Countdown to memorial for murdered hero Birmingham detective
Dec 28 2007
By Mark Cowan, Birmingham Mail
A MEMORIAL to honour the ultimate sacrifice made by policeman Mick Swindells could be unveiled early next year.
Det Con Swindells was stabbed to death as he tried to arrest a knifeman near Birmingham's Spaghetti Junction in May 2004, despite being unarmed and without body armour.
The National Police Memorial Trust is now planning to honour the Aston-based detective with a permanent tribute stone.
West Midlands Chief Constable Sir Paul Scott-Lee said he hoped the memorial would help remind people of the sacrifice made by the officer.
"We are aware of and fully support the proposal by the Police Memorial Trust to erect a memorial stone to Det Con Mick Swindells. The loss of life of a police officer while on duty is a tragedy and this memorial will be a fitting way to keep the memory of Mick alive.
"People will pass it and remember him, while in the future those who didn't know him will ask to hear his story."
Traditionally, the trust like to place the memorial at the spot where the officer fell.
The trust, led by movie director Michael Winner, said: "The memorial stone is in the process of being made at the moment."
Det Con Swindells was killed on a canal towpath as he raced to help colleagues trying to arrest Glaister Butler, a paranoid schizophrenic who had threatened a city council worker and police officers with a large kitchen knife.
The heroic father of two was posthumously honoured with the Queen's Gallantry Medal.
Butler was convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility in May 2005, and was ordered to be detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act.
Mr Winner vowed to create a permanent memorial earlier this year after the Birmingham Mail called for a plaque or statue
