Prisoner Serves Life Sentence Shock

Harry Roberts is our friend, is our friend, is our friend,
Harry Roberts is our friend, he kills coppers.
(sung to the tune of London Bridge is falling down)

When I was a callow youth that chant was as familiar, and as popular it must be said, at West Ham home games as the more famous 'I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles'.

Harry Roberts has served 40 years for killing three police officers and this week lost his case for parole. Jailed in 1966 for murdering three plain-clothes and unarmed officers: PC Geoffrey Fox, Sgt Christopher Head and Det Con David Wombwell, Roberts has already served nine years more than his 30 year tariff which expired in 1997. The policemen were shot dead in Shepherd's Bush, West London, after they pulled over a van containing Roberts and his accomplices, John Duddy and John Witney, after an armed robbery.

Roberts is now 70-years old, he is one of Britain's longest-serving prisoners, is an inmate at a low-security prison near Newton Abbot, Devon. There is a good case for leaving Roberts to rot in jail until the last of his victims surviving family dies, one of Sgt Head's surviving sisters said she "felt better" knowing he is being kept behind bars. She said: "I do not think anyone should be let out of jail if they have killed someone."

With the Krays there was a move to get the twins released because it was felt that they 'only killed their own,' - that was as mistaken as the move to get Roberts paroled in my opinion.

Roberts was an evil weak minded individual who knew right from wrong and chose to kill three policeman rather than face trial - he should be left in prison as an example to others that life for committing the most heinous of crimes should mean life. Unfortunately the Judges in the sixties were a little more in tune with public opinion than those of a more liberal nature who followed and life these days can often mean as little as ten years.