SPECIAL divisional officer Roy Jones has said goodbye to the 'boys in blue' after 29 years of policing Malvern.

Mr Jones, 60, decided to retire after his 99-year-old mother fell ill and he moved to Redditch with her to be near his two sisters.

"I shall really miss it," he said. "If I was still in Malvern now I could go on until next June, it's just the distance involved."

Mr Jones first became a special constable because he wanted to help the community, progressing to become a section officer, then a divisional officer.

The most disturbing incident in his long career was walking upstairs with a little girl to find her father hanged.

He won a court commendation for helping to break up a bottle fight, but his favourite part of the job was being on duty at big events like the Three Counties Show and the bank holiday fairs at Madresfield Court.

"I used to bike down there and ride through the folks. There was a lot of banter," he said.

A special's role has changed over the past three decades according to Mr Jones. When he first started special constables had no training and wore a flat cap with no chequered hatband round.

Now the specials uniform is virtually the same as normal officers, they are trained before they start work and even drive police cars.

Formerly of Blackmore Road, Mr Jones was a Malvern Hills District Council employee for 32 years and caretaker at Wyche Primary School for five years.

His colleague, special constable Matt Digger, said: "I've known Roy for the past three or four years and he's a great bloke.

"He's outstayed most regular officers at Malvern and seen a lot of people come and go. It's very sad to see him leave."