A FORMER chief inspector of Wiltshire Police who demonstrated a "firm but fair" approach to law and order has died, aged 86.

Leslie Cook was a Salisbury resident for the best part of 60 years, most of which was spent in West Harnham.

He served for 34 years as a police officer with Wiltshire Constabulary, retiring from the force in 1983 having risen to the rank of chief inspector.

Based substantively in Salisbury, with spells in Swindon, Trowbridge and Devizes at Police Headquarters, he led and shaped the local administrative team in Salisbury and was a stalwart of the sports and social club for whom he was a long standing treasurer.

Following the Police, he worked for Salisbury and District Council for ten years firstly as a markets inspector and then as elections officer before taking retirement at the age of 65 in 1993.

Born in Cirencester, he was a pupil at Cirencester Grammar School before joining the navy where he served for three years in Egypt as ship's writer and undertook his national service.

A devoted family man, for whom he would always prioritise and find time, he was married to Margaret for 60 years, having met on a skating rink at Butlins Skegness. They celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary in 2014.

Mr Cook's interests included gardening, walking, politics (invariably enjoying keen, forthright debate) and post retirement was, with his wife, a regular on the local sequence dancing circuit.

A member of the United Reformed Church in Fisherton Street he was, among other roles, a longstanding volunteer for the church coffee mornings. He was also an avid, lifelong supporter of Bristol City Football Club and Gloucestershire County Cricket.

Both his sons Stephen and Jonathan said he would be fondly remembered by friends and family, inter alia, for his kindnesses, humility, sense of humour and passion for the things that mattered to him.

He spent the last 16 months of his life as a resident of Longbridge Deverill Nursing Home in Warminster, and died on 11 January 2015 following a protracted illness.

He is survived by his wife, two sons Stephen and Jonathan, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

The funeral service will be held at Salisbury Crematorium on Friday (30 January) at 4pm. Family flowers only with donations welcomed for the Alzheimer’s Society.