POLICE officers were honoured at a special ceremony held at Police Headquarters in Devizes on Wednesday, March 20.

Chief Constable Elizabeth Neville and Wiltshire's High Sheriff, David Stratton, praised the way officers dealt with the triple death crash on the A350 at West Ashton in July 2000 and the death of Glyne Agard at Reflections Nightclub, Westbury, a month earlier.

PC Michael Hills was one of 10 officers recognised for their work after the accident. He was a family liaison officer in the aftermath of the crash which claimed the lives of Craig Dicker, 23, Adam Lumley, 21, and five-year-old Tamara-Jayne Sheppard.

Tamara-Jayne's six-year-old brother, Ben, was crippled for life.

PC Hills said: "The families have coped so well through all of this and I can't praise them enough.

"I don't think anyone can know what they have gone through."

The specially trained family liaison officers help relatives deal with anything they need help with after a tragedy, from registering a death to explaining legal matters."

PC Alan Hunt, who also received a certificate of merit, said: "It can be the simplest of things, for example Ben was in hospital in Bristol while his parents were in Bath part of our job was to make sure they knew how he was."

Insp David Bennett, who was head of the traffic division based at Devizes at the time, received a commendation for the work done in tracing the driver of a third vehicle involved in the crash.

He said: "We had a vehicle that had clearly left the scene, it was on the main link road into Wiltshire, so that vehicle could be anywhere and, initially, all we knew was that it was a blue estate.

"To start from that and find the vehicle and the driver in just a couple of weeks was a good result."

A massive police hunt led them to Army Major, Giles Stibbe, who

was found guilty of dangerous driving at Truro Crown Court and fined £750 and banned from driving for two years.

Det Supt Gary Chatfield was the senior officer in the investigation into the death of Glyne Agard at Reflections nightclub, Westbury.

He received a certificate of merit, and three other officers were commended for their role in the investigation.

He said: "The family were very supportive.

"It was a good investigation by all involved and I am pleased that has been recognised."

Also honoured was Insp Roderick Stacy-Marks, who diffused a potentially lethal situation when he was confronted by a man wielding an air rifle in Corsham in September 2001.