestigious Security Institute”.

There is a significant skills gap within the security industry. Many SIA members do not have the skill set to deal with significant trauma and this is frustrating to Simon.

Sir John Saunders recommended that security staff be trained do deal with trauma incidents specific to their deployment. The SIA have been directed to devise a plan.

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Greg came from a military family and as a result moved on a regular basis.

Greg decided that he would follow a career in teaching and worked in schools in Suffolk and Walthamstow.

At the age of 30 Greg felt that a career in the metropolitan police would be for him. His initial posting was Southall. He lived the community that he was work with and found that there was a mutual respect.

Greg went on to serve with Special Branch. At the conclusion of his service Greg returned to teaching but on this occasion it was foreign students who would benefit from his instructions.

Hreg met and married his wife and moved to the Philippines. From here he was able to work in China and South Korea where he could teach students from these countries.

Covid had a significant impact on Greg’s teaching career which resulted in him returning to the Philippines.

Greg is available for work in the region.

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Rebecca is a former police officer who served in Sussex and the City of London. She had previously worked at the Royal School of Ballet.

During her time in the police she led the search at some of the most iconic events in British history including the funeral of Margaret Thatcher.

Rebecca is a keen historian and gives guided tours in the City of London Plodd in the Square Mile – The Square Mile, its crime and policing history 

Sit back and listen

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Monique Rollin MRCS

Monique Was born and raised Sault Ste. Marie Ontario Canada. Aged 21 she joined the municipal Police Department.

Her acceptance in to the Police department wasn’t easy. She entered a male dominated police services and as a result she was told that she wasn’t worthy of the role. She went on to be the first female to take a senior role

Monique worked on all types of investigations including frauds and murders and was a negotiator.

Monique explains how diversity is playing a greater role in the police service but the recruitment of the 1st Nation Population is still very poor.

Since retiring Monique runs her own consult and training company and has worked in Europe, USA and across Canada delivering her packages. She can be contacted via her website

In addition to her work Monique volunteers for a number of projects including Canadian Ukraine Logistics Division (CULD) where officers from Canada send equipment to their counterparts in the Ukraine.

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Simon Moloney was a boy soldier and following his basic training he was deployed immediately to Afghanistan. His first contact with the enemy was not the contact he was hoping for, his troop commander was hit by enemy fire and the initial thoughts was that he had been killed. However, he had been knocked out and despite the blood his injury was minor.

Simon returned to the UK where he successfully underwent sniper training. Following his training he returned to Afghanistan where he utilised is new found skill to protect the innocent members of the community.

On July 4h 2013 Simon was engaged in action where he was shot in the neck and miraculously survived. He went on to be bandaged and was able to eliminate the man who had shot him.

His action saw him receive the 2nd highest military award in the British Army - The Conspicuous Gallantry Cross

On his last day in Afghanistan his dear friend Jay was killed alongside him during battle and whilst the psychical scars heal the mental scares remain.

Listen to this brilliant and brave individual tell how he was part of a team that fought the good fight for the people who needed the most support.

#hero #heroic #afghanistan #afghan #army #military #warzone #taliban #sniper #snipers

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Scott McCallum comes from a family who have served his grandfather was a Regimental Sergeant Major. He joined the Police in 1989 and commenced his service in St Thomas Ontario. Scott managed to be a member of the Army Reserve and served in the Military Police.

Scott recounts his time in the service as the atrocities of 9/11 unfolded – He was ready to go on the radio as a Crimestoppers co-ordinator as the aircraft struck the building in New York.

Scott made the decision to transfer to the Railway Police. The size of Canada is such that it could take considerable time to arrive at a rural incident such as a death.

Since leaving the force Sco6tt has commenced a program of supporting the police in Ukraine. He is part of a team known as the Canadian Ukraine Logistics Division They collect surplus equipment which is then placed in a container and shipped to Ukraine. The team receive assistance form companies to facilitate this brilliant initiative . The team have several goals one of them is to ensure female Ukrainian officers have suitable body armour.

The team have containers delivered to Poland , they travel to Poland and begin the distribution to the front line in Ukraine.  

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Bob Sherwood is the son of a former Metropolitan Police Officer. He joined the cadets in 1971the training was based around the military style. Former guards were the instructors. There were no women on the course, and the Women’s Police service was still in place. At the conclusion of his cadet training, he went to Sunbury and posted to Rochester Row. As a keen sportsman he played football for the borough and spent a lot of time representing the force. 

