Motor Thieves and the Flying Squad

This story looks at the beginning of the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad and how they dealt with gangs who stole motor cars in the 1920s and 30s. With the growing ownership of cars after the First World War, criminals began stealing them to carry out burglaries and jewel raids and then make a quick getaway.

The ‘Police Flying Squadron’ was set up in October 1919 and its name was soon shortened to the ‘Flying Squad’. To begin with, the dozen officers, led by Detective Superintendent Fred Wensley, were equipped with two covered, horse-drawn wagons leased from the Great Western Railway. They concentrated on known criminals.

When a group of pickpockets was spotted the detectives would slip out of the van and mingle with the crowd before making an arrest. The Met was organized into 22 separate geographic divisions and the Flying Squad provided a means of chasing criminals across London. In the 1920s it was expanded to 40 officers.

‘Prince of Motor Thieves’

In 1919 The Times said that the number of motorcar thefts in London and elsewhere had increased considerably.

In April that year Sidney Meredith a 22-year old musician of Shaa Road Acton, was arrested after stealing Lord St Germans’ car worth £450 (equivalent today to about £21,000) from outside his home in Exhibition Road, South Kensington. Meredith, who was sentenced to three years imprisonment, earned the nickname of the ‘Prince of Motor Thieves’. He told police he had stolen 30 cars over the last five months and received only £50 for each car, but the man he sold them to made £250 to £300 and was worth thousands of pounds.

In August William George Stephenson, 47, a mechanic and motor dealer of Westhorp Street Putney was charged with receiving stolen vehicles and the main witness against him was Sidney Meredith who was brought to court from Dartmoor prison. He said that Stephenson had made a lot of money from the cars which Meredith stole, sometimes on order for a particular model, but after his arrest when he asked Stephenson to get him a lawyer he denied knowing him. Stephenson was found guilty and sentenced to three years.

When cross examined Meredith refused to admit his name was Sidney Sykes. In fact, he was born as Sidney Meredith Sykes in 1897 in Hove. By 1911 his father who was a ‘Professor’ of music, and the family were living in Fulham. After serving his time Sidney became a builder and decorator in Harrow, and he died in Surrey in 1946.

The Crossley tenders

In September 1920, the Squad’s horse-drawn vans were replaced by two motorised Crossley tenders with canvas sides and observation holes. But with a top speed of about 25-30 mph, they were not fast enough to keep up with the high-powered cars which the gangs drove, such as the 30/98 Vauxhall Velox. Because of their distinctive radio aerial, the Crossley soon became known as ‘The Bedstead’ by the criminals. As technology developed, smaller in-car radios and undercover ‘Q cars’ made it harder for the crooks to spot the Flying Squad vehicles.

Using information, the Flying Squad kept observation on the notorious ‘Elephant’ gang based in the Elephant and Castle area. On 18 September 1920 Inspectors Hambrook and Grosse with eight officers in the Crossley observed the gang travelling in a large Ford motor van in the Old Kent Road. They were followed to Victoria Street where some of the gang got out to ‘recce’ a silversmith shop. Then they drove to the Pimlico Road and were about to attack a clothing shop when one of the men spotted the police and ran back to the Ford shouting, ‘Quick, it’s a tumble!’

After a chase, the Crossley pulled in front of the Ford, the men jumped out and began fighting with the police. One of the men hit Hambrook with a heavy ‘life preserver’ or cosh. The police used their truncheons while the gang had coshs, daggers and knuckle dusters. Eventually, the seven men were arrested and given sentences of up to eight years.

DI Walter Hambrook

The high speed chase

In 1929 the Squad were equipped with a 90mph Invicta and Lea Francis cars (known as ‘Leafs’), which were capable of speeds of 75mph, and at last they were able to pursue the robbers.

The Invicta, 4.5L

In the early hours of 24 July 1929, the Squad followed a known smash and grab mob driving a Vauxhall Vector. They stopped in front of a high-class tailor shop in Victoria Street and started to attach chains to the barred window and were about pull it out with the car. DI Edward Ockey was in the Invicta and a second team was in a ‘Leaf’. When the gang saw the Squad cars they headed off at high speed.

