Chris Gregg

Chris Gregg QPM is a former Detective Chief Superintendent and was head of West Yorkshire Police's Homicide and Major Enquiry Team (HMET).^[1] Gregg joined the force in 1974 and as a constable was put on front-line duties in the Yorkshire Ripper inquiry in the Helen Rytka murder incident room.^[2] He left the force in 2008 to take up a senior position as an adviser^[3] to a forensic service provider company, LGC Forensics.^[2] In 2010 Gregg, together with Lord Stevens and Dr Angela Gallop, founded Axiom International Limited.^[4]

Awards

Gregg was awarded the Queen's Police Medal (QPM) in the 2008 Queen's Birthday Honours.^[5] Chief Constable of West Yorkshire, Sir Norman Bettison, described Gregg as one of the finest detectives the force had ever known.^[3][6][7]

Career

Gregg was born in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire and in a 34-year career, headed up some high profile criminal investigations of recent years including:

• The kidnap and murder in November 2000 of 16-year-old Leeds schoolgirl Leanne Tiernan by John Taylor described at his trial in 2002 by the judge as a "sexual sadist".^[8] In February 2003, he was convicted of two rapes, based on DNA evidence, and given two additional life sentences.^[9]

• The American fugitive David Bieber who murdered traffic PC Ian Broadhurst and attempted the murder of two other policemen on 26 December 2003.^[10][11][12]

• Identification of the Yorkshire Ripper Hoaxer, John Humble, who was tried and sentenced in October 2005 – 25 years after the offence which was one of the most notorious – and damaging – hoaxes in criminal history.^{[13][14][15][16]} Gregg won £50,000 libel damages, plus costs, after being accused by Irish writer Noel O'Gara of "stitching up" John Humble as the writer of the hoax letters and sender of a tape recording purporting to be from the Yorkshire Ripper.^[17]

• Serial killer Colin Norris, dubbed the 'Angel of Death' who murdered four elderly patients in a hospital in Leeds receiving a life sentence in 2008.^[18][19][20]

• Gregg led the enquiry into the Harold Shipman deaths in West Yorkshire, when Shipman, a practising medical doctor, was apprehended, later having 218 murders positively ascribed to him.^[21]

On leaving the force he spoke against the misuse by suspected murderers of the protective shield of human rights legislation.^{[22][23][24][25][26]}

References