Whilst working at Abbey Road Police station the local residents included Paul McCartney. The local police would tell tourists that Paul resided in Abbey Road to ensure The Beatle had a peaceful life. Bob worked on Child Protection and saw policing from a different perspective.

Having passed the Inspector exam he had to make a decision to move in order to get promoted. He went to Hammersmith where he worked with Jackie Moulton. Bob studied Law and successfully gained his degree despite the fact he had never achieved his true potential at school.

Upon retirement Bob worked in various roles but went on to gain a degree and doctorate in Holocaust studies. Bob and former BBC journalist Jon Silverman have written a book relating to war crime investigations in the 1990s. Safe Haven is available from all reputable book sellers.

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Amans Life was complicated from the outset, his dad was Indian and his mum English. Things got a whole lot worse as his father was extremely violent towards his mother, this violence culminated in his dad receiving a substantial term of imprisonment for a life changing assault against his mum. As a direct result Aman and his sister were brought up by his English grandparents who absolutely adored their grandchildren.

Aman decided that he wanted to be a police officer and was encouraged to join the cadets. He went on to join Essex Police as a regular and then transferred to the City Of London Police.During his time in the police he experienced exclusionary behaviour, not from colleagues but from other members of the Asian community.

eventually Aman fell out of love with the police and decided to make the jump. He has successfully steered his way through civi street and is now working with a growing company in IT sales.

Listen to his captivating story of overcoming adversity to succeed.

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Fay Hepworth was born during the 2nd world war. Initially her family were living with her grandmother close to Silverstone in Northamptonshire.

Fays father was a captain in the army and had served with the hussars and had seen action in North Africa.

The family moved to Northern Ireland where Fay went to school.

Fay is a lover of classical music and as a natural academic she absolutely loved school.

Aged 15 Fay went to work with a family in France. She landed in Paris where she was met by the lovely family. However, At that time Fay didn’t speak any French. She became fluent in no time at all.

In due course Fay returned to Northern Ireland where she was encouraged to take a secretarial course which she hated!

A colleague brought in literature to join the Royal Air Force. Fay saw opportunity to travel and informed her father that she intended to join up. However, he had a different ideas. Fay had a family member who was had been an admiral and she was told to join the senior service.

Having joined the Royal Navy Fay went on to serve at the Ministry of Defence where she became a secretary for Earl Mountbatten for a period of 3 months. Following this she was posted to Malta where she enjoyed her posting immensely. With her American boyfriend “Art” she visited Tripoli!

At the conclusion of her time in Malta she returned to Whitehall where she went back to the team with Mountbatten

Mountbatten decided to stand down as Chief Of Defence and undertook a world tour to say his goodbyes, Fay travelled with him. She flew across the world.

The trip stopped in New Zealand, and she returned to the UK on Military transport aircraft.

Armed with a reference from Mountbatten she began to look for work in Civi Street. She went through a process of seeking employment and having worked in Northern Ireland she applied for and joined P&O as a purser on a cruise liner.

In 1971 she met her future husband, Tony. Tony went to work on Bahrain and Fay went to work in Belgium and their relationship ended .

It was rekindled a couple of years later and she went on to marry him. They went onto have 2 children and moved to the Middle East whereTony was the training manager at Gulf Air.

The family returned to the UK. Fay went on to work for Essex Probation and since retirement she has become very active by singing in a Choir and playing the church organ. She also raises money for a local charity Wallace Kennels by selling her memoirs.

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Lesley Kirk was born in the Scottish town of Greenock. She decided to join Strathclyde Police and to her surprise she was posted to Greenock.

When she joined, she was asked her biggest fears of being posted to Greenock and she stated that attending a road accident and a a sudden death. Both fears were realised within the first few hours of being on shift. Her tutor constable made it very clear that he didn’t want to tutor a woman.

Lesley was posted to Glasgow, and she went to Castlemilk where she experienced pure hatred from the public. Her new shift was very supportive and may have been too protective. Lesley would experience the types of criminal activity connected to depravation.

Lesley experienced the sectarianism within football in Glasgow on a regular basis. This effectively concluded her police career  the football culture was insidious and following a “Old Firm” derby Lesley was the victim of a violent assault. This assault was avoidable but took place as the result of poor judgement by her Sergeant. She was later let down by the legal system.

There is no happy ending to this story!

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Jan Szymczuk was born in the North East and is an ardent Newcastle United Fan. His parents were born in Poland and his father fought against the Nazis as a paratrooper.

He joined the Metropolitan Police in March 1979. He was posted to Marylebone and whilst on foot patrol a robbery had been committed on a Saudi Arabian Bank. Whilst talking to the witnesses Jan decided that he would draw the suspect . His work was so good he was encouraged to apply for SO11 where he became the Force artists. He was selected to attend a course at the World Famous Quantico FBI academy.

