William Morgan Longmore, more publicly known as Bill Longmore (18 August 1938 – 17 May 2018) was the

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner. He was the first person to hold the post and was elected on 15 November 2012. A former police officer with

Staffordshire Police Staffordshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent in the West Midlands of England. It is made up of 11 local policing teams, whose boundaries are matched to the nine local authoritie ...

, Longmore was a businessman prior to his election. He attracted controversy shortly after taking office for appointing his former campaign manager as his Deputy.

Police career and election

Longmore, who was brought up at

Amblecote Amblecote is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies immediately north of the historic town of Stourbridge on the southwestern edge of the West Midlands conurbation. Histori ...

near

Stourbridge Stourbridge () is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Situated on the River Stour, Worcestershire, River Stour, the town lies around west of Birmingham, at the southwester ...

,Report by Claire Dunn. was a serving police officer with

for 30 years from 1957, rising to the position of Superintendent. Following his retirement from the force he enjoyed a second career as a businessman, building up a manufacturing company, buying two factories and converting them to timber mills. In 2011 Longmore won the BBC Midlands Sports Unsung Hero Award – an award recognising those involved in community sports projects, and which was presented to him for his work towards improving sports facilities in the village of

Hanwood Hanwood is a large village in Shropshire, England. It is located SW of Shrewsbury town centre, on the A488 road. The A5 road (Great Britain), A5 is only a mile away. The Cambrian Line runs through the village but there is no longer a Hanwood ...

, Shropshire, where he settled after buying a former farmhouse. He was a district councillor in

Cannock Cannock () is a town in the Cannock Chase district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It had a population of 29,018. Cannock is not far from the towns of Walsall, Burntwood, Stafford and Telford. The cities of Lichfield and Wolverhampton ...

, Staffordshire, where he lived previously, and a parish councillor in Hanwood. In 2017 he and his wife Ursula formed the Great Hanwood

Community Interest Company A community interest company (CIC, pronounced "see-eye-see", or colloquially, "kick") is a form of social enterprise in the United Kingdom intended "for people wishing to establish businesses which trade with a social purpose..., or to carry on ...

which purchased the then-closed Cock Inn at Hanwood with the aim of reopening it for public community use. Bill Longmore ran as an independent Police and Crime Commissioner for West Mercia Police in the first

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

for the post in November 2012, and was subsequently elected to the position. During his campaign he said that his intention was to serve a single term in office. Longmore fulfilled his election pledge to retire at the PCC elections which took place on 5 May 2016. His deputy Barrie Sheldon stood as Independent candidate but lost to

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

candidate John Campion.

Death

While serving as Police and Crime Commissioner, Longmore was diagnosed with

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

, for which he received

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

. He died at his home on Thursday 17 May 2018 aged 79. His funeral took place at

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...

Crematorium on Saturday 9 June, with a thanksgiving service at Shrewsbury Abbey Church the same day.Shropshire Star online report by Daniel Morris. He was survived by his wife Ursula who he had married in 1989.

References

External links

Official site of the West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner
{{DEFAULTSORT:Longmore, Bill 1938 births 2018 deaths Police and crime commissioners in England Independent police and crime commissioners People from Stourbridge Councillors in Staffordshire Deaths from lung cancer in England 20th-century English businesspeople