Lester Hargreaves

**Lester Hargreaves** was a Detective Chief Superintendent in Central Police.

## Background

### Personal

Based on his accent, it is likely Hargreaves was born in Yorkshire. At some point after joining Central Police he met Mike Dryden, with the two becoming close friends. It is unknown whether he is is related to Jane Hargreaves, a social worker seen in Series 1.

Hargreaves is revealed to have a perverse sexual attraction to young women and girls, resulting in him frequenting a brothel in Pulton House run by the Organised Crime Syndicate. This results in him being blackmailed into working for them by Lisa McQueen.

### Professional

Prior to the events of Series 2, Hargreaves was promoted to lead the Major Violent Crime unit within Central Police. His junior officer at MVC was DS Nicola Rogerson.

## Series 2

### Carly

In the immediate aftermath of the incident at South Central Hospital, Hargreaves has Steve Arnott detained and brought in for questioning. Convinced that he and Georgia Trotman were not there on "lawful business", he refused to allow Arnott to leave, and was aggressive and dismissive when told about the ongoing AC-12 investigation. He also mocked Steve for his inability to stop Trotman's death, as there "were two of you, and one of him". It was only when Superintendent Ted Hastings intervened that Arnott was released from MVC custody.

Due to the lack of evidence, DCC Mike Dryden has Hargreaves deliver a press conference involving the case to save himself the embarrassment. During the conference held at Pelbury House, Hargreaves struggles to answer questions posed to him by members of the press.

### Behind Bars

Outside the offices of DCC Mike Dryden in Pelbury House, Hargreaves confronts Superintendent Ted Hastings regarding the case, remarking it "must be nice up there on a pedestal", but notes it will be "further to fall". He then enters Dryden's office for a meeting.

### Blood Money

Hargreaves supervises the Major Violent Crime arrest of Richard Akers, and conducts an interview of Akers with his junior officer DS Nicola Rogerson. During the interview he reveals that examination of the bank accounts of Richard and his wife DS Jayne Akers showed lack of debit card payments and ATM withdrawals. They then present photographic evidence of a suitcase found on the Akerses' property containing £20,000 in cash. Hargreaves then tells him they are looking to charge him under Section 392(1) of the Proceeds of Crime Act, due to his receiving criminal property received by his wife as part of bribery and conspiracy to murder.

Hargreaves later arrives at BXV Storage whilst DS Steve Arnott and DC Kate Fleming are examining evidence from the ambush, where it is revealed that he and the Major Violent Crime unit failed to inform AC-12 that a tracking device was found on one of the vehicles. He accuses the detectives of pinning the ambush of DI Lindsay Denton even without the evidence, but is left by them when Fleming diffuses the tension between him and Arnott.

### The Caddy

Back at BXV Storage, Hargreaves and DS Nicola Rogerson are confronted by Superintendent Ted Hastings, DS Steve Arnott and DC Kate Fleming about their decision to not inform AC-12 of the fact that a tracking device was found at the scene of the ambush. Hargreaves claims it was due to irregularities with the evidence due to fire damage, but reluctantly agrees to have Rogerson email the necessary reports and files to Fleming. Sensing tension, Hastings tries to ensure that AC-12 are not the enemy, to which Hargreaves responds they should tell that to DCC Mike Dryden (who was arrested due to suspicions of being complicit in the ambush), claiming Dryden was "the best boss" he ever had.

In the epilogue of the episode, Hargreaves is again seen at a press conference held at Pelbury House with another unnamed detective, where it is stated that he and Major Violent Crime continue to investigate the conspiracy to murder Tommy Hunter.

## Series 4

### Episode 6

Hargreaves is reintroduced, having been transferred from Major Violent Crime to Murder Squad out of 4th Street Station between the events of Series 2 and 4. Along with his new junior officer DS Sam Railston, he is picked as a neutral party to interview Nick Huntley after his arrest, as neither he nor Railston have any previous work connections with his wife, DCI Roz Huntley.

At Polk Avenue Station, he questions Nick as to what he was doing outside of Tim Ifield's flat the night he was killed, to which he is told Huntley suspected his wife was having an affair and was following her. Both he and Railston immediately start accusing Nick of intending to be in a frame of mind to control and coerce his wife. Hargreaves then questions Huntley as to what he "planned to do to the pair of them", further pursuing the avenue Huntley was responsible for the death of Ifield. He dismisses Nick's accusation that he is being framed by Roz Huntley, and later demands the search of the Huntley home be concluded the next morning.

At the end of the episode, Hargreaves Central Police Identification Card photo is seen listed on a board in AC-12 along with all other senior officers (including ACC Derek Hilton and Superintendent Ted Hastings) who could potentially be "H", a senior police officer identified by DI Matthew Cottan as the leader of a group of corrupt officers in league with the Organised Crime Syndicate.

## Series 5

### Episode 1

Now working for the Serious and Organised Crime Unit, Hargreaves is shown attending the aftermath of a raid with DS Sam Railston. Conducted by the Strategic Firearms Command as part of Operation Strand, the raid resulted in the arrest of Paul Slater and his biker gang, and the seizure of a large amount of heroin.

Interviewing Slater with DS Immerton, he accuses him and his gang of committing the hijacking of the ED-905 convoy, which was transporting the heroin from the Eastfield Police Storage Facility to an incinerator, and killing three Authorised Firearms Officer's assigned to protect it. Slater denies hijacking the convoy, and insists that he is being set up by Lisa McQueen and members of the Organised Crime Syndicate in order for them to remove his gang from the streets.

### Episode 3

Prior to conducting a raid on the Eastfield Police Storage Facility, John Corbett tasks Lisa McQueen with reaching out to corrupt officers to aid them.

Hargeaves orders corrupt Patrol Unit officer PC Kieran Bloom to create a distraction on Farmers Lane in order to draw Strategic Firearms Command officers away from the surveillance of the depot so he can meet with members of the Organised Crime Syndicate uninterrupted. Bloom does so by orchestrating an attack on his police car, causing a team led by Sergeant Kyle Ferringham and DS Steve Arnott to respond.

With the coast clear, Hargreaves arrives at the besieged facility in an unmarked police car wearing a balaclava, and aids Lisa McQueen in disabling the tracking devices affixed to the various containers. However, as he is walking back to his vehicle, an enraged John Corbett shoots him multiple times in the legs with an M4 assault rifle. Corbett claims this was due to him potentially betraying them, but in reality is due to his belief that Hargeaves is H, the senior corrupt officer leading organised crime. After Corbett and his men flee, DI Kate Fleming and other AC-12 officers arrive at the scene and remove the balaclava, revealing his identity.

Hargreaves is then attended to by paramedics from the Meridian Ambulance Service, who note that the bullets penetrated his femoral artery and he is bleeding out, with tourniquets only partially functioning in reducing blood flow. Later at the AC-12 Building, it is revealed by Superintendent Ted Hastings that Hargreaves died in hospital.

### Episode 4

Analysis of semen samples kept in cold storage for blackmail in the Pulton House brothel reveals that Hargreaves visited the location in recent days. It is then hypothesised by DI Kate Fleming and DS Steve Arnott that Hargreaves was blackmailed into working for the Organised Crime Syndicate by Lisa McQueen, under threat of his sexual deviancy of having sex with potentially underage girls such as Mariana Niemec being revealed. The two further agree it is not possible that he is H as it is confirmed by other corrupt officers (Sergeant Jane Cafferty and PC Kieran Bloom) that they had no contact with Hargreaves until recent weeks.