But Felicity was interested. She found the fact that Ben was rather shy, somewhat endearing. He was quite unlike the other men she had attracted in the past. He wasn’t a braggart, obsessed with money or a “Hooray- Henry” or “Something in the City.” He was interesting, yet he was quite understated. She liked that.
Ben was also ruggedly handsome and tall and dark with a muscular physique. She noted that he could do with a good tailor as his suit was rather old and out of date, yet there was definitely something about him. He had potential for development and Felicity knew that Ben was interested in her. She could always tell.
After they had taken coffee Felicity requested that the waiter provide her with the bill. Ben gallantly offered to pay but she would not hear of it. After all it was her way of saying thank you. Well it would do for now, anyway. She thought.
She drove Benny back into town and offered to drop him off away from the Police Station since ‘She didn’t want to get him into trouble.’ As the vehicle came to a halt Benny took Felicity’s hand to shake it and said, ‘thank you for lunch I really enjoyed that. Could I perhaps return the favour by buying you dinner sometime soon? ‘Yes, I’d like that. I am away in Milan next week but if you could call me the following Monday we’ll catch up then.’ She then gave Benny a peck on the cheek. As Felicity drove off she smiled. He would do nicely. Very nicely.
Although he was technically off duty Benny had to drop off the paperwork and property book so he walked back to the Police Station. He was pleased that Felicity had been shrewd enough to drop him off away from work. Some Bugger would have been bound to have seen him then it would be all around the Nick. He didn’t want anything to sully this relationship even before it had got off of the ground. She was special and he had to think of a way to impress her without being crass and obvious. He reflected on their lunch date. God he felt alive, but whatever happened to his playing it cool?
Chapter 37 – Planned Blag.
A couple of days had elapsed and Benny was in the “Crow’s Nest,” sitting at his desk and staring into space. He was dreaming about the lovely Felicity. He had just started yet another fitness regime. Because he had no summer sport and the football season was over he was starting to get a bit flabby around the waist. He was going to have to really work at this relationship, if indeed there was going to be a relationship, and if he ever did get a chance to sleep with her he didn’t want the passion ruined by a fat gut.
Then the tannoy cut into his daydream. It was Mary on the switchboard, ‘If Mike Hunt is in the building can you telephone the switchboard please? Mike Hunt, Mike Hunt, telephone the switchboard please.’
‘Bloody Hell,’ said Terry, ‘The Chief Superintendent is in the building. He’ll go spare if he hears that.’
The tannoy exploded again, ‘Mike Hunt to call the switchboard please.’
Benny just couldn’t resist going downstairs to the Control Room to see if the “penny had dropped” with Mary. As he entered the room he saw that the front office PC, Paul Clough, was sitting with his head in his hands giggling and the Station Sergeant, who was Roy Cook, was standing over Mary who was sitting with her headset on looking puzzled. ‘Let’s go and have a cup of tea in my office Mary, Paul can take over for ten minutes.’
Roy Cook was to quietly explain to Mary the error of her ways and she would be mortified. Mary would tell him that she had taken a call from the Regional Crime Squad who had told her that two of their officers were visiting the station and that they needed to reach them urgently. As luck would have it Chief Superintendent Short had left the building some 15 minutes before the call came in. The identity of the caller remained a mystery.
Later in the week Benny was again at his desk mulling over some paperwork when he took a call from Mary, who was again on the switchboard, ‘Somebody wants to speak to you Benny but they won’t say who they are.’ ‘Put them through please Mary,’ Benny answered the phone.
‘Benny, its Lenny Gibbs. I need to speak to you. Can we have a meet?’
Benny suggested that they meet at a remote car park on the seafront, after the lunchtime session around 4pm. He was the first to arrive. Benny had used his own VW Beetle so that he could remain inconspicuous. Lee-over-sands was like a small village and most of the local “scrotes” new the CID. Their curiosity would be drawn to whatever might be happening and if Lenny Gibbs was seen having a meeting with a detective it would require some kind of convincing explanation on his part.
