History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

What are the chances of finding two safe blowers in West Hampstead? Even more unlikely is the fact that they were both living there in 1955. But surprisingly, there is no obvious link between the men. The First Raid at Stanstead On the night of 3-4 February 1955 thieves blew open the safe in the wages office of Skyways Ltd at Stansted Airport, and stole cash and National Health stamps. Leading from the safe to the door were two strands of wire, and in the passage the police found a live unused detonator. The next day, presumably acting on a tip-off, Detective Superintendent Tom Bradford and members of the Flying Squad went to a house in West End Lane. The number was not given in the newspaper reports and it was rather oddly called a bungalow, but there is no obvious house like this in the road. Eddie Rice, aged 34, still dressed in pyjamas, opened the door and said, ‘I have been expecting this. You are lucky because I was going to leave here tomorrow. Things were getting too hot’...

This story begins in West Hampstead in the 1920s and leads to a study of two famous criminals. West Hampstead burglaries In August 1926, West Hampstead Police Station which was then at 90 West End Lane near the Railway Hotel, received a tip-off about an intended local house burglary. Photo of West Hampstead Police Station Detectives Parlett, Heath and Smith went to Fairfax Road and took up observation. After half an hour they saw a powerful Swift motorcar, license plate LM 7311, arrive with three men and a woman with short bobbed hair. She got out and went into No.4 Fairfax Road which was currently unoccupied. Shortly afterwards she returned to the car and it drove away. The police waited and about 20 minutes later the car returned and parked nearby. Two of the men went into the house while one man pretended to be cleaning the car, and the woman kept watch in the street nearby. After a while, the men returned carrying a suitcase and they started up the car.  Just as it was moving a...