Whenever we ex-bobbies get together with each other, whether it’s one-on-one, in small groups or at social functions and reunions, one thing is for sure, we’ll always be sharing stories and anecdotes of incidents and things we dealt with that may never have been officially recorded, either here on our website or elsewhere but which are an essential part of the fabric of our history. Some of these stories can be almost beyond belief, but as police officers we know that there are times when we’ve been called on to deal with the almost “unbelievable”!
Bearing this in mind we recently received an email from our old friend Graham Maddocks which struck a chord in the “almost unbelievable” column! Graham writes, “At 78 and getting closer to check out time I hate to see good stories lost to the history of Bermuda Police. So I have included a couple more from the mid 70's, I hope you can publish them to the permanent record.
In 2023 we published a fascinating article about Graham and his colleague, Alex Arnfield , both of whom served in Marine Section together, and were key members of our Tug o War team Graham and Alex were without doubt two of the fittest men to ever serve in the Bermuda Police. CLICK HERE to read the article in our 'Then and Now' column.
Graham’s stories definitely belong in the “Believe it or Not" column. And here they are:-
A Story of a Safecracking
There was a very beautiful house on an estate on one of the islands in the Sound. The owner was usually absent and I don't remember his name but he was an authoritative author who wrote a definitive history of Cuba. He had an office and staff in Hamilton and a Spanish couple as housekeepers at the house.
In the Marine Section we would occasionally call on them to check on their welfare given their relative isolation. Late one night the female housekeeper was cooking when the stove blew up and she suffered some burns. We were called out to evacuate her to the hospital which we did.
To show their gratitude they invited Marine Section to an elaborate lunch. At this lunch were some of their office staff from Hamilton. That was when someone mentioned that there was a large safe at the house and due to staff turnover the combination had been lost. They asked if the police could open the safe to recover the unknown contents. I called the Bermuda Police explosives expert Inspector Les "Gunsmoke" Waddell who said it wouldn't be a problem - with a little dynamite!
And so, one day we took Inspector Waddell to the island. Thankfully it was decided not to blow the safe in situ as it was in a room surrounded by large glass windows. However the safe was too heavy to move. We solved that problem by tying a rope around the safe and then to the police launch Blue Heron and with the diesel at full throttle we managed to drag the safe inch by inch out the French doors into the middle of the lawn. I distinctly remember how the safe dug a deep trench in the immaculate lawn.
Insp Waddell then worked on the explosive and we all stood around as we had seen this before in the movies. There would be a dull thud, a wisp of smoke, and the door would swing open. However there was a huge explosion that blew the heavy thick door clean off the safe and high into the air, we scattered knowing that something that heavy would soon come down which it did, burying itself deep in the rest of the immaculate lawn. The explosion incinerated the entire contents of the safe!
We collected our rope and left the staff to deal with the aftermath.
The Story of Inspector Lister and his Flying Machine
Inspector "Harry" Lister built a homemade seaplane and approached Marine Section to see if we could tow it fast enough to get it airborne to test the aerodynamics before he installed an engine.
We agreed and on the appointed day we towed the seaplane out of the harbour with Harry Lister at the controls. After clearing Two Rock Passage we opened the throttle on the police launch and the seaplane rose into the air. It all seemed to be going well until the plane took a sudden dive into the ocean. We circled back and rescued Insp Lister who was gasping after having swallowed a lot of water but he was alive. We towed the remains of the plane back to the shore. I don't know if he ever finished the design or fitted an engine.
Editors note - This was an ambitious project by Inspector Lister. Does anyone have a photo of his plane under construction?
We suspect there are numerous stories such as these two out there amongst our members, and we'd like to encourage you to send them to us so we can publish them right here in this column. We'd love to hear from you through our website email address at info@expobermuda.com
5th September 2024
Here's out latest "Believe it or Not" story:-
PRANKSTER HOISTS 'STARS AND STRIPES' UP PROSPECT TV TOWER
In the early morning hours of Wednesday 11th May 1966, a light misty rain was falling across Bermuda and the 'climber’ was finding it difficult and risky to secure a strong foothold on the slippery iron cross-members of a mast at Prospect. The climber thought it best to place the flag at that point, about halfway up the mast, before returning safely to ground level.