Jan would  be tasked with meeting witnesses to gain the best possible likeness of the suspect. He would work on many high-profile investigations including Murders Rapes and terrorist incidents.  When Jan retired he was “The Senior Police Artist”

Throughout his career he was known as Boris and this included a day when he gave evidence at number 1 court at The Old Bailey.

There have been occasions where Jan has been tasked to draw pictures under unusual circumstances including drawing a picture from the original Ripper statements and a picture Bigfoot.

Jan has appeared on a BBC Art competition and was interviewed by Punch when they discovered his drawings.

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David always wanted to serve with the Police and in 1982, just after his 18th birthday he applied for and was accepted to the Merseyside Special Constabulary. He carried out all of the roles expected of a special and more! in 1996 he became a special constabulary Chief Officer and worked directly with policing greats such as Sir Norman Bettison, Sir Paul Stephenson, Lord Bernard Hogan Howe and John Murphy.

Policing took its toll on David but physically and personally. He received a blow whilst on duty that resulted in his kidney being removed and his passion for police work was such that his first marriage collapsed under the pressure.

David stood for the Merseyside PCC and came second. He makes it very clear that he would abolish the role of PCC and this is as a result of the political interference from the likes of Sadik Khan and to a lesser extent James Cleverley.

Whilst at the NCS David worked to Trevor Pearce and makes his feelings known with regards to SOCA!

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This interview contains graphic description of road traffic casualties. Sharon was born into a Scottish family. Travel was second nature as a child due her fathers work and lived in Hong Kong and Malaya as a child.

Having concluded her education Sharon was working as a nanny to a family who were serving Police officers. After 4 years she decided, aged 22, that she would join the metropolitan police.

After a couple of years she moved to the TSG and to progress her career she went on to join the DPG and latterly Traffic. During her time she was on duty when she saw royalty and presidents! On traffic she was deployed as a family liaison officer where she would deal with the families of those who were killed or seriously injured.

The way of dealing with work place stress often took place in the canteen and Sharon recounts her experiences within the canteen and her memories of the “Polystyrene” tea cups that were the focal point of the officers who used the facilities.

Sharon also discusses the events in 2001 when the real IRA detonated a car bomb. Sharon was with her police friends and walking past as the explosion took place. 

During her time on TSG she was introduced to Jackie Malton and she was asked to take Linda Le Plante out on patrol when she was writing her book Trial & Retribution

Since retiring from the police Sharon has worked within hospitality and works at iconic sites in Scotland and she has met Scottish Rugby President Dee Bradbury and has enjoyed the benefits of working in the hospitality world.

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Paul was born in East London and played in the streets close to his beloved West Ham United. By the age of 8 he had already made his mind up that he was going to be in the military.

His first choice was the Royal Marines but the recruiting office that he went to steered him towards the 9th /12th Lancers. He eventually trained in the Royal Tank Regiment and then transferred to the Blues and Royals. One of the officers in the Blues and Royals at the time was James Blunt. During his service Prince William, Prince Harry and Arthur Soames (Winston Churchills grandson) were also officers in the regiment.

Paul saw active duty in Afghanistan and Iraq and saw war first hand. He was continually engaged with the Taliban and was subjected to one of the biggest ambushes in the Afghan conflict. It was during this fight that he worked alongside one of the UKs most decorated soldiers Mick Flynn. The military angels were looking down at Paul and his comrades. They were engaged in a fight and despite being small in number they successfully defended their position. Some of their colleagues were less fortunate.

Mental trauma began to take hold and during an incident Paul had convinced himself that a man on the tube was carrying a bomb. Paul tackled the man to the ground and when police officers attended it was quickly discovered that the man was an innocent commuter and Paul was duly arrested and taken away in handcuffs. Despite the best efforts of some members of the military Paul remained in service but was eventually medically discharged..

After losing several comrades to suicide, Paul founded Head Up to enable veterans and service personnel to access mental health support. Paul works closely with Simon Moloney CGC - See his interview here!

Head-Up are collaborating with GymShark

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Andy Petherick is a keen fisherman from South Wales. He won a scholarship to Wycliffe College in Gloucester, his entrance exam included fishing and shooting. The Combined Cadet Force was run by Major Wes Thomas. Major Thomas put Andy on to the tracks by old fashioned methods!

At the conclusion of his education attempted to pursue a career in the Army. He was unsuccessful in his application to become an officer which meant he had to seek alternate employment.

