The Massacre of Braybrook Street

I have been reading a lot about this case recently but am yet to find a completely thorough article. This is also not going to reach that end but it hopefully gives people an introduction to the case.

I have cross-checked facts against different sources so the information included is correct to the best of my knowledge. However, please do enlighten me as to any errors and I will work to rectify them.

The Massacre of Braybrook Street (also erroneously referred to as the Shepherd's Bush Murders) shattered what was shaping up to be an idyllic 1966. England had won the World Cup and the nation was enjoying a period of relative peace and stability, especially when considered in relation to events in the United States at the time.

All of this was shattered in just a few short moments one sunny August day on a council estate in London.

On August 12th at approximately 3: 15pm, three police officers were on undercover patrol in East Acton, London.

They were 25 year old Temporary Detective Constable David Wombwell, 30 year old Detective Sargent Christopher Head, and 41 year old Police Constable Geoffrey Fox who was acting as the driver, a role he often undertook.

The men were driving through the Old Oak Council Estate when they entered Braybrook Street and noticed a blue Standard Vaguard van with three occupants. The estate was very close to Wormwood Scrubs Prison and it was common for escapees to meet their getaway drivers in this area and so the officers decided to question the men. There is a theory that one officer may have recognised one of the van's occupants as a known criminal but there is no way to confirm this. The van had an expired tax disc anyway (and, indeed, the insurance had also expired earlier that day) so was being illegally driven and therefore the officers had more than enough to question the van driver about.

The van's driver was John 'Jack' Witney and the other two occupants were John Duddy and Harry Roberts. Witney (aged approximately 36 and married) had ten prior convictions for theft while Duddy (37) had been in trouble as a youngster for the same but had no known convictions since 1948 and was working as a lorry driver. He did, however, have a drinking problem and had recently fallen in with his two co-occupants. Roberts was 29 and a career criminal with convictions for violent robbery amongst other things. Later in life, Roberts would tell of his troubled childhood in order to illicit sympathy but would also boast of killing prisoners of war in cold blood whilst in the army in Malaya; he would later say that police officers and prisoners of war were alike - inhuman and free to be killed at will. The three men were on their way to commit an armed robbery against a money-lender and so had handguns in the vehicle, an offence that would get them - as convicted criminals - a 15 year prison sentence.

DS Head and DC Wombwell approached the van and questioned Witney about the tax and insurance. Witney pleaded with the officers to let him off. Roberts, however, had other ideas. He shot DC Wombell through the left eye, killing him instantly. DS Head attempted to run back to the safety of their own vehicle but Roberts chased him down and shot him in the head, leaving him mortally wounded. Duddy retrieved a second of three guns from the vehicle and shot PC Fox three times through the window as he reversed his unmarked police car towards the scene of the initial shootings. Roberts also fired at him. As Fox died, the car lurched forward, running over the dying DS Head.
Witney, who had not left the van, collected his two accomplices and reversed out of the street and sped away, only to be noticed by a local resident who gave the registration number of the suspicious vehicle to the police. The van was actually owned by Witney and he was arrested at his home that evening. The van was found in a lock-up belonging to Witney the following day. Witney confessed everything to the police on August 14th and named Duddy and Roberts as the shooters. Duddy was arrested on August 17th in his home-town of Glasgow after his own brother tipped the police off.

That just left Harry Roberts.
Roberts was determined to avoid capture and did for over 90 days by using his military training to hide out in Epping Forest. He was eventually arrested on November 17th at Blount Farm near Bishop's Stortford after falling asleep in a barn, just as Duddy and Witney were about to start their trial without him. Indeed, their trial was adjourned to allow prosecutors time to prepare their case against Roberts so the three could stand trial together.

The new trial began on December 6th and was all over by the 12th. Roberts admitted killing DS Head and DC Wombell but Duddy and Witney denied all charges. Witney was the only one to appear in his own defence, painting Roberts as the ring leader who terrified the two men into doing his bidding. The three were convicted of the murders of the police officers and were sentenced to life imprisonment. The death penalty had been abolished the previous year but this case renewed calls for it to be reinstated in the circumstance of cop killers, an argument that rages to this day. While life imprisonment does not actually mean that in the UK and can vary as to how long is served, the judge did recommend a minimum 30 year sentence for each man.

There was public outrage that such a terrible event could occur when the three police officers were simply doing their jobs. Thousands of citizens and police officers attended the funeral and memorial service of the three men. There was also mass public support for the families of the three men with Billy Butlin of the Holiday Camps donating £250,000 to the newly established Police Dependants' Trust. The tabloid newspaper The Mirror funded a photography degree for Paul Fox, the son of PC Geoffrey Fox and helped his move to the United States in order for him to have a chance at a new life away from the trauma of that August afternoon.
In 1988, a permanent memorial was placed on Braybrook Street to honour the three men.

