Watch: Follow in the footsteps of covert cops to catch a killer - Decoy
The untold story behind Britain's most extraordinary undercover operation is laid bare in this new book. How did a team of rookie female officers catch one of Britain's most-wanted men?
Video walkthrough of a covert operation
It was meant to be the covert operation’s final night.
It had lasted months, was costing too much, it hadn’t worked and detectives were no nearer finding one of Britain’s most-wanted men.
So, in the early hours of March 23rd 1979, 23-year-old Michelle Tighe was deployed for the last undercover run.
Michelle was one of a new generation of female officers who had joined Avon & Somerset Police in the late 1970s.
The force was changing. A lot of the senior officers, ex Second World War veterans, were retiring. Their places were being filled from the ranks, new recruits were needed and there was a drive for women to join.
But the top brass had no idea what to do with this new cohort of teenage girls.
They didn’t let them out at night alone.
They had little chance of becoming detectives.
There was a Police Women’s Unit dealing with female prisoners, sex victims and care cases, perhaps that was the best place for them?
Should they flirt with these girls? Ask them out? Be over-protective of them? They did all of these.
And while the force was slowly gaining more women as young starters, detectives were under pressure.
Since July 1977 - nearly two years - a shadow had passed over the city of Bristol.
Seven women had been assaulted by a man who appeared in the night, subjected them to life-changing attacks and vanished.
They had descriptions: a white man in his 30s with a north-country accent. But for two years he had evaded capture.
The force had tried everything to catch him:
Interviewed ex-convicts released after serving sentences for murder and rape
High-visibility patrols
Given away attack alarms
Demanded young women didn’t go out at night alone
Sent out men undercover at night - dressed as woman (this really happened)
Operation Argus
So in January 1979, detectives formulated ‘Operation Argus’ named after a mythical all-seeing beast.
It was a trap.
The rookie undercover female officers would walk along the main street to publicly ‘lure’ the attacker.
They would then turn into the darkened side-streets where he had always struck
A team of observation officers would have ‘eyes-on’ the decoys at all time.
But at the moment of attack, the woman would be on her own.
And the story culminates in a moment of pure drama when one of these inexperienced, new-starters, Michelle Tighe, found herself being followed by a man matching the description of the predator.
And a quick search of his numberplate showed he was more than a convicted sex-attacker.
He had been jailed for murder, but the authorities had been persuaded to release him a few years ago.
And he was following Michelle on the street...
Follow Rob as he retraces Michelle Tighe’s steps in this video walkthrough of the culmination of the covert operation.
Decoy is about more than the breathless moment of the culmination of Operation Argus. It looks at women in policing, the long-term impacts of assaults on victims and the importance of justice no matter how long has passed before crime and punishment.
You can pre-order copies here in the USA
This follows my first book - To Hunt A Killer - co-written with murder detective Julie Mackay. We won ‘Best New Author’ award at the True Crime Awards and we were shortlisted for a CWA Gold Dagger.
Excerpt from ‘Decoy’
She was nearly at the centre of the trap.
Ten yards.
She still couldn’t hear him. Perhaps the whole thing was in her imagination? Maybe it was a dream?
Now, finally, she stood under the streetlamp.
Silence.
Michelle turned around.
And there he was.
He just looked at her, he said nothing.
The man and the woman stood there under the glare of the street lamp: convicted killer and decoy cop.
In some ways he seemed to be looking right through her, as if she wasn’t there. He seemed to be weighing up what to do.
Then he opened his mouth and said ‘don’t scream or I’ll kill you.’