Ex-officer recalls horror of gun blast
A retired policeman has relived the night he dodged death as Britain's most wanted criminal fired a sawn-off shotgun at him.
Ken Owen, from Llansantffraid, was awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal for his role in catching serial rapist Andrew Longmire in 1988, and his story has now been included in the new book For Exemplary Bravery – The Queen's Gallantry Medal, which has just been released.
Mr Owen was a PC based in the Wirral at the time of the arrest on January 21, and was on the night shift.
He said: "It was strange because when we came on duty we sat down and the sergeant read out this wanted poster for Andrew Longmire who was wanted in Greater Manchester for attacks on women. They normally occurred early morning between 5am and 6am normally in areas of terraced houses, and he would wait for the husband to leave the house, go round the back and kick the back door in and attack the lady in the house. The attacks got more and more vicious.
"He'd been seen at a bed and breakfast in Wrexham, and my mum and dad lived there at the time and so I said half joking we should look for him.
"I went out in the car and I wasn't with my normal colleague, but with Derek Murphy, who was an ex-para. We drove down into the town and it was about 12.20am. As we were passing a car park there was a van parked with its headlights on and the windscreen wipers on, and it wasn't raining so we pulled in."
Mr Owen found a man asleep in the driver's seat.
"I opened the door and said 'alright', the usual things, is this your car and so on," he said.
"I went back to the police car and did a check on the registration plate and it came back as a false number. So I'm out again and my colleague's standing by the open door. I said have you got any ID and he said 'yes', and leans over and he pulls out a sawn-off double barrelled shotgun and puts it to my face.
"It flashed through my mind 'cheeky so and so, that's not loaded', and at that split second Derek grabbed the gun and the chap pulled the trigger and the blast went up the side of my face.
"Next minute Derek is wrestling with him and hauling him out onto the car park. The chap got up quick and he fires the gun at my colleague, but he curled up and it missed him, so this chap then runs back to the van. I dive in the police car. I back up and he them comes out again with the gun having reloaded it.
The guy was a body builder and he was a big guy but we managed to get the handcuffs on him, only on the first ratchet because his wrist was so big.
"We got on the radio and the ambulance and back-up arrived and took him off to hospital. We didn't know who he was at that time. When we searched the van he had another sawn off shotgun, a knife, an axe and a balaclava . It was only after we found out he was the most wanted man in Britain at that time."
Longmire was convicted and given life sentences.
l The bookis published by Nicholas Metcalfe RRP £54.99.
