TRIBUTES have been paid to a former police sergeant who was working in London during the Brixton riots.

John Serjeant, of Highfield Avenue, Dovercourt, worked at Scotland Yard headquarters in London before joining Essex Police.

He served at Harwich Police Station until his retirement in 2000.

Childhood friend David Rutson paid tribute to “an amazing man”. He said: “He knew what he thought was right and what he thought was wrong. He was a smashing guy.

“I grew up with him from when we were about 12 - I sat next to him at school.

“He kept his police and his private life separate and was a very private man.”

John was also a model aircraft enthusiast and founded a model flying group in the area in 1985.

Mr Rutson said: “He had a hobby of model aeroplane, making and flying them.

“I used to make them as well, we would make them from scratch, then he went on to radio controlled things and quite technical stuff. He was very good at it.”

The 75-year-old had suffered ill health for the past three years and died at Colchester Hospital on January 26 from cancer.

Maurice Willis, of Dove Crescent, said: “He was a very good policeman and was always ready to help.

“He once told me that on a Saturday night there would be nine or ten constables, a sergeant and an inspector on duty in Harwich.

“John was a true gentleman and I was proud to be his friend.”

John spoke to the Standard in 2011 about the London riots and told of his time working in the capitol during the Brixton riots when protests broke out over the stabbing of a black youth in April 1981.

He branded the closure of Harwich Police Station to the public in 2015 as the “end of an era”.

John leaves a wife, Margaret, a daughter, and a sister.