Glenn Goodman (? to 7th June 1992)

On the way home from Scarborough I veered off the motorway near Tadcaster to seek out the grave of a policeman who was murdered by an IRA gunman. The quaint quiet cemetery was in a small village punctuated with large detached mansions, broad agricultural fields and a riding school. I didn't find the church but an overspill graveyard at the end of a dead-end road, ladies with horses having to move to the side so I could pass by. A red sports car was parked outside the gates and there was a woman in sunglasses stood silently by a grave (quite filmic I thought). I had a coffee from the flask until she left. As I entered the churchyard some women walking alongside horses looked at me but they probably looked at all unfamiliar faces.

I soon found the grave of Special Constable Glen Goodman who didn’t pass 37 years. In June 1992 he was out in the police car on a general patrol with officer Sandy Kelly. They ran a routine check on a car parked in the town occupied by two men. They followed it out to the A64 dual carriageway and pulled it over to question the occupants. Suspicious they radioed for backup however one of the men, Paul Magee, who was a member of the IRA shot Glenn in the chest without warning. Another police car followed the killers at high speed. They came under fire from the IRA men in nearby Burton Salmon before fleeing. Glenn died later that day in hospital leaving a wife and son (he’d only been in the job for eight months.) Constable Kelly who had been shot four times survived.

A massive manhunt comprising hundreds of cops ensued across farms and deserted rural buildings. For four days the two IRA remained hidden but were caught hiding in a culvert a few miles away in Pontefract. Both were found guilty and Magee was jailed for life after a trial at the Old Bailey (the other chap got 18 years.) This was his second known murder as he’d killed a member of the SAS twelve year earlier. He served little of the sentence and was freed in 2000 under the Good Friday Agreement. Glenn’s parents vigorously argued against the release but to no avail.

I found a crop of war graves in the cemetery and did some hearty salutes while reading the headstones. Most didn't see their 25th birthday; one pilot was just 19 (died in an aerobatics exercise when the plane stalled while in a vertical spin). If you're having a bad day think of these people. I did one long last salute and left.

Glenn's mum and dad and son...