Remembering DC Mick Swindells

21 May 2022

A detective who was killed in the line of duty while trying to arrest a man armed with a knife has been remembered on the anniversary of his death.

DC Michael (Mick) Swindells was attacked on 21 May 2004 on a Tame Valley Canal towpath underneath Gravelly Hill Interchange in Aston, Birmingham, and died from a single stab wound. He was 44.

His attacker had used the knife earlier in the day to threaten a carpenter who was repairing his garden gate.

It led to officers spotting the suspect on a park bench then pursuing him along the towpath for more than half a mile before he turned on Mick.

A former Royal Engineer, Mick served with West Midlands Police for 14 years. He was posthumously awarded the Queen’s Gallantry Medal for his bravery.