Another Tragic Event

A 43-year-old policeman shot dead at the scene of a domestic argument had been commended five times for bravery.

Married father-of-two Pc Richard Gray, a trained firearms officer, was killed while attending a domestic dispute in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, on Sunday.

West Mercia chief constable Paul West said the Dundee-born officer had previously won recognition for his part in the arrests of two armed men.

The second man to die has been named as Peter Medlicott, 33, from Shrewsbury.

The pest control business owner is understood to have killed himself after shooting Pc Gray.

A .222 calibre rifle, commonly used in pest control, was recovered from the scene.

A post-mortem examination revealed both men died from single gunshot wounds to the head.

The force said a police armed response unit was called to attend a domestic incident at 0610 BST on Sunday in New Park Road.

Det Ch Insp Sheila Thornes said two unarmed officers attended the address as there was no early indication of an armed threat.

"However, when the officers arrived they were challenged by a man who held them at gunpoint," she said.

The officers radioed for help and an armed response vehicle was sent to the scene.

"Both authorised firearms officers were armed and as they went forward they were confronted by a man who shot Pc Ricky Gray.

"Approximately an hour later, the body of a man, now identified as Medlicott, was located by officers close to the scene," she said.

Det Ch Insp Sheila Thornes, who is heading the investigation, said the constable's weapon had not been fired.

She said police were not looking for anyone else in connection with the shooting.

Pc Gray, known as Ricky, married his long-term partner last year.

Mr West told a press conference on Monday that the police officer's family was "understandably devastated".

"Pc Gray was an excellent officer. He was very popular with his colleagues, extremely well-liked and held in the highest regard," Mr West said.

"The fact he had been recommended for five commendations spoke volumes about his character."

Pc Gray received a divisional commendation for rescuing a man trying to jump from Shrewsbury's English Bridge into the River Severn, the conference was told.

He also received a chief constable's commendation for his part in the arrest of an "unstable" man with a firearm.

Pc Gray was additionally recognised for his part in arresting a violent man with a semi-automatic pistol who tried to escape police in a stop-check in April, 2006, in Shrewsbury.

The officer had previously worked for Cheshire Constabulary, serving in the Warrington area from 1997. He later joined the armed response unit before transferring to West Mercia Police in 2003.

R.I.P

Forms and Time

Well by some miracle i managed to pass my sgts exam which i sat in March this year. Quite a surprise as to be honest i didn't put as much time into it as i should have and was expecting to fail the exam.

Part of the reason being that i simply did not have the time to put into it. No time on shift to do revision, and not alot of time on my rest days or in the time off after shift. I always try and leave work at work and found it really hard to do work on my rest days. Kind of a work / life balance thing i guess.

So, great i thought, 5 years to become substantive but the flood of letters and emails from personnel etc wanting me to try and become substantive now but i don't think i have the experience to become a full skipper just yet. I did some cover while our skipper was on leave which i kind of enjoyed but was manic due to trying to do the supervisor role as well as crewing a response car and doing jobs.

I am glad of the break now to be honest, 5 days off with the bank holiday.

We had dramas in the last week with restructuring of the shift and being told we need to loose 2 officers off our shift to resource other shifts. Stressful is not the word id use to describe it! And now they turn around and change there minds........... Ahh consistency in the police, don't ya just love it.

We got some new forms the other day, for stop and account! And we had a training day on how to fill in the new form.

Apart from the fact our old forms were stop and account as well as a producer, we now have lost the producer aspect and need to go back to using the old HORT/1 books. All well and good but we will need to do both forms if we ask a driver to account as well as produce! Estimates put it at about 20 mins to fill in the new form.

I have restarted going to the gym again which is painful! And will be making another attempt at stopping smoking (attempt 6 in 3 years).

Another round of traffic jobs came up last month but not for the base i wanted to passed up on doing that one only to find out recently that anyone who passed the board will go into a pool to fill spaces at the base i wanted. Pissed off a tad i was, so looks like ill have another long wait to apply. I thought i was doing the sensible thing rather than getting posted somewhere miles away! But looks like i have shot myself in the foot here! Doh!

Back onto nights soon so looking forward to that and hope its a good set of shifts rather than the dross we have been dealing with recently.

Everyone and there dog has been calling recently wanting us to sort out their "issues". Although it bit someone who called us to tell of their 13 year old son but in the process both admitted assaulting each other which resulted in both getting nicked! Wont be making that call to us again to tell off kiddy for being stroppy. Although im sure that nothing will come out of the job.