Kent Police officers have today (December 19) remembered Thanet PC Jon Odell who was killed in Margate 25 years ago.
PC Odell was in Shottendane Road at a static traffic point when a speeding driver hit and killed him on December 19, 2000.
The 30-year-old, who had lived in Margate with his partner and her son, had pointed a radar gun at a Vauxhall Astra when the driver hit him.
He suffered head injuries and broken legs and arms and died in hospital four hours later from internal bleeding.
Wayne Rule pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to nine years in prison. He was released in May 2006. In 2023 Rule received a life sentence with a minimum term of 35 years, plus a second life sentence (14-year minimum) for murder and attempted murder in a drugs row.
A permanent marble memorial to PC Odell’s memory was put at the site of the crash in 2002 by the Police Memorial Trust.
Each year the newest officer in Kent Police service and based at Margate lays a wreath on the anniversary of PC Odell’s death.
The ceremony was attended by family member Teresa Dickinson, led by police chaplain for Thanet Rev Cutler, Assistant chief officer Simon Thompson and MP Sir Roger Gale, among others.
A whistle was blown for the gathering to observe one minute’s silence.
I remember, such a shame, should have never had happened, something has to be done about the speed of vehicles in Thanet
It’s the mindset /attitude of the people driving , in this case the perpertrator was/is hardly a pillar of society and been of no benefit to it. 9 years for what was effectively murder then released after 6 years is a major failing of the criminal justice system, that he then went onto murder someone further shows the failings, unlikely he was law abiding inbetween or will ne when released this time round.
If ever there was an example that justifies a serious consideration for the death sentence , Rule is probably it.
Want to deal with speeding , lets have some rpoper road policing, start with anpr stop any vehicle that gets flagged up, crush the unroaworthy, uninsured or driven by those disqualified or have no licence. Penalise the drivers equally harshly.
Then deal with those that speed, using mobile whilst driving ( again seize and crush the cars) , people pay no attention because there’s so little chance of getting caught. In the absence of deterrent what controls are there?
Rule is a trash human-when the police turned up to arrest him for the murder, he induced a standoff where he boasted he had killed PC Odell & he would kill another officer. He had also attacked another man an hour before the murder.
I think it would be nice to mention the famous film director Michael Winner ( Deathwish) in this news story as it was him that was behind introducing memorials like this to fallen police officers in their line of duty and I remember that he was involved in this one to PC Jon Odell and annually attended it
I remember this well. I believe all officers have been told not to stand in the road using hand held speed cameras since this incident. That driver drove at PC Odell to cause him death and should have been locked up for life, he then wouldn’t have been released to murder others. Life should mean life. That was a miscarriage of the legal system when wrongly convicted of manslaughter instead of murder as a deliberate act.
Officers started wearing the thin blue line UK badges in solidarity and respect for others who had fallen in the line of duty but those badges have been banned for wearing on duty by the Met’s commissioner after 2 trans folk were offended by it for some reason. It is not part of the uniform code apparently.
What a surprise-when will those in power stop pandering to a very tiny number of this fringe group, who shout loudly on social media & stop punishing the 99.9%? Wasn’t the Supreme Court ruling enough?