Harry Roberts, the orchestrator of the tragic Shepherd’s Bush killings in 1966, has passed away, as reported by the Mirror. The incident, known as the ‘massacre of Braybrook Street,’ saw three Metropolitan Police officers fatally shot on August 12, 1966, after they approached Roberts and two others in a van for an expired tax disc.
Inside the van, Roberts, along with John Duddy and Jack Witney, possessed a bag of weapons, including a Luger P08 and a .38 Enfield revolver, with plans to steal another vehicle for an armed robbery. Shots were fired, resulting in the deaths of Detective Sergeant Christopher Head, Temporary Detective Constable David Wombwell, and Police Constable Geoffrey Fox.
Roberts, a former soldier with jungle warfare experience, managed to evade capture for three months following the incident. He was eventually apprehended near Bishop’s Stortford after hiding in Epping Forest in Essex. Roberts, along with Duddy and Witney, received murder convictions on December 12, 1966, with the judge labeling it as a grave crime.
Due to the recent abolition of capital punishment in the UK, the trio was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 30 years. Roberts was released in 2014 at the age of 78, after serving 48 years in prison, sparking criticism from the victims’ families and the Met Police Federation.