Latest news with #TrevorLock
The Guardian
24-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Trevor Lock obituary
The dramatic ending to the Iranian embassy siege in Kensington, central London, is celebrated as a feat of SAS heroism. During the six day long ordeal, the captive PC Trevor Lock also demonstrated extraordinary levels of coolness and ingenuity. Lock, who has died aged 85, was the officer on duty on 30 April 1980 when six Iraqi-backed gunmen demanding autonomy for the oil-rich Khuzestan province squeezed off a burst of automatic fire and forced their way into the building. Newly attached to the Diplomatic Protection Group (DPG), he had just accepted an offer from the embassy concierge of a cup of coffee indoors on a gloomy day. Had the stocky, 6ft 2in constable been at his post and drawn his pistol, he would probably have been shot dead. The gunfire and Lock's quick thinking in triggering an emergency alarm on his radio summoned police reinforcements, initiating a standoff that was broadcast live to the world. Twenty-six Iranian officials and visitors – including two BBC journalists applying for visas – were held hostage. Five were released, but threats to execute diplomats intensified. Despite being cut by flying glass and frisked, Lock managed to keep his Smith & Wesson .38-calibre revolver hidden. He refused opportunities to eat, fearing that if he was escorted to the toilet the gun would be spotted. 'It was an heroic feat of self-constipation,' according to Ben Macintyre, whose account, The Siege, was published last year. Eventually Lock agreed to go for a wash. Although under observation, he nonetheless managed to keep the weapon concealed. He reasoned, however, that if he started shooting he would not be able to overpower the kidnappers, who were carrying grenades and machine guns. Instead he gained their trust while calming the petrified hostages. Leaning out of the embassy window, Lock performed the role of intermediary between the gunmen and security forces who surrounded the building. He stayed awake while others slept, telling jokes to relieve the tension. When the terrorists became suspicious of sounds coming through the wall from the Ethiopian embassy next door – holes were being drilled for listening microphones – Lock laughed the noises off, suggesting it was mice running through the old building. He helped hold back one frenzied hostage who tried to tackle a gunman and proposed driving the kidnappers to the airport if they were allowed to leave. He was unable, however, to protect the embassy press attache, Abbas Lavasani, a fervent supporter of Ayatollah Khomeini, who was tied to the bannister and shot. His body was pushed out of the front door. The killing prompted the decision, on 5 May, to begin the SAS assault. When Lock realised the embassy was being stormed he rugby-tackled the leading gunman, Towfiq al-Rashidi, pulled out his revolver and held it to the astonished kidnapper's head. He later said he thought about shooting but decided it was not in his training to kill out of anger. As gas canisters and stun grenades exploded around them, SAS troopers entered the room, told Lock to move aside and fired a burst of machine-gun fire into Rashidi's body. Five of the six hostage-takers were killed. Lock's restraint and his self-declared preference for the policing style represented in the television series Dixon of Dock Green was subsequently contrasted with the aggression of the SAS. Born in Gants Hill, Ilford, then part of Essex, Lock attended school locally. During national service in the army he was sent to the Libyan capital, Tripoli, where he picked up several Arabic swear words. (Debates about them later provided useful distractions during the long hours of the embassy siege.) Lock worked at the Ford factory in Dagenham before joining the police in 1965. He served as a beat constable at Barking until early 1980, when he applied to join the DPG, the specialist unit responsible for guarding embassies in London. His first wife had died in 1971. He subsequently married Doreen Easton, a nurse and former policewoman. They had six children between them: three each from previous relationships. Lock had been due to take her to the theatre as a surprise treat on the night he was taken hostage. After the siege ended, Lock was praised for his bravery and composure. He was awarded the George Medal for his 'outstanding courage, sustained bravery, calmness and devotion to duty' as well as the Freedom of the City of London. The Metropolitan commissioner, Sir David McNee, described him as the embodiment of courage. Lock, however, never thought of himself as a hero. He suggested most police officers would have behaved similarly and felt guilty for not having saved Lavasani. He admitted to suffering post-traumatic stress and needing psychiatric help. 'I hate Bonfire Night because of the bangs,' he told one interviewer. 'I hide under the table with the dog.' He was anxious about rejoining the DPG and became an observer on police helicopter patrols before transferring to the M11 motorway traffic control unit. He donated his George Medal to the police museum after keeping it in his wife's knitting basket for many years. He retired in 1992, but went back to working as a civilian in traffic control because he hated 'having nothing to do'. In later years he enjoyed supporting West Ham and cared for Doreen, who suffered from osteoarthritis. For their work with the Independent Living Agency and contributions to their local community, a plaque was unveiled on their home in the Becontree estate, east London, in 2022. Doreen died last year. He is survived by his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Trevor James Lock, police officer, born 14 April 1939; died 30 March 2025
Sky News
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
PC Trevor Lock: Hero of Iranian embassy siege dies aged 85
PC Trevor Lock, a hero of the famous Iranian embassy siege in London, has died at the age of 85. The Metropolitan Police bobby had only recently opted for what he thought would be a quieter life as a member of the diplomatic protection squad in April 1980, when he and others were taken hostage by terrorists in a six-day stand-off that ended with the dramatic storming of the building by the Special Air Service (SAS). Modest and unassuming, Mr Lock died still regretting that he hadn't done more to save the life of an Iranian diplomat shot dead by the gunmen, a murder that prompted Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to send in the then little-known SAS. The elite troops, armed with sub-machine guns and gas grenades, abseiled from the roof and rescued 24 hostages and killed five of the six terrorists. One other hostage died in the shootout. The drama was filmed by TV crews who had set up cameras nearby at the start of the siege. The BBC showed the rescue live, breaking into its coverage of the World Snooker Championship final and making a national star of young reporter Kate Adie. PC Lock was the only officer on duty at the embassy in Kensington, west London, and was having a cup of tea when a young man walked up and fired a sub-machine gun at the door before bundling the officer into the building with others who rushed in. In tense negotiations over the following five days, the terrorists demanded autonomy for a southern region of Iran, the release of 91 prisoners, and safe passage out of the building. PC Lock, who managed to keep hidden a handgun strapped to his torso, was hailed a hero for raising the alarm, acting as a go-between during negotiations, and trying to calm the fears of his fellow hostages. He was later awarded the George Medal for his bravery, though he shunned the limelight and rarely gave interviews. He told The Independent in 2010: "The other hostages have a reunion. I don't enjoy that stuff. I don't enjoy glorifying it.
BBC News
01-04-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Trevor Lock, hero of Iranian embassy seige, dies aged 85
Trevor Lock, the policeman who was taken hostage in a siege on the Iranian embassy in 1980, has died aged 85, his daughter has Lock was freed along with 24 other hostages after a six-day stand-off between members of a dissident Iranian group and the later emerged he had tackled the leader of the gunmen and saved the life of an SAS was awarded the George Medal, which recognises outstanding bravery, for his actions. In pictures: Iranian embassy siege in London On 30 April 1980, six gunmen took over the Iranian embassy in Kensington, holding 26 people hostage. The gunmen belonged to a dissident Iranian group opposed to Ayatollah Khomeini, the religious leader who came to power in Iran in was a member of the diplomatic protection squad guarding the embassy when it was stormed. He helped relay messages from the gunmen to police negotiators via an open window and the negotiations, the gunmen demanded the release of 91 political prisoners held in Iran as well as an aircraft to take them and the hostages out of the of their hostages were Iranians but also included BBC sound man Sim Harris, BBC news organiser Chris Cramer and tourists who had stopped by to collect the sixth day of the stand-off, the government ordered the SAS to raid the embassy after the gunmen shot dead Iranian press attaché Abbas Lavasani and dumped his body outside the than 30 masked troops entered the embassy from the balcony and front and back doors, throwing grenades through the and screams could be heard from inside the building. Some 15 minutes later, the hostages emerged and were escorted by Scotland Yard police to waiting the raid, PC Lock tackled the leader of the gunmen - known as Salim - and saved the life of an SAS hostage was killed and two were wounded in the crossfire - the rest were freed safely by the special forces of the six gunmen were killed. The survivor was jailed for 28 assault was broadcast live on three channels on the 5 May - a bank holiday. In his account of the embassy hostage incident, author Ben Mcintyre said Lock became "the policeman who discovered accidental courage without looking for it, wanting it or knowing what it was".
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Yahoo
Trevor Lock, unassuming policeman awarded the George Medal for his bravery in the Iranian Embassy siege
Trevor Lock, who has died aged 85, was the police constable taken hostage by terrorists during the siege of the Iranian Embassy in London in 1980; for his bravery he was awarded the George Medal, although many in the force felt that his six days of sustained courage merited the highest award of all. Lock was born in Gants Hill on April 14 1939 and educated locally. Later described in the 1980 Hamlyn publication SIEGE! as 'one of the solid, dependable and unambitious men on whom the Metropolitan Police relies', he joined the force in 1965 and was posted to Dagenham police station. He served there for 15 years as a beat constable before volunteering for duty with the Diplomatic Protection Group, which is responsible for guarding the premises of diplomatic missions in central London. It was on Wednesday April 30 1980, while still on six months' probation with the DPG, that Lock was assigned to guard the Iranian Embassy at Prince's Gate, off Knightsbridge, regarded at the time as one of the less vulnerable targets for terrorism in the capital. Having taken advantage of the door-keeper's offer of a cup of coffee, Lock was actually inside the front entrance of the embassy when six armed men burst in and overpowered him. Lock's commanding officer, Chief Superintendent Roger Bromley, head of the DPG, later said that that cup of coffee undoubtedly saved Lock's life, for the chief superintendent was well aware that if Lock had been at his post and had drawn his pistol, he would have been shot down in cold blood. The terrorists, the self-styled Group of the Martyr Muhyiddin al-Nassr, whose object was to secure the release of political prisoners in Iran by their actions, seized the embassy and took hostage the 26 persons who were there at the time. Apart from Lock, the hostages included two BBC men, Simeon Harris, a sound recordist, and Chris Cramer, a news organiser, who were in the embassy applying for visas to go to Iran; and the embassy's British chauffeur, Ron Morris. Throughout the six days of the siege, Lock managed to keep his service revolver secreted, and acted as a calming influence on the volatile terrorists and a pillar of strength to the agitated hostages. Properly dressed at all times, he presented to them, and subsequently to the world at large through the medium of television, the image of the archetypal London policeman in the mould of the fictional Dixon of Dock Green. At one stage, when technicians were placing listening devices in the wall of the embassy, the leader of the terrorists became suspicious of noises. He suggested to Lock that police were trying to break in and ordered him to investigate. With superb theatrical mime, Lock took a plug from a wall-socket and listened. Then he took up the carpet and pointed to a hole in the floorboards that ran beneath the skirting. 'This building is over a hundred years old,' he said. 'I expect it's mice.' Everybody laughed, including the terrorists, and calm was restored. During the six days, five hostages were released by the terrorists, but a violent resolution to the siege became inevitable when they murdered Abbas Lavasani, the press attaché at the embassy, and left his body on the steps of the mission with a promise to murder further hostages at the rate of one every 30 minutes. A detachment of the Special Air Service, which had been standing by at Duke of York's barracks, was called in by the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to resolve the impasse. The assault by the SAS, captured on television as it happened and broadcast around the world, began when black-uniformed figures abseiled down to the first-floor balcony from the roof of the embassy while others effected an entry at the rear. As the first SAS man entered the building, PC Lock grappled with the leader of the terrorists, his action undoubtedly saving the soldier's life. The SAS man shouted to Lock to stand away and promptly shot the leader dead. Four further terrorists were killed by the SAS and the sixth taken prisoner. Within 11 minutes the attack was over. While it was going on, one Iranian diplomat was shot dead by the terrorists and another wounded, but the remaining 19 hostages were released unharmed. Lock was subjected to the attentions of the world's press, his first interview taking place at Scotland Yard in the presence of the Commissioner, Sir David McNee – who, having told viewers that they had heard of courage, invited them 'now to look upon it'. Lock, at times bemused by all the attention, appeared as solid and reliable as he must have been during the siege itself, and captivated the nation by his very ordinariness. To the world at large he was the genuine London bobby, living up to all the impossible expectations of a fickle public. His fluency in the face of television cameras belied his true feelings, for Lock was a shy man, and said on more than one occasion that he was looking forward to getting back to work. He was totally unprepared for the adulation and praise heaped upon him. Almost immediately he was made a freeman of the City of London, but had to seek an advance from the Commissioner to buy a suit for the ceremony, never having owned one before. Interviews with television and press followed in abundance, but throughout, Lock, with typical self-effacing phlegm, played down his own courage, more or less dismissing his actions as part of his job. Not unnaturally, he was somewhat nervous about resuming duties with the DPG, and a post was found for him as an observer with the police helicopter unit. While waiting for this posting to take effect, Lock's award of the George Medal was announced, and his fellow officers in the DPG, who in common with all policemen will allow a colleague to be a hero for a day but no longer, marked the occasion with a cartoon. Appearing anonymously on the DPG noticeboard, it depicted Lock in a helicopter with a distinct list to port. The caption was: 'You're not supposed to wear it up here, Trev!' Although police regulations allow the Commissioner to promote, out of turn, any officer who has displayed exceptional qualities, there is a perverse impediment: the officer must have passed the qualifying promotion examination. Despite the outstanding leadership displayed by Lock during those six days, he was never able to pass that examination and joined the M11 motorway control unit, retiring from the force in 1992. Following the death of his first wife in 1971, Trevor Lock married a nurse and former policewoman, Doreen, who died in 2024; he had three children with each wife. Trevor Lock, born April 14 1939, died March 30 2025 Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
