During one of our many lockdowns, the country was gripped by the series Line of Duty. The series was all about catching bent coppers. I mention this series because this week’s story is about a real-life aoften accused bent copper. During the 1960s Norman Pilcher leader of Scotland Yard’s drug squad wreaked havoc on the famous pop stars of the time. Although he did try his best to upset the counterculture, he did get his comeuppance in the 1970s. This week the Beat Marches On to 8th November 1972 when Norman Pilcher was charged with perjury.
In the current day, it isn’t uncommon to hear about a pop star in trouble with the police. Artist X gets arrested here or police were called to artist Y house after a heated argument. But before the summer of love, there wasn’t a lot of arrests in music. At least it wasn’t reported to the newspapers. The 1960’s changed all that. The fandom of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones bought popular music to new heights.
The newfound popularity of the new home-grown music boom of the early 1960s brought media attention to the music. Sure, in America there was the mid-1950s rock n roll boom, but this was the first time the British music scene had a hysterical reaction.
By the mid-1960s the counterculture scene from San Francisco was starting to sneak into the UK shores and it started worrying the suits in government. With the popular musicians of the time jumping on the peace and love bandwagon the home office wanted to set an example of breaking the new culture. That’s when they bought in Norman Pilcher.
Sergeant Norman Pilcher started his career in law enforcement with the military police. After a few years, he switched to the London Metropolitan police and was quickly promoted to the flying squad. Also known as the Sweeney, the squad specialises in organised robbery and has helped crack cases like the great train robbery in 1963 and the millennium dome diamond heist in 2000.
After some time in the Sweeney, Pilcher was promoted to Sergeant and by the mid-1960s transferred to the drug squad. He was given orders by the Home Office to pick up the famous faces to deter the youth of the UK from the drug culture.
One of the first famous arrests was singer Donovan, who was described as the British Bob Dylan. This was in 1966 and although the arrest was made by the drug squad it’s unclear that Pilcher was involved with the case as it’s around the same time that he joined the squad. Donovan insisted that the cannabis that was found had been planted. Not that he ever denied smoking the drug, but it was so rare in London at the time that any drugs he had been smoked right away. Pilcher has denied that he ever arrested the singer, but Donovan said the opposite. The subsequent charge brought upon him stopped his appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival the following year.
Throughout the rest of 1966 Pilcher’s drug squad raided the Oliver stage show composer Lionel Bart’s home and singer Dusty Springfield. According to an interview with the Sergeant in the Guardian, Dusty berated him with ‘foul language and insults’ Springfield still was charged and pled guilty. It was a good start, but the Home Office wanted artists at the top of the tree.
Known as the bad boys of pop music the Rolling Stones were the second only to The Beatles in popularity in 1967. They were so popular that the band members could afford lavish estates. Guitarist Brian Jones brought a house in the countryside that belonged to Winnie the Pooh writer AA Milne and second guitarist Keith Richards brought an estate in Sussex called Redlands.
On the morning of February 12th, 1967, after a wild night on LSD at the Redlands estate the drug squad and other uniformed policemen knocked on the door and raided the estate looking for contraband. The party was still under the influence from the previous night’s antics and they were still hallucinating. Richards mentioned in his autobiography that when answering the door, he saw the coppers as Dwarves.
The now out of press newspaper News Of The World was contacted when the police were en-route to the property and put it on the front page. No arrests were officially made at Redlands, but Richards and singer Mick Jagger were taken to a police station for questioning along with a friend of the band Robert Fraser. There were rumours about an incident with Jaggers then-girlfriend Marianne Faithfull and a Mars bar which was completely made up.
Jagger and Richards did end up getting charged by the police and were sent to trial. The judge wanted to set an example for both. The famous people who were caught before were only fined but these two ended up getting jail time. Mick for three months and Keith for a year.
After the jail time went public there was outrage from the fans and musical colleagues. Editorials from the other tabloids condemned the judge’s decision. Fellow London band The Who released covers of the Stones song in protest of the decision made. Sense prevailed in the end and although the two spent some time in prison, it was only one day before the decision was reversed.
After the Redlands incident, in 1968 the drug squad set their sights on John Lennon. Rumours about Pilcher being named checked in the Beatles song ‘I am the Walrus’ put Lennon on the drug squad’s radar. Known for outspoken comments in the media he accused Pilcher of planting the drugs at some of the raided homes.
Tipped off by one of his journalist friends Lennon was made aware of an incoming drug bust by Pilcher and his drug squad. He was renting a flat with his then-new partner Yoko Ono from fellow bandmate George Harrison in Marylebone whose previous tenant was Jimi Hendrix. After hearing the tip John scrubbed the flat top to bottom knowing that Hendrix liked to have some fun with illegal substances too.
Disguised as postmen when Pilcher and his squad raided the flat, he burst in on them when they were naked in the bedroom. The squad still found substances even though the apartment was scrubbed clean, and Lennon ended up getting charged and fined. The charge reared its ugly head again when it was used in an attempt to deport The Beatle from the USA in the 1970s.
The media loved the pop star busts plastering the pictures on the front page of the tabloids and Pilcher always made sure to be in the picture as the arresting officer to get the publicity for the drug squad. By the end of the 1960s, Brian Jones was caught by the squad, as was jazz player Tubby Hayes, and George Harrison’s home was raided but he wasn’t there. When the Temptations toured the UK, Pilcher arrested band member Levi Stubbs. It didn’t matter where you were from.
As the 1960s turned into the 1970s the famous drug busts were dying down and Pilcher was out of the limelight until a court case in 1972. While testifying in court about drug trafficking when questioned in court he said the defendant was innocent and worked for the police. It was untrue and this is what brought Pilcher down. He was charged and found guilty of perverting the court of justice and jailed for four years. Pop stars rejoiced.
The work that Pilcher and his drug squad did throughout the late 1960s did make them the villains of the public. Going after the countries top performers will put you on that side. The fact that he always took the time to pose with his arrests for the papers irked the public and musicians more than making the arrests. There have always been accusations of the squad planting the drugs at some of the locations they raided which have always been denied by Pilcher. With stories of corruption from the police coming out after years of being hidden away time may tell with who is telling the truth.
The Beat Marches On is a music blog written by Jimmy Whitehead. Jimmy has been blogging for six years specialising in Sport (especially American Football). If you want to follow Jimmy on Twitter: @Jimmy_W1987
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Websites used for research are:
The Keith Richards autobiography ‘Life’ was used for the Redlands incident.
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