Hi The Station Cat,
I knew Walter Young.
As previously mentioned he was a Chief Superintendent in the Leeds City Police. He was the Regional Co-ordinator of the No. 3 District Regional Crime Squad, which covered an area from the East Midlands (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire) and covered all the Police Forces (County, City and Borough), east of the Pennines and up as far as (I think) the River Tees. Police Regional Crime Squads came into being around 1965, after the Police Act 1964. England and Wales was split up into ‘Districts’ and each district had a number. Regional Crime Squads came into being due to crimes being committed, not in one particular force area, but across the country by ‘travelling’ criminals. They were also formed to deal with serious crime and to help and support individual Police Forces when and where necessary. Some of the staff worked ‘under cover’ and much of their work was surveillance based.
I seem to remember that the north eastern Police Forces (e.g. Newcastle, Northumberland, Durham, etc.) were in No. 2 District. There were No. 3 District Regional Crime Squad Offices at Leeds, Nottingham and Sheffield (and possibly Hull). The Regional Crime Squad was staffed by members of the Police Forces in the District. The officers were seconded for a period of (usually) three years (flexible) and were part of what was called ‘Central Service’ and paid for by the Government as opposed to the individual forces. The head of all the Regional Crime Squads was called the ‘National Co-ordinator’ and was, I think, of Assistant Chief Constable rank and worked at New Scotland Yard.
In the 1960’s the Leeds Office of the No. 3 District Regional Crime Squad was based on the ground floor of the Leeds City Police Headquarters at Brotherton House, Westgate. In the 1970’s, it moved to the same building as the Traffic Department in Belle Vue Road. The staff, at the Leeds Office, were mainly from the Leeds City Police, the Bradford City Police and the West Riding Constabulary (at times, there may have been one or two officers from Hull/Humberside). The other offices in Sheffield and Nottingham were staffed by officers from nearby local forces. The Regional Co-ordinator covered all of the offices in No. 3 District and worked between all of the offices. He may have had his own office base at Wakefield, but I can’t remember. In 1967, some of the smaller Police Forces were amalgamated with other Forces (e.g. Huddersfield Borough Police and the West Riding Constabulary to form West Yorkshire Police) and again, very large amalgamations in 1974 (e.g. Leeds City Police, Bradford City Police and the West Yorkshire Police to form the West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police – in later years the ‘Metropolitan’ bit was dropped).
Personally, I moved from the C.I.D. at Ireland Wood Police Station to the Leeds City Crime Squad in 1968 and worked there until 1972. Leeds City Police had its own Force Crime Squad from about 1966/67. We worked in the next office to the Regional Crime Squad at Brotherton House and often were on ‘jobs’ together. It was whilst I worked in this department that I got to know Walter Young, but I knew little about him. The Leeds City Crime Squad only had a staff of about seven but we worked alongside the Drugs Squad who had a staff of about four. The Regional Crime Squad had a staff of around thirty working out of the Leeds Office.
A quick check on Ancestry reveals that Walter Ruscoe (or Roscoe) Young was born in Wharfedale on 27/8/1918. He married Vera Wrigglesworth at Leeds in 1940. He died in Boston, Lincolnshire, on 25/6/2000 aged 81 years. He had two daughters who are probably still alive.
I can’t remember what happened to Walter after he left the Regional Crime Squad and I don’t know what year that was. I also don’t know when he retired from the Police Service. I seem to remember that during the early years of the Squad that Dennis Hoban (who I knew well) worked with him at the Leeds Office as a Detective Chief Inspector and possibly as a Detective Superintendent. I remember Dennis being transferred into the Traffic Department, as a Superintendent, for a very short period before he took over as head of the Leeds C.I.D. after Frank Midgeley. At this time, Jim Fryer was Dennis’s deputy, who was then replaced by Jim Hobson after Jim Fryer transferred to the Derbyshire Police, where he eventually became the Chief Constable before he died (he is buried in the cemetery at Meanwood Church). It was probably a case of Dennis’s secondment on the R.C.S. being over and there was no C.I.D. or Sub Divisional place for him. In those days, the head of the Leeds C.I.D., and all Sub Divisional Commanders, were Superintendents. In the 1970’s, these posts were upgraded to Chief Superintendents.
So far as relates to Neil George Adamson and the murders at Farsley on 15th February 1970, there was a previous topic where this was covered:
http://www.secretleeds.com/viewtopic.ph ... 6&start=10 (the link in the thread no longer works)
There is information about Adamson's arrest here:
https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/n ... h-killers/
It does not mention Walter Young or the use of any firearms. I think that a man called Jackie Depledge was hiding Adamson and took him to Colne. Depledge was well known in the Bradford and Leeds areas. I think that he was convicted of harbouring Adamson and went to prison.
I don’t think that I can add much more.
Ian