UK Police Dog history: P.c. Ged Walker

15 November 2006

A Vandal has been jailed for wrecking a hero police officer's memorial.

Sean Topham, 21, chipped out PC Ged Walker's name and damaged the base of the memorial on January 17.

NEWS EXTRACT

Nottingham ground to a halt yesterday lunchtime as hundreds of police officers and members of the public lined city centre streets to pay tribute at the funeral of Notts dog handler PC Ged Walker. It was a day of tears and reflection - and a focus on the problems of policing today. ANIL DAWAR and SIMON ATKINSON report

In a eulogy broadcast to crowds stationed outside the packed St Barnabas' Cathedral, one of PC Walker's closest colleagues said the public were losing faith that criminals would be punished.

PC Tim Partington said: "Ged believed his job was to protect the decent majority. But like many of us he no longer believed he could make a difference.

"He was disappointed by limitations placed on police forces by the Government, people who make excuses for criminal behaviour and a judicial system that follows that.

"Ged was a victim of those policies.

"Tracy, Rebecca and Matthew [PC Walker's wife and children] will be victims for the rest of their lives."

The 700-strong contingent listened silently as PC Partington's words echoed round the cathedral.

"The public have lost their confidence in the traditional authorities of law and order," he continued. "This dented Ged's confidence in his ability to make a difference to other people's lives."

Despite his disillusionment, PC Walker died because he was a conscientious officer, he said.

He suffered serious head injuries tackling an alleged car thief in Bulwell on January 7. He died in Queen's Medical Centre a day later. A man has been charged with his murder.

PC Partington added: "He took a course of action without regard for his own safety. That led to his death."

The officer asked that the family of PC Walker be remembered in the thoughts and prayers of everyone.

He said that following the policeman's death, he hoped the forces of law and order would be supported by the Government and judiciary.

"I do not want to think my friend has died in vain," he said.

The Reverend Chris Lewis, a former Notts police constable and friend of PC Walker, took the service.

He said: "When a police officer is killed in the course of his duty most decent people are outraged. The full weight of the law must be brought to bear on anyone who injures or kills police in the course of their duty."

All of the eulogies and tributes remembered PC Walker as a loyal, honest and courageous friend.

One moving tribute came from Superintendent Phil Oddie, a close friend and PC Walker's senior officer. He talked of the constable's work in the dog handling section, saying: "He was such an important member of this close-knit, hard working team and they are devastated at his loss.

He added: "It is to his very great credit that he remained operational for over 24 years and it is tragic that such an officer should have his life taken whilst working to make the streets safer for local people.

"Ged was a great officer and behind him was a great family. Words cannot bring comfort to that family. We cannot begin to imagine the pain and suffering that has been inflicted on them."

DC Ian Fellows met PC Walker 27 years ago when they were police cadets together.

He said: "He was always there for me during difficult times but we also experienced some tremendous times together.

"He was a genuine man, he was a loyal man and friend. He was an inspiration and there to help.

"He made a difference to people's lives. He was strong, tenacious and courageous. It was those qualities that ultimately cost him his life.

"The people paying the price for Ged Walker's death are his family. They have had the lives they led stolen from them."

Crowds had gathered on the streets around Nottingham Castle from 11am - more than two hours before the funeral procession began.

There was little chatter among the crowds as police constables, many wearing medals earned for their service to the force, walked in double file to begin lining the pathways.

At the haunting sound of the Highland pipers warming up for the procession, Maureen Webster joined three colleagues from Sparrow Bagley estate agents, preparing for the cortege to file past.

"We've come out of respect and are definitely surprised by the number of officers around," she said. "They are making a big thing of it and rightly so. I hope it's some comfort for his wife and children to know that so many people care. It always takes a tragedy to draw people together."

Stephan Metraux, 33, who was in the city for just one day during a holiday from Switzerland. said: "The police look magnificent. You would think it was a royal funeral or something like that."

His wife, Marie Sylvie, added: "It takes your breath away."

Graham and Christine Wilkinson live on Hempshill Vale in Bulwell, close to where the incident which killed PC Walker took place.

Mrs Wilkinson, who was close to tears as police horses led the funeral procession from the gates of the castle, said: "We feel so sorry it has come to this.

"The fact it happened on our own doorstep makes it harder. Mr Wilkinson said: "It shows that the police are there if things do happen. He was doing his job and he did it to the end."

Among the mourners lining the route were members of PC Walker's family including Valerie Walker, whose husband is a cousin of the dead officer's mother and father.

She watched the procession pass along Maid Marian's Way close to the junction with Friar Lane with her son Stephen and daughter Susan Constable .

She said: "A lot of the family, including my husband, have gone to the cathedral but they won't have seen all of this from there.

"It was something to be seen because hopefully we are not going to see its kind ever again. It was very touching to see that so many people thought to come."

By the Playhouse, the reflection in the Sky Mirror was a sea of black and silver - as the five-wide line of officers snaked from the door of the cathedral, down Derby Road and along North Circus Street.

At 1.51pm, as the pall bearers lifted PC Walker's coffin from the Silver Spirit Rolls Royce, there was a rare hush over Derby Road.

With traffic stopped, just a solitary mobile phone ring and a sob permeated the silence, before the strains of the organ inside the cathedral began to echo around the road.

Looking on, besides the hundreds of well-wishers on this stretch of the route, were two of the police dogs the officer had trained, Kai and Bart with their handlers PC Steve Abbott and Sgt Charlie Warner.

Inside the hearse PC Walker's coffin - draped in the sky blue cloth - was surrounded by several bouquets including flowers from Home Secretary David Blunkett which read simply: "With deepest condolences."

Chief Constable Steve Green wrote: "In deepest sympathy. A great loss", while colleagues from the police dog section paid tribute to "an excellent dog handler and friend".

More informal heartfelt messages included "Goodbye Gez. We had some good times" from friends, and others from his sporting associations, from Pelican Colts under-13s and all at Kimberley KMWFC.

But perhaps most touching was that from his family which read simply: "With memories of a loving son and brother."

Nancy Foot, of Arnold, watched the coffin being carried into the cathedral from her vantage point on Derby Road, beneath a Union Jack being flown outside the Strathdon Hotel at half mast.

Mrs Foot, 80 said: "I"m glad they stopped the traffic because you could hear the organ so clearly. It was a rare moment of calm.

She added: "It has been beautifully organised. The dogs were wonderful and I think it was wonderful to bring them. The whole procession was extremely respectful for a man who did a good job and was cruelly killed."

Lynne Fletcher, a 44-year-old teacher from Kirkby-in-Ashfield, is a close friend of PC Walker's wife.

She said: "The last thing he said to me was 'There are those of us that do, and those of us that don't.' His death is a very fitting reminder of that."

She added: "People's attention needs to be drawn to the fact that the police are out there protecting us all the time. The turnout shows that people do genuinely care. It's as though we have lost one of our own."

News extract

PC Ged Walker, 42, was murdered by drug addict David Parfitt in 2003 while he was under the supervision of Nottinghamshire probation service after being freed on early release.