James Starritt

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Sir James Starritt

KCVO (15 May 1914 – 19 September 2000[1]), often known as Jim Starritt, was a British police officer in the London Metropolitan Police
.

Starritt was born in

Presbyterians – later moved east to the small town of Magherafelt in County Londonderry following the Partition of Ireland
. He was educated at the local Rainey School.

He joined the Metropolitan Police as a

Chief Inspector in 1955. He spent almost all of his career in Central London and was a particular expert on the criminal gangs of Soho
.

He was

paranoid schizophrenia. Starritt was exonerated of all blame in the case, as Challenor had never been certified as medically unfit for duty. He was promoted Deputy Commander in 1965 and Commander
in 1967, working in the Force Inspectorate.

In 1968, Starritt was appointed Assistant Commissioner "B" (Traffic)[4][5] and later (probably in early 1970) moved to become Assistant Commissioner "A" (Operations and Administration). In 1972, he was appointed Deputy Commissioner.[6] In this post, he oversaw the internal inquiry into the operations of Special Branch in connection with Kenneth Lennon, an Irish police informant found shot dead in a ditch in Surrey in 1974, which was generally accepted as vindicating the Metropolitan Police. In 1975, he headed the inquiry into police corruption in Soho which led to the arrests of twelve officers, including two commanders and a chief superintendent. In his autobiography, In the Office of Constable, Commissioner Sir Robert Mark wrote that Starritt deserved an "honoured place in Metropolitan Police history for putting an end to malpractice that had caused the force incalculable harm for many years".

He was appointed

Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) in the 1975 Birthday Honours,[8]
shortly before his retirement.

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Sir James Starritt". Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  2. ^ "No. 37071". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 May 1945. p. 2421.
  3. ^ "No. 37480". The London Gazette (Supplement). 22 February 1946. p. 1089.
  4. ^ "Assistant police commissioner", The Times, 25 April 1968
  5. ^ "No. 44589". The London Gazette. 17 May 1968. p. 5621.
  6. ^ "Yard man to be Chief Inspector of Constabulary", The Times, 25 October 1972
  7. ^ "No. 45860". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 1972. p. 4.
  8. ^ "No. 46593". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 June 1975. p. 7372.

External links

Police appointments
Preceded by Assistant Commissioner "B", Metropolitan Police
1968–1970
Succeeded by
Preceded by Assistant Commissioner "A", Metropolitan Police
1970–1972
Succeeded by
Preceded by Deputy Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis
1972–1975
Succeeded by