Detective Constable Chris Stephens from Huddersfield and a former District Commissioner, used a long forgotten Scout Handbook to crack a complex code, catch a criminal mastermind and foil a £1.2million bank robbery. The story made the national newspapers and the Scout HQ Website and brought Cub Scout Leader Jo Winslade from Maulden a 10-minute slot on Three Counties afternoon Drivetime to talk about codes, ciphers and the other skills Scouts learn.

Presenter Rob Brooke asked if code breaking was another in the long list of badges Scouts can earn. He learned that the Morse code and ciphers using letters and numbers were still very much on the menu for Beaver and Cub Scouts. They learn how to send Morse code messages by tapping on a bench or table and may even use smoke signals. But semaphore is not used often except in the Sea Scouts.

Jo said, “The Scouts love it. They learn how to work together as a team and have a balanced programme of activities appropriate to their age.” She went on, “It’s good fun for leaders as well. Just to see the Beavers little faces beaming with pride when they get their awards is ample satisfaction for the time we give to the movement.”

Rob asked about the need for more leaders and Jo explained that their were 33,000 youngsters on the waiting list countrywide (almost 500 in Bedfordshire) so more adults would allow us to bring Scouting to more young people and perhaps train one to catch future criminals.

The book used by the detective was the ‘Scoutmasters A-Z’ written by Rex Hazlewood in 1958 and still on the bookshelf of many Scout Leaders. DC Chris Stephens said he suddenly saw the light when a colleague remarked that the messages on the scraps of paper they found at one the criminal’s home looked like a Scout code. Once they found the code it needed just half an hour to crack it and find the names and bank details of the customers whose accounts had been raided. He said, “It’s amazing to realize that work I did with the Scouts when I was young has paid dividends and put criminals behind bars.

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