Crime Scene Investigator (16 page)

So the knowledge that Stephen was a suspected wheelman and finding a VW key with no apparent accompanying car really caught our attention.

What made it more interesting still was that there had been two armed robberies on Post Office security vans in the week preceding Stephen’s death. The last was only a few days before his body was found.

Keith was a little unsure what to do with the VW key and where it could take us. I had some hope that there was intelligence locked literally in the key’s manufacture. I was struck by how new and unused it looked. We made enquiries at a local VW car dealer and found that the key was a new sort fitted to that year’s models. Things moved quickly from there on. A call to VW revealed that there were a thousand or so combinations for each key. The new models were only a few months old. So we managed to get a full list of every car which had that key number fitted. It was a pretty long list. Finally, Keith ran the index numbers of each vehicle through the police computer. We hit the jackpot. One and only one VW with that key number was reported as stolen. It had not been recovered and there was every likelihood that it was sitting somewhere bearing the false plates of another vehicle, hiding its true identity.

The Vehicle Identification Number was circulated as this was the best way to identify a vehicle’s true identity. An extensive search failed to find the car, but Keith and I were ready once it was found to see if it bore false plates, attached by rubber tape and if the key fitted.

The robbery series on Post Office security vans using VW getaway cars stopped with Stephen’s death. Our information helped the murder squad detectives. It appeared that Stephen had been shot by the leader of the gang when he failed to meet them early one morning for another planned robbery. The leader went to Stephen’s flat; finding him drunk and unable to drive, his anger exploded and he coolly shot Stephen. It was the killer who had called the police. Although he planned to use the VW car, he took the wrong key, he took the key to Stephen’s own car.

It was a year later that I received a call that the VW had been found. I went to examine it with a colleague, Keith couldn’t come but he waited on the end of the phone to hear the outcome.

Sure enough the plates were false and attached with strips of double-sided tape. And the key sweetly opened the door and started the engine.

We also managed to solve the other robbery series involving the Ford Sierra cars. Once the robbers had been identified and arrested, a search of one of their premises revealed, amongst other important items such as guns, a box of screws matching those I had found on each of the previously examined getaway cars. The scientist at the lab could only comment that they were of the same size and type, and were from the same manufacturer. I gave evidence at the trial regarding the somewhat unusual manner in which the original plates and plastic screws had been replaced by false plates and that visually indistinguishable metal screws were found on each Ford Sierra in the series of robberies on Post Office security vans. Although not specific or necessarily strong enough evidence to link the suspect to the crime, it had some evidential value when considered with other evidence. More importantly, it linked the scenes together by method and thereby strengthened the case.

Villains don’t like ‘grasses’. It is a dangerous and lonely occupation within the criminal world. Usually, a police informant or ‘grass’ is someone on the periphery of a criminal gang, but it is someone who knows what has gone on and sometimes, more usefully, what is about to happen.

Investigating serious and organised crime is a difficult task, so if someone is on the inside and is willing to help the police the offer will rarely be turned down. Some grasses may actually be part of the criminal gang. So their participation must be carefully handled, with full consent given, clear guidelines followed and with painstaking management by their police handlers and senior police commanders. Such a grass is classed as a participating informant. They must not encourage or be part of the planning of the crime in any way or they would be rightly accused of provocation, egging the crime on, a crime which would not happen if they weren’t involved. They are encouraged to frustrate the crime, leaving the main participants to be arrested for less substantial offences, such as conspiracy.

Occasionally, when a team of criminals is arrested for a serious offence such as armed robbery, one of them might opt to roll over, turn Queen’s evidence and be a grass, not only in the case for which they have been arrested but for others the gang has committed. There must be no incentive or promises to the individual, other than that the judge will be told of their help in the investigation. A prison sentence, albeit a shorter one, will be served in separate prison facilities. With safeguards in place such an individual may be given ‘resident informant’ or ‘supergrass’ status. Then the work of the police really begins.

The supergrass system had, however, fallen into serious disrepute in the 1970s. The system had been completely discarded in armed robbery investigations. A number of high-profile cases had collapsed when the evidence of the supergrass was discredited. They were often accused of giving the police what they wanted to hear. Easily contested by strong defence counsel and without independent corroboration, the use of supergrasses served no use. But that was about to change. There was a new tool and I, like many others, was trained to use it. The crime scene and forensic science evidence was to make or break this case.

The first offence which the Flying Squad investigated, one which was to become part of a large series, occurred in the spring of 1985. Early one morning, three armed men arrived at the crematorium in Enfield, north London. They took the staff hostage and waited for a security van to arrive. The van was due to drop off a small amount of wages but, unknown to the gang, the delivery time had been changed that morning. The gang waited but, once the expected time passed, they left the staff tied up and departed empty-handed. A device had been strapped to one of the hostages. It was found to be a viable device and, although no explosive substance was present, it could have caused some injury.

Two weeks later, Hertfordshire Police were called to the premises of Cross and Herbert in Hoddeston. Members of staff had been tied up and held hostage by two men, again when a security van was due to arrive. The van’s crew sensed something was wrong as the area was unusually quiet and aborted the drop. So once again the gang left empty-handed.

Three weeks later, the Flying Squad investigated an attempted armed robbery at a business premises in Brimsdown, Enfield. Three men took the staff hostage whilst they expected a security van to arrive. It didn’t, so they left.

