![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_TCBR110625DecoyBRI_05.jpg\")
The commendations given to female police officers for their work to catch the Clifton Rapist – from the book ‘Decoy’ by Rob Murphy(Image: Decoy\/Rob Murphy)<\/p>\n“The team of women put their lives on the line every night for months”The commendations given to female police officers for their work to catch the Clifton Rapist – from the book ‘Decoy’ by Rob Murphy(Image: Decoy\/Rob Murphy)<\/p>\n
It was one of the most serious, dangerous and at times bizarre police operations in Bristol\u2019s history. And now a book about the notorious Clifton<\/a> Rapist and how police finally managed to catch him, has won not one, but two prizes at the prestigious True Crime Awards in London.<\/p>\n The book, called Decoy, was written by a familiar face to TV viewers in the West Country, ITV<\/a> West\u2019s crime correspondent Robert Murphy.<\/p>\n It tells the remarkable story of how a team of rookie female police officers formed a unit of 12 undercover officers to try to lure a man who had terrorised women in Bristol for almost two years.<\/p>\n Starting in July 1977, seven women had been attacked by a man who became known as \u2018The Clifton Rapist\u2019. He would approach lone women walking at night, grabbing them from the street, threatening to kill them and subjecting them to prolonged and life-changing sexual assaults.<\/p>\n The survivors were able to give detectives a description of the attacker \u2013 a tall white man with a handlebar moustache and a northern accent. But policing methods in the days before DNA, CCTV and telephone analysis were so primitive he was able to evade capture.<\/p>\n \u201cSome detectives even believed he was a police officer, as he managed to melt away before police operations were launched,\u201d explained Robert.<\/p>\n READ MORE: ‘Don\u2019t scream or I\u2019ll kill you’: Hero police woman recalls moment she snared ‘Clifton rapist’<\/a>READ MORE: ‘Clifton Rapist’ Ronald Evans jailed for sex attack after victim saw TV documentary<\/a><\/p>\n After two violent attacks in successive weeks in December 1978, a desperate Avon & Somerset Police launched \u2018Operation Argus.\u2019 \u201cThey appealed for young, rookie women officers to walk Whiteladies Road in an attempt to lure the Clifton Rapist to the dark side streets where grab-teams would be waiting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe women went out with no personal protection and scant self-defence training. It was the Winter of Discontent \u2013 the coldest in living memory \u2013 and they were watched by observation officers who sat freezing in the shadows to try to ensure their safety,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Initially, the operation failed to work for several weeks, so the police even sent out some male officers, dressed as women. One of them, PC Christopher Gould, managed to make 36 arrests in just a few weeks, while dressed as a woman, but none of them was the Clifton Rapist.<\/p>\n Finally, the operation which saw brave young women police officers volunteering to be \u2018bait\u2019 for a sexual predator, did work. In the early hours of March 2, 1979, a 24-year-old police officer called Michelle Tihge was walking up Whiteladies Road when she heard she was being followed by a man who matched the Clifton Rapist\u2019s description.<\/p>\n \u201cShe faced a terrifying choice,\u201d said Robert. \u201cShould she put her own safety first and stay on the main road, knowing he might attack another woman? Or should she risk her own life and head into the darkness and believe in the reactions of her backup team?\u201d<\/p>\n Evans attacked PC Tihge but within seconds was surrounded by police. He was jailed and it emerged he was already a convicted murderer who\u2019d been freed from prison.<\/p>\n Robert Murphy\u2019s book won Book of the Year and the Impact for Change award at the True Crime Awards last week. \u201cBook of the Year is a true honour,\u201d said Robert. \u201cThis case was well-known in Bristol, but now it\u2019s finally getting the national and international recognition it deserves.<\/p>\n \u201cThe team of women put their lives on the line every night for months. They suffered appalling misogyny at work and they were expected to take the most incredible personal risks,\u201d he added. \u201cThe thing I loved about writing Decoy was getting the sense of camaraderie.<\/p>\n “The police officers were a great team to get to know. They were fun, hard-working, dedicated and brave. The plan was completely outlandish – and it worked.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it was great to write about such an evocative era: the late seventies is such a wonderful time to be in, with hindsight: the music, the TV shows, the fashions.<\/p>\n \u201cBut also Decoy shows how far we\u2019ve come with policing. Ronald Evans would be caught within a few hours of the attacks today. Back then, he evaded police for nearly two years and was only caught by this incredible operation.<\/p>\n \u201cOperation Argus also changed the way undercover work was carried out in the UK. This was an idea brought in from the USA. Never before had a covert operation carried out on this scale \u2013 so many operatives, so many nights and so much cost. And it was used as an example of what could be achieved with undercover policing,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“The team of women put their lives on the line every night for months”The commendations given to female…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[9312,381,14720,748,18959,188,393,4884,208,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-183008","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-avon-and-somerset-constabulary","9":"tag-bristol","10":"tag-bristol-nostalgia","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-clifton","13":"tag-crime","14":"tag-england","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-itv","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114680141203530096","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Chris](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_TCBR110625DecoyBRI.jpg\")
Chris Gould in drag as part of Operation Argus – from the book ‘Decoy’ by Rob Murphy(Image: Decoy\/Rob Murphy)<\/p>\n![\"Ronald](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_evansJPG.jpg\")
Ronald Evans police mugshot from 1970s(Image: asp issued)<\/p>\n![\"WPC](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_TCBR110625DecoyBRI_04.jpg\")
WPC Michelle Tihge, who caught the Clifton Rapist in 1979 – From the book ‘Decoy’ by Rob Murphy(Image: Decoy\/Rob Murphy)<\/p>\n