A FORMER armed forces officer has been recruited by Cheshire Police to keep the streets of Kelsall safe.

PC Robin Elliott is the new member of the village’s community action team and is looking forward to putting his 28-years experience to good use.

PC Elliott served for 13 years in the armed forces and was also deployed to Kosovo as a UN Police officer.

This was followed by a number of years spent as coroners officer for the division prior to being seconded to the UK Borders Agency in Liverpool.

PC Elliott is not unaccustomed to rural policing having spent a number of years serving in Cheshire Police at Elton and will now return to the beat in Kelsall and the surrounding area.

Inspector Phil Hodgson, who heads up the Western Rural Neighbourhood Policing Unit, said: “Robin will be a real asset to the area and I am delighted with his appointment.”

Parish council chairman John Leather was looking forward to working alongside PC Elliott in addressing the various issues affecting village life in Kelsall.

He said: “We were very pleased to welcome Robin at the last parish council meeting and we look forward to his proactive approach to community policing.

“One of the issues that annoys a lot of people is littering which I think is common among many rural communities.

“We do have some instances of anti-social behaviour and there issues to do with speeding but we are doing what we can about that.”

PC Elliott is hoping to set up surgery meetings every five or six weeks to provide the local community with the chance to voice their opinions about policing in the village.

The dates of those meetings will be published in the Chronicle when they become available.