Tribute To Officer Who Died On A41

21 January 2019, 11:40 | Updated: 21 January 2019, 12:32

The family of a police officer from Tring, who died on his way home from work on the A41, have paid tribute to him. PC Kevin Flint's been described as a much loved father of two, who made a positive difference to people's lives.

He was a neighbourhood officer based at Chesham with Thames Valley Police and lived with his partner in Tring. He and was a lifelong, passionate, highly experienced motorcyclist. 

Although Kevin, who was 52, had been a police officer for almost 30 years, he spent his early working life as an engineer. He completed an apprenticeship after leaving The Grange School in Aylesbury and went on to work at local firms, Electro Power Gears, Redifon and then Martin Baker, which specialises in ejection seats.

Later, in 1992, Kevin joined Thames Valley Police, beginning his career in Chesham. He spent most of his time at Chesham but was also based in Prestwood, Amersham and Taplow for periods of time. Kevin spent some time training as a firearms officer however, he decided he wanted to return to Chesham to neighbourhood policing as a Police Constable where he could work directly with the local community he loved. Kevin also came in the top three per cent of the country in his sergeant exam.

His partner Lynn McGill said: "His passion was to be with the local community where he could work face to face talking to the public and making a positive difference in people's lives."

Kevin's brother Derek added: "He was an old school copper. He was a real people person. He got ultimate respect from his colleagues and the community and obviously made a lot of friends along the way." Derek, who is an Ambulance Officer with South Central Ambulance Service and Special Inspector with Thames Valley Police, continued: "Sometimes I would work alongside Kevin in both my roles and I did that with great pride. It was a real honour to stand shoulder to shoulder with him."

Paula Caudrey, Kevin's estranged wife, said: "Although we were separated for some time we had known one another since childhood having met through the Vale of Aylesbury Model Engineers Society in Quainton. Kevin volunteered his time for many years in helping create the narrow gauge railway and it will be a fitting tribute that this will be his final resting place."

Kevin's engineering background meant he could turn his hand to many things including fixing cars and motorbikes.
"He was always helping people with jobs," said Derek. "He was Mr Active, he couldn't sit still."
Kevin's first passion was motorbikes, which began when he and Derek were given a Honda C90 as teenagers. He went on to buy his own Honda 125 Super Dream when he was around 17 years old. From that time Kevin always owned at least one motorbike, often fixing them up himself, and even rode his Honda Gold Wing to Switzerland. 

In his spare time, Kevin also enjoyed taking his Aveling and Porter Steam Roller to rallies across the country. He was also a founding member of the Bucks British and Classic Motorcycle Club and had an interest in classic cars. Kevin rebuilt his Jaguar XJ6 and also loved driving his Alfa Romeo 164 which he planned to drive with Lynn to Italy to visit the Alfa Romeo museum. 

Kevin and Lynn had been looking forward to his retirement from policing in three years' time and they were planning to relocate to Wales.
Kevin's funeral will be held at Amersham Crematorium on Thursday 7th February at 3.15pm.

Kevin was involved in a collision on the A41, between the Chesham and Tring junctions just before 4pm on Tuesday (January 15). Sadly he died at the scene. 

Any motorists who were in the area and saw the incident or have a dash cam fitted that may have captured footage that could assist the on-going investigation is asked to contact Sergeant James Thorne from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Road Policing Unit by emailing james.thorne@cambs.pnn.police.uk, calling the non-emergency number 101, quoting ISR 517 of January 15, or report information online at www.herts.police.uk/Report. 

Kevin's family are being supported by specialist officers from the road policing unit. An investigation into the circumstances surrounding the collision is on-going.