WITH more than 40 years experience in the prison service under his belt, Chris Ratcliffe holds the title as one of the longest serving prison officers in the town.

Having worked at some of the country's most notorious prisons, the 63-year-old, who lives in Woolston, has encountered more criminals that he dares to put a figure on.

Some of these criminals have committed the most heinous and unimaginable of acts.

But, despite working with some of the most hopeless of cases, Chris has always been determined to help offenders turn their lives around and help them on the road to rehabilitation.

"I could have retired nine years ago but they offered me part-time and, as I still enjoy the job, I just kept going.

"Most of my job is about resettlement and making sure prisoners aren’t going back into their old way of life of offending," he said, before adding that he finds the job rewarding.

Chris first joined the prison service at the age of 21 in 1972 and was posted to Stafford Prison.

Over the next ten years, he was worked at Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight, Long Lartin Prison in Evesham and Brixton Prison and Wymott Prison near to Leyland.

Chris was then posted to Thorn Cross in Appleton Thorn in 1985 and has remained at the facility since.

Looking back on his time in the prison service, Chris has witnessed a number of changes for the better.

The dad of two said: "One of the noticeable differences from when I first joined the job in 1972 is that you were actively discouraged from talking to prisoners.

"I think the idea was that if you talked to the prisoners you were up to no good.

"Of course now that is completely reversed and we are there to provide help. You are part of a system of rehabilitation.

"Back then you were an officer, there was the door and you have a key and that was basically the job."

Despite modestly describing his career as 'uneventful', he didn't think twice about helping to rescue a prisoner from a cell fire and shrugs off the fact that prisoners have attempted to assault him in the past.

"I have never been assaulted in all my years of service. There were a couple of attempts at one time but some prisoners came to my aid to stop it," he recalled.

In spite of this, Chris, who will celebrate his 64th birthday next month, has no plans to retire anytime soon, describing his career as 'interesting'.