Harry Roberts

Who is Harry Roberts?

Harry Maurice Roberts is an English career criminal who in 1966 instigated the Shepherd's Bush murders in which three police officers were shot dead. The killings happened after the plain-clothes officers approached the van in which Roberts and two other men were sitting in Braybrook Street, near Wormwood Scrubs prison in London. Roberts opened fire on the officers when he feared they would discover the firearms his gang were planning to use in an armed robbery. He shot dead two of the officers, while one of his accomplices fatally shot the third.

Having exceeded by far his minimum term of 30 years imprisonment, Roberts remains one of the United Kingdom's longest-serving prisoners, having been in custody since 15 November 1966.