Leonard Ernest "Nipper" Read, QPM (31 March 1925 – 7 April 2020) was a British police officer and boxing administrator.
Read had hoped to attend Nottingham High School and passed the entrance exam, but his father could not afford the uniform and fees for books.
[3] Read began working in a Players cigarette warehouse in 1939, earning ten shillings a week, eight of which he gave to his stepmother.
Instead, he joined the Metropolitan Police in 1947, which had a minimum height requirement of 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 m), telling the medical examiner he was still growing.
While at Paddington he was involved on the periphery of the Jack Spot case, where the "King of the Underworld" sought protection from his rival Billy Hill.
[3][4] Read was promoted to detective sergeant in 1958 and transferred to Chelsea to replace Raymond Purdy, who had been shot by the burglar and blackmailer Guenther Podola.