Jack Slipper

Jack Kenneth Slipper (20 April 1924 – 24 August 2005) was a Detective Chief Superintendent in the Metropolitan Police in London. He was known as "Slipper of the Yard" (referring to Scotland Yard). He was mainly known for his role in investigating the Great Train Robbery of 1963, and in tracking down Ronnie Biggs after he escaped from prison in 1965, although he had to leave Brazil without Biggs.

Slipper was born in Ealing, west London, and educated at Little Ealing School. He left school aged 14 and worked as an electrician's apprentice until 1941, when he enlisted in the Royal Air Force. He served as an electrician with a nightfighter squadron at West Malling, and was then posted to the Rhodesian Air Training Group in Salisbury, Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe) in 1943. Having grown to 6'3", he became light heavyweight boxing champion of the Rhodesian combined services. He was demobilized in 1946 and returned to work in London as an electrician.

Slipper joined the Metropolitan Police in 1951. He trained at Hendon Police College, and served briefly as a police constable in Brentford before moving to Chelsea. He undertook traffic duties, and guarded the residence of the US Ambassador in South Kensington.

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