Camden New Journal - Face to face with knife killers

Publications by New Journal Enterprises

Home

Archive

Competition

Camden New Journal - by CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS
Published: 20 March 2008

Sgt Bob Dear

Face to face with knife killers

IT was as Sergeant Bob Dear made his usual rounds dealing with rowdy drinkers that he got the call alerting him to a major incident in nearby Camden Town.
When he arrived he found himself facing a group of young men armed with knives and a bat who had murdered Mahir Osman, 18, in Camden High Street.
It fell to Sgt Dear and his team to stop the killers getting away. Last week he and two of his officers, PC Gerry McGann and PC David Atkins, were commended for their heroism by Camden’s top police officer, Borough Commander Dominic Clout, at Camden’s bi-annual awards ceremony.
The three officers, armed with just batons, blocked the doorways of a bus the 30-plus group had boarded in an attempt to escape.
Speaking at the ceremony at the Town Hall on Thursday, Sgt Dear said: “A lot of praise is given to the murder squad but if it hadn’t been for us they would not have had 20 people in the dock. They had the 13 convictions because we kept so much evidence on the bus.”
Officers were commended for their courage in attempting to save the lives of people trapped in a three-storey building by a blaze that killed two.
PC Kevin Crick, alongside three others, ran inside the burning sauna, A Touch of Class, in Royal College Street, Camden Town, in March last year. PC Crick said: “I didn’t have a clue how many were inside. All I could think about was getting people out.”

Comment on this article.
(You must supply your full name and email address for your comment to be published)

Name:

Email:

Comment: