Crooks came prepared for violence...and they got it at bloody battle of Heathrow

intended to drop off at the first set of traffic lights; instead the lorry conveyed him to the yard at Harlington police station from where he made his escape.

After some muchneeded sleep, food and hospital treatment, the officers accompanied the robbers to Uxbridge magistrates court where the incredulous magistrate heard brief evidence of arrest before remanding the gang in custody.

On September 17, the gang appeared at the Old Bailey. They had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to rob but not guilty to assaulting the police. Now, they pleaded guilty to robbing DS Charlie Hewett of four keys, whilst armed. After listening to unconvincing mitigation, the Recorder of London, Sir Gerald Dodson, told them: “One can only describe this as the battle of the BOAC, for that is what it degenerated into. It is a thing honest people regard with terror and great abhorrence. You went prepared for violence and you got it. You got the worst of it and you can hardly complain about that.” Seven of the gang were sentenced to between five and 12 years.

And what of hard-man Alfred Roome? As the Recorder sentenced him to 10 years, Roome broke down and sobbed. It was to have a farreaching effect. Roome was ostracised in prison. Upon his release his former associates continued this exclusion and after his wife started an affair with a younger man, Roome became so unbalanced he blamed the pair for everything. He launched a frenzied attack on them and then took poison. They survived – Roome did not.

It was a time of celebration for the Flying Squad; all of them were commended by the commissioner and the case passed into Squad folklore.

The Sweeney: The First Sixty Years of Scotland Yard’s Crimebusting Flying Squad 1919-1978 by Dick Kirby is published by Wharncliffe Books.

Officers hid behind packing cases