Tommy Butler Popular Books

Tommy Butler Biography & Facts

Thomas Marius Joseph Butler (21 July 1912 – 20 April 1970) was a Detective Chief Superintendent in the Metropolitan Police in London. He was most notable for leading the team of detectives that investigated the Great Train Robbery in 1963. He never married and lived with his mother. Butler was arguably the most renowned head of the Flying Squad in its history. He became known as "One Day" Tommy for the speed with which he apprehended criminals and the "Grey Fox" for his shrewdness. Family Butler was born in Fulham, west London. His mother's maiden name was Langthurne. Police career Butler was far from a typical policeman. He had a meteoric rise through the ranks, going from Detective Sergeant to Chief Superintendent in under a decade. Butler was utterly committed to his work and was a lifelong bachelor who lived with his mother in West London. He was a non-smoker and only moderate drinker. Butler was involved in an investigation of corrupt Police officers in Brighton and also investigated and curtailed the activities of Jack Spot and Bill Hill. At one point in his career, he was sent to Cyprus before it gained independence from Britain in 1960 to advise the Police on how to combat the Greek Cypriot group EOKA, led by General Grivas. From 1955 to 1959 EOKA waged an armed struggle against the British administration which aimed to achieve Enosis, or the union of Greece and Cyprus, similar to Crete and the Ionian Islands. The Great Train Robbery Initial Investigations Malcolm Fewtrell of Buckinghamshire CID and Detective Superintendent Gerald McArthur of Scotland Yard were in charge of carrying out the initial hunt for the thieves. McArthur was sent by Scotland Yard upon the request of the local police force, and had Detective Sergeant John Pritchard assisting him. George Hatherill, Commander of the C Department and Ernie Millen, Detective Chief Superintendent, and chief of the Flying Squad were initially in charge of the London side of the investigation. Train Robbery squad Butler became head of the Flying Squad shortly after the Great Train Robbery, after Millen became promoted to Deputy Commander to George Hatherill. On 12 August 1963 Butler was appointed to head the police investigation of the London connection (with no local criminals capable of the robbery). He formed the six-man Train Robbery Squad: Detective Inspector Frank Williams, Detective Sergeant Steve Moore, Detective Sergeant Jack Slipper, Detective Sergeant Jim Nevill, Detective Sergeant Lou Van Dyck, and Detective Constable Tommy Thorburn. The decision to publish photos of the wanted suspects was already made by Hatherill and Millen, despite strong protests from Tommy Butler and Frank Williams. This resulted in most of the robbers going to ground. The debate between the police and the robbers as to whether the police broke the law to convict them, and relied upon informants has raged on through the years. In particular the gang claim that Gordon Goody and the innocent Bill Boal were blatantly framed. 1964 trial The trial of the robbers began at Aylesbury Assizes, Buckinghamshire on 20 January 1964. Justice Edmund Davies presided over the trial which lasted 51 days and included 613 exhibits and 240 witnesses. The jury retired to the Grange Youth Centre in Aylesbury to consider their verdict. John Daly acquittal On 11 February 1964, there was a sensation, when John Daly was found to have no case to answer when his counsel, Mr W. Raeburn QC claimed that the evidence against his client was limited to his fingerprints' being on the Monopoly set found at Leatherslade Farm and that he went underground after the robbery. He went on to say that Daly had played Monopoly with his brother in law Bruce Reynolds earlier in 1963 and that he had gone underground because he was associated with people publicly sought by the police; this was not proof of involvement in a conspiracy. The judge agreed and the jury was directed to acquit him. Frank Williams was shocked when this occurred, because owing to Butler's refusal to share information, he had no knowledge of the fact that Daly's prints were only on the Monopoly set. If he had known this, he could have asked Daly questions about the Monopoly set and have relieved him of his very effective alibi. Daly was also clever, however, in avoiding having a photo taken when he was arrested until he could shave his beard. This meant that there was no photo to show the lengths he had gone to, in order to change his appearance. No action was taken against Butler however, for his mistake in not ensuring the case against Daly was more thorough. Verdicts On 15 April 1964 the proceedings ended with the judge describing the robbery as "a crime of sordid violence inspired by vast greed" and passing sentences of 30 years imprisonment on seven of the robbers. Escape After the trial, two of the Great Train Robbers, Charlie Wilson and Ronnie Biggs, escaped from captivity. On 12 August 1964, Wilson escaped from Winson Green Prison in Birmingham in under three minutes when a three-man team broke into the prison to extricate him. His escape team was never caught and the leader nicknamed "Frenchy" disappeared from the London criminal scene by the late '60s. Two weeks after his escape Wilson was in Paris for plastic surgery and to grow out his prison haircut. By November 1965, Wilson was in Mexico City visiting old friends Bruce Reynolds and Buster Edwards. Eleven months after Wilson's escape, in July 1965, Biggs escaped from Wandsworth Prison, only fifteen months into his sentence via a furniture van parking alongside the prison walls. A ladder was dropped over the thirty foot wall into the prison, during outside exercise time, to allow four prisoners to escape, including Biggs. The escape was planned by recently released prisoner Paul Seaborne, with the assistance of two other ex-convicts, Ronnie Leslie and Ronnie Black, and support from Charmian Biggs. The plot saw two other prisoners interfere with the warders and allow Biggs and friend Eric Flower to escape. Seaborne was later caught by Butler and sentenced to four and a half years and Ronnie Leslie to three years for being the getaway driver. The two other prisoners who took advantage of the Biggs escape were captured after three months. Biggs and Flower paid significant money to get smuggled to Paris for plastic surgery. Biggs said he had to escape because of the length of the sentence and the severity of the prison conditions. The escape of Wilson and Biggs meant that five of the robbers were then on the run. Pursuit Throughout the three years Jimmy White spent on the run with wife Sheree, and baby son Stephen, he was continually taken advantage of or let down by his friends and associates. His share of the money was dwindling rapidly with no hope of staying in the one place to earn more. On 10 April 1966 a new friend recognised him from photos in a newspaper and informed police. They arrested him at Littlestone while he was.... Discover the Tommy Butler popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Tommy Butler books.