After about 10 minutes of waiting Benny saw Len’s old Rover 2000 pull into the car park. Len checked that the area was clear of prying eyes and when he felt comfortable he trotted across to Benny’s VW and got into the car beside him.
‘I’ll make it quick Benny. Patsy O’Dowd and Tommy Baker are planning to rob the Unit 4 cash run outside the Midland Bank in the Town. They’ve got a sawn off shotgun and I think that they’ve got somebody on the inside who will tell them the estimated time of the delivery which usually happens on a Wednesday or Thursday.’
‘Have you any idea how soon this is likely to happen?’ said Benny.
‘Well it will have to be in the next two weeks because Baker is due up at Crown Court on the 10th July for sentencing on a GBH. He reckons that he will get bird and he wants the money from the robbery so he and his old woman can fuck off to Spain.’
‘How do you know all this then Len?’
‘Well, I don’t know if you know that Kathy and I have split up.’
‘Yes, I had heard,’ said Benny.
‘Well, Tommy Baker’s misses, Sadie, works for me behind the bar now and I’ve been consoling her because Baker’s a nasty bastard and he’s been knocking her about.’
‘You’ve been shagging her you mean,’ said Benny.
‘Precisely,’ said Gibbs, ‘Anyway he wanted her to go with him and she won’t. That was another pasting he gave her.’
‘Does she know who the person on the inside is?’
‘No.’
‘What about the car they are going to use for the job?’
‘I might be able to find out from her about that. Thing is she doesn’t know that I’m speaking to you.’
‘It would be good as well Len, if you could find out where the sawn-off is being kept.’ ‘I’ll try but I’ve got to tread very carefully. She’s not a bad kid but she can’t make up her mind whether to leave him or not. She could easily say the wrong thing to him in the heat of the moment and I would be totally in the shit.’
‘I understand,’ said Benny, ‘Thanks for that and be careful, yeah. Stay in touch.’
Benny let Gibbs leave the car park first and gave it 5 minutes before he himself drove back to the town. Once he was back in the office Benny related the information to Terry Connor and they then had a meeting with Brian Johnson. In this instance, the main consideration was the preservation of life which, perversely, included the lives of the two suspects. There was also the safety of Lenny Gibbs and Sadie Baker to be taken into account. In order that the Assistant Chief Constable could make an informed decision on the possible issue of firearms Benny would have to divulge the true nature and identity of the source.
Lenny Gibbs was getting the information second hand and at present there was no means of corroborating it. The only facts that could be confirmed were that of Baker’s impending court date and the fact that Unit 4 did indeed deliver to and collect cash from the Midland Bank. However, those basic details could have been easily obtained and embroidered into a tale. But one important aspect was taken into consideration, that being, that Gibbs was a tried and tested informant who had provided the information to enable the arrests of the Kaye brothers for Murder. It was considered therefore that he was acting in good faith and they would try to develop the intelligence by carrying out surveillance.
An Authority report was written up by DCI Johnson and referred to the Assistant Chief Constable (Operations) Quentin Blewitt. What were the options? Could they arrest O’Dowd and Baker for Conspiracy to Rob? They had no direc
t evidence to support this course of action only second hand information, albeit reported in good faith.
Could they effectively “Blow the job out” by placing uniform cars outside the bank at the time of delivery? That was rejected as it was likely to indicate the existence of an informant. If the robbers were monitoring the area, it would show prior knowledge of the conspiracy on the part of the Police and they would be sure to try and identify the “Grass.” Baker and O’Dowd were a pair of violent thugs and they would be likely to mete out retribution against anyone they suspected. This factor might not matter so much if Baker and O’Dowd were locked up. They would have to get someone on the outside to do their bidding. It often happened that villains could exert influence from within a Prison. But there was little the Police could do about that.
The decision was taken to cover the cash deliveries with an Armed Surveillance Team and to challenge the robbers going across the pavement before they could put the Security officers or the public in danger. The operation was to be led by the Regional Crime Squad. There would also be surveillance placed on Baker in order to ascertain his movements on the day and to identify a vehicle being used by him or O’Dowd. They would not inform the Midland Bank or Unit 4. The first operational deployment would be on Wednesday 4th July, just 6 days hence.
