A police career in the heart of London is recalled

A police career in the heart of London is recalled

18 September 2013

NEWCASTLE Library is hosting the book launch of Not All Coppers Are Bastards by retired Metropolitan Police inspector and former Newcastle man, Charles McIlwrick.

The event takes place on Friday, September 27 at 1pm.

From police constable in Chelsea to inspector in Brixton — including during the riots in the 1980s — Charles charts the highs and lows of life on the London streets in the book, as well as his work with missing persons and police widows.

Explaining the book’s title, Charles said: “I can distinctly remember throughout my 36-year police career, being at football matches, going on demonstrations when you were walking beside thousands of people, and even face-to-face sometimes, the expression that always seemed to come out was ‘All coppers are bastards’.

“As a police officer you have to deal with all sorts of human life and I just wanted people to see that we had to go through some traumatic things, but that we also had fun. Police are human and this book proves that they are human; we have got a soul and a heart.”

Life before the police, however, was challenging in its own right for Charles.

Born in Newcastle he had enjoyed a carefree childhood until his father died aged six. He was sent away to Dublin to a Masonic boarding school as a young teen and was keen to become a maths teacher until he had to leave education early to support his mother.

The family moved to England and he embarked on his police career, following in his father’s footsteps and marrying his childhood sweetheart, Maureen, who died from cancer over 40 years later.

Charles received an MBE in 1987 and after retiring in 1993 became a community stalwart in Cheshire. He now chairs the Rother Neighbourhood Watch scheme and is a leading light at the local bowls club and leisure club, and in his spare time plays golf.

Having lost both his wives to cancer, Charles has decided to donate all profits from the sale of this 208-page illustrated paperback between Macmillan Cancer Support, The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity and St. Michael’s Hospice (St. Leonards-on-Sea).

Everyone is welcome at the book launch in Newcastle Library and admission is free.