Police officer who, as head of the Metropolitan police’s anti-terrorist branch, was an IRA target for many years
George Churchill-Coleman, who has died aged 76 following a car accident, was the public face of Scotland Yard’s battle with the IRA in the 1980s and early 90s. An old-school detective with a military bearing, he was for many years a main target for the IRA and became a familiar figure at the scenes of bombings.
Appointed head of the Metropolitan police’s anti-terrorist branch in 1985 and national coordinator of terrorist investigations in 1990, he was at the forefront of the investigations to find those responsible for such incidents as the murder of Margaret Thatcher’s close friend Ian Gow MP (1990), the mortar attack on Downing Street (1991), and the City bombings targeting the London Stock Exchange (1990) and the Baltic Exchange (1992).
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