DEREK Sargent, the chairman of the UKIP Torridge and West Devon Constituency Association, has been confirmed by the membership at their meeting on October 5 as the prospective UKIP parliamentary candidate for the 2015 General Election.

Derek is a former officer in the Royal Marines and has lived in North Devon with his wife Marjorie since 1988.

When he moved to the area, he purchased the Hoops Inn Hotel at Horn's Cross which he ran for six years and then he worked in the security industry in Angola for eight years.

On completion of his time in Africa, he specialised in benefit fraud investigations for district councils in North Devon, Essex and London and completed his career working as an investigator for the Insolvency Service in Exeter.

Derek is now retired and is able to take up the reins as a full time MP if elected.

He has retained his connections with the Royal Marines by becoming the president of the North Devon Branch of the Royal Marines Association and is a trustee of the association's national charity.

Derek is also the Poppy Appeal co-ordinator for Northam and Westward Ho!