KEITH Butler, one of Thanet’s longest serving police officers, is retiring at the end of December and emigrating to New Zealand in the new year. Insp Butler, 50, holds a pilot's licence and plans to seek work in aviation once he and wife, Denise, settle in Auckland.

He has worked in Thanet for the last nine years, first as the area’s shift inspector, then within the community unit, and for the last two years as patrol manager. In his time at force headquarters he was force contingency planning sergeant and was closely involved with big public events such as Royal visits, the opening of the Channel Tunnel and the Open Golf championship at Sandwich.

His early career was spent as a town centre beat officer and rural policeman in south east Kent, including time as the resident officer in the mining communities of Eyethorne, Elvington and Aylesham. On their way to New Zealand, the Butlers will stop in Australia to visit their son, Martyn, 27, who lives in Adelaide. He will also meet Supt Graeme Barton, who spent five months at Thanet police on an exchange visit earlier this year.

His successor is newly promoted Insp Kath Martin, who joined Kent police as a constable in 1994. She previously worked as a nurse in Australia for 14 years before returning to Britain and to nursing in Dover for two years. Insp Martin’s husband, Dave, is traffic sergeant at Thanet police.