Shrewsbury police murder: Force remembers PC Richard Gray 10 years on

To mark the anniversary of the murder of the Shrewsbury-based officer, who died while trying to save his colleagues, West Mercia Police has paid tribute to him.

Pc Gray, known as Ricky to his friends and family, died on May 6, 2007, after being sent to a property in Shrewsbury where Peter Medlicott was holding two of his fellow police officers hostage.

As he approached the property via a rear alleyway at just after 6am, Medlicott, who worked as rat catcher, killed him with one shot.

The 43-year-old trained firearms officer was not wearing body armour or protective headgear.

Superintendent Jason Wells, from West Mercia Police, said: “Police officers are often required to demonstrate extraordinary acts of courage and selflessness in the service of the public, and none more so than Pc Ricky Gray, who was tragically shot and fatally injured in the line of duty in Shrewsbury, on May 6, 2007, seeking to protect his colleagues and the wider community.

“Saturday will be the 10th anniversary of his death. His sacrifice will not be forgotten.”

Medlicott was obsessed with guns and hunting and owned a .22 calibre rifle that he used to shoot vermin for his pest-control business.

The 33-year-old and his girlfriend, Ethel Mildred Jones, had spent the previous day drinking in pubs around the town and had been heard arguing in the hours before the shooting. Medlicott went to his parents’ house in Ditherington and retrieved a gun before returning to his girlfriend’s home and shouting at her through the windows.

The two hostages, Pc Keiron Cornell and Pc Sharon Phillips, had been the first officers on the scene after Ms Jones dialled 999.

When the two unarmed officers arrived at the property, on New Park Road, Castlefields thinking they were attending a ‘domestic dispute’, they were met by Medlicott who was pointing a rifle.

Pc Cornell managed to press a button on his radio calling for help and told an inquest into the death of Pc Gray that having a gun held to his head was “the loneliest place on Earth”.

“My right knee was shaking, like nothing had ever shaken before, I could not even rest on it,” Pc Cornell said. “I told him I was only 22 and that I did not want to die.”

Pc Gray and fellow firearms officer Pc Matthew Crisp went to the property but did not have time to put on their protective body armour when they arrived. After shooting Pc Gray, Medlicott, turned the gun on himself.

Pc Gray, a father of two, had been called out to 35 firearms incidents during his time with West Mercia Police and had previously served for16 years in the army, including two tours of Northern Ireland with the Black Watch Regiment.

At the time of his death, he lived in Bayston Hill with his wife Jenny. The couple had married just months before in Venice.