John Hermon

John Hermon

Sir John Charles Hermon, OBE, QPM (23 November 1928 – 6 November 2008), sometimes known as Jack Hermon, was the Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary from 1980-89.

Hermon was born in Castletown, Islandmagee, County Antrim. He had a grammar school education and gave up an early career in accountancy to join the Royal Ulster Constabulary in 1950. He was posted in various parts of western Northern Ireland, including Eglinton, Coalisland and Strabane before sitting his sergeant's examinations. He was the first RUC officer to attend the advanced policing course at the British police training college in Bramshill in England, before returning to Northern Ireland and a promotion in Belfast.

He married Jean Webb in 1954 and had a son and a daughter before she died of cancer in 1986. In 1987 he met Sylvia Paisley who had written an academic paper which was critical of his conduct in an employment case brought by female RUC officers. They married and had two sons.

In 1977 he personally arrested Ian Paisley for leading an illegal demonstration in Ballymena, County Antrim. He also worked as the force's head of community relations.

When he became Chief Constable, he ended the torture of suspects at the Castlereagh interrogation centre. An anonymous former interrogator has claimed that "The new chief constable was completely against any mistreatment of prisoners whatsoever...we started to detect a change .... straight away." Hermon is thought to have believed that the mistreatment was harming relations between the RUC and the wider communities. The illegal practices resumed after his retirement.

His wife, Lady Hermon, was from 2005 to 2010 the sole Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of Parliament. In 2010 she was re-elected as an independent, with an increased majority. She has held the North Down seat since 2001. In 1998, Hermon himself campaigned for a yes vote during the Belfast Agreement referendum.