Welsh cop flies south

Flintshire bobby flies to new beat in St Helena

The long arm of the law is taking one man all the way to the middle of the South Atlantic.

Geraint Davies, an ex-policeman from North Wales, will soon take up a position as police sergeant on the tiny island of Saint Helena.

Davies, from Milwr, Flintshire, found the posting on the internet and was selected after a telephone interview. The 48 year old had been a policeman for 32 years, and is seeking a new challenge after retiring.

In an interview with the BBC, Davies said that "it's described as a British town back in the 1950s, which is very attractive.

"To take policing back 50 years would be fantastic, to be involved in community policing - as I think it should be - would be fantastic.”

He considered it a “dream place”.

Crime rates are low but he said his biggest job would be to train the island’s 13 officers.  “The local police are lacking experience and confidence, so to be able to have an influence on their direction will be fantastic as well."

Mr Davies will leave behind wife Jacquie and daughters Erin, 11 and Rebecca, 16, though they will be flown out by the St Helena government midway through his tenure.

Despite being tiny speck of rock in the South Atlantic, St. Helena is relatively famous for being Napoleon’s place of exile after Waterloo in 1815 until his death in 1820. The island is only 16 by 8 km and has a population of just over 4,000. Jamestown is the only town on the island with a population of 800. It is a tropical island and temperatures range from between an average of 14 and 34 degrees Celsius, somewhat warmer than Davies’s native Wales.