Lesley Kirk was born in the Scottish town of Greenock. She decided to join Strathclyde Police and to her surprise she was posted to Greenock.

When she joined, she was asked her biggest fears of being posted to Greenock and she stated that attending a road accident and a a sudden death. Both fears were realised within the first few hours of being on shift. Her tutor constable made it very clear that he didn’t want to tutor a woman.

Lesley was posted to Glasgow, and she went to Castlemilk where she experienced pure hatred from the public. Her new shift was very supportive and may have been too protective. Lesley would experience the types of criminal activity connected to depravation.

Lesley experienced the sectarianism within football in Glasgow on a regular basis. This effectively concluded her police career  the football culture was insidious and following a “Old Firm” derby Lesley was the victim of a violent assault. This assault was avoidable but took place as the result of poor judgement by her Sergeant. She was later let down by the legal system.

There is no happy ending to this story!

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Fay Hepworth was born during the 2nd world war. Initially her family were living with her grandmother close to Silverstone in Northamptonshire.

Fays father was a captain in the army and had served with the hussars and had seen action in North Africa.

The family moved to Northern Ireland where Fay went to school.

Fay is a lover of classical music and as a natural academic she absolutely loved school.

Aged 15 Fay went to work with a family in France. She landed in Paris where she was met by the lovely family. However, At that time Fay didn’t speak any French. She became fluent in no time at all.

In due course Fay returned to Northern Ireland where she was encouraged to take a secretarial course which she hated!

A colleague brought in literature to join the Royal Air Force. Fay saw opportunity to travel and informed her father that she intended to join up. However, he had a different ideas. Fay had a family member who was had been an admiral and she was told to join the senior service.

Having joined the Royal Navy Fay went on to serve at the Ministry of Defence where she became a secretary for Earl Mountbatten for a period of 3 months. Following this she was posted to Malta where she enjoyed her posting immensely. With her American boyfriend “Art” she visited Tripoli!

At the conclusion of her time in Malta she returned to Whitehall where she went back to the team with Mountbatten

Mountbatten decided to stand down as Chief Of Defence and undertook a world tour to say his goodbyes, Fay travelled with him. She flew across the world.

The trip stopped in New Zealand, and she returned to the UK on Military transport aircraft.

Armed with a reference from Mountbatten she began to look for work in Civi Street. She went through a process of seeking employment and having worked in Northern Ireland she applied for and joined P&O as a purser on a cruise liner.

In 1971 she met her future husband, Tony. Tony went to work on Bahrain and Fay went to work in Belgium and their relationship ended .

It was rekindled a couple of years later and she went on to marry him. They went onto have 2 children and moved to the Middle East whereTony was the training manager at Gulf Air.

The family returned to the UK. Fay went on to work for Essex Probation and since retirement she has become very active by singing in a Choir and playing the church organ. She also raises money for a local charity Wallace Kennels by selling her memoirs.

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Bob Sherwood is the son of a former Metropolitan Police Officer. He joined the cadets in 1971the training was based around the military style. Former guards were the instructors. There were no women on the course, and the Women’s Police service was still in place. At the conclusion of his cadet training, he went to Sunbury and posted to Rochester Row. As a keen sportsman he played football for the borough and spent a lot of time representing the force. 

Whilst working at Abbey Road Police station the local residents included Paul McCartney. The local police would tell tourists that Paul resided in Abbey Road to ensure The Beatle had a peaceful life. Bob worked on Child Protection and saw policing from a different perspective.

Having passed the Inspector exam he had to make a decision to move in order to get promoted. He went to Hammersmith where he worked with Jackie Moulton. Bob studied Law and successfully gained his degree despite the fact he had never achieved his true potential at school.

Upon retirement Bob worked in various roles but went on to gain a degree and doctorate in Holocaust studies. Bob and former BBC journalist Jon Silverman have written a book relating to war crime investigations in the 1990s. Safe Haven is available from all reputable book sellers.

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Scott McCallum comes from a family who have served his grandfather was a Regimental Sergeant Major. He joined the Police in 1989 and commenced his service in St Thomas Ontario. Scott managed to be a member of the Army Reserve and served in the Military Police.

Scott recounts his time in the service as the atrocities of 9/11 unfolded – He was ready to go on the radio as a Crimestoppers co-ordinator as the aircraft struck the building in New York.

Scott made the decision to transfer to the Railway Police. The size of Canada is such that it could take considerable time to arrive at a rural incident such as a death.

Since leaving the force Sco6tt has commenced a program of supporting the police in Ukraine. He is part of a team known as the Canadian Ukraine Logistics Division They collect surplus equipment which is then placed in a container and shipped to Ukraine. The team receive assistance form companies to facilitate this brilliant initiative . The team have several goals one of them is to ensure female Ukrainian officers have suitable body armour.

The team have containers delivered to Poland , they travel to Poland and begin the distribution to the front line in Ukraine.  

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Amans Life was complicated from the outset, his dad was Indian and his mum English. Things got a whole lot worse as his father was extremely violent towards his mother, this violence culminated in his dad receiving a substantial term of imprisonment for a life changing assault against his mum. As a direct result Aman and his sister were brought up by his English grandparents who absolutely adored their grandchildren.

Aman decided that he wanted to be a police officer and was encouraged to join the cadets. He went on to join Essex Police as a regular and then transferred to the City Of London Police.During his time in the police he experienced exclusionary behaviour, not from colleagues but from other members of the Asian community.

eventually Aman fell out of love with the police and decided to make the jump. He has successfully steered his way through civi street and is now working with a growing company in IT sales.

Listen to his captivating story of overcoming adversity to succeed.

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Rebecca is a former police officer who served in Sussex and the City of London. She had previously worked at the Royal School of Ballet.

During her time in the police she led the search at some of the most iconic events in British history including the funeral of Margaret Thatcher.

Rebecca is a keen historian and gives guided tours in the City of London Plodd in the Square Mile – The Square Mile, its crime and policing history 

Sit back and listen

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