Misplaced Pages

Death of Jack Avery

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

Jack Avery
BornJack William Avery
5 November 1911
Bromley, London, England
Died6 July 1940 (aged 28)
St. Mary's Hospital, London, England, U.K.
Cause of deathstabbing
Police career
DepartmentMetropolitan Police Service
RankSergeant
Badge no.890A

Sgt. Jack William Avery (5 November 1911 – 6 July 1940) was a British War Reserve Constable who was murdered in Hyde Park, London, having served less than one year with the Metropolitan Police Service.

On 5 July, Sgt. Avery was advised by a member of the public that Frank Stephen Cobbett was acting suspiciously. Avery approached Cobbett, who was lying on the grass and writing on a piece of paper, and took the paper from him. Avery returned the paper to Cobbett, who stabbed the officer in the groin or upper thigh with a carving knife. Avery died the next day.

Cobbett, a 42-year-old homeless labourer, was originally sentenced to death by Mr. Justice Atkinson, even though the jury strongly recommended mercy because of his "low mentality." After an appeal, Cobbett served 15 years' penal servitude for manslaughter instead.

In 2007, Ian Blair, then Metropolitan Police Commissioner, unveiled a memorial to Avery in Hyde Park, close to the place where he was attacked.

See also

References

  1. London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1917
  2. "Stabbing of Police Officer – Manslaughter Verdict Substituted". The Times. 13 August 1940. p. 9.
  3. "News in Brief". The Times. 23 July 1940. p. 2.
  4. "Bid to trace police war officer". BBC News. 29 April 2007. Archived from the original on 9 November 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  5. "Jack William Avery". London Remembers. Archived from the original on 27 February 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  6. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)


Stub icon

This United Kingdom biographical article related to crime is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: