Raymond Anthony Codling was an Inspector with Greater Manchester Police who was murdered at the Birch motorway service station near Heywood, Greater Manchester, in 1989. In the early hours of 14 September 1989, Codling, aged 49, in company with Sergeant James Bowden, 45, arrived at Birch motorway services between junctions 18 and 19, westbound, on the M62, looking for a white van, the details for which had been circulated by radio. The officers saw a motorcyclist whom they approached and he provided them with his details, which later proved to be false. A short time later they saw the man again, acting suspiciously, and the two officers approached him.