A BRAVERY trophy will be presented for the first time tomorrow - 44 years after it was created to commemorate a detective inspector who was shot dead.

Ian Singleton recalls the shocking Blackburn Brewery Street shootings which took James O'Donnell's life...

LABOURER Henry King finished his sixth whisky and dry ginger in Blackburn's Dun Horse Hotel and announced he was going home to shoot his wife and baby.

He said drunkenly: "Ta, ta, I won't see you again. You'll read about it in the papers tomorrow."

Just over 12 hours later on Saturday, December 13, 1958, the Lancashire Evening Telegraph's front page declared: "WIFE DEAD, DETECTIVES SHOT IN MIDNIGHT SIEGE."

Blackburn CID chief Detective Inspector James O'Donnell, 48, died later that day.

PC Jack Covill, 30, took almost a year to recover from a groin injury sustained when he was shot. The killer's six-month-old baby boy survived unharmed, but his mum died.

Violent gun crime is much more common today and still causes shock. In 1958 it was almost unheard of -- and this case was particularly cruel.

Det Insp O'Donnell had survived five years as a prisoner of war, but was gunned down 100 yards from Blackburn police station.

The town went into mourning. Hundreds of people lined the streets as the coffin was taken from Det Insp O'Donnell's home, in Highercroft Road, Lower Darwen, to Blackburn Cathedral.

An ex-criminal even had words of praise for Det Insp O'Donnell. In a letter to the Evening Telegraph he said: "I was a criminal with 12-and-a-half years discredit and being what I was I came into contact quite a lot with Mr O'Donnell. I can honestly say he was the fairest, most square-dealing, understanding and sympathetic man I have ever had the privilege to meet."

The trial of King was big news. Local papers gave column inch after column inch to satisfy readers' hunger.

It emerged that King, who was parted from his 20-year-old wife Sheila, went to her parents' home in Brewery Street and barricaded himself him with a shotgun he had bought earlier that day.

A taxi driver alerted the police after hearing someone say: "Get away -- he has a gun!"

Jack Covill, now 75 and retired for 25 years, recalls the night with chilling clarity. He said: "We got to the house and people were standing about and I jumped out of the car first. It was a two up and two down house.

"I pushed the door open and there were people on the left, a sideboard on the right and a table in the middle of the kitchen.

"King was standing near the back door. I carried on and said: 'Give me the gun'. He shot me.

"I went backwards into the sideboard and fell into PC Jack Riley's arms. Then he shot his wife."

Sheila was hit in the back and died instantly.

Jack continued: "As Jack Riley pulled me through I got caught between a pram and the settee. I said let me go and for them to get on the radio and tell detectives what had happened.

"While this was going on King was shouting. When Jack Riley pulled me out it was thundering and lightning and there was sleet coming down."

He was taken into next door neighbour's house. Soon other detectives came down.

Jack, who lives in Feniscowles, said: "I told them King had threatened to shoot the next person who came through the door. I said 'watch it' and then the ambulance came."

Det Insp O'Donnell arrived. He shouted: "You know me. Will you let me come in?"

King agreed and said he wanted to make a statement. Det Insp O'Donnell took out a notebook. Soon King panicked saying "He's not writing" before shooting the detective in the chest.

Another inspector was in the room and managed to throw a chair at King and escape as the gun was pointed at him.

Det Insp O'Donnell dragged himself to the kitchen door where he was pulled out and taken to hospital.

He was operated on in the early hours of Saturday and again in the evening, but his condition deteriorated.

At 11.30pm his breathing became laboured and he died a short time later.

Jack Covill, who was in a nearby hospital bed at this time, said: "I felt responsible for Jim but there was nothing else I could have done.

"There was no way anyone could have stopped him from going in once he decided he wanted to do it. That's why he was so brave.

"He felt confident he could gain his confidence and talk to him and that was what he tried to do."

Evening Telegraph trainee reporter Keith Whittaker was at Blackburn Royal Infirmary when Det Insp O'Donnell died.

Now 64, retired and living in Brownhill, he recalled witnessing the aftermath.

"Mrs O'Donnell was led out by two large detectives and was obviously in distress. I was outside a ward with two swinging doors," he said.

"I went to the doors and saw the sister and she said Inspector O'Donnell had just died.

"Inspector O'Donnell saw the good in everybody. He would know who had done a certain crime but say 'he's not a bad lad. I will get him but he has had a tough life'.

"He had an understanding for the villains in this town. That's why he died. They wanted to put the dogs in and flush this guy out. Inspector O'Donnell knew he could be shot but asked for a chance to have a talk to him.

"He believed to the last moment that he could find the best part of a person because that's how he was."

The Brewery Street siege had ended at 2.15am on Saturday as Jim O'Donnell underwent the initial surgery. Two tear gas bombs were thrown in and police found King injured, lying near his dead wife. He had shot himself but was not badly injured.

When charged with the murder of his wife, King said: "Nothing to say". When Jim O'Donnell was mentioned, he replied: "A good man".

King, 27 at the time of the shootings, pleaded not guilty to both charges. He was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to life imprisonment.

The court was told King had delusions of persecution by his wife and the police and had an "abnormal mind" which diminished his responsibility.

Mr Justice Elwes told King: "This is as bad a case of manslaughter as could be imagined."

King would have been released by at least 1984 -- but his current whereabouts are unknown. If he was alive he would be in his early seventies.

DI O'Donnell was posthumously honoured with the Queen's Police Medal for Gallantry. Other police officers involved received the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct, presented in 1959 -- the year the O'Donnell trophy was minted.

Mr Covill, while disappointed it was never presented, is delighted that the cup has been rekindled so future generations will remember his friend.

He said: "Jim O'Donnell would always listen to someone else's argument. He wouldn't shirk his duty but would always help if he could.

"He was a policeman but a kind and compassionate fellow. People like him only came along once a lifetime."