Chapter 38 – Yes! A date!
It was Monday, the day of Felicity’s return from Milan. Benny had been thinking about her constantly. He was going to call her and he was wondering when would be the best time to do so. He didn’t want to call too early as she was bound to be busy on her first day back in the office. Not only that, he didn’t want to appear to be too eager.
He phoned the garage soon after lunch and a woman answered, ‘Deben Motors. Can I help you?’
‘Hello, its Dc Ben Cohen from Lee-over-sands CID can I speak to Felicity Graham please?’
‘One moment please, I’ll see if she is available to speak to you.’
He then heard the telephonist shout out ‘Flick! Call for you on line one. It’s your policeman.’
Felicity then quickly came on the line ‘Sorry about that Ben that was my sister. She’s a bit deranged. How are you?’
‘Fine thanks and how are you?’
‘Good trip but nice to be back.’
‘Who is Flick?
‘That’s just my pet name in the family.’
‘Really? Shall I use it?’
‘Rather you didn’t. It’s embarrassing, makes me sound like a Dolphin.’
‘How was Milan?’
‘Nice but very expensive. I must confess that I rather indulged myself and I bought some new shoes and a frock which I will wear if you keep your promise to buy me dinner.’ She sounded teasingly flirtatious.
‘Are you free on Friday night?
‘Yes, yes I am.’
Could I pick you up, say, about eight?’
‘Lovely. I’ll look forward to it.’ She then gave him her address and they had a brief conversation about the state of the Ferrari.
She then said ‘See you on Friday, have a good week. Bye,’ and rang off.
Oh Ben. You are in for a treat, thought Felicity. She had also purchased some beautiful lingerie and she was intending to wear it for him, given the chance.
Roll on Friday, thought Benny. He had better nip to Burtons and get himself some new gear. He had enough spare capacity on his Burtons card. That should cover it. Then he thought it through. Was he really going to pick up the object of his desire in a beaten up old VW Beetle? Where was he going to take her? On his budget it might have to be the local Wimpey bar.
Chapter 39 – Across the pavement.
06.00 hours Wed 4th July 1979.
The Operational briefing was held well away from Lee-over-sands at the Regional Crime Squad office some 10 miles distant. It was not considered to be good policy to hold such briefings at the Police Station local to the plot since any escalation of Police activity in and around the Station would be noticed by the locals. Furthermore, it was not unknown for criminals to place the Police Station under observation before committing serious crime so as to take the registration numbers and details of any unmarked vehicles and monitor movement.
The Officer in charge of the Operation was Detective Superintendent Colin Ward of No 5 Regional Crime Squad and the briefing was given by Detective Inspector Bob Turner:
“We have reliable information that Patsy O’Dowd and Tommy Baker, who are well known professional armed robbers, are planning to rob the Unit 4 cash run outside the Midland Bank in Civic Drive, Lee-over-sands. They are believed to be in possession of at least one firearm, a sawn off shotgun. There is no known vehicle for them at present. It is believed that the robbery will be carried out in the next two weeks on either a Wednesday or Thursday. We intend to cover each of those days, starting this morning.”
“It is imperative that we arrest O’Dowd and Baker at the scene of the robbery before there is any risk to members of the public, the security officers or themselves. Staff of Midland Bank and Unit 4 will not be informed of the Operation.”
“There will be two aspects to the operation. Covert Surveillance will be carried out on the Midland Bank from 08:00 hours with a perimeter of two hundred yards radius of the building. The Headquarters Firearms unit will be in position in an unmarked Transit van directly opposite the bank. We will have an Observation Post (OP) on the roof of the building society which is next to the Bank and the OP will monitor the approach of the Unit 4 vehicle. Thereafter any decision to challenge the suspects with firearms will be at the discretion of the Tactical Firearms Commander Ps Blackburn (call sign Romeo One).”
