New Measures Against U.K. Organised Crime

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30937, 18 December 1965, Page 25

New Measures Against U.K. Organised Crime

(N.Z.P.A. Reuter—Copyright) DURHAM (England), Dec. 17. Troops set up a machine-gun post and high-powered searchlight on the roof of a gaol in Durham last night to make sure Britain’s three most notorious convicts would not get out. x

They also fitted netting round the tiny prison yard used for exercise by the trio— Roy James, Thomas Wisby and Gordon Goody. All three are serving 30 years for their part in Britain’s £2,500,000 mail train robbery of 1963.

The unprecedented security measures follow the carefully planned escapes of two of their confederates from other gaols. Troops were called to Durham when it appeared the under-manned prison service could not cope with the highly-organised crime gangs which have emerged in Britain over the last few years. Amid a mounting outcry, crime figures have soared—--8 per cent higher in London in the first eight months this year than in the whole of 1964—as bandits using the latest technical equipment have foiled burglar alarms, safes and security guards to net an increasing pile of loot. Jewel thieves have stolen more than £1,000,000 worth of gems in London during the last two months.

One gang grabbed a case containing £20,000 worth of polished diamonds belonging to an Antwerp firm from a merchant outside an underground station on Wednesday night.

There has also been an epidemic of raids on banks and post offices, and holdups of wages vans. The gangsters make free use of guns and cashes, then speed away in stolen cars.

Not every raid succeeds. A gang of five gunmen, who raced into a London bank yesterday, coshed a Nigerian customer, fired a shot into the ceiling and swarmed over the tills, failed to open them, and made off without a penny.

But most do. Near London’s Waterloo rail terminal yesterday one gang coshed a guard and stole a £2OOO payroll, while another attacked clerks at a Thames-side pumping station and made off with £2OO. On Wednesday night, burglars neutralised the alarm system at a west London post office and got away with £37,000 in cash and stamps. Gangs escaped with £ll,OOO worth of watches from two salesmen they attacked outside their London homes. The crime wave has led to calls for tougher sentences, more police, improved security methods, and even for the adoption of the continental system of examining magistrates, allowing suspects to be questioned on oath. Much of the growth of sophisticated crime, using heavy capital outlay and split-second planning, appears to date from the great train robbery and the much-publi-cised escapes of two of the robbers.

The Home Secretary (Sir Frank Soskice) told Parliament yesterday he had appointed a top London detec-

tive, Superintendent R. C. Lewis, to advise the ■- prison service on security arrangements and supervise the training of gaolers. Durham is determined not to let another escape boost the underworld’s morale still higher. Neither the Home Office nor Northern Command, which supplied the troops, would comment on the installation of the machine-gun and other equipment at Durham prison, even to the extent of confirming or denying it A spokesman for the Prison Officers' Association said: “It can’t be long now before we have a couple of anti-tank guns and an anti-aircraft gun as well at Durham prison." The fewer firearms there were inside a prison the better, he said. “I don’t know what could have given rise to the introduction of a machine-gun. If it got into the wrong hands, clearly it would be disastrous.”