Memorial planned for Manx police officers killed on duty

The names of Gordon Black, Jack Cretney and Denis Hamer will feature on the memorial

Plans for a memorial to five Isle of Man police officers killed while on duty have been unveiled.

The black granite memorial will bear the names of five officers who died while serving between 1852 and 1976.

An application to have the marker installed at Police Headquarters in Douglas has been submitted to planners.

Isle of Man Constabulary historian Dean Johnson said it was important to commemorate those who "gave their lives serving the Manx community".

Those commemorated include John Craige and John Wright.

The Castletown men were carrying out duties during the salvage operation of the brig Lily when they were killed in an explosion alongside 27 local men.

The ship, which had been sailing from Liverpool to Africa with a cargo that included gunpowder, was shipwrecked at Kitterland in stormy weather in December 1852.

Two officers died in an explosion on the brig Lily off the south coast of the island in 1852

Sgt Jack Cretney, who served in the police motor patrol, died in the Winter Hill air disaster in February 1958 while travelling to the UK on police business.

Thirty-five people were killed when the charter flight from the island to Manchester crashed during heavy snowfall.

PC Gordon Black was riding a motorcycle while on duty in Laxey when he died in a collision with a cyclist in January 1966.

And PC Denis Hamer, who had transferred to the island from the Lancashire Constabulary, was killed while on duty at the Manx Grand Prix in 1976 after being struck by a motorbike during the Junior Race.

A memorial plaque to PC Hamer was unveiled at Union Mills Methodist Chapel in February.

The memorial will be installed at Police Headquarters in Douglas

Mr Johnson, who is also chief officer of the Special Constabulary, said creating an "appropriate memorial" had been one of his "primary goals" since being appointed historian in 2013.

The plans marked a "significant step nearer to seeing this come about", he added.