It was reported in The Royal Gazette on Friday 13th May 1966 that a fearless mystery man had flown the ‘’Stars and Stripes" at half-mast. Fearless – because the flag was 150-feet in the air – halfway up the Bermuda Broadcasting Company’s Prospect TV mast. And to put it there the daredevil joker had to shin up the steel mast in the middle of a moonless, windy night on Wednesday. “The daring flag-flying caper was carried out a mere 50 yards from where scores of Bermuda policemen slept in their barracks at police headquarters.” And yesterday morning Police Commissioner Mr. G.H. Robins spotted the flag proudly fluttering and reported it to ZBM’s TV manager Mr. Ken Belton. Morning travellers into Hamilton from the East and the West could hardly have missed the sight.
Said Mr. Belton “I had spotted it myself and had taken action to get it removed before the commissioner’s call.”
Eventually the spider-man foreman for the Blue Water construction company, Mr. Donald Smith, arrived to nip up the mast and take down the offending flag. Said a police spokesman last night, “We are making enquiries about who put the flag up the mast.” It is understood that two sailors / persons had tried to take a flag from the cenotaph on Wednesday but they were prevented from doing so.
It was determined that the heavy flag – larger than a bedsheet – was not in any way associated with those on the Hamilton cenotaph. In fact, the flag was believed to have entered the island some weeks earlier with a returning police rugby tour from the United States.
Commissioner Robins opined when he arrived at headquarters that morning, “It’s one of our lot you know.”
This story is clearly true but we wonder if anyone has any idea who the mystery climber might be?
Carlton AdamsI have to report finally making progress in a "high-level" investigation into a case that occurred over half a century ago in the mid-1960’s when, on a “dark and stormy night”, during the early hours of the morning, following an evening of revelry at the nearby Police Recreation Club, two individuals, hereinafter referred to as the suspect and the accomplice were making their way to barracks when, likely inspired by beverages consumed earlier, the main suspect made a decision to ascend one of the communications towers in the vicinity; the structure in question having since been dismantled and replaced.
The said suspect was clearly possessed of an ability to ascend objects of extreme height, and he took his life in his hands when he decided to tackle climbing up the tower whilst carrying an exceptionally large and surprisingly heavy American flag complete with brass buckles. The flag itself was believed purloined by an enterprising trophy gatherer and member of the Police rugby section which had recently returned from an overseas rugby tour to - you’ve guessed it - the United States of America. It was concluded that the climber could not have been a member of the rugby section because it would not have been possible for any of the rugby crowd to be sober enough to climb the TV Tower at such a late hour. Hence the belief there must have been an accomplice who was a rugby player and who supplied the flag.
The suspect managed to climb a considerable height up the tower at which point he affixed the flag to the mast so it would flutter first thing in the morning as soon as the winds picked up, and it would be seen by all and sundry in the Central Parishes. Due to light rains falling that night it was concluded that the culprit would have been in extreme danger of slipping on the wet metal tower struts and must have decided to affix the flag about 2/3rds of the way up it rather than taking the risk of climbing all the way to the top
Sure enough, the following morning the Commissioner of Police George Robins, having departed his residence, Bleak House, and making his way by car to Prospect along what is now Palmetto Road, then military Road, was shocked then likely angered to see an American flag, the Stars and Stripes no less, billowing majestically in the morning breeze directly above Police headquarters. During the Commissioner’s morning briefing with senior officers this outrage was said to have been the major topic of conversation and an explanation demanded. Commissioner Robins was convinced from the outset that the culprit must have been a police officer living in barracks. When no explanation was forthcoming instructions were given to investigate, identify the culprit(s), and initiate Disciplinary Proceedings.
An investigation was duly conducted but came to nothing at the time and has remained pending since then. The suspect and his accomplice were never identified, at least officially it seems. However, it was strongly rumoured that a suspect was quietly approached by Sgt Derek Fletcher, taken aside and advised that he should not repeat his antics!
This matter was the last thing on my mind whilst attending the annual Police Memorial Service at Prospect on Sunday 1st October 2024, at which I was seated next to retired Supt. George Rose. We were reminiscing about the good old days when he happened to mention that as a young lad he had been mentored by his uncle, a well known steeplejack in the Birmingham City area and that George had work-assisted his uncle for about six months before turning 19 at which time he joined the Birmingham City Police. He even mentioned that his uncle used to eat his lunch on the top of chimneys and George had joined him up there on occasion.
Young P.C. George Rose
It was fast becoming crystal clear. George perfectly fitted the profile of the mast climber, and he wasn’t afraid of heights. I also recalled George hanging around the Police Club with one constable Dave Woodcock who was known to be an active member of the rugby playing fraternity and would no doubt have been a member of the rugby tour team who went on the US tour. Hence he could well have been the accomplice who provided the US flag for this prank.
