Live ChatFrom their illustrious police careers, to volunteering for SSAFA, Brian Graham & David Hepworth are no strangers to serving their communities with pride and passion. Their bravery on the night of the 22nd of January 1977 to apprehend an armed gunman earned them the Queen’s Gallantry Medal.
David Hepworth joined the police in 1971 after graduating from St Andrews University. Brian Graham joined the police in 1975. By 1977 David was Brian’s Sergeant at Jarrow Division, South Tyneside, Brian describes David as an inspirational who took all the young police officers under his wing.
On the night of the 22nd of January 1977, Brian and David found themselves in the midst of a dangerous and rapidly escalating situation in Jarrow whilst on duty.
Brian: “It was a night shift. Dave and I were doubled up together in a van . . . a call came in from Jarrow town centre, I think initially for there may have been a disturbance or a man assaulted, but then quickly followed up by shots being fired. And we immediately responded to the area where we came across a man who had been very badly assaulted and beaten about the head by the assailant with a firearm, and he'd made off from that area.”
David: “We were getting calls coming in from our control room all the time and it was developing rapidly. There were shots fired on the high street and various people injured in different ways, being ferried to the local hospital. . . he recently forced his entry to a house nearby, containing a young couple and a baby who actually managed to escape from the house and they put the alarm up that the assailant was inside and hiding. So, Brian and I went to the corner of the street and we found virtually the rest of the shift, quite naturally behind cover at the end of the street...“
Their instructions were to contain the armed suspect, and to wait for further support from firearms officers. However, knowing that back up would take at least 90 minutes to arrive, David & Brian knew they had to act quickly to stop any further casualties.
David: “In those days, there were no AFOs [Authorised Firearms Officers] in patrol...It was realistically 90 minutes the control room told me, for the first firearms response to the scene...”
David: “So, there was really no decision to be made. I thought, 'We've got to neutralise this, we've got to take him out of the situation to prevent any further injury.' So, I asked the rest of the shift to remain in cover...”
David: “I didn't ask or order Brian at all, he volunteered himself. The two of us rushed to the corner of the building, I didn't know the layout, Brian took me to the back of the house, it was a high-rise flat or duplex building I remember, in darkness. We got entry to the back of the building...the house was in darkness, went up the stairs and I say the rest is history. On the upstairs bedroom, the light was on and there's the assailant sitting upright with his back against the headboard, looking at the door with a sawn-off shotgun held in both hands looking towards us.”
Brian: “There was no hesitation or words spoke, it was just you had to go forward, and you had to go forward at a speed to stop them from turning the gun...I can remember getting on the bed and then Dave diving over the top of us...'Get the gun, get the gun,' and it's very much around making sure that the barrels of the gun didn't come round to point towards us because at that time, we didn't know if it was loaded or not. I think it was fair to say that there was quite a violent struggle that took place, and Dave was able to wrestle the gun from this guy's grip and we were able to pin him down... until we were able to get full control of him, and then Dave broke open the shotgun and found it was fully loaded with two live rounds in the barrels.”
David and Brian’s actions on that night, were commended for their bravery, but both men were surprised to find out that they were to receive one of the highest honours in the land, The Queen’s Gallantry medal.
David: “We got a commendation from the Crown Court...I was made up with that. The next thing, it was a Saturday morning, the letter came from the Chancery to my home address just saying, 'The Queen's been pleased to award you the Queen's Gallantry Medal', and that was the first-ever notification to me...and I think Brian got one the same day.”
Brian: “The letter was dated 2nd December 1977...that was the first news of any form of award, which came completely out of the blue...In all honesty, at that stage...I was only 22...I had no idea what it was... Dave explained exactly what it was and at that point I suppose the enormity and being extremely proud to have been put forward and nominated for the award.”
David: “I was absolutely shocked. I must have read the letter over and over again; I couldn't believe it... It was very unusual, and it was, for a probationer like Brian to get a commendation was fantastic but to get a national award from the Queen. And the letter said, 'You're entitled to use your post-nominal letters QGM after your name,' it was just surreal. I can't describe what it was like... It was a fantastic honour, but just a lot to take in from provincial cops like us.”
Brian: “It’s the sort of thing that didn't happen to 'country-mounties'... but it was just an incredible feeling and a great privilege and an honour.”
Meeting the Queen
David: “The next thing [after receiving the letter from the Chancery] is, 'Can you go and see the Chief Constable at headquarters?'... the chief gave us a glass of whisky... He said, 'Right, I'm going to pay for you to go down to London... You're going to meet the Queen, it's a great honour for the force,' and he put us up and it was the St James Hotel in Victoria just along from Buckingham Palace.”
Brian: “I had been to London several times and I had been obviously to the outsides of the gates and often wondered what it was like on the inside, how opulent was it, how lavish, and then here we were on this date actually going to find out.
David: “The gentlemen’s equerry who was probably Lieutenant Colonel... he took us to one side, and he briefed us... How to walk together, how many steps to take up to the podium where Her Majesty is, what to do, how to bow, but the tricky one is walking backwards because I thought, 'This is going to be great, we're going to walk backwards, trip and end up on the bloody deck..."
Brian: “That was my biggest fear: messing it up. I remember us practising the walking in that big great hall...we were walking counting the steps, stand still, wait three, turn left, walk forward and we did that until we had it in time.
“It does slightly detract from what Her Majesty is saying to you because all the time you're thinking, 'Right, now when she stops speaking, what have I got to do?' She's going to offer her hand, I don't put my hand out first, you wait. Do you shake her hand? Do you kiss it? You should only call The Queen “your Majesty” once during a conversation and thereafter “Ma’am” What do you do?”
After rehearsing their steps, and watching others accept their awards, the moment arrived for Brian & David to step forward and receive the Queen’s Gallantry Medal from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
David: “I was amazed, the first thing I remember was that she was tiny, absolutely beautiful. . . I realised, she didn't wear a glove, it was her hand I shook. I didn't want to squeeze it, but I must have pulled... I thought, 'Oh my God, I've pulled the Queen off the podium,'...because I lent forward, and I shook hands... And she just started asking about Jarrow.”
Thankfully David didn’t pull the Queen off of her podium.
Brian: “She said something like, 'Not the thing that you would normally expect on a Saturday night in Jarrow.' She was obviously clued up... the rest of it was just in a cloud because we just didn't want to spoil it.”
Brian: “It was an incredible day, that's the only way to describe it...to go down there and then to be bestowed the honour by the Queen and then it just left you speechless at times.”
Brian: “I was absolutely in awe, I mean, it's not the thing that a normal lad from a council house estate in South Tyneside would get to meet the Queen to begin with. But actually to physically be standing right next to her and having a conversation with her. And she was amazing, she looked immaculate. She spoke with such a soft voice, but with a level of eloquence which you can only just begin to imagine. It was just an incredible experience...I loved every minute of it...”
David: “Meeting the Queen, it's an experience which never, ever leaves you.”
Importance of the Queen
Brian: “She's done an amazing job, even before her coronation, when she was volunteering with the Land Army [In 1945, at the age of 18 Princess Elizabeth - as she then was - joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service] ... She's been a great ambassador for the UK, the Royal Family...she's an absolute national treasure.”
Brian: “I think she is probably the most important person that there actually is. From a policing perspective, she is what we were there to do the job for. To uphold the Queen's Peace. And certainly with regard to SSAFA, everything that we do we have her in our minds.