Two months later, the premises of Imperial Cold Storage in Tottenham took the gang’s attention. Two men armed with a handgun and a shotgun took members of staff hostage. A security van arrived and one guard made a drop but he was quickly attacked and an explosive device was strapped to him with threats that if he didn’t comply it would be detonated. He was made to go back to the van. His colleagues were overpowered.

By this time other workers were arriving for work and a shot was fired. A manager too arrived and he was overpowered and another shot was fired. The gang escaped in the manager’s car with a large quantity of cash.

The Flying Squad linked these scenes together because descriptions and other factors matched and, quite simply, largescale robberies are not that common. The gang had left a number of items behind, but not a single finger mark. Most interesting to Detective Constable Kevin Shapland, who was investigating the crimes, was the explosive device which they had left strapped to the terrified guard at Imperial Cold Storage.

Kevin arranged for the offence to be publicised on the BBC
Crimewatch
programme. This was a now monthly opportunity for police to appeal to a large TV audience for any information members of the public might have regarding serious crime investigations. It was popular prime TV viewing and it had resulted in many successes. Apart from members of the public calling in, police and prison officers from around the country would watch in and have information which the police network had failed to communicate. This is not a criticism but a reality with the sheer volume of information which circulates in the police service. The programme has also resulted in the prompt arrest of suspects whose descriptions or photographs have been so accurate that the suspects themselves walked into a police station to give themselves up.

The device was shown on the programme but the response was lukewarm at best, but then something happened which can only be described as luck. Luck is something which sometime happens and Kevin could be said to be luckier than most detectives. The saying ‘you make you own luck’ has elements of truth. Kevin’s sheer productivity led to things which meant nothing on their own suddenly falling into place.

A young boy living in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire had been watching TV one night and slotted in a video to watch a film he had recorded some weeks before. The video had recorded part of the
Crimewatch
programme which was broadcast before the film. The boy saw Kevin’s appeal and, more importantly, recognised the device. The boy was, like many teenage boys, a bit of a geek, a bit of a hoarder. A few weeks before, the boy had been looking through a plastic bag left out by a neighbour for that morning’s refuse collection in the road where he lived. In it he found a circuit board which looked remarkably like the one which Kevin had shown. The boy also found a mask and a wig. The boy kept the pieces and was particularly inquisitive about the device, but having studied it and played with the mask he later threw all the pieces away.

The boy called the local police, who contacted Kevin. Although the boy had thrown away the device he had found he was able to draw it. Kevin was convinced that this was a firm lead and no coincidence. So he made enquiries about the occupant of Emerald, the house outside which the boy had found the items. The house had recently changed hands. The previous owner ran an electrical business, but enquiries led nowhere, and it was pretty clear that he had nothing whatsoever to do with the robberies. Kevin’s attention moved to the new occupants. David and Rita Croke moved to Emerald from rented accommodation in Enfield where they had lived for many years. David apparently had no regular job and Kevin ascertained that he had a couple of very minor criminal conviction many years before. The house was in Rita’s name, but had been bought outright for cash.

Kevin was working on other investigations and other lines of enquiry. But he made more discreet enquiries about the Emerald lead and would pass by the house at regular intervals and note the registration numbers of cars parked on the drive or nearby.

It was then that another offence took place. In December 1985 Joe Symes, who worked as a guard at the Armaguard security depot in Harlow, Essex, returned home late one evening. Opening the door he found his wife and daughter being held hostage in their own home by two armed and masked men. It was apparent the men knew a lot about Joe and his family and where he worked. They strapped a device to him and told him that they would detonate it if he didn’t do exactly as they said.

Joe and his family were kept hostage overnight. His wife and child were allowed to go to sleep but Joe was quizzed. Joe was a custodian, so he held one of the sets of keys to the premises, but two sets were needed to gain full access to the company vault. Another custodian needed to be overpowered. Very early the following morning Joe was made to drive back to his place of work. As other workers, including a second custodian, arrived for work they were attacked. This gave the gang full access to the vault and allowed them to strip it of a large quantity of cash. The employees were locked in a room and it was a few hours before the alarm was raised. Joe’s wife and child were found unharmed, but tied up at the family home. They were terrified and had suffered a long ordeal. The robbery was the largest in Essex Police’s history and news quickly filtered through to the Flying Squad office. Essex set up a major incident room headed by a detective superintendent.

The device was disrupted by the Army Ordnance Corps. But when later reconstructed it was found to be a dummy. It was found to contain nothing more than wires and lights, which nevertheless had a terrifying effect on the victims.

Kevin made immediate contact with the Essex investigation team. He was seconded to the investigation there for a short while. There was a concern that the
Crimewatch
programme may have led to a copycat team trying their luck. It was a serious concern which needed to be borne in mind.

Further observations were made of the coming and goings at Emerald. One day there was particular activity at the premises. Surveillance photographs showed the presence of a car that was registered to the wife of a man also very well known amongst detective for his past criminal activity. There was also a photograph of a tall slim man. When the photograph was passed around the Flying Squad office, Phil Burrows, a detective sergeant, immediately recognised him. The man was Don Barrett. He was a former supergrass and a division one armed robber. The investigation was given an official operation title and Operation Standard was born.