Sir James Starritt (15 May 1914 – 19 September 2000), often known as Jim Starritt, was a British police officer in the London

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

. Starritt was born in Carrigans, a tiny village in the Laggan district of eastern County Donegal, Ireland, the son of a land auctioneer. His family – staunch Ulster Presbyterians – later moved east to the small town of Magherafelt in

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. B ...

following the Partition of Ireland. He was educated at the local Rainey School. He joined the Metropolitan Police as a

Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

in 1935 and was first posted to Paddington. In the Second World War he joined the

Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...

and was later commissioned and served in the Far East, being promoted to Temporary Lieutenant in April 1945 and Acting Temporary

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in November 1945. After the war he returned to the Metropolitan Police, and was promoted

Sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

in 1947,

Inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia In Australian police forces, the rank of inspector is generally the ne ...

in 1952, and Chief Inspector in 1955. He spent almost all of his career in Central London and was a particular expert on the criminal gangs of Soho. He was Chief Superintendent commanding "C" Division at West End Central in the early 1960s and featured prominently in the 1964 public inquiry into one of his men, Detective Sergeant

Harold Challenor Harold Gordon "Tanky" Challenor, MM (16 March 1922 – 28 August 2008) was a wartime member of the SAS, decorated for his part in Operation Speedwell. After the war, he joined the Metropolitan Police, spending much of his career in Criminal In ...

, who continued to work despite having paranoid schizophrenia. Starritt was exonerated of all blame in the case, as Challenor had never been certified as medically unfit for duty. He was promoted Deputy Commander in 1965 and

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

in 1967, working in the Force Inspectorate. In 1968, Starritt was appointed Assistant Commissioner "B" (Traffic) and later (probably in early 1970) moved to become Assistant Commissioner "A" (Operations and Administration). In 1972, he was appointed Deputy Commissioner. In this post, he oversaw the internal inquiry into the operations of

Special Branch Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...

in connection with Kenneth Lennon, an Irish police informant found shot dead in a ditch in Surrey in 1974, which was generally accepted as vindicating the Metropolitan Police. In 1975, he headed the inquiry into police corruption in Soho which led to the arrests of twelve officers, including two commanders and a chief superintendent. In his autobiography, ''In the Office of Constable'',

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

Sir Robert Mark Sir Robert Mark (13 March 1917 – 30 September 2010) was a senior British police officer who served as Chief Constable of Leicester City Police, and later as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police from 1972 to 1977. Mark was the first Metro ...

wrote that Starritt deserved an "honoured place in Metropolitan Police history for putting an end to malpractice that had caused the force incalculable harm for many years". He was appointed Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in the 1973 New Year Honours and

Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...

(KCVO) in the 1975 Birthday Honours, shortly before his retirement.

Footnotes

External links

Obituary, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 19 September 2000
{{DEFAULTSORT:Starritt, James 1914 births 2000 deaths Assistant Commissioners of Police of the Metropolis Deputy Commissioners of Police of the Metropolis Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Police officers from County Donegal People from Magherafelt Presbyterians from Northern Ireland Royal Marines officers Royal Marines personnel of World War II