Camden's top police officers win awards at Town Hall ceremony

Thursday April 1, 2010

By CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS

A DETECTIVE who tracked down a man who sexually assaulted a pensioner was among officers to receive commendation awards for their hard work.

Detective Sergeant Sharon Freeman-Woods was praised at a Camden police award ceremony at the Town Hall on Friday. 

She worked on the arrest and conviction of Simon Wilson, who attacked a 71-year-old woman on her Bloomsbury doorstep two years ago. 

DS Freeman-Woods was one of 35 police officers to be commended by the borough commander Chief Superintendant Dominic Clout. She said she began with thousands of hours of CCTV footage from across London but a chance sighting proved a crucial lead.

“We saw a person on the bus that we weren’t happy with,” she said. “He just sat opposite her on the bus. 

“It was when we backtracked and spotted him walking up Charing Cross Road, he stopped at the bus stop. He looked at her and he looked as though he was prowling for a victim.” 

Wilson, who already had a string of convictions and had been deported from Australia, has been jailed for life.

DS Freeman-Woods and her team, Detective Constable David Ross and Detective Constable Graham Alger, who were also given commendations, took his image to a sex offenders unit in east London – he was spotted wearing a West Ham football club hat – and he was recognised. 

Also at the ceremony was Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) Omar N’Jie, who was awarded PCSO of the Year and last year helped catch a suspect with a gun. 

Police Officer of the Year went to Janine Cunningham of the Gospel Oak Safer Neighbourhoods team for her work battling crime on Kiln Place estate last year. 

Other officers to be commended were PC Jennifer Corken and PCSO Ivan Larkins for their work with schoolchildren from Acland Burghley Secondary School.  

Meanwhile, Camden Council officer Jane Debono, from the culture and environment department, was commended for helping reduce crime in car parks, while Keavy Moran, a member of the public, was commended for helping a collapsed woman in Endell Street, Holborn, in August.