ON FEBRUARY 9, 1994, Sergeant Derek Robertson was sent to what he thought was a routine call.
It ended in him being stabbed to death by armed robbers holding-up a sub-post office in New Addington.
The 39-year-old married father of-two was fatally wounded as he attempted to arrest one of the men trying to rob the post office in Calley Down Crescent.
PC Robert Brown was part of the second unit following Sgt Robertson, responding to a call to police from the worried wife of the postmaster.
Barbara Britton told police her husband sounded 'strange' during a routine phone call and had answered only 'yes' when she asked if she should call police.
Unbeknown to her, John Britton was being held at knifepoint by three men who had broken in, overpowered him when he arrived, and were waiting for the safe timed locks to disengage.
PC Brown, still a serving Croydon police officer, told the Advertiser this week what happened when he arrived at the crime scene.
He said: "PC Stephen Wilson was at the front of the shop looking through the window and Derek was round the back.
"All of a sudden we heard Derek coming through the radio saying very, very clearly that three men were coming out with knives.
"So Steve and I ran towards the parade of shops and as we came onto the parade we saw the two other men coming round towards us.
"Steve – I don't know what made him do it but he shouted out 'armed police' [they were not armed] and both men went to the ground. And we got to the ground and handcuffed them.
"Then the postmaster came up on Derek's radio and said Derek was seriously injured.
"We went and assisted with the first aid and watched open heart surgery take place in the back garden.
"The helicopter doctor decided to cut him open in front of us and do an operation on his heart.
"Then he was put in an ambulance and taken away."
PC Brown said that, when the news Sgt Robertson had died reached his colleagues, the reaction was one of shock and immense sadness. He added: "Police officers were crying at the station. The man was such a popular man.
"Derek had a wit and charm about him – he was always joking.
"He used to take the mickey out of me all the time and everyone else.
"He was a very nice guy and very approachable as a superior, and very good."
PC Brown said Sgt Robertson's murder showed up the potential dangers police officers face every day they go to work.
He continued: "I think it made us more determined [as police]. It brings home the dangers.
"It brings home the situation where you go out in the morning and think, 'What am I going to come up against?'
"And what he came up against, he dealt with in the finest tradition possible.
"He relayed accurately what was going on, faced up to someone with a knife and covered the scene on his own knowing there was an armed robbery going on.
"He knew exactly what was going on, and he faced up to it in the best way possible."
Three men were jailed over the sergeant's death after a trial at the Old Bailey in January 1995.
Robert Eades, aged 32 at the time, was found guilty of murder and jailed for life with a recommended minimum term of 25 years.
His two accomplices, aged 38 and 32, were found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for 12 years.
All three had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and false imprisonment.
In memory A MEMORIAL service is to be held today outside Addington Police Station, in Addington Village Road, to mark the 20th anniversary of the murder. Sergeant Robertson's widow Christine and PC Brown are both due to attend the service, which is expected to start at 11.45am. The three other officers who attended the armed robbery; Stephen Wilson, Andrew Parr and Graham Nash, all retired, have also all been invited. The murder shocked the nation back in 1994, sparking calls for better police protection and even some demands for the death penalty to be brought back. Writing in the Advertiser on February 18, 1994, former South Norwood chief superintendent George Crawford said: "His only protection was a wooden truncheon, some 16 inches in length, a blue barathea jacket, and the majesty of the law, none of which saved his life." The community in New Addington and beyond also rallied round to raise money to help support his widow and two young children. About 800 people attended Sergeant Robertson's funeral in Redhill.