Havant police bid adieu to retiring ‘legend’ set to mark end of his career with Spitfire flight

One of Hampshire Constabulary’s longest serving employees, Russell Bramley started out as a police cadet and then becoming police constable and detective constable before retiring as an officer and returning as a police staff investigator.

After working his final shift this week, the 62-year-old has organised to have a flight in a Spitfire plane to celebrate his retirement.

Friends and colleagues with the offender management team in Havant gathered on his last day for a farewell, when chief superintendent Raj Kohli presented him with a framed picture by artist Andy Wing, from Stokes Gallery in Gosport.

Chief Superintendent Kohli said: ‘The term legend is often overused but in this case it is entirely apt.

‘Russell was instrumental in developing our multi-agency work within the offender management team 20 years ago. He has been a fundamental part in its success.

‘Without doubt many very challenging offenders have been very well managed – a case in point is one that wrote a ‘good luck’ card on a scrap of paper and left it on Russell’s car.

‘A thank you from such a person is almost unheard of but is testimony to how Russell has looked after a difficult group of people.

‘A big and sad loss to the people of Hampshire and the IoW.’

DS Julia Nicol, Russell’s supervisor, added: ‘Russell’s got a wealth of information, he’s the fount of all knowledge especially about offenders in our area.

‘This has been invaluable and we may still have to call him up.’