Harry Roberts, the triple police killer whose 1966 murders shocked Britain and triggered one of the country’s largest manhunts, has died aged 89.
Roberts died in hospital last Saturday after a short illness, the Sun reported. He had been living in sheltered accommodation in Peterborough after his release on licence in 2014, after serving 48 years in prison for the killings.
The case shaped public debate on sentencing, parole and the protection of police officers.
Roberts’ murders took place on 12 August 1966 in Shepherd’s Bush, west London. DS Christopher Head, 30, DC David Wombwell, 25, and PC Geoffrey Fox, 41, had stopped a van containing Roberts and his associates John Duddy and John Witney.
The officers were carrying out a routine check when Roberts opened fire without warning, killing Wombwell at the scene and shooting Head in the back. Fox, who was seated in an unmarked police car, was shot through the windscreen.
The brutality of the attack caused nationwide shock at a time when armed violence against police was exceptionally rare.
The killings led to a 96-day search, one of the most extensive in British policing history. Roberts used his former military training to evade capture before he was eventually found sleeping rough in Hertfordshire. All three men were convicted at the Old Bailey.
Capital punishment had been abolished the previous year, but the judge described the murders as “the most heinous crime for a generation or more” and imposed a life sentence with a minimum tariff of 30 years.
Roberts became one of Britain’s most notorious inmates and was repeatedly refused parole amid concerns about his behaviour and associations. His eventual release in 2014 prompted anger within policing, and news of his death has renewed longstanding criticism.
Matt Cane, general secretary of the Metropolitan police federation, said: “The three officers murdered by Roberts never got a chance to grow old. The life sentence for their loved ones still continues. Life should mean life if you murder a police officer in the course of their duties – Roberts should never have been freed.”
Duddy and Witney both died years earlier. The case remains a defining reference point in discussions about sentencing, policing and public protection in the UK.