Andy went on to work with Orvis for 5 years where he could continue his passion for fishing. It was during this period he was approached to become an editor for an angling magazine. He was able to fish across the world and cites a Salmon on the River Yocanga in Russia that he caught as one of his finest catches along with a bone fish.

It was during this period he was informed that there was opportunity to join the Special Forces as a reservist. The selection process for the reserves is the same as those who are in regular service who are looking to transfer.

Andy commenced his business life by distilling Gin . This became a viable business, but he was bought out by his partner. He now runs Hotspur Leaf which is a company that offer bespoke engraved bottles for Military personnel. From Daggers to Rifles Andy has a unique company that supplies products across the world to Special Forces, Regular units, Police and any other walk of life who want a bespoke item for a retirement or corporate gift.

to add further weight to this fantastic brand Andy has enlisted Jason Fox as an ambassador!

Main Website - www.hotspurleaf.com

Operator Pre Order: https://conta.cc/3Jq3AQe

Virtual shops: www.vpri.co.uk

Design your own stuff: www.leafdirect.store

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I have previously interviewed Gary Hayes on one of my earlier podcasts. His charity PTSD 999 have now received Charitable Status and we wanted to share the good news.

PTSD999 will deliver training to support any organisation please click on this link and make your enquiry.

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Andy was born in Scotland and during his student days he had an encounter with the Police which inspired him to join West Midland Police. After 6 years he decided to transfer to Strathclyde Police. He had to retrain at the Strathclyde Police Training College. There was a significant difference between the volume of crimes from drug related deaths, murders and violence compared to Coventry.

Andy commenced his service in the East End Of Glasgow and he would return here whenever he concluded a posting.

The east End Of Glasgow was an area known for its high volume of work. Stabbings and violence were prevalent. During his service he worked on the remote islands where he had to deal with the job everyday and he would never get a day off.

When he got promoted, he became a negotiator and gained a qualification as a Cognitive Behavioural Therapists. Since retirement he carries out his roles as a therapist but is with Police Care UK

He is now a published author Listening Skills for Effective Policing and is a registered counsellor and can be located by clicking the link

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Simon Ovens was born in 1967 at St Georges hospital on Hyde Park Corner which is now the Luxury Lainsborough Hotel.

At 19½ Simon joined the Metropolitan Police and commenced his residential training. His inspiration to join was Shaw Taylor on Police 5. Simon recalls patrolling in Tunics and helmets using a VDRS and HORTI book to perform his duties. Image and standards are large part of Simons professional ethos.

Simons first posting was Sutton, and it was a good grounding for his skills. He learnt the art of being a member of a team. His first step of management was running the local Tea Club.

Simon was a prolific thief taker and was introduced to the world of CID which he did not particularly like. Simon returned to uniform duties and took full advantage of opportunities. He became level 2 trained and was present during the first Poll Tax Riot.

As Sgts, Ray Gravet & John Lewis were inspirational to simon, and he chose to take part in the Sgts exam. However, he was unable to sit the exam because he had not served 5 years. The only way he could circumvent the rule was to be recommended by the Assistant Commissioner. Simon followed the chain of command. Simon put in his report and was seen by the Chief Superintendent Peter Lockley. Mr Lockley said that if Simon obtained an A Level in Law he would be supported. Simon duly obtained the exam and Mr Lockley facilitated the meeting between Simon and the commander. (John Coo) and sat his Sgts exam which he passed.

Simon climbed the ranks and worked with Tarique Ghaffur and was made a temporary C/Supt. His career was not without low points.

Simon’s career saw him move through a number of roles including the head of Traffic and Transport which he loved.

We discuss the closure of Police Stations is discussed along with the link between the police and the public.

In 1989 Simon attended was allocated the role as the mortuary liaison officer he was armed with a box which contained bags and tags. 5 people died and 88 injured.

During his service Simon was appointed as a deputy lieutenant for London. This appointment is sanctioned by Buckingham palace. It is voluntary and unpaid. At the time of the coronation simon was selected to meet and greet Kings Queens and Heads of State on behalf of King Charles III. This was a full-on role for a brief period and at 6am on the morning of the coronation he had to meet the head of an African nation as they arrived in the UK.

Simon’s role as a Deputy Lieutenant is to support community cohesion.

Simons service in the police and since has been distinguished he has supported Royal Weddings, Funerals and Jubilee Celebration. on Simons very last day in the police he was on horseback at the Kings Birthday parade. He saluted the King rode back to the stable dismounted and hung up his spurs. It is a day Simon will never forget.

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