or police, What followed was final Do bye Steps, we share the lasting impact of his father's death in service for more than four decades. PC Brian Bishop was a murderer taken He died while being arrested in an armed attack in Frinton, Essex, in August 1984.
Brian “Bill” Bishop is known as a gentle giant, standing at an imposing height of 1.80 metres, he earned his nickname “Bill” during his days as a cadet due to his pentathlon in the same year American Folk hero Wild Bill Hickok. He officially joined Essex Police as 389 Constable in August 1966. After passing through Colchester and as a puppy A handler, he became part of the Force Support Unit (FSU) and later a firearms instructor.
number married Susan, also a Colchester officer, was born in June 1967, and her son Dave was born in 1974. Dave described his father as a “very loving father” who devoted his life to his family. Bill was known for his sarcastic sense of humour, and was also a sports enthusiast, often playing tennis and cricket with Dave and encouraging his practice of Gentile bullfighting. One summer day in 1984, Dave was enjoying himself school He was on holiday at his family home in Chelmsford, when his father Bill returned briefly before leaving for work.
FSU received stories about a man who stole mail from two agencies using a saw nail and hid his money on Avenida Central, Frinton. Bill, acting as a sergeant, planned with his colleagues to ambush or rob him as he turned to strike his target. However, things will take a tragic turn when Bill confronts the robber and shoots him in the head with a gun hidden in a bag.
PC Brian Bill Bishop at Stansted Airport in 1983 (Photo: Essex Police)
Your colleague, Mervyn Fairweather, also suffered a non-accidental injury. Dave recalls later events: “It was a long night and our house was set up in the school playground where there was a party. Because I couldn't sleep, I couldn't sleep.
“When midnight came, I knocked on the door. Being a curious 10-year-old, it's not a big deal. I only heard a churro and several voices. The door to the room was dated. Then we saw him looking for me, and my mother was gone. And over the next five days, It was at a family friend's house in Southend I only come home when I die.
“I learned clearly from my colleague Monty Montgomery, when he explained to me that when the mind of a car stops the engine stops working. Dave Fulto stops school between the murder and the funeral. Receiving no further advice or support, he is summoned by his new professor claiming that the procession Bell's funeral at Chelmsford Cathedral was delayed.
“Suddenly everyone in Chelmsford knew what it was,” Dave shared. It wasn't a newscast all your days. My face was on everyone's coffee table. Everyone at school knew about me and my family. “It was surreal.”
Dave joined Essex Police in 2001 and currently works in the Community Policing Team in Colchester. (Photo: Essex Police)
The shooter, Colin Richards, was shot by one of Bill's colleagues, and was paralyzed from the waist to the floor. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1985, but was released after 17 years. For Dave, the memory of the last time he saw his father was a source of bitter regret and was connected to his adult life.
He said: “Not on the day it happened, my father came home to change his clothes and I saw him stepping on the pedal as he was jumping in the garden of two farms. I beat myself up and blamed myself for many years because I never said anything, which is why I always tell my kids I love you before I leave the house.
Dave was interested in joining the police force after leaving school, but his mother continued to work in the police force and became involved with the Police Memorial Fund, but was later dissuaded. She said: “The police took very poor care of my mother and she was tied up in the apartment, but they were not interested in anything other than getting her in. “She lost her husband and didn’t want to lose her son too, but when she moved in, she finally checked in with him.”
Pai e filho on Frinton Beach just two weeks before Brian's death (Photo: Essex Police)
“One day, I told her I had a new job, and she smiled and said, 'You've come, haven't you?' After that, I became very interested in my career.
Some of my colleagues from my country were still in the police when I came. They would tell me that I was my father's equal, or that I could only think of it as a compliment.
After a career that saw Dave work as a detective at Clacton CID and spend twelve years as a field intelligence officer, four years ago he fell in love with his first love as a police officer when he joined the Colchester Community Policing team. His father wants to say that he is never satisfied with security and believes he should have received more recognition from potential police officers.
The non-local memorial stone was dedicated to PC Brian Bishop in 1986 (Photo: Essex Police)
Dave said: “I don't know that the public always appreciates or realizes that the police are out there every day. Every house we go into, anyone can open the door with the front. Every person we stop looking for could have a gun. “What happened to me and Ian Dibble ( “Who was shot dead in Clacton in 2012) is tragic and extremely rare, but it could happen to any of us at any time.”
Four decades later, with the era of the Bill Offices long since settled, Dave appreciated the relative anonymity he now enjoyed within the force. However, his dedication to the people of Essex remains unwavering. He maintains contact with colleagues from his country and, in a twist of fate, now resides just 30 meters away from Mervyn Fairweather, another police officer injured in a non-accident.
“Mervyn told me I would be proud to follow in my footsteps, which means quite a lot,” Dave said.
