The West Yorkshire officer shot dead last night was the sixth woman to be killed by a criminal in mainland Britain out of 1,600 officers who have died in the line of duty since the formation of the modern police service in 1829.

Seven died in Northern Ireland during the 30-year battle with the IRA and in bomb blasts and attacks.

The first woman officer to die in mainland Britain at the hands of an offender was Mandy Rayner, 18, from Hertfordshire. She was killed in 1982 when a drinkdriver smashed into her car in Royston.

A year later, WPC Jane Arbuthnot, 22, was killed in the 1983 Harrods blast when an IRA car bomb exploded outside the London store on a busy Saturday afternoon.

WPC Yvonne Fletcher, 25, was shot outside the Libyan People’s Bureau in St James’s Square in 1984 when a gunman inside opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators outside.

The shooting led to a six-day siege but the Libyans inside were allowed to leave and the murderer was never caught. Attempts to investigate the case have continued for years and police have visited Libya in the hope of interviewing suspects.

In one of the most notorious cases in 1997, PC Nina MacKay, 25, was stabbed to death with a kitchen knife in October 1997 as she and colleagues went to arrest a dangerous schizophrenic at a friend’s flat in Stratford, East London.

At the time Magdi Elgizouli, 37, had been in breach of bail conditions for assaulting a police officer and possessing an offensive weapon, a knife, 11 days earlier. In April 1998, Elgizouli was detained indefinitely and ordered to be sent to Rampton maximum security hospital in Nottinghamshire after admitting manslaughter on the ground of diminished responsibility.

The last female officer to die was PC Alison Armitage, 29, in 2001. The Greater Manchester officer was killed as she was working in plainclothes when a car thief, Thomas Whaley, 19, twice reversed a stolen vehicle over her.

She and a colleague had spotted Whaley driving away in a stolen Vauxhall Vectra in Oldham. The male detective banged on the driver’s window and told him to get out. But Whaley reversed and PC Armitage lost her footing.

The male officer shouted that there was someone under the car but Whaley drove forward, stopped, then reversed over her again.

Until the early Seventies, women police officers were still regarded as a race apart, useful for dealing with women prisoners and children.

In 1973, Sir Robert Mark, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, faced with the new sex-equality legislation, ordered women to be integrated. They were given handcuffs and truncheons and sent out on normal patrols.

Today they ride motorcycles on traffic patrol, are part of the armed units protecting the Queen and other prominent individuals and carry weapons in firearms units — all of which puts them firmly in the path of danger.

At Scotland Yard, women head Special Branch, the Flying Squad and units combating black-on-black gun crime. There are female chief constables in five forces. Policewomen represent 21 per cent of the total police manpower in England and Wales and the numbers continue to grow. Three have been awarded the George Medal.

Margaret Eaton, leader of City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, said last night: “Something like this is a devastating blow. Too often it’s a sign of modern Britain.”

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Milk: do we need a dairy godmother?
• DIY: the women doing it for themselves
• First double portrait of Princes unveiled