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    Poison Heads
    Poison Heads
    Poison Heads
    Ebook101 pages1 hour

    Poison Heads

    By Jonny English

    ()

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    About this ebook

    In Poison Heads, Jonny English writes of his first years in the Manchester Police Force at the time of the IRA bombings. A Police Constable who was actually there and on the scene, English “tells all” about life in the Manchester Police Force as it really was during the 1970s: love, corruption, violence and more. This is the true story, told by a man who was there!

    English shares his early family years with his inspiring globe-trotting Gran, then in his own words tells of his journey from family to Police Training to life in the Force. Now his 25-year pact with the Official Secrets Act is over, he can spill the beans about the “Poison Heads” - the bent professionals of law and order he worked with every day.
    “In the Force my eyes were opened and I was to view many things in life quite differently — especially how people really are, the reality of death, the bliss of love and, most of all, what it takes to survive on the streets of a city.”

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJonny English
    Release dateJul 3, 2014
    ISBN9780993824005
    Poison Heads
    Author

    Jonny English

    Jonny English was born in Rossendale, England, and grew up in the 1950’s near Manchester, England in the heart of the Pennine Hills. He spent his early years on his Grandmother’s farm, The Willows. He was educated at Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School where he studied Art, Architecture, English Literature and European History.During his life he has worked and travelled extensively throughout Europe, South America, Central America and Africa, where he personally delivered gifts for the Red Cross School Children and the poor in third world countries.After joining the Greater Manchester Police Force as a Police Constable during the 1970’s, he began to doubt the credibility of the Force and changed his career path.Today he works as a Senior Chief Estimator for a Corporation in Western Canada. He began writing while living in Cancun, Mexico in 2011.

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      Book preview

      Poison Heads - Jonny English

      Poison Heads

      By Jonny English

      Copyright © 2014, Jonny English

      Smashwords Edition

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the publisher. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited.

      Cover Design by Diane Feught

      Ebook formatting by Maureen Cutajar

      www.poisonheads.com

      Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

      English, Jonny, 1951-, author

      Poison heads / Jonny English.

      Issued in print and electronic formats.

      ISBN 978-0-9938240-1-2 (pbk.).

      ISBN 978-0-9938240-0-5 (epub).

      ISBN 978-0-9938240-2-9 (kindle)

      1. English, Jonny, 1951-. 2. Police--England--Greater Manchester-

      -Biography. 3. Greater Manchester Police Force--Biography. 4. Greater

      Manchester (England)--Biography. I.Title.

      HV7911.E54A3 2014 363.2092

      C2014-904233-7

      C2014-904234-5

      "Life in the Manchester Police Force as it really was during the 1970s. Love, corruption, violence and more. The truth and nothing but the truth so help me God."

      Jonny English

      DEDICATION

      I dedicate this book to my grandmother Maud. She was the guiding force for the travels and constant changes in my life. Without her sweet memories I would never have written this book, remembered so many details or even stayed young. Her good memory fell on me and inspired me.

      To my Mother and Father, bless their souls, who worked hard to keep my life on the right path and saluted me when I joined the Force.

      From the Pennine Hills to the Caribbean Ocean, I also thank my best friend Dee from San Francisco who inspired me to start writing this book.

      CONTENTS

      Introduction

      Chapter One: LEARNING

      Chapter Two: INTO THE FUTURE

      Chapter Three: THE MIGHTY ATOM 1007

      Chapter Four: THE STREETS

      Chapter Five: RISK TAKERS

      Chapter Six: TIME OUT

      About the Author

      INTRODUCTION

      I sat on the beach in the hotel zone of Cancun. The Mexican girls were playing in the surf and it certainly was a beautiful day, 32 degrees Celsius and not a cloud in the sky. I had been in my penthouse on Avenido Quintana Roo for about one week now. Having worked five days in a call center with little pay I decided to give the Blue Bay Resort a call and find out about the timeshare opportunities. After all, people had told me there was big money to be earned in commission and I needed to earn some decent dollars. I picked up my towel, put it into my red backpack and headed for Downtown Cancun. Once at the ADO bus station I jumped into a Playa Taxi bound for Blue Bay Resort on the Mayan Riviera — about an hour’s journey.

