the case of an explosive can of shaving cream…
At 2.30 am sharp on Thursday 10 April 1969, the explosives expert, and Officer in Charge of the newly formed ‘Emergency Squad’ attached to Brisbane’s CIB, Detective, Les Bardwell, was woken by his bedside telephone. The words ‘homemade bomb’ had him wide awake within seconds.
A policeman called from a New Farm flat.
‘You know I’d never get onto you at an hour like this unless it seems serious… it started as a routine business of locating and interrogating Philip Robert Palmer, a man with several serious convictions, but in the course of searching for a breaking and entering instrument, I ran across a piece of equipment which is clearly in your line of country. A bomb by the look of it, and very neat too. Can you get over?’
After arriving at the scene and being briefed on the situation, the Detective Inspector’s attention went to two principal exhibits – first the offender, second the bomb. The offender was dirty, dishevelled and badly in need of a shave. The reason for the latter sat on a nearby table. He’d turned a shaving cream cannister into a homemade bomb. Six inches of fuse with a visible match head protruded from the nozzle.
The Detective Inspector sized up the situation and chose to concentrate on the bomb. Could it be rendered safe? Was it booby trapped? The offender in turn watched him, with a grin of derision. One of the first lessons that the OIC had learnt in his early policing career was, ‘never react to provocation, however slight, however great.’ He had an idea.
‘You built it, and I’ll delouse it. But we’ll do it together.’
‘Over here’, Bardwell called. ‘Sit here on the edge of the bed.’ As the offender was being attached to the bedhead with handcuffs, and barely had time to protest, the Detective Inspective brought the bomb over from the table and sat on the bed alongside him. Suddenly, the offender became very still as Bardwell reached down into his tool bag to commence the tedious task of rendering the improvised explosive device safe. Outwardly, all his attention was concentrated on the bomb, but he watched the offender in his peripheral vision, looking for the first sign of panic or alarm that would have caused him to throw the bomb through the open window.
But the offender’s eyes were glued to the bomb.
Continued next week in FROM the VAULT – Gangland Revenge’ – Part 2
The Queensland Police Museum acknowledges the unpublished work ‘No Stone Unturned’, a collection of works by former Detective Inspector Les Bardwell, who preferred to be known as a ‘field forensic scientist. He believed that it was important to have first-hand contact with the aftermath of crime and violence. His stories are a source of inspiration in the writing of this blog, and hopefully are authentic in reflecting the legacy of 35 years at the forefront of forensic science with Queensland Police Service. Leslie James Bardwell passed away on 23rd March 1995 aged 78 years.
This story was re-written by Museum Assistant Debra Austin using the information from ‘No Stone Unturned’.
The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.
Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au
“FROM the VAULT – Gangland Revenge’ – Part 1” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode