Whitechapel's Sherlock Holmes - Dick Kirby

- The story of Fred Wensley, a Somerset gardener who joined the Metropolitan Police in 1888 and retired, forty-one years later as Chief Constable of the CID, is an extraordinary one. - - After an abortive attempt to catch Jack the Ripper by nailing strips of bicycle tyres to the soles of his boots, Wensley got stuck into arresting the neer-do-wells of Whitechapel, where he would spend twenty-five years of his service. - - Within months of joining the CID, Wensley, while off duty, arrested a double murderer. He smashed the murderous Bessarabian and Odessa gangs, brought the Vendetta gang to book when, brandishing revolvers they tried to storm a police court, played a decisive part in the Siege of Sidney Street and created the Flying Squad. - - Wensleys career was dogged with controversy; when Stinie Morrison was convicted of murder, was he, as he claimed, framed by Wensley? And was Edith Thompson, hanged for the murder of her husband, as Wensley stated, a cold-blooded murderess or, as her defence counsel claimed, a fanciful dreamer? - - The first Kings Police Medal was awarded to Wensley; he was appointed OBE and commended on many of occasions. - - Retired Flying Squad officer, turned author, Dick Kirby has dug deep to paint a fascinating portrait of the man dubbed, The Greatest Detective of all Time. -