An Incorrigible Thief

One morning in September 1888, Mrs Mary Torry left her bedroom at the Diplocks Hotel in Eastbourne and went downstairs for breakfast. She left her bedroom door unlocked and when she returned she noticed that money and jewellery were missing from her handbag.  Suspicion fell on the young, well-dressed chap in the adjacent room. He…

Brighton’s Bent Cops

I knew a bent cop once. His name was Derek Ridgewell who was a British Transport Police (BTP) Detective Sergeant. He seemed to have a haughty arrogance about him and certainly looked down on me, a mere uniform PC.   Ridgewell was the head of the ‘Dip Squad’ responsible for arresting travelling pickpockets, particularly on the underground….