PC Carl Walker

D John said:
RIP. One of the heroes of the 1971 raid on the jewellers in town. For those of us who remember that incident it still brings a host of bad memories.
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Yes I remember it well D John I was working on Talbot Road at the time and heard sirens going off all over , I ran to the junction of Talbot Road and Dickson Road and a panda car was speeding towards us and in the back was one of the criminals.

His face was bloodied and he had a policeman either side of him .

Many years later I worked with a man whose father was one of the detectives involved and during the chase they stopped one of the cars , he jumped out and slipped and one of the robbers pulled out a gun but luckily it jammed !!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes they were exceedingly brave and Gerry Richardson paid the ultimate price,

RIP .
 
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Fulsome obituary in today's Times....

Carl Walker GC - Police officer who was awarded the George Cross after being shot in the wake of an armed robbery at a Blackpool jeweller’s

On the morning of August 23, 1971, PC Carl Walker was sent in a Panda patrol car to investigate a reported armed robbery at Preston’s, a jeweller’s shop in Blackpool. He reached the scene to see five men running from the shop towards a parked estate car, but was held at bay by a shotgun pointing through one of the car windows. The car drove off at high speed with Walker in hot pursuit, radioing his route to the control room as he went along.

The speed of the criminals’ car was extremely dangerous and Walker lost visual contact on several occasions, but finally found the vehicle apparently abandoned in a blind alley. He parked across the mouth of the alley to prevent the vehicle’s escape and was about to get out to investigate when the criminals reappeared, scrambled back into the estate car and reversed it at speed up the alley, cannoning into the Panda. It was rammed clear of the alley mouth, leaving Walker in a state of shock.

A second constable, PC Ian Hampson, arrived in another car at that moment and, noting Walker’s condition, took over the chase. The fugitives’ car pulled up abruptly when Hampson was less than ten yards behind. Brandishing a revolver, one of the gang leapt out, ran back and shot Hampson in the chest through the passenger window of his car. Hampson was just able to radio his position to the control room before collapsing and falling out of the car and on to the road.

By then several police cars were closing in but Walker, who had trailed Hampson from the area of the blind alley, reached the scene of the shooting first and again placed his car in a blocking position. Seconds later, two more police cars arrived and sandwiched the criminals’ stationary car between them. Even so, the five occupants struggled out and ran off. As the police gave chase on foot, one of the criminals turned and fired three revolver shots at them, all of which missed. Another of the fugitives broke away separately but was arrested after a violent struggle.

Two senior police officers, Superintendent Gerald Richardson and Inspector Edward Gray, arrived at this point and directed Walker and another constable to chase three of the criminals, who had fled into a nearby alley, while they drove into the next street in an attempt to cut them off.

As Walker and his companion were overhauling their quarry, the man who had been driving the estate car turned and fired several shots aimed at Walker, one of which hit him in the groin and brought him down. Taking advantage of this pause, the three criminals seized a butcher’s delivery van parked in the street and drove off yet again.

Severely injured, Walker was unable to take further part in the chase. Richardson and Gray pursued the butcher’s van by police car until the fugitives abandoned it. In the ensuing chase on foot, Richardson was able to get a grip on one of the gunmen. The man turned, thrust his revolver into the superintendent’s stomach and fired. The fugitives then ran back through the alleys towards the butcher’s shop, where Walker was still on the ground having his wound stanched by Inspector Stephen Redpath.

Redpath tackled one of the armed men and another was brought down and arrested by one of the pursuing officers. Richardson was taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital, where he died from his stomach wound. Hampson and Walker both eventually recovered from their wounds. “Fat” Fred Sewell, who fired the shots that hit Walker and killed Richardson, subsequently served 30 years in jail.

Richardson and Walker were awarded the George Cross, Richardson posthumously, for their gallantry in facing the threat of death or serious wounding during the pursuit of the criminals. Seven other officers of the Lancashire Constabulary involved were also decorated or commended.

The citation for Walker’s honour concluded: “Throughout the pursuit which followed the robbery, all the police officers concerned were aware that they faced the threat of death or serious injury, but gave no thought to their own safety in their efforts to effect the arrest of armed and dangerous criminals.”

Carl Walker was born in Kendal, Westmorland (now Cumbria), in 1934, the fourth of seven children of Alexander Walker, who worked in a paper mill, and his wife, Sara Jane (née Dickinson). He attended Kendal Grammar School and left at the age of 15 to become an apprentice joiner. He continued this trade in the Royal Air Force police and returned to it for a while after his National Service.

He joined the Lancashire Constabulary in 1954 and the following year married Kathleen Barker, daughter of a joiner to whom he had been apprenticed. She died in 2018 and he is survived by their son Andrew, who leads a private life. Walker resigned from the police in 1956, finding a constable’s salary inadequate, and worked in the building trade, including in an asbestos factory, before joining the Blackpool Borough Police in 1959. He received a commendation in 1961 and was promoted to inspector in 1976. On his retirement in 1982, the leg that had been wounded was giving him considerable difficulty and he was obliged to register as disabled. He continued to live in Blackpool and served on the VC and GC Association committee.

A period as a partner in a taxi company ended when Walker could no longer drive. Happily, he was able to follow medical advice that he should continue to exercise his leg as much as possible by walking the Lakeland Fells he knew from boyhood.

Carl Walker GC, police officer, was born on March 31, 1934. He died on October 2, 2022, aged 88
 
I remember it well.
The police showed “amazing” bravery.
But often too easily forgotten is a brave Blackpool Fire Officer called Gale.
He ran into the shop (Preston’s On The Strand) to assist the shop staff being held up only to be hit from the back with an iron bar on his head.
I’ve known his daughter Ann since I was a kid.
The two lads in the Edwards butchers van also tried to apprehend the robbers.
RIP Gerald Richardson & Carl Walker.
 
I remember it too. There were armed police on Garstang Road stopping and searching cars as they left Blackpool. Sewell escaped in the boot of his girlfriend’s car and was arrested in London I think.
 
We lived on Banks St. They drove past our guesthouse on their way up towards Egerton Rd and the streets off it where the shootings occurred. My Mum gave a witness statement.

At the time, such things were very rare and all the more shocking.
 
Wizaard said:
We lived on Banks St. They drove past our guesthouse on their way up towards Egerton Rd and the streets off it where the shootings occurred. My Mum gave a witness statement.

At the time, such things were very rare and all the more shocking.
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Remember the morning like it was yesterday. I heard gunshots and I wanted to go outside to see what was happening. Was told firmly NO. Those shots were from the back alley by Edwards the Butchers on Cheltenham Rd by Egerton Rd. Police weren't as thorough back then as mate found a bullet casing later that day.
 
I remember road blocks, and my car being pulled over and searched.

At that time I had a Ford Capri, a car often used by criminals (like black BMWs today). I felt very nervous at the time, and still feel guilty if I see a police car when I'm driving.
 
This picture was taken a month after the raid.
L to R – PC Ian Hampson & Mrs Hampson, chief constable Bill Palfrey, Kathleen & Carl Walker.
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I was just a nipper at the time but all six of us children were assembled in our front room whilst our parents explained what happened and what very good behaviour was expected of us at church the following Sunday. I have no idea what became of those old values.
 
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