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Roger Chartres didn't realize when he took a sleeper train to Scotland that he'd end up looking down the barrel of a police .38 Smith & Wesson revolver...
 Roger in 1980 |
In September 1980 Roger Chartres spent three weeks hop picking in Kent. When this came to an end, Roger decided to take an overnight train to Scotland to visit a friend.
He arrived at King's Cross station at about 11.30pm, but couldn't get on the sleeper car. Instead he head for one of the seated carriages. He was very tired and probably looked a bit bland and dishevelled.
There was a guard sitting reading a newspaper and Roger noticed him turning round to look at him. Thinking nothing of it, Roger fell asleep. But when he woke up, the guard was conferring with another guard.
At about 12.30am, the train slowed to a stop in open country. Roger thought this was a bit strange because it was a none-stopping train to York. He looked under the blind at his window to find that they had stopped at a totally deserted Peterborough station.
 Roger was mistaken for the man on the left |
Several policemen entered Roger's carriage and one said, "We are police officers, do exactly what you are told and don't move". The door of the compartment behind Roger burst open and in came a PC with a .38 Smith & Wesson revolver who proceeded to point it at Roger's chest.
What amazed Roger was how calm he felt about the whole thing. He thought there had to be a rational explanation for all this. The police asked to see Roger's driving license. He says, "I very slowly put my left hand down to my wallet and pull it out". But after looking at Roger's date of birth, they immediately realised that that they had the wrong person cornered in this railway carriage.
As one of the police officers was getting off the train, he showed him a copy of a tabloid newspaper from the previous evening. Plastered across the front page it said 'The Most Wanted Men in Britain'. It turned out that two Asian post office workers had been shot dead by two young white males. Roger realised that he had been mistaken for one of the wanted men.
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