A TOP police officer who started his career in Warrington has been awarded an order of the British Empire for going above and beyond his call of duty.

Inspector Phil Hodgson received an MBE from the Queen on November 5 at Buckingham Palace for his services to policing.

The 44-year-old head of Cheshire Constabulary’s Western Rural Neighbourhood Policing Unit, based in Frodsham and Tattenhall, said it was a ‘fantastic and humbling experience’.

Insp Hodgson, who has lived in Westbrook for more than 20 years, added: “I spent around 30 seconds with the Queen before she pinned the medal on.

“She asked me why I had received the award and when I said community policing she asked what sort of community I policed and that I was obviously doing a good job so to keep up the good work.”

Attending the ceremony with his wife Julie, Insp Hodgson also saw Warrington-born actress Sue Johnson receive her MBE.

He added “The whole day was absolutely fantastic. It was an affirmation that I am doing things right. To think someone thought what I am doing is worthy of an award is very humbling and I am both honoured and delighted.”

Insp Hodgson joined Warrington as a police constable in 1984 before moving to Widnes in 1986. He returned in 1996 and served a further six years in the town before accepting his current post.

Among his initiaves for community policing are working with the unemployed to get them back into the workforce, taking problematic teenagers away with the army, giving every child who cycles to school bike lights and he has attended every police community action meeting in the last five years.