POLICE Inspector David Burrows is retiring after 30 years with the Lancashire force.

In three decades of operational police work he has patrolled the streets across East Lancashire.

And the 49-year-old Accrington inspector says he has never had a single regret about the career choice he made as a 17-year-old.

He said: "When you leave school and choose what you want to do you are lucky if it ends up being the right choice. I've enjoyed what I've done. The whole of my time I have been doing operational police work in uniform. That was what I thought policemen did."

The inspector, who has worked in Pendle, Burnley and Hyndburn, has been involved in a wide range of inquiries during his career.

But it was a new-born baby abandoned in a carrier bag at Great Harwood health centre almost two years ago which thrust him into the media spotlight.

As inspector in charge at Great Harwood, he led the inquiry to trace the mother of baby "Harry".

She never came forward and the baby was later adopted. "He is with someone who really wanted a child and has as good a home as it is possible to get," he said.

Insp Burrows, who lives in Nelson and officially retires on May 1, is leaving a more stressful and hazardous profession than he joined.

He said: "The demands placed on officers and the expectations of the public are greater than they have ever been. That increases the pressure in all aspects of what we do."

Insp Burrows began his career in Nelson where he was a constable for eight years.

After a short spell in Burnley, he spent four years in the prosecutions department at Earby and Colne during which time he was promoted to sergeant.

He then spent three years as a patrol sergeant in Colne and five years in Nelson before being promoted to inspector and transferring to Accrington.

After three years there, he went to Great Harwood as inspector in charge for almost six years and came back to Accrington in January as station manager.

Insp Burrows has no immediate plans other than a family holiday to California.

His wife of 27 years, Pauline, is a cashier at a solicitors in Nelson. Married son Peter, 25, is a baker in Nelson and his other son, Simon, 23, works at an industrial finishers in Colne.

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