Chief Constable who is `sick to death of non-winnable situation'

THE fact that the RUC Chief Constable, Sir Hugh Annesley, was born in Dublin was one of the main criticisms level led at him …

THE fact that the RUC Chief Constable, Sir Hugh Annesley, was born in Dublin was one of the main criticisms level led at him by Portadown loyalists. It's a fact that was noted and mentioned, too, by nationalists when they had to bear the brunt of his force at Drumcree on Thursday.

In one television interview Sir Hugh, the son of a south Dublin merchant family, said he and his colleagues were "sick to death of being stuck in the middle of a non-winnable situation".

The man in the middle is the son of a Dublin confectionery importer, who was raised in Foxrock with his two brothers. He attended Avoca School, now part of Newtownpark School, was very interested in sport and policing and joined the London Metropolitan Force in 1958.

He spent a few years pounding the heat in central London but was plucked out for the "accelerated promotions scheme" in the mid 1960s. By the time he was 35 he was a chief inspector and second in command of the Special Patrol Group.

READ MORE

This group, formerly the riot squad, gained itself a reputation for insensitive and occasionally brutal behaviour but none of this seemed to have smeared Sir Hugh. He found himself promoted to superintendent in Brixton in 1972.

He served there for two years before he was promoted again, this time to chief superintendent in Scotland Yard where he held a series of desk jobs before being appointed assistant chief constable of Sussex.

While there, he lectured at Police College, Bramshill, and held an appointment to the Royal College of Defence Studies a "think tank" for British security.

By the early 1980s he was back at Scotland Yard as deputy assistant to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Kenneth Newman (himself subsequently an RUC chief constable), where he was involved in a major re-organisation of the police force in the city of London.

He became assistant commissioner in 1985, assuming responsibility for anti terrorist policing as head of Specialist Operations, and four years later he was appointed RUC Chief Constable, at the insistence of the Northern Ireland Police Authority.

His work in Scotland Yard brought him into close contact with the Garda Siochana, and he has developed this close association since taking over the Northern Ireland job.

In May he announced his retirement in November and this brought a stream of tributes from all parties except Sinn Fein.

That party said his retirement "and RUC disbandment couldn't come soon enough for nationalists".