Harry Roberts, one of Britain's most notorious criminals and the orchestrator of the 1966 Shepherd's Bush murders, has died at the age of 89. Roberts spent nearly 48 years in prison for the execution-style killings of three Metropolitan Police officers, a crime that shocked the nation and earned the grim nickname the 'massacre of Braybrook Street'.
The Day of the Massacre
On August 12, 1966, three officers on a routine patrol in Shepherd's Bush, west London, stopped a car over an expired tax disc. Unbeknownst to them, the vehicle's occupants—Harry Roberts and his accomplices John Duddy and Jack Witney—were armed and planning a robbery later that night. They were carrying a Luger P08 pistol and a .38 Enfield revolver, intending to steal another car for their getaway.
The situation escalated fatally when Roberts and his gang opened fire. Detective Sergeant Christopher Head, 30, Temporary Detective Constable David Wombwell, 25, and Police Constable Geoffrey Fox, 41, were all shot. Roberts shot DC Wombwell through the left eye. As DS Head ran back towards the police car, Roberts shot him too. Two of the officers died instantly at the scene on Braybrook Street.
A Three-Month Manhunt and Capture
While Duddy and Witney were arrested swiftly, Roberts, a former soldier with jungle warfare experience from the 1948 Malayan Emergency, used his survival skills to evade capture. He hid in Epping Forest in Essex, living in a makeshift camp for three months. His freedom ended on November 15, 1966, when police apprehended him near Bishop's Stortford.
At their trial, the court heard chilling evidence of the cold-blooded attacks. Just under a month after his capture, on December 12, 1966, Roberts was convicted of murder alongside Duddy and Witney. The trial judge, Mr Justice Glyn-Jones, described the crime as "the most heinous crime for a generation or more."
Life Behind Bars and Legacy
The trio were spared the death penalty because capital punishment had been abolished in Britain only months before. Instead, they received life sentences with a recommended minimum term of 30 years. Roberts ultimately served one of the longest prison sentences in British history.
He was finally released on parole in 2014, after spending almost five decades in custody. The murders left an indelible scar on the Metropolitan Police and the public consciousness, remembered annually at a memorial service held at Westminster Abbey for the fallen officers. The case remains a defining moment in the history of British criminal justice and police safety.
