We’ve just heard from Jonathan Bull in Canada, son of our former colleague, P.C. Malcolm Hepple Bull, who served here in the Bermuda Police from March 1962 until April 1965. Jonathan wrote first of all to let us know that his father passed away on 10thDecember 2019, in London, Ontario, where he spent most of his life after leaving Bermuda.
Jonathan had recently been going through some of his father’s old correspondence and came across a letter dated 1991 from one of his old friends in the Bermuda Police, George Hammond, and the letter mentioned several mutual friends from their police days including Peter Rose, Jimmy Moir, “Crock”, the Ramsey’s (Harry and his wife) and (Derek "Earthquake) Wiggens. Jonathan then carried out some “detective” work of his own and came across our ExPo website where he saw mention of George Hammond and a list which included his father’s force number as 248. This number intrigued Jonathan because for many years his father would use computer passwords such as ‘PC249Bermuda’ – always using the number 249.
Jonathan wondered if he might be able to contact George Hammond, and also if we could confirm whether his father’s force number was 248 or 249. Both of these questions were easy to answer. On checking the entry for Malcolm in the old police register, his Force number was definitely 248. And with regard to George Hammond, I contacted George who remembered Malcolm as one of our dog handlers and I put them in touch with each other. CLICK HERE to read more about George in an article we published following a feature about him published in the Royal Gazette.
We asked Jonathan if he could let us know what his father did after leaving Bermuda in 1965, and he wrote, “I understand my dad contemplated moving to New York but was dissuaded from doing so because of the Vietnam War and potentially being drafted so he decided to go to Toronto, Canada. with his close friend Chris Rigby who was a chemist in Bermuda. Dad started working for Bristol Myers selling cleaning products to grocery stores. He worked his way up before moving to London, Ontario, to join a Confectionary company - Opeechee.
He worked there as junior salesmen up to Senior VP, until it was sold to Nestle Canada. He was offered a package with Nestle, but he decided to start his own Candy Import/Distribution company – Simply Candy. He did that until he semi-retired around 2008.
In retirement he decided to start another company to sell his “Stick Chairs”, which were a twist on his father’s traditional shooting stick. CLICK HERE to view an article about Malcolm's 'butt of a joke' "Stick Chairs"! He kept the stick chair going until his passing. We had hoped to keep it going ourselves, but the next inventory order was put through in February 2019 and the COVID disruption shortly after in China was too significant and we have yet to find a replacement manufacturer. I started my company in 2023 and decided to keep the “Simply” moniker as a nod.
We also asked Jonathan if his father had told him any stories of his time in Bermuda, and he recalled two incidents in particular.
The first was while Malcolm was working on Beach Patrol, and he and his partner attended a call about a person on a beach acting suspiciously. They went to investigate and were using the car search light to scan the beach when they lit up what looked like a dead woman lying in the sand. Thinking the worst they drove closer but as soon as the light bobbed with the vehicle, the woman got up and ran. When they got her in the light again, she flopped to the ground. They got on the speaker, identified themselves as police and asked her if she was okay but there no response; she just lay face down in the sand. That’s when she asked them to switch the car lights off! They were totally confused and asked her to stand up but she remained face down in the sand and then explained she lost her top and didn’t want them to see her half naked so she was evading the light to be modest!
Working on Beach Squad was one of the most sought after assignments among our young policemen in the early 1960’s!
On another occasion Malcolm and his partner, believed to be “Crock” attended a show starring “The Supremes” at the Clay House Inn nightclub despite the fact they were on duty – and in uniform! They were seated near the front of the nightclub when they saw a senior police officer walk into the nightclub. In a panic, they quickly dropped to the floor and crawled out of the club via a side door, shuffling past audience members on their hands and knees pushing their hats along the ground in front of them and making good their escape!
“Crock” had to be then P.C. Custerfield “Custy” or “Crock” Crockwell who went on to be promoted to Inspector and was held in the highest regard by all who knew him and worked with him.”Crock” was an exceptionally popular personality in the Police, and a very handy officer to have with you in difficult situations. He had been an outstanding boxer as a young man and had a reputation as someone not to be tangled with if you were looking for trouble! As with Malcolm, “Crock” also worked in the Dog Section for several years.
All of the officers mentioned above, with the exception of George Hammond, are no longer with us, but George and his wife Carol are well and at latest report are still being kept busy with their grandchildren. 
Published 3rd June 2025