      There was a band playing on the corner, I felt happy and it was at this point I saw an old woman crossing the street right in front of the taxi. She looked exactly like my grandmother Maud — wearing a long coat, some nice jewellery and a grey sun hat with the exact same hat pin in it. Wow! I thought, and I began to reminisce about the times on Willows Farm growing up, and for some reason pondered over my time in the Greater Manchester Police Force.

      As the taxi traveled on I was miles away in thought. After more than 25 years out of the Greater Manchester Police Force should I, after signing the Official Secrets Act, write a book about the events and my time in the force? I could tell people about the real Force: that would be something! I took out my notebook and started writing some things down.

      In Old England, especially in the North, people used the slang name of Pear Head for an English Bobby. Obviously because of that stupid hat, the one I used to wear. It came to me straight away: I will call the book Poison Heads as those were the people I had been working with — you know, the fucked-up bent professionals of law and order.

      On the very first day of joining the Greater Manchester Police Force all new recruits had to sign the Official Secrets Act. This meant that for our duties and responsibilities we were swearing on oath to Her Majesty The Queen and Country that all we were to be involved in whilst in the Force would not be disclosed to members of the public or other non-Force organisations for the next 25 years. Top Secret stuff for sure, and if we were found to have disclosed anything it would have been classified as treason punishable by a long prison sentence.

      Mum’s the word so keep shush, said Sergeant Mitchell. After all, disclosing secret information could damage the security and safety of fellow officers — especially members of M15, M16, the Drug Squad, TAG otherwise known as The Tactical Aid Group, Bomb Squad, CID and the Special Branch.

      After 25 years of silence we could spill the beans so to say, write books and tell others what happened, plus, of course, ask for our pocket notebooks. I always wondered if any of my colleagues had ever dreamt about writing a Poison Heads book. I guess eventually they would have said something to a great many friends and family. As they say when shit passes through a fan it does come out of the other end—secret or no secrets so BOO! to everyone.

      As well as the Greater Manchester Police Force, other groups were involved too. TAG was the Tactical Aid Group, today called the Tactical Aid Unit. Members were support units who had firearms training, a bag packed and ready to go when called upon to react to terrorist sieges or armed criminal responses. You usually had to get a signature to fire a hand gun or other weapon first. I guess that’s changed over the years.

      M15, M16 and Special Branch: These guys were always armed and undercover. I had met several of them that visited the station but they looked like tramps, some of them, and in disguise with beards and unshaven. I guess they were always in the pubs like the CID and searching out the terrorist cell threats that were around at that time. Obviously some of these guys actually joined up in the IRA to infiltrate the cells of terrorists and became members. A risky business. If discovered they were on the list for immediate assassination. We could never divulge their identity for obvious reasons. Some were transferred to Northern Ireland and were briefed by the Royal Ulster Constabulary on target figures like Gerry Adams.

      Then there’s the SAS (Special Air Service) who responded to terrorist sieges and with whom I had worked alongside in the Salford area. Their identity was always unknown and they wore the black balaclava and black army uniforms. Armed to the teeth, they usually went in first with tear gas and no bloody fear.

      If in doubt, dare to do it, and don’t take prisoners if you hit opposition fire. They drove black Range Rovers that were loaded up with heavy fire power. I had seen them in action and they never lost once. Organised, clean and deadly.

      As they say, He who dares, wins.

      In the Force my eyes were opened and I was to view many things in life quite differently — especially how people really are, the reality of death, the bliss of love and, most of all, what it takes to survive on the streets of a city.

      What a story! I thought. Yes, I will write it and then people can read what it was really

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