麻豆约拍

Butler (1912 - 1970)聽had a meteoric rise up the Police Ranks going from DS to Chief Superintendent in under a decade. He had a girlfriend who was a 鈥渃lippy鈥� for London Transport, but never married and lived with his mother in Barnes. He was a fantastically secretive man who kept information to himself and聽away聽from his team. He was awarded an MBE in 1967.

With almost no social life to speak of, he was a workaholic who thought nothing of working 17 hour shifts and expected everyone around him to do the same. Thorough, meticulous and dogged, he dedicated the latter part of his career to hunting down the train robbers, postponing his retirement to do so. He should have retired in 1968 aged 55 but persuaded his superiors to allow him to carry on.

Just five feet nine-and-a-quarter inches tall, slim, with a hairline that was already starting to recede, dark eyebrows and a 鈥楳r. Punch鈥� nose, Butler was a non-smoking, virtual teetotaller who was obsessive in playing his cards close to his chest and fanatical in his hunt for criminals. They, in turn, were scared stiff by the dark, intense, little man.

Butler could not tolerate imperfection. When an officer presented him with a report that was less than perfect, he would insist on the author putting it right, sentence by sentence. A colleague remembers Butler going through officers鈥� in-trays at night and typing outstanding reports for them. Having seen some of Butler鈥檚 reports, he could confirm that the presentation, grammar and punctuation would have done a professional typist credit.

When the team started to run back and forward to Aylesbury during the train robbery investigation, Butler hired a Mini to save the expense of using Squad cars and drivers and keeping them waiting all day. He often used to drive himself, and journeys in Butler鈥檚 Mini became known as one of the more hair-raising features of life in the Squad.

Butler lived with his mother in a little house near Hammersmith Bridge, which she kept immaculate. Tommy would always insist on being dropped off away from the house. He would walk the last half mile, even if it was raining, just to keep the Squad car away from his home.