She was a geriatric nurse who became the first Black policewoman in England and later worked in law enforcement in her native Jamaica.

Sislin Fay Allen (known as Fay) has died at her home in Ocho Rios. Her family announced the death without specifying a cause.

Allen emigrated to Britain in 1962, trained and qualified as a nurse and later answered an ad for recruits to London’s Metropolitan Police Service.  Despite considerable anti-Black sentiment at the time, she was hired.

Her superiors later told her they received hate mail addressed to her but declined to show it to her so as not weaken her morale.

She returned to Jamaica in 1972 and served with the country’s Constabulary Force until retirement.

Fay Allen was 83.