“How we convicted a Terrorist” at Birnbeck Lodge

The recent meeting at Birnbeck was unusual, as they did not have a ceremony to perform, however they do have retired detective Tony Jay in their membership. Tony is known for his talks on his work solving high profile crimes, including the Cromwell St murders, committed by Fred and Rose West and the London Terrorist attacks on 7th July 2005.

The Lodge was opened in the usual manner and reports etc were given, including welcoming over 12 guests on the night. The meeting was then closed and the members retired to listen to a fascinating talk by Tony (several of us had heard his talk on the Cromwell St Murders, gruesome yet interesting).

Tonys talk about the horrific events on the 7th July 2005, was again quite gruesome (52 deaths and 800 wounded) yet interesting, delivered in his usual sincere yet humorous way.

The talk was rounded off with anecdotes of Tony’s time as the eviction officer at the Glastonbury Festival, (apparently they evict over 600 people each event for trying to get in under false pretences) which was much lighter and very funny.

A nice proof that Freemasonry is not always about ritual, it’s also about the friendship from fraternity and the many and diverse members there are in this wonderful organisation.