Cops have a riot

These were the scenes that greeted MCN Chief Photographer Howard Boylan as he took pictures yesterday with the Met Police chucking petrol bombs at him.

Boylan was at the training ground for the Met Police CO12 Public Order Training Unit in Kent to take pictures of biking PC Sue Mordey who was returning to work after a long battle against a brain tumour.

The CO12 unit specialises in training Met Police officers to deal with public order, anti-terrorist operations and also carries out firearms tuition.

Biker Mordey, 36, was forced off the road three years ago after undergoing two lots of brain surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Anyone who has undergone brain surgery automatically loses their licence because of the risk of epilepsy. Mordey is a former member of the Met Police mounted police unit – she rode police horses as part of the Met’s Public Order Unit but was forced to leave due to ill health.

Not only did the team put on the riot but colleague Rob Embleton also got her Yamaha Thundercat back on the road, organised a BikeSafe riding day and managed to get her a free Arai Corsair from importers Phoenix Distribution.
Mordey said: “Throughout all of my cancer treatment the hardest thing for me to deal with was losing my bike licence and not being able to ride a bike. I’ve been riding for the past 15 years but out of that I have been off the road for four years through illness.”

Read the full story and see more images in next week’s MCN – out on Wednesday, March 14.