A POLICE constable has hung up his hat after 26 years on the beat in the Tavistock area.

Simon Raeburn spent three years as the community constable in Princetown, which he said bore a strong resemblance to the police station in the long running TV series 'Heartbeat', before transferring to Tavistock, where he remained until his retirement.

The Totnes-born resident joined the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary in 1980 after a four year stint in the army with the Third Royal Tank Regiment.

He completed his probationary period at Liskeard before moving to Torquay and later met Clare, who he married in 1983.

The same year he was posted to Princetown, where as community constable he lived in the police house in the village.

Simon said: 'This was the real Heartbeat station with an office on the side of the police house and a Landrover in the garage.

'Clare answered the phone and was a big part of the job while also finishing her teacher training degree at Marjon College in Plymouth.

'It was quite exciting at times.

'We had the odd prison break at Dartmoor Prison, when you get something like 30 police officers and dog handlers coming to the police station.

'If someone knocked on your door at 2am you would deal with it whatever it was.

'We really enjoyed it for three years, and we did not have the children then of course, but I was happy to move to Tavistock, because living at the police station you were never off duty.'

A few years later the police house was sold and subsequent Princetown officers were based at Tavistock.

Simon and Clare had a son, Joe, in 1987 and a daughter Alice in 1989. They both attended Tavistock College, where mum Clare has taught for more than 20 years.

Simon has held various roles at Tavistock including response officer, neighbourhood team officer, field intelligence officer and was also a member of the Force Rural Survelliance Team.

He said he had never wished to be anywhere else other than Tavistock.

'All the opportunities were there and I never wanted promotion which probably would have meant a move to somewhere else,' he said.

'Clare and I both love the moors and the beach is a short drive away and we wanted to stay in one area for the kids to grow up.

'Even now we have no ambition to move anywhere else and we intend to spend the rest of our days here.'

Joe is following in the footsteps of his dad and is about to become a police constable after three years as a police community support officer in Okehampton.

Alice is in her second year at university and, like her mum, wants to become a teacher.

In the New Year Simon, 52, will be looking for a new role in life: 'Something without confrontation, nights and weekend working,' he said