A POLICE sergeant – known to criminals and colleagues alike by his nickname – is retiring after an illustrious 30 years.

Hatfield man Keith Dean – or Deano – left the force on Friday with many happy memories.

He said: “I have worked and lived in Hatfield for almost all my service.

“I have enjoyed working in the town from the early ‘Life on Mars days’ to the new millennium and I have developed a mutual respect with the many people I have dealt with over the years.”

Deano has had an action-packed career since starting as a bobby on the beat back in 1979.

In 1983, Deano received a commendation from the Society for the Protection of Life from Fire for rescuing an 89-year-old woman from a house fire in Marford Road, Wheathampstead, with a member of the public.

Unfortunately she died a few days later.

In 1986, Deano found a diary in Brookmans Park, when newly-married villager Anne Locke, 29, disappeared.

She was later found murdered and Deano gave evidence at the Old Bailey 14 years later when David Mulcahy, who faced trial for raping and murdering three women, seven more rapes and five counts of conspiracy to rape, was found guilty.

Deano and his wife Lesley, who have five children – three girls, aged 24, 21 and 12 and two boys, aged 18 and 14 – have also fostered more than 50 children.

During his retirement he will be working with the Welwyn Hatfield Community Housing Trust as a family intervention project worker.

This role will involve working with families who may need support from extra services to live in the community.