Roger Goad (explosives officer)

Roger Philip Goad, GC, BEM (5 August 1935 – 29 August 1975) was an explosives officer with London's Metropolitan Police Service who was posthumously awarded the George Cross for the heroism he displayed on 29 August 1975. He had previously been awarded the British Empire Medal in 1958 for gallantry whilst serving with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps in Cyprus, for repeated acts of deliberate courage in the disarming of bombs and booby traps set by terrorists.^[1]

Army career

Goad enlisted in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps and worked his way up the ranks. He was a sergeant at the time he received the British Empire Medal in February 1958; and a warrant officer class 2 when he received a commission as lieutenant in February 1968.^[2] He was promoted to captain two years later,^[3] and retired from the army in August 1974.^[4] He then became an explosives officer with the Metropolitan Police.

George Cross

Following a telephone tip-off, police officers found a suspicious package placed in a shop doorway in Kensington Church Street in London. Goad was the senior bomb disposal expert on the scene. A bomb, fitted with an anti-handling device, had been placed by Provisional Irish Republican Army members. Goad attempted to defuse the bomb but it exploded, killing him instantly. He was a 40-year-old married man with two children.^[5] His citation was published in the London Gazette of 1 October 1976.^[6]

The bomb had been placed by the active service unit responsible for the 1974–1975 terror campaign in London, who were later captured at the conclusion of the Balcombe Street siege.^[7]

See also

• List of British police officers killed in the line of duty

References