ON SUNDAY, 28 September 1975, three men, one armed with a double-barrelled sawn-off shotgun, the others with handguns, attempted to rob the managers of the Knightsbridge Spaghetti House restaurant of the weekend’s takings (amounting to about £13,000). They wore balaclavas and hats to disguise their faces, and forced nine Italian staff members into the basement, but one man had managed to escape and raise the alarm. The incident then became the first test of contingency plans for sieges that had been drawn up by police and government agencies.
A cordon was established to keep road traffic and the public well away from the premises. The gunmen claimed to represent the ‘Black Liberation Front’ and demanded that they should be released and flown to another country, but this was refused. The gunmen had access to the radio, and news programmes were allowed to broadcast details of official decisions that no concessions would ever be made to them. One of the hostages, who appeared to be unwell, was released on the afternoon of the first day.
In order to reassure the hostage takers and to encourage them to surrender, the Italian ambassador wrote to them: ‘[I am] aware that the Italian hostages have received so far no maltreatment by you and your friends. I declare on my honour that I am fully prepared to bear witness of this in court, so that it may be taken into consideration by the Authorities.’ That letter is now in the museum, with the weapons involved.
The leader, a Nigerian named Franklin Davies, was identified, and the police arrested an associate of his. The Daily Mail suppressed their hard-won scoop about this development at the personal request of the commissioner, Sir Robert Mark, and when a false message was passed to Davies that this associate had been selling information to the newspapers, it completed a demoralisation process and led to the peaceful surrender on the sixth day of the incident.
Although, in hindsight, it was regarded as a robbery that went wrong rather than a politically motivated siege involving terrorists, it provided valuable experience for the police.
A few months later, there was a siege in Balcombe Street, London.
The IRA terrorist campaign in London in 1974–75 had created a great deal of fear in the city and across the country, as well as a list of murder victims that included Ross McWhirter, Professor Gordon Hamilton Fairley, PC Stephen Tibble QPM and explosives officer Captain Roger Goad GC, BEM. Although there was no predictable pattern to the attacks, which comprised a variety of methods involving bombs in shop doorways, doorstep shootings, car booby-trap explosive devices and drive-by shootings, the police mounted Operation Combo to provide a rapid and effective response to future attacks in central London.
This operation culminated on 6 December 1975, when the occupants of a Ford Cortina passed Scott’s restaurant in Mayfair and one man from the car fired two shots at the restaurant. Another occupant tried, unsuccessfully, to fire a Sten machine gun, but it jammed. Two plain-clothes officers from Operation Combo made a note of the car registration and circulated details of its description as it travelled towards Oxford Street. Inspector John Purnell and Sergeant Philip McVeigh were posted in plain clothes in Oxford Street and saw the Cortina; they fulfilled a London taxi driver’s dream by introducing themselves and ordering him to ‘follow that Ford Cortina!’ McVeigh radioed a commentary of the car’s movements, but the terrorists became suspicious and stopped in a side turning. Purnell and McVeigh then left their taxi and approached the Cortina, but the terrorists, hearing police sirens in the distance, left their car on foot, broke into a run and fired their guns at the pursuing, unarmed, officers. Eventually police reinforcements intercepted them and an exchange of gunfire developed between the terrorists and Special Patrol Group officers. A Flying Squad car arrived and a chase on foot resulted in the terrorists running into the quiet Balcombe Street and forcing their way into a first-floor flat, No. 22b, belonging to John and Sheila Matthews, who had been quietly watching television. The gang took the couple hostage with the intention of bargaining their way out of the situation.
The police cordoned off the area, and screens were erected so that police activity could not be broadcast by the media. Negotiations were conducted with the terrorists by Peter (later Commissioner and Lord) Imbert and others, which eventually, after nearly six days, resulted in the sudden surrender of the men, shortly after the police discreetly leaked the information that SAS units were being called in. They had been discussing a plan to break out of the flat using Mr and Mrs Matthews as human shields. Detective Chief Superintendent Jim Nevill later displayed to the media the great array of weapons that had been used by the gang.
The terrorists, Hugh Doherty, Martin ‘Joe’ O’Connell (the bomb maker), Eddie Butler and Harry Duggan were arrested and later convicted of multiple counts of murder. They were sentenced to life imprisonment, putting an end to a particularly prolific and violent spell of terrorism. They served twenty-three years in mainland British prisons before being transferred to Portlaoise prison in Northern Ireland. They were released in 1999 under the Belfast Good Friday agreement. The Commissioner’s Annual Report for 1977 mentioned the crucial role played in the prosecution case by thirty-six identifications made by Scotland Yard’s fingerprint experts. John Purnell, Philip McVeigh and Henry Dowsell were awarded George Medals for their courage during the incident.