As for the convicted men? Duddy died in Parkhurst Prison of undisclosed causes on February 8th 1981. Witney had his sentence reduced as he had not actually shot any of the police officers and was released from prison in 1991. On 14th August 1999, exactly 33 years after his confession to the police, Witney was found brutally murdered in his home at 56 Douglas Road, Horfield, Bristol. Neighbours were as equally shocked to hear not only of his murder but also of his role in the Braybrook Street incident; they said he was just another quiet old pensioner who liked going to the pub with his friends. He had, however, revealed his past to his closest friends who said he had been haunted by the murders and was full of remorse. He suffered terrible nightmares and so chose to work with a rehabilitation program to help other offenders stay straight after prison. He had been divorced by his wife whilst in prison and initially became a lorry driver upon his release but was badly injured in a road accident in 1996 and so had to retire. He was beaten to death with a hammer by his heroin-addicted house-mate, Nigel Evans, and the killing had nothing to do with the events of 1966. Witney truly regretted the suffering he had helped to cause.

And then there is Harry Roberts. When parole comes up, he states he is remorseful for what he put the families of the victims through. The rest of the time, he makes pastry figures of policemen being shot and uses them as apple pie decoration or he paints very graphic pictures of police killings. He seems to take pride in his notoriety.

Harry Roberts became a cult figure for some; the cop killer who became a hero. Football supporters chant his name to goad the police at matches. OK, this is largely Millwall supporters who are the biggest bunch of fuckwits to ever work out how to climb on a bus and go wreck the cities of their opponents AT EVERY AWAY MATCH but they still, unfortunately, have a voice and are influencing a whole new generation of morons to hate the police and glorify killers.

Now in his 70s, Roberts remains in prison with parole being declined. Why? Because he is a danger to the public and should never be released.

Back in 2001, Roberts was at an open prison when he started doing day release at a local animal sanctuary. He ingratiated himself with the owners initially, before he realised they had discovered his past, and then he switched to intimidation to maintain his cushy role. Amongst other acts, he forced the owners to drive him places, to insure a car for him (prisoners are not allowed cars), to host his criminal friends, including someone Roberts referred to as "the chainsaw man" following his revelation that the man enjoyed torturing people with the afore-mentioned tool, and to write a character witness statement for him to help with his release from prison.

The family were terrified of him and knew if they went to the prison for help, Roberts would find out. He regularly threatened them and caused them great emotional suffering.

The family managed to get a friend with high-ranking political connections to intervene and get him removed from their home. Roberts immediately suspected they had reported him and was livid when he was returned to closed prison. The authorities decided to use their evidence to keep Roberts in prison; they promised to protect the family from harm and never reveal their identities.

Over the next four years, Roberts called the female sanctuary owner up to five nights a week, making veiled threats and demanding she visit him in prison so that he could be much more graphic with his descriptions of his intentions.

This was the least of their problems, though. Over the four years, the family had to undergo one of their horses being hacked to death with an axe - she was a gentle creature who everyone loved; the killers attempted to hang her from a tree and dragged her a long distance where she fought them valiantly. They eventually chopped part of her head off - a donkey was beaten to death with a baseball bat, another horse was hit in the leg so hard that the vet had no choice but to put it to sleep, a further horse was blinded in one eye after being beaten with a pipe, the family cat was electrocuted (and later that day during one of his persistent calls, Roberts asked how the cat was, making it clear he had ordered this and other attacks, even explaining how easy it was to electrocute a cat), and a peacock was strangled.

The family remained strong and gave evidence, proving that Roberts should not be released. He remains in prison and the family are still traumatised by events and never received the privacy and protection that the authorities offered; they eventually had to give evidence in an open parole hearing with Roberts and his lawyer present.

Roberts has shown himself to be a violent criminal who takes pleasure in the suffering of others. He will never reform because he does not want to. He even once said he just wanted to go fishing, knowing that Geoffrey Fox was an avid fisherman and that his words would hurt the policeman's children greatly; after-all their dad can't just go fishing.

This information is all in the public domain. So why do people campaign for his release and hold him up as a great hero?

The quick answer is because they choose ignorance over common decency. They argue that he has done his time so should be released. While I agree with the principle, in British law no one should be released until they repent and can prove that they will not re-offend. Prior to these murders, Roberts beat an elderly man who never recovered from his injuries. Roberts was imprisoned for the attack but the man died just over a year later. Had he died two days earlier, Roberts would have faced a murder trial and the death penalty. He never showed remorse for that attack and went on to kill again. Sure, he is an old man now but with so many "followers", is there any evidence at all that he is no longer a danger to the public?

As for these "artists" that campaigned for his release? How about campaigning for his victims to rest in peace? You aren't being controversial; you are being stupid.