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...