Month: December 2022

It was announced today (31/12/2022) that former Chair of the BTP Federation Nigel GOODBAND M.B.E. and Det Sgt Brian POWER K.P.M.  have received recognition in the New Year Honours List 2023.

Congratulations to them both.

The Awards table has been updated.

Nigel Goodband, known as ‘Nobby’, joined BTP in 1991, after eight years with the 1^st Battalion Irish Guards.

During his time with BTP, Nigel embarked on a career of disrupting serious and organised crime across the rail network, working across CID and the National Intelligence arena. He received a commendation from the coroner for his work on the Grayrigg train crash and led the first ever court contested murder investigation for BTP.

Alongside his operational accomplishments, Nigel also worked tirelessly to represent BTP officers as an elected representative of the BTP Federation. In 2016, he was named national chair of the BTP Federation and became the face of the organisation internally, externally, nationally and internationally.

Nigel stepped down as chair earlier this year.

On receiving this honour, Nigel said:

“Policing for me has genuinely been a job like no other and I have worked with some of the very best officers and staff that a police service can offer. I suspect without their dedication to duty, support, and courage my efforts would not have been recognised in this fashion. So, I am extremely grateful to all those officers and staff members that I worked with over the years, and I would like to say a very big thank you to them all.

“I would also like to thank whoever nominated me for the MBE, I cannot put into words what this honour means to me and my family. I am so proud of my time served in both the British Army and in British Transport Police and to receive this honour from HM King Charles III is unquestionably the highlight of my career.”

Chief Constable Lucy D’Orsi said: “Nobby served a trailblazing career with BTP, which included investigating the force’s first ever court-contested murder case and establishing a model for investigating major incidents alongside our partners. Alongside those incredible achievements, he worked tirelessly to represent BTP officers through the BTP Federation and was elected national chair in 2016. Nobby dedicated his working life to serving and helping others, bringing about change and supporting everyone who needed assistance, advice or support. He should be very proud of this honour and we are very proud of him.”

Det Sgt Brian Power joined the Metropolitan Police Service in 1979, serving in both uniform and CID.

It was during the latter that he became involved in family liaison work – offering families emotional support and care during the most difficult situations a family can face. Since then, he has been the co-ordinator for teams of family liaison officers for incidents such as the 2004 Tsunami tragedy, 9/11 and the 7/7 London bombings.

Since joining BTP in 2009, he has overseen the training of more than 250 liaison officers and co-ordinators, as well as seeing more than 500 officers trained to become detectives. Brian was also the coordinator for all 14 liaison officers for the Croydon tram derailment in 2016.

He is now training officers from forces across the UK in providing bereavement support.

In his own time, he has run seven marathons for charity, runs a local youth club and has been an athletics coach for 20 years.

Chief Constable Lucy D’Orsi said: “Brian has been a pioneer in the incredibly difficult and emotive work of family liaison. It is because of his work that many families have been helped and supported through the darkest of times – and that so many others have been trained to carry out this vital role.

“Brian has shown unwavering dedication to the public for more than 40 years. His work in this area epitomises everything that is great about British policing and this honour is very much deserved.”

On hearing news of the honour, Brian said:

“It’s an absolute honour to have received the medal. I’ve been working for the police for 44 years and I still love my job. It’s a privilege to train those officers – from forces across the UK – who will be supporting families when they most need us.”

 

Source: BTP

See: Honours, Medals and Decorations table

🎄With the especially cold December we’ve had so far, I thought you would appreciate a return to our roaring log fire this year.

🎄For the last couple of years I hoped for a better new year than the last,  but another challenging winter is upon us, nevertheless a seasonal greeting from all of us at the BTPHG.

🎄And let’s look forward to a much happier New Year (again)!

BTPHG member Malcolm Clegg has his second BTP related book published within a few months and takes another place on the virtual BookShelf.

This time he is looking at crimes in the Victorian era.

The book, published in hardback by Pen & Sword, contains 160 pages and will be released on 30th January 2023. It will be available from Amazon, other online retailers, most book shops or direct from the publishers, and is available to pre-order now.

From the publisher’s description:

The vast majority of Britain’s railways were built between 1830 and 1900 which happened to coincide with the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). By the turn of the Nineteenth/Twentieth Century, over one hundred different railway companies were operating in Britain on more than 22,000 miles of railway track.

Although these new railways brought prosperity to the nation and enabled goods and passengers to be speedily transported the length and breadth of the country for the first time, this remarkable feat of engineering brought with it some unwelcome side-effects, one of which was crime. Wherever crowds of people gather, or unattended goods are being transported, a few unscrupulous individuals and career criminals will usually emerge to ply their trade. Some railway staff members are also unable to resist the temptation of stealing money or goods passing through their hands.

This book gives an insight into the nature and types of crime committed on the railways during the Victorian era, incorporating such offences as theft, assaults and murder, fraud, obstructing the railways and various other infringements of the law.

Over seventy different cases mentioned in the book are true accounts of events which took place on the railway during the Victorian era, the details of which were obtained as a result of hours of researching British Newspaper Archives of that period. The author hopes that readers will get as much pleasure from analysing the various cases cited in the book, as he himself derived from researching and writing about them.

Update: January 2023
Malcolm advises: Just to keep you updated. The book was released on Wednesday (11th January 2023) and my copies arrived on Thursday.
Hardback copies are now available from the publisher, Pen & Sword, priced at £18.00 (RRP £20) each.

Also see:
British Transport Police – A definitive history of the early years and subsequent development