More than 30 people attended a poignant graveside ceremony in Inverness yesterday to remember the last north police officers to die in the line of duty.
Detective Sergeant Evan Lumsden and Constable Iain Ritchie were killed in the Caledonian Canal at Fort William on November 3, 1968, while operating as part of the Inverness Burgh Police sub aqua team.
During their underwater search of the canal locks for a missing person, both officers became trapped in a lock sluice at Corpach.
The news of the deaths reverberated across the Highlands, particularly as there were just three prior cases in the region of policemen being killed in the line of duty.
In 1878, constable James Fraser was fatally stabbed in Grantown and in 1898, constable Thomas King was shot in woods at Nethybridge by a poacher he knew, while trying to execute an arrest warrant. In 1938, constable John Brown was dealing with a road accident on the Nairn road when he was fatally struck by another car at the scene.
Yesterday at Tomnahurich Cemetery, a crowd of retired officers, serving policemen and women as well as local councillors, gathered to pay their respects 47 years after the diving tragedy.
Mr Lumsden was 37 years old and a married man with five young children, and Mr Ritchie was just 21 when he died.
David Conner, who retired as a sergeant from the police 12 years ago and planned yesterday’s occasion, made a speech in their memory.
He said: “This was a really sad day for the police service, for Inverness and the Highlands. I was just a loon then and I remember a black cloud descending on the Inverness area at the time.
“The most important thing for a police officer is to come home from a shift. Most of us manage to do it but sadly, a small number don’t. You hear about it more in the United States, with law enforcement officers killed in the execution of duty.
“In the Highlands, we have a great relationship between the police and the public, but you never know going out the door whether you will come back in it again.”
Following the speech, Pipe Major Steve Spencer, of Northern Constabulary Community Pipe Band, played a lament before the occasion was marked by a minute’s silence.
Also attending yesterday’s remembrance was the first female officer to join Inverness Burgh Police, Mona Mackenzie (nee Urquhart), who spoke of how her late husband, Dan Mackenzie, a police dog handler, was good friends with Mr Lumsden.
The 87-year-old added: “The remembrance was very nice. I remember Evan and Iain very well. It’s good to remember them in this way.
“At the time, the news really took the wind out of everyone. It was very, very sad because Iain was only 21 and Evan was married with five young children – four boys and a girl.”