Ross of the Yard.: Book 1, A copper in post WW11 London, #1

By Terry Whitworth

Post WW11, London was a dangerous place. It signaled the rise of the gangs, starting with the Maltese imigrants,

who specialised in girls, pornography and strip clubs. But within a very short time, numerous gangs sprang up all over London.

The police felt that they were fighting a losing battle, and they realised that they had to regain control of the streets and stem the crime wave.

Murders were a daily occurence, and guns were in frequent use by hardened criminals.

 

This book covers the efforts of one Detective Chief Inspector Ross and his Sergeant, Alf Morris, as they fight to solve murders.

And attempt to restore order to the streets.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Terry Whitworth
• Release date: Nov 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215072394

Terry Whitworth

I started writing several years ago, mainly for magazines in England, where I live and work. I enjoyed doing this and when i retired from full time employment, I intended to continue with this. However, my wife suggested I attempt to write a book, this done I published it via Amazon. And I continues to write. I hope you enjoy my books.

Book preview

Dedicated

to

Thea Mae Hazell

Born

27-9-22

© T.P. Whitworth November 2022

Index

Page no.

Chapter1    5 

Chapter 2  10

Chapter 3  20

Chapter 4  26

Chapter 5  39

Chapter 6  43

Chapter 7  57

Chapter 8  69

Chapter 9  78

Chapter 10  94

Chapter 11  108

Chapter 12  115

Chapter 13  123

Chapter 14  138

Author`s note:

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This is a work of fiction, but is very loosely influenced by events that took place in England in the mid 1950`s.

All of the names used are fictional and bear no relation to any person living or dead, that may have been connected to these events.

My references to Scotland Yard at that time are loosely based on fact, but, as I said this is a work of fiction so, it contains a fair amount of artistic licence on my part.

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T.P. Whitworth

Chapter 1

Detective Chief Inspector Jack Ross

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On a viciously cold winter day in December 1947, a man in a Trilby was seen to leave by the side entrance of New Scotland Yard, on Victoria Embankment, London. The man stood in the shelter of a wall and applied a match to the pipe that he had been tamping down with his fingertip.

There was nothing strange, or in the least way suspicious about this but the man in question was Detective Chief Inspector Jack Ross, of the Murder and Gangs Squad. And he was a very worried man.

Jack Ross was commonly known as `the dapper detective` following his manner of dress. He had never been seen with dirty cuffs to his shirts, or without a tie. His shoes: always shiny, were bench made by a fine London craftsman, and his suits fitted him to perfection; as they should do, being hand made. The topcoat he wore that day was also hand tailored and made from the finest wool. Jack Ross was descended from a long line of east end tailors, and his father had determined that his eldest son would follow in the family tradition, but young Jack had other ideas. Even so their style and dress sense had always stayed with him.

Jack was a single man, he had lost his wife and his entire family in one night of horror, during the blitz in 1941. He had been at work at the time but returned home to find the entire street of terraced houses in Hackney, had been obliterated, along with his mother and father, his grandparents and his sister, her husband and their two children, and his darling wife Holly. Everyone in that street died that night and he`d become homeless.

Nowadays he lived the life of a single man in a flat in Stoke Newington. But even on a policeman`s wage, he always managed to dress well. And he employed a daily woman to keep the flat spick and span.

Jack had been born in 1912 and had joined the police force as a cadet at the age of fifteen in 1927. Now, at the ripe old age of thirty-five he`d worked his way up to Detective Chief Inspector. He was known as a hard-working copper, who always got results, and he wasn`t about to let this current case beat him.

They had been after the Stepney Gang for the past four months. But every time they got a lead as to where they were holed up, news got to the gang before they could raid the place. There was only one way that could happen and that was by the gang being tipped off by an inside source.

The gang were evil. They had been involved in several murders and beatings, they ran girls, were heavily involved in extortion rackets and violent robberies. And now they were known to be involved with drugs. They had to be stopped and put away.

But someone on the inside was bent, feeding the gang with important information and Jack Ross was determined to find out who it was.

During the last raid that the squad carried out, Detective Sergeant Briscoe had been badly injured by a booby trap the gang had set. Jim Briscoe suffered severe injuries, from the hand grenade they had set as a trap. He had been lucky to survive, but now faced the grim prospect of being in a wheelchair, for the rest of his life. Jim Briscoe was married with two young children that he would never be able to play with again.

The higher ups in the Yard refused to accept Jack`s theory of there being a bent copper in the squad, and this led Jack to set up his own under cover enquiries. He was now on his way to collect information from his old mate Davy Cooper, who ran a very up marked Enquiry Agency, based just off of Jermyn Street.

Jack Ross and Davy Cooper had joined the police at roughly the same time and did most of their training together. They served in neighboring stations in their early days and were both promoted to sergeant at about the same time. Jack was then approached to join the Metropolitan Police, in the detective`s department. Not long afterwards Jack managed to get Davy transferred to the same department.

The two of them worked well together and when Jack got promoted to Detective Inspector, it wasn`t long before Davy Cooper was also promoted, they were the young highflyers of the new Murder Squad. And soon had many successful arrests to their credit.

And then in 1944, Davy was injured during a VI rocket attack, losing part of his left arm in the process. Rather than stay in the Met, doing office work. Davy Cooper left and set up his own Enquiry Agency. And now the agency was doing very well, dealing mainly with a clientele from the upper echelons of society. All of his employees were either ex coppers or ex MI5 men and were totally trustworthy.

Jack had approached his old mate some weeks previously, with a dossier containing all of his squads names and addresses and any other information that he had, and asked Davy to see if they could find any connections to the Stepney Gang. The day before, Davy had contacted Jack saying he had some news for him. And very soon now, Detective Chief Inspector Jack Ross would finally know who the treacherous bastard was.

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Chapter 2

The bent copper is revealed

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When Detective Chief Inspector Ross rang the bell on the impressive oak door with its polished brass name plate, he could hear it echo inside the building in Duke Street. And he was well aware that on entering the building he would be `frisked` despite being a Met Police officer.

The man that opened the door to him was polite to the point of being servile, but he had the physique of a professional boxer. He quickly ran his hands over Jack`s body, legs and arms, then stood back, smiled and told him to go through the swing doors to office number one.

Davy Cooper welcomed him warmly and asked whether he would like tea or coffee, or maybe something to take the chill off. Jack settled for a rare single malt, with a splash of water added.

Well Davy, what have you got for me?

"Cheers Jack, well, what I can tell you is that you definitely have a mole burrowing deep inside of the squad. And he was deliberately planted on you, by the Stepney Gang. You

Know him as DC Knowles, but his real name is Barry Sullivan, younger brother of the notorious founder of the gang, Denis Sullivan.

We know how