Harry Maurice Roberts is a career criminal who instigated the Shepherd's Bush Murders in which three police officer

Police officer

A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...

s were shot dead in 1966. The killings happened after the plain-clothed officers approached the van which Roberts and two other men were sitting in, in Braybrook Street, near Wormwood Scrubs prison

Wormwood Scrubs (HM Prison)

HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs is a Category B men's prison, located in the Wormwood Scrubs area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, in inner west London, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service....

 in London. Roberts opened fire on the officers when he feared they would discover the firearms his gang were planning to use in an armed robbery

Robbery

Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....

.