The infamous killing of a Croydon policeman has featured in a book dedicated to officers who died in the line of duty.

Derek Bentley and Christopher Craig, both from Croydon, began a shoot-out, after a failed burglary with police in a Tamworth Road warehouse roof in 1952 that saw 42-year-old PC Sidney Miles shot and killed.

The resulting court case drew national attention and centred around whether the cry of “Let him have it” from Bentley, 19, to Craig, 16, was encouragement to shoot, or to hand the gun in.

Bentley was convicted of murder and sentenced to death – he was posthumously pardoned in 1998 following decades of campaigning.

Craig, due to his age, served 10 years in jail. Author and former policeman Dick Kirby, who served with the Metropolitan Police for 26 years, said the controversy around the case overshadowed the death of PC Miles.

He said: “He was just an ordinary police constable living in the area doing his job, who was shot in the head.

“The trial turned into a media circus and whipped up a lot of anti-police feeling. They were all rotters so the actions of PC Miles, and of Sergeant Fred Fairfax were forgotten.”

Detective Sergeant Fairfax was shot in the shoulder by Craig, but still managed to grab Bentley, at which time the famous words were uttered.

He was given a George Cross for his actions, the first member of the Met Police to do so.

The Bentley and Craig case features in Death on the Beat by Dick Kirby, available online and in bookstores nationwide.