In the line of duty: 55 officers killed since 1980

Published on Thursday 16 January 2003 00:00

MORE than 50 police officers have been killed since 1980 as they battled against increasing violence on Britain’s streets.

A spokesman for the National Police Federation said that between 1980 and 1989, a total of 30 officers were killed in the line of duty.

Between 1990 and 1999 a further 18 officers were killed and from 2000 to date, a total of seven officers have lost their lives.

Among the most infamous police murders was that of PC Keith Blakelock, who was hacked to death during the Broadwater Farm riots in London in 1985.

More recently, PC Alison Armitage, an officer from Manchester, became the fifth woman constable to be killed in the line of duty when a car thief in Oldham drove over her repeatedly as he tried to escape.

Her killer, a 19-year-old from Manchester, was jailed for eight years.

In February 1984, PC Yvonne Fletcher was shot dead outside the Libyan embassy while controlling a crowd of demonstrators.

Two months earlier, PC Jane Arbuthnot died in the IRA bombing of Harrods.

In December 2000, PC John Odell, of Kent Police, was hit by a car as he carried out roadside speed checks in Margate.

The other officers killed in the line of duty include a trainee police constable, Philip Walters, 28, who died after being shot in the heart as he made an arrest over a domestic incident in Ilford, north-east London, in April 1995.

PC Lewis Fulton, 28, died after being knifed as he responded to an emergency call in the Gorbals area of Glasgow in June 1994.

Sergeant Derek Robertson, 39, was stabbed to death at New Addington, south London, as he investigated a robbery at a sub-post office in February of the same year.

Beat constable Patrick Dunne, 44, died in a hail of bullets in October 1993 while checking out reports of a shooting incident in Clapham, south-west London.

In March 1993, Sergeant Bill Forth, 34, was stabbed to death on Tyneside after being set upon while answering a routine call to deal with youths who had allegedly smashed a window.

In June 1992, special constable Glen Goodman, 37, was killed, and his colleague PC Alexander Kelly, 32, was seriously wounded when they were shot on the A64 near Tadcaster after they questioned the occupants of a car, who turned out to be IRA terrorists.

Off-duty detective constable Jim Morrison, 26, a Scot, was stabbed in Aldwych, central London, after approaching a suspected thief in December 1991.

In November 1991, Sergeant Alan King, a father of four, died after being stabbed in Higham Hill, east London.

In March 1991, PC Duncan Clift, 27, was killed when he was run over as he tried to prevent the theft of a high performance car in Northumberland.

In December 1990, PC Robert Gladwell, 35, was battered in a brawl at a west London hotel, and in August 1990, PC Laurence Brown, 27, was shot in Hackney, east London.