THE Police Federation of England and Wales has written to the Home Secretary calling for \u201cassurance\u201d that the \u201clife means life\u201d law change for police officer killers will come \u201curgently\u201d.<\/p>\n
There remains widespread anger among police officers and the public after it emerged police killer Harry Roberts has been released from prison. The letter from Federation Chairman Steve White (pictured) to Theresa May explained that many police officers feel badly let down by Roberts\u2019 release.<\/p>\n
Mr White said: \u201cWhile Harry Roberts may have served 48 years in prison, we must not lose sight that he was involved in the brutal murder of three unarmed police officers; their families have been condemned to a life sentence without their loved ones.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe public outcry also demonstrates the strength of feeling among the law-abiding British public who understand that police officers put themselves in dangerous positions to protect their communities, but rightly expect the backing of the law and criminal justice system in doing so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr White also said that the Home Secretary should know personally from recent events, such as National Police Memorial Day and the Police Bravery Awards, that police officers charged with protecting the public frequently face extremely dangerous and life threatening situations.<\/p>\n
At PFEW\u2019s annual conference in May 2013, the Home Secretary pledged to change the law so that anyone convicted of killing a police officer would receive a life sentence without parole.<\/p>\n
When news broke about Harry Robert\u2019s imminent release the Home Secretary reiterated that position, saying: \u201cI strongly believe that anyone who murders a police officer belongs behind bars for life. That is why I have made sure the Government will change the law so life will mean life for anyone who murders a police officer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roberts, now 78, was jailed for life for murdering three unarmed officers in Shepherd\u2019s Bush, west London, in 1966. The police officers were shot when they approached a van containing Roberts and two other gang members, John Duddy and John Witney, following an armed robbery.<\/p>\n
Sgt Christopher Head, 30, and 25-year-old DC David Wombwell were shot by Roberts, while PC Geoffrey Fox, 41, was killed by Duddy.<\/p>\n
Jim Lucas, secretary of South Yorkshire Police Federation, said: \u201cWe have a man whose crime was that he killed three police officers and the parole board has seen fit to release him. The Home Secretary at conference earlier in the year said life should mean life for police killers and yet under our noses this chap is being released.<\/p>\n
\u201cOfficers see it as a kick in the teeth because what he did was so horrendous. If that happened today it would still be horrendous. Life should mean life when people are killing police officers who are out there protecting the public.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE Police Federation of England and Wales has written to the Home Secretary calling for \u201cassurance\u201d that the \u201clife means life\u201d law change for police officer killers will come \u201curgently\u201d.\u2026 read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1186,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1558"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1558"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1559,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1558\/revisions\/1559"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}