Harry Roberts (murderer)

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Harry Maurice Roberts (born 1936) is one of the UK's most notorious murderers and longest-serving prison inmates.^[1] He was the instigator of the Massacre of Braybrook Street, a triple-murder of policemen in 1966.

Roberts was with two other petty criminals in Braybrook Street, East Acton, London, when his car was pulled over by Pc Geoffrey Fox, 41, Sgt Christopher Head, 30, and Det Con David Wombwell, 25 in an unmarked "Q" car. When he feared that some handguns were about to be uncovered by the policeman, Roberts drew one of the guns and shot one of the policeman dead. He then shot a second policeman while one of his accomplices shot dead the third policeman.

Roberts hid out in Epping Forest to avoid the huge manhunt. He used his military training (he had served as a soldier during the Malayan Emergency) to avoid police capture for three months. He was finally captured whilst sleeping in a barn at Blount's Farm near Bishop's Stortford after having been hiding in the adjacent Matham's Wood. Roberts was familiar with the area as he had been sent there as a child evacuee earlier in his life. At this time there were lots of false sightings of Roberts, but the local people who saw him decided that he couldn't possibly be Roberts, and consequently he evaded capture for several months.

Convicted of three murders, Roberts was sent to prison on a 30-year tarriff. He made many escape attempts but remains imprisoned a decade after the expiry of his minimum term. In September 2006 Roberts' legal team applied for a judicial review over apparent delays by the parole board in reaching a decision to free him by the end of the year. [1]

His murder of the two policeman made him a hero in some anarchist circles, and football crowds in the 1970s often chanted his name to antagonise the Police.

"Harry Roberts he's our friend, he's our friend" "Harry Roberts he's our friend, he kills coppers" "He kills the coppers two by two, two by two" "He kills the coppers two by two two by two" "HARRY ROBERTS"

His folk-hero status amongst these sub-cultures has led to various artistic representations of Roberts. The character of Billy Porter in He Kills Coppers by Jake Arnott is based on Harry Roberts, and he features in the lyrics of several songs by the band Chumbawamba.