Harry Roberts, cop killer

[mick2me 3,033]

I see they are releasing Roberts after being banged up since 1966

I remember as a lad living on Norton Street Radford, and the nationwide search being on for Roberts.
We saw a man who looked like Roberts on Hartley Road... Rang 999 the Canning Circus police attended quickly.
Close but no cigar!

I wondered what will it cost us to keep him out in the community, and how much has he cost us since 1966?

He only missed an appointment with Albert Pierrepoint by a couple of years!

[Bubblewrap 3,815]

I wont go into the rights or wrongs about Mr Roberts release that is a matter for the parole board.

But will he be able to cope after being locked away for 45 years?

Think how much the country has changed in the intervening years very little will remain of what he knew & very few of the people he knew will still be alive.

In some respects it would be kinder to leave him where he is.

[DJBrenton 738]

I wont go into the rights or wrongs about Mr Roberts release that is a matter for the parole board.

But will he be able to cope after being locked away for 45 years?

Think how much the country has changed in the intervening years very little will remain of what he knew & very few of the people he knew will still be alive.

In some respects it would be kinder to leave him where he is.

His wife is still alive and he's had significant time outside of prison on work experience so it's not like an alien world to him. He's had access to computers and TV. I doubt it will be as big a problem as you'd imagine. Many long-term prisoners come out to a rented flat with no family or friends and poor prospects of work. Judging by the way his wife dresses and the Jaguar she drives, my guess is he'll adjust in no time and money won't be as big a problem as for many ex-cons. I was a prison visitor at HMP Ashwell when he was there and met him a number of times.

[Michael Booth 7,364]

The police are very angry that Roberts is to be released and are asking the authorities to reconsider their decision. He will no doubt have a new identity (like the child killers) and be well looked after by the State for the rest of his life. In the past, if you killed a policeman you paid with your life but since the abolition of the death penalty it's been life imprisonment. If this is taken away then it makes the police a lot more vulnerable. Bates gunned down two policemen in cold blood and most people would say that he should never be released. An accomplice shot the third policeman. Some would say that he's spent 48 years in prison and that's long enough because other killers only do a few years before they are released. 'Crimes of passion' where someone kills their partner at the time of finding them in bed with someone else, for instance, can be understood. Where someone kills someone in cold blood, like Roberts did, is a different matter. When asked by a cellmate why he'd shot the policemen his reply was 'they'd looked at him' and he's never shown any remorse while in prison. My opinion is that Roberts, and other killers like him, should never be released.

[DJBrenton 738]

The police are very angry that Roberts is to be released and are asking the authorities to reconsider their decision. He will no doubt have a new identity (like the child killers) and be well looked after by the State for the rest of his life. In the past, if you killed a policeman you paid with your life but since the abolition of the death penalty it's been life imprisonment. If this is taken away then it makes the police a lot more vulnerable. Bates gunned down two policemen in cold blood and most people would say that he should never be released. An accomplice shot the third policeman. Some would say that he's spent 48 years in prison and that's long enough because other killers only do a few years before they are released. 'Crimes of passion' where someone kills their partner at the time of finding them in bed with someone else, for instance, can be understood. Where someone kills someone in cold blood, like Roberts did, is a different matter. When asked by a cellmate why he'd shot the policemen his reply was 'they'd looked at him' and he's never shown any remorse while in prison. My opinion is that Roberts, and other killers like him, should never be released.

The problem is that if you don't dangle parole as a carrot then all your left with to ensure good behaviour in prison is increasingly harsh conditions. I'm not wholly comfortable with that route. Totally dehumanising a prisoner ensures they will never be safe to release anyway. Look at Bronson.

[Michael Booth 7,364]

Some will say that Bronson has had a raw deal in prison, mainly caused by the actions of the warders.

[mick2me 3,033]

Time to put victims and their families first, not offenders.

[Michael Booth 7,364]

That's why I stated that people like Roberts shouldn't be released. In most cases the offender has all the help they need whereas the victim doesn't.

[Merthyr Imp 729]

I hadn't realised Roberts was still alive. I still remember his featuring in the songs sung by hooligans at football matches (well, at Lincoln anyway). I won't repeat it here, although no swear words were involved.

[mick2me 3,033]

How long would it have been before Brady and Hindley would have been considered for release?

[Michael Booth 7,364]

I doubt very much if he is ever released and neither would Hindley if she'd lived. These people are pure evil and it's hard to believe that the Lord Longford types of people wanted them released.

[mick2me 3,033]

Then I cant see the difference between the release of Brady and Roberts?

[MelissaJKelly 2,124]

Life imprisonment is very rarely that these days. Good behaviour and your out in no time and justice isn't even nearly served.

#4 - I don't think even crimes of passion can be understood. More so than killing someone methodically and in cold blood but same rules should apply to all. Take a life and face real life imprisonment.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Compare it to the harsh sentences given to the train robbers. While, as an ex-railwayman I would never condone violence to the train driver, they weren't exactly murderers. And the Krays were never released, although they confined their murderous ways to the underworld.

[firbeck 860]

Mick, Brady is officially diagnosed as a 'psychopath' and as such is incarcerated in a psychiatric prison from which he'll never get out, not that he wants to apparently.

I remember the Harry Roberts song from Forest matches at the time of his trial, if there was trouble in the crowd and the police piled in, the fans would sing it then, a monotonous ditty to the tune of the Hallelujah Chorus, Bilbraborn used to sing it all the time!!!!!

After the crime Roberts used his military jungle training to hide up in some woods near Bishops Stortford for 3 months. When our office was based in Stortford, I designed some farm building conversions for the farmer who found Roberts hide out in his wood just across the road, apparently the remains of the den he constructed were still traceable even then and that was back in the early 80's, Roberts was caught in one of these outbuildings. Ironically my structural engineer colleague at the time was called Roberts, we didn't arf take the pee. A really boring fact for you is that the Hayter lawnmower factory is only just down the road from Thorley Wood, he didn't choose a very remote place to hide as it's a busy area and was even nearly 50 years ago.

[Merthyr Imp 729]

I remember the Harry Roberts song from Forest matches at the time of his trial, if there was trouble in the crowd and the police piled in, the fans would sing it then, a monotonous ditty to the tune of the Hallelujah Chorus, Bilbraborn used to sing it all the time!!!!!

The version at Sincil Bank was to the tune of 'London Bridge is Falling Down'

[Michael Booth 7,364]

There is no difference, mick2me (#12). They are evil people and you only have to read the details of their crimes to see how evil they are.

[Annesleyred1865 137]

I remember singing it to the Police in the Trent End, but I was young, we sang it at school as well (silly boggers we were)

The version at Sincil Bank was to the tune of 'London Bridge is Falling Down'