Travelling at 50mph the Invicta came alongside in Buckingham Gate and Inspector Ockey jumped onto the running board of the Vauxhall and grabbed the driver’s collar. One of the passengers hit him with a jemmy and he fell into the road. After an 80mph chase the Invicta rammed the car, which burst a tyre and toppled over. The criminals ran into a small building where they were overcome and arrested.

Fortunately, Ockey recovered and was awarded the King’s Police Medal for gallantry. He gave evidence on 8 August when the three men were given sentences of three to five years. The newspaper reports of the dramatic chase led to Flying Squads being set up in other cities and abroad.

Here is an artist's impression of the events:

Local car thieves were operating in Kilburn in 1921. After a tip off, Inspector Boothey and Sergeant King went to a garage in Mutrix Road and found a Singer motorcar, and three motorcycles; a Harley Davidson, an Imperial and a Douglas, all stolen from various addresses in Hillfield Road West Hampstead.

Harley-Davidson, Model W, 1921

Charles Thompson 37, a motor engineer of Streatley Road Kilburn, who rented the garage, was arrested. He had previously been a police constable from 1906 to 1916 but was asked to retire after stolen goods were found in his possession. Thompson was charged with receiving three stolen cars and four motorcycles with a total value of £1,645 (worth about £74,000 today). Also charged were William Thorpe, 21 a motor engineer and chauffeur of Cavendish Mansions West Hampstead, Sidney Rush 20, a dairyman of Portnall Road Paddington, and Harry Franks 25, of Plymouth Road with a jewelry shop at 314 Kilburn High Road as well as shops in Swansea and Cardiff. Thompson got 12 months, Thorpe (who was seen as the mastermind) received 15 months, Rush nine months, and Franks six months. When he heard the sentence, Thompson collapsed and crashed to the floor.

The 1930 triple event on Shoot-Up Hill

Just after midnight on 29 August 1930 George Childs was woken by the smell of smoke coming from his garage, Cricklewood Automobiles. This was at 63 Shoot-Up Hill Kilburn (there is still a Kwik-Fit garage there today). The fire had spread from the garage to eight of his cars which caught ablaze. Before the fire brigade arrived, with help from neighbours he managed to get some of the cars out onto the road. A large crowd gathered to watch the excitement.

Then a lorry coming from Cricklewood Broadway stopped abruptly and in the dark a large car crashed into the back and overturned. The driver Lionel Pickering, a bank clerk from Harrow, was thrown out onto the road. His passengers, all from West Hampstead, were also injured and taken to hospital. They were Elsie Harmon, of 5 Fairfax Road, James Nutt, 173 Goldhurst Terrace, and Millie Janks 40 Fairfax Road. Firemen left the garage blaze and helped with the collision by cutting into the wreckage and rescuing the people who were all unconscious.

Suddenly, a large saloon car driven at high speed came up the hill from the Kilburn side. People in the crowd shouted at the driver to stop; he jammed on the brakes, skidded on the wet road before hitting several parked cars and crashing into a lamppost. The car had been stolen and was being pursued by the Flying Squad. Four men jumped out and ran into gardens in Cricklewood Broadway, pursued by the detectives and uniformed police. After a chase, three were arrested.

The stolen car belonged to Henry Legge, an architect who was the surveyor for Kensington Council. He lived at 11 Greencroft Gardens in West Hampstead and the car was taken from nearby Canfield Place. The three car thieves were William Henry Cummings 24, Edward Thomas Kendall 22, and Alfred Burton 21, all lived in or near Cambridge Road Kilburn. Kendall was sentenced to eight months with hard labour, and Burton to three months. We could not find what happened to Cummings.

Looking south down the hill to Kilburn

The people who witnessed the concurrence of the three events were amazed, and the press carried the story across the country.