It was also a fact that Derek Fletcher had served in the Birmingham City Police prior to joining the Bermuda Police, and that would account for Sgt Fletcher giving his fellow former Birmingham City police officer a nod and a wink about not repeating his antics.
When presented with the evidence the suspect finally came clean and admitted to the mast climbing prank although claiming it had nothing to do with the fact that he later married his American born wife!
In view of the fact that Police Headquarters is no longer police headquarters, the communications mast in question is no longer in existence, the suspect readily admitted his involvement although he was not cautioned in the interest of obtaining a definiitive conclusion to this long outstanding case, and Commissioner Robins and most of the potential witnesses have been transferred to that police station in the sky, I recommend NFPA.
7th September 2024
Our next "Believe it or Not" story submitted by Roger Sherratt also involves Inspector Les "Gunsmoke" Waddell.
“Bomb” scare at Alaska Hall
It was in the run up to the General Election, in May 1972, when a phone call was received on the emergency line at Police HQ warning there was a bomb set to go off at the PLP Headquarters, Alaska Hall, on Court Street. I was the Sergeant in Operations that evening and was first to arrive at Alaska Hall where I knocked on the door, spoke with the Opposition Leader, Lois Browne-Evans, advised her we had received a bomb threat and suggested that the building be evacuated while we checked out the building which was packed. Ms. Browne-Evans said there was no way anyone was going to leave the building and the door was promptly closed.
I was accompanied by a P.C. from “B” Watch but with the passage of time have forgotten who it was. The two of us started looking around the outside of the building and came to an open doorway on Angle Street leading into the basement. As I entered the unlit basement armed with nothing more than my flashlight, I heard a distinctive ticking sound and shone my flashlight onto a ledge where I spotted a scruffy looking cardboard box containing what looked like a single stick of dynamite, a ticking alarm clock, a battery, and some wire seemingly joining them together. It was the last thing I was expecting to find, and yes, the adrenaline was flowing fast!
I immediately went back up to the main door, insisted on speaking with Ms. Browne-Evans again, told her I’d found a “bomb” and that the building must be evacuated immediately. She must have realized I wasn’t joking because she said, “Okay Sherratt. You’d better be right”, and everyone poured out of the building and gathered on the other side of the road about 50 yards away.
Within a few minutes our Bomb disposal expert, Inspector Les “Gunsmoke” Waddell, arrived in his car armed with a bag of tricks which included, of all things, a folding grapnel anchor attached to a long coil of rope. We walked over to the open basement door where I pointed out the ”bomb” and after a quick assessment Mr. Waddell explained to me he was going to throw the grapnel anchor over the top of and behind the box, then withdraw to a safe distance where he could pull on the rope and dislodge the bomb.
I’m no expert on anchor throwing but I reckoned there was a major flaw in his plan. The box was sitting on a ledge about 3 feet off the ground, but the basement ceiling was no more than 6 feet high maximum (in fact lower) and as he would need to be inside the basement to throw the anchor, there seemed to be no way Mr. Waddell could possibly throw the anchor past the bomb box. We had a discussion on this subject and he assured me that his plan would work!
The next thing I know he attempted the anchor throw, and lo and behold, it smashed straight into the box with its contents scattering all over the place, dynamite and all! Fortunately, there was no explosion and Les carefully picked up the contents, put them back in the box, and slowly walked back to the car taking great care not to drop it. The assembled crowd watched in awe as he carefully placed the “bomb” in the boot of his car and drove off!
Crisis over!
Two days later the Royal Gazette reported, "The home-made bomb found in the Progressive Labour Party headquarters on Sunday night was never any threat to anyone, as Police found on taking it apart."
"The Police had this comment on the incident yesterday: “It was reported in today’s Press that a time bomb had been found below a room where Progressive Labour Party election candidates were meeting on Sunday evening, and had been defused by Police. "The device concerned was not dangerous, as it did not have the necessary components to cause it to fire. It consisted only of part of a stick of old dynamite in bad condition, part of a clock, a dud battery, and a length of wire. "Investigations are continuing, but the incident appears to be the work of a crank or a practical joker.”
The culprit was never found.
15th December 2024
DETECTIVE DROPS DENTURES AT ARGUS BANK
Believe it or not, this story concerns a case of one of our fellow officers - a detective no less - suffering a most unfortunate loss while on a CID fishing trip.
The loss was "officially" reported in CID Notes in the Winter 1968 issue of the Police Magazine (pages 36-36.) which reads as follows:-