He was a gentle giant of a cop who survived being shot in an incident which shocked Britain. Sergeant James Bowden, who has died aged 78, was one of two officers who carried out a routine check which led to a cold blooded killing by a gunman with a grudge.
In the early hours of September 14th 1989, Inspector Ray Codling, 49, was shot dead after he and Sergeant Bowden, then 44, went to the west bound area of Birch Service Station on the M62 to make inquiries about a van.
There, they saw a man in a motorcycle leather jacket and crash helmet. They conducted a check on his details and he provided a false ID, before asking the officers directions to the café and walking towards it. When the officers went to check his bike, they saw him running towards them.
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Sergeant Bowden saw a bone-handled knife in a sheath on the man's belt and went to take the knife from him. The man pulled his hand from inside his jacket and fired against the sergeant's chest but the bullet deflected off his notebook.
He then levelled a pistol at the newly promoted Inspector Codling and shot him, striking the left side of his chest into his heart. Then, as he lay helpless, he fired a second bullet into Insp Codling's head.
As the killer fled, several more shots were fired and Sergeant Bowden was hit below his left knee. His blood flow was restricted and he required surgery to save his foot.
The then Chief Constable, James Anderton was woken at 2.30am and told of the killing. He comforted the Inspector's second wife, Linda. Other officers broke the news to his first wife, Barbara, and their three children, Simon, Darryl, and Katherine.
Tributes were paid to Inspector Codling by then Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Labour leader Neil Kinnock.
The Italian self-loading pistol and ammunition used to kill Inspector Codling had been stolen from a member of Diggle Gun Club in Saddleworth. As Greater Manchester and the country was still reeling from the execution of a police officer there was a dramatic development.
News broke of a man shooting himself dead in Barnsley. The man was Anthony Kenneth Hughes, 42, from Bideford Drive, Baguley, Wythenshawe, who police were hunting in connection with the killing. Hughes was already wanted for robberies in which guns had been fired in the previous three weeks.
Armed police had moved into the Yorkshire town after Hughes appeared at the home of a Catholic priest. He asked where Father Maurice Keenan was and then went next door to a primary school, bursting into the staff room and demanding to see the priest. Teachers evacuated 100 children from the school.
Twelve hours after Inspector Codling was murdered, Hughes' body was found in Father Keenan's garage. As police closed in he had shot himself in the head. A confession was found in a diary on his body - but there was no message of regret for the officer's family.
In 1987 Hughes had been convicted of unlawfully possessing firearms and was given a six month suspended sentence at Oldham Magistrates Court. His criminal career began in 1960 when he stole a bicycle. He then committed an horrendous series of crimes, including raping an air stewardess at Manchester Airport, while wearing a stolen police uniform. He had shot someone before - a petrol pump attendant during a robbery in Stretford.
At Inspector Codling's funeral, Chief Constable James Anderton told mourners at Blackley Crematorium: "In a few moments of indescribable brutality and horror the Codling family lost their loved one, the Greater Manchester police force a first class inspector and the public a faithful servant. And all because a cruel and senseless criminal was at odds with himself and the world."
Ray's son Darryl would become a police officer with GMP, disarming a gunman in 1996. His grandson, Hayden Healey also became a police officer.
Now, police colleagues, friends and family are paying tribute to Ray Codling's colleague on that fateful night, Sgt James Bowden.
In a memo to retired officers, the National Association of Retired Police Officers said: "I'm sad to notify that retired sergeant James Bowden passed away on 8th December at Fairfield Hospital, Bury, aged 78 years.
"Jim was a PC at Park Lane station on the F Division (Salford) and was promoted to Rochdale in 1988. He survived being shot at Birch Services in 1989 and eventually retired in 2000."
Former Salford PC, Shaun Concah, said: "I worked with Jim when he was at HQ helping us community bobbies, then when I moved to schools liaison and was school-based. What a gent Jim was, and gentle giant.
"He helped me get funding to run Crucial Crew for Salford (and other divisions ), Year 6 primary schools, and drugs prevention education we were teaching in the high schools. It was always good to have had a former Salford bobby at Chester House. (GMP's former HQ)."
Sergeant Bowden is survived by his wife Jennifer, and daughters, Kirstine, Tarin and Kaila. He had five grandchildren. The service and interment will be at Christ Church, Ainsworth on Wednesday 4 January 2023 at 11.30am.
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