DEEP in the dungeons of the city police station there lies a fascinating and grizzly history of Coventry's criminal past.
From the deadly to the bizarre Coventry Police Museum's vaults contain
everything you could want to know – and some things you'd rather you didn't – about the city's thin blue line.
Hidden Coventry reporter RICHARD ASHMORE goes to the cells to find out more.
AS you approach Little Park Street police station the 1950s fit-for-purpose architecture gives few clues as to the wonders which lie beneath.
Entering the hospital-clean foyer, bedecked with catchy anti-crime slogan posters, you still can’t deduce there is anything to this
station which makes it so special.
It’s only when you meet former 25-year-West-Midlands-police-veteran Tony Rose that the plot really begins to thicken.
Tony – who says he is “nearly 60” – has been the keeper of Coventry’s Police Museum for more than a decade.
He was once asked to look after it for a few months and has not left since.
Tony, who suffers from painful arthritis, maintains the museum purely on donations from the public and fellow officers.
It is clear that the retired police officer – blessed with a dour sense of humour – has a passion for his work.
As we walked through the austere corridors of the police station stifling wafts of emulsion filled our nostrils.
“They’re decorating and moving offices around, I don’t know where they get the paint from but it’s foul,” comments Tony as we near the museum entrance.
Rounding a corner we start to descend a flight of stairs and the first traces of the museum come into view.
All along the walls going down the stairs an array of murals chart the history of Coventry policing from the present to its birth nearly 200 years ago.
“They were painted by art students of the Coventry Technical College,” explains Tony.
Just a few steps more and we have entered the inner sanctum.
The museum is also known as the Black Museum and you can see why, magnolia has given way to black-painted exhibit-covered walls.
Inside to our left their is a mock-up of an old-style police cell complete with black metal bars.
On our right a foreboding notice reads “over 15s only” and a black curtain marks the entrance to a gallery of the darker side of police work.
Tony leads us into the cell and begins to tell us about how the modern police force was born.
“This the charge desk from the original police station in St Mary’s hall at the back of the council house,” he said. “It dates back to 1863.”
Above the desk Tony points to a photograph of a grand-looking Victorian gentleman.
“That is Sir Robert Peel who was given the task of creating a police force in 1836,” he adds.
“Hence the expression peelers.”
On the wall behind Tony a menacing pair of iron shackles catch his attention. “These were used to lock the prisoner to the floor of the cart on which they were drawn to the court house,” he explains.
“And when they reached the court they were locked to the floor of the dock. It didn’t matter what the weather was like when they were taken on the cart, if it rained, they got wet.
“When we have our school tours here the teacher always asks if they can borrow the chains for the classroom.”
In the centre of the museum a glass cabinet displays half a charred broken bicycle.
“This is the bike used by the IRA bomber who attacked Broadgate on August 25 1939,” commented Tony as he pointed to the case.”
The explosion left five people dead and more than 50 hospitalised.
A 21-year-old woman and bride-to-be by the name of Laura Ansell was one of those killed by the blast. At the time of the explosion she was window shopping at a nearby jewellry shop.
Her remains were only identified by strips of clothing and her engagement ring and she was buried on August 30, 1939, in her wedding dress.
Out of the five people arrested in connection with the blast, two were found guilty at the Victoria Law Courts in Birmingham.
They were Peter Barnes and James Richards and both men were executed at Winson Green prison in February, 1940. Tony leads us to the “over 15” entrance and, above the doorway, is another black curtain behind which is the death mask of Mary Ball.
“Mary Ball was the last-ever person to be hung in public in Coventry, 20,000 people gathered to watch, it was a big day out,” beams Tony.
Mary Ball was executed on August 9, 1849, for the murder of her husband.
Tony adds that she was buried upright near the spire of Holy Trinity church.
The tour continued into the curtained off section and Tony took us through the rest of the exhibits, ranging from everything from murder weapons to suicide accounts.
The museum is dedicated to the memory of the first police officer to be murdered since the Second World War, PC Peter Guthrie. A friend of Tony’s, Peter was shot at point blank range on July 22, 1972.
He was attending a report of gun fire at the premises of C G Davies in Far Gosford Street, city centre. The shop sold guns and sports equipment and had a direct link from its alarm to the station.
Anthony Charles Jeffs killed the officer with a shotgun he had taken from the shop, he also wounded another.
He was found guilty of murder at Birmingham Crown Court and sentenced to life imprisonment.
PC Guthrie’s wife of just seven weeks later joined the police force and rose to the rank of Chief Inspector.
The Coventry Police Museum is based at Little Park Street police station, Little Park Street, Coventry, CV1 2JX.
To pre-book a tour contact Tony Rose on 0845 113 5000 ext 7931 6999 or mobile 07824 622 954.
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