“Armed Surveillance will be carried out on Tommy Baker, starting from his home address, in order to monitor his movements and those of Patsy O’Dowd and any closing by them on the target plot. It might also enable us to identify a vehicle intended for use by them.”
“The officers in the Observation Post (OP) will be myself, Ds Connor, Dc Cohen.
The Armed Transit will contain Ps Blackburn (Romeo One) – Pc Hester (Romeo Two) Pc Collins (Romeo Three) Pc Reynolds (Romeo Four).
“The Perimeter Team will be – Ds Green/Dc Wood (5CS17), Ds Clark/Dc Payne (5CS10), Ds Allen/Dc Stevenson (5CS12), – Ds Lambert/Dc Hunt (5CS11).
The Armed Surveillance Team (Baker) will be – Ds Savage/ Dc Dobbs (5CS13), Ds Tomlin/ Dc King (5CS8), Ds Harries/Dc Carson (5CS9) Ds Manley/ Dc Rogers (5CS7), Ds Haynes/ Dc Mills (5CS6).”
“The Officers of the Surveillance Team deployed on Baker will be briefed by Ds Savage with the intention to be on plot by 07:30 hours.”
“Officers deployed in the Observation Post (OP) – Armed Transit – Armed Perimeter Team are all to be on the plot by 08:00 hours. The description and photographs of the suspects will be given to the Operational teams for perusal and immediate return to prevent any of them getting dropped and falling into the wrong hands.”
“The Tactical Firearms Commander Ps Blackburn will hold his own briefing and he will issue firearms. Smith & Wesson Model 10 Revolvers to each nominated officer and in addition a Heckler & Koch MP5 to officers deployed in the Armed Transit.”
“The Uniform Branch officers at Lee-over-sands Police Station will be informed of the Operation. OP will monitor the local Police radio. The Control Room at Force Headquarters will not be briefed on the Operation.”
At 07:30 The Surveillance team was deployed to various positions on the plot around the home of the suspect Tommy Baker. They were armed with Smith & Wesson Model 10 Revolvers and they were equipped with car to car radio and covert radio body sets.
The view afforded to the OP team was one of 360 degrees from the 8th Floor. This gave a wide Panorama and any vehicle of interest could be seen approaching from almost a mile away. Benny’s specific task, apart from visual observation, was to monitor the local Police network for any Police activity which could encroach on the plot. That way any conflict or “Blue on Blue” situation would be averted.
At 09:00 Th
e OP radioed that ‘Staff are arriving at the front door of the bank and are being admitted.’
At 09:20 the surveillance team watching Baker’s home address saw a white Male leave the front door of the house and walk off along the road. Officers were deployed on foot to follow him. From the description given (38-40 years, 5 feet 10 inches, dark short hair in a crew cut wearing light blue shirt and grey tank top with blue denim flared jeans.) He was believed to be the target Baker. He was observed entering Marten’s Newsagents where he bought a newspaper. He then walked back to the house and went inside.
At 09:30 The OP radioed, ‘No change.’
Thankfully the weather was pleasant and sunny. However, 8 floors above ground level there was much more of a breeze. Benny did not like heights at all. He could see the Pier from their position and in particular the Roller Coaster and this reminded him of another unnerving experience when he had taken a girlfriend on the ride a couple of years previously. She had screamed from start to finish and had apparently loved the experience. Benny had almost vomited and his bowels had threatened to explode. He had been lucky that the Pier management gave only two circuits of the ride for the money and as it mercifully came to a halt he was able to hobble to the gents just in time.
Benny was wondering how the Firearms Team were faring in the Transit. It was a warm day at ground level and very soon the vehicle would be stiflingly hot. The officers inside would be restricted in their ability to make themselves comfortable as the slightest movement would make the van rock and pedestrians walking by would notice. As if that was not enough to contend with, they might have to challenge armed robbers with a clear head and possibly make a split second decision whether or not to fire their weapon. Benny did not envy them their job one bit.
An Oik's Progress Page 16