Irene Radford was a major villainess in The Bill in 2004.
Background
Irene was originally born in the UK. From her own words, her father was a villain and she married Leonard Radford. At somepoint in the 80s a WPC ambushed a diamond raid and nearly arrested Irene. Coincidentally, that officer was Gina Gold. During an armed robbery in 1983, Len was involved in armoured car robbery, and the Robbery Squad ambushed the job. One of the officers was Brian Thatcher. It appears Len was shot by Thatcher, but suddenly, Thatcher was shot and died. Irene moved to Spain with her sons Wayne and David, while religious son Karl stayed put, and became a priest. For years it was believed that Len killed Thatcher, until a murder inquiry in late 2004. The gun used had bullets that matched the calibre in the Brian Thatcher case. Several attempts were made to arrest Irene and her sons Wayne and David were made by Brian's son, Sun Hill DC Rob Thatcher. Finally Wayne was jailed for intent to supply, however, soon after he was found dead in his cell. Later in the murder inquiry DC Ken Drummond and now-Inspector Gina Gold, who both knew Irene in the past, discover the person who shot Brian Thatcher. Rob finds the tape and goes on a warpath where he assaults David and lures Irene to a local forest. He manages to get a gun from her, the same one that killed his father. David arrives and shoots Rob, wounding him. However, officers arrive. David drops his gun and is arrested for attempted murder. As Rob lowers his gun, officers swoop in on David, and Rob makes a run for it. Irene vanishes and returns to Spain, but she comes back. It appears she has come to break David out of a prison van. This fails and she abducts Gold. After they spend the day together, Irene goes to a local airfield, but SO19 and police surround her getaway plane. As Gina convinces her to give up, Rob appears and shoots her dead. After a standoff, Rob is taken down by SO19. Irene was portrayed by the late Lynda Bellingham.