BARNET: Met chief leads memorial service

11:25am Friday 7th November 2008

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Officers who died fighting for the Metropolitan Police were remembered at a Hendon service led by police commissioner Sir Ian Blair yesterday.

The seventh annual Metropolitan Police Memorial Service, in the Memorial Garden of the Hendon Training College, gave more than 300 families, friends and colleagues the opportunity to commemorate the lives of the 650 police officers and staff who have died since the Met's inception in 1829.

The most recent officers to be commemorated were police constable Chris Roberts, who died aged 47 while on duty in Wembley on December 26, 2007, and 43-year-old Sergeant Noel Gerard McCarthy, who was killed in a motorcycle accident while travelling to report for duty on February 9, 2008.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, London Mayor Boris Johnson and Deputy Mayor Kit Malthouse were among those who gathered to pay their respects.

After addresses by Mr Blair and Mrs Smith, wreaths were laid beneath the memorial stone and a minute's silence was observed.

Families, friends and colleagues of the remembered were also invited to lay tributes at the memorial stone.

A Book of Remembrance, which was signed and dedicated by Her Majesty the Queen in 2001, was on display for relatives to view the entries for their loved ones. A list of those included in the book can be found at met.police.uk/history/remembrance.htm