Memorial benches to 1970s murder victims installed at Leeds mill

Night watchman Ian Riley and Inspector Barry Taylor, a father-of-two, were fatally shot at Sunny Bank Mills on February 15 1970.

Burglar Neil George Adamson, 31, of Primrose Hill, Pudsey was arrested two days later when 60 police officers swooped on a terraced house in Colne, Lancashire. He was later sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommended minimum term of 30 years.

In February last year, relatives of both victims joined local people in a special memorial service to remember the tragedy 50 years on.

But Mandy Cook, 49, a niece of Insp Taylor, said she had long hoped for a permanent memorial to be built at the site.

She said: “I have pushed for this since I found out five years ago that nothing was done. I was like a dog with a bone.

“It’s important to keep their memory alive so people can ask who they were in years to come.

“There were people who got in contact with me who’ve lived in Farlsey all their lives who never knew that happened.”

Mandy, who was born the year after her uncle’s death, lives in South Shields but hopes to be able to see the benches in person as soon as Covid restrictions allow.

For Paul Colbeck, the nephew of night watchman Ian Riley, the public benches have huge significance, coming after a lifetime of silence in his family over the murders.

Paul, who was eight when his uncle was killed, said: “We were told not to talk about it. It was a taboo subject as far as my mum was concerned. As children we never managed to grieve. I couldn't understand what had happened.

“It was just overwhelming last February going to the memorial and meeting people and being able to talk freely without the fear of upsetting my mother or my family.

“It was like going to his funeral for me, it really was. But having had to wait 50 years to do that.

“Everything has started to fall into place and the benches, although it’s just a bench you could argue, for me it’s just everything falling into place. After so many years of nothing, something does make sense.”

William Gaunt, joint managing director of Sunny Bank Mills, said it felt right to install the benches, 50 years on, and remember such a significant yet devastating part of the mills’ history.

His father Martin Gaunt and grandfather Alfred Gaunt were in charge of the mill when the murders happened.

He said: “ I know it affected my grandfather very much and he said he would never employ a night watchman again. It wasn’t worth it, he said.

“They are of that generation that you don't talk about it, so we didn’t. But it was very much something that affected them greatly.

“It’s still in that generations’ minds. It was quite important in the village for that generation. They will tell you what they were doing that night.”

Mr Gaunt said the incident was still tough to think about but it was important to memorialise the me.

“It doesn't get any easier when someone loses their life in that way but 50 years on we want people to remember them.

“We celebrate the history of the mill here, we’re part of the village life and this is the sad part in the history.

“We decided on the benches would be the nicest thing to do and people could sit there and remember them.

“We have got some nice woodland which is very peaceful around the back of the mill.”

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