Investigating the deaths of those who die at home and informing their families is part of the job for Sgt Taff William – the second longest serving policeman in Hackney.

Sgt Williams, who retires next month, deals with an average of 15 cases per month and does everything from identifying the person and the next of kin, tracking down people’s relatives across the globe and arranging coroner’s reports.

At 60, Sgt Williams is the second longest serving policeman at Hackney and has been policing the borough for 18 years.

He has spent 26 years overall in the force having joined in 1986 and served for 16 years in the military police prior to that.

The dedicated sergeant admits he does not want to retire, saying: “I’m eight years past my pensionable service. I’ve done my time and I’ve got go as the rules require me to.”

He has worked across many different departments and jokes that he is “jack of all trades”.

He recalls being in the search team as his favourite role in the Met Police. “We were just a bunch of anoraks”, he fondly recalls. “We would not give up until we found everything we were looking for.”

He fondly remembers how much Hackney has changed over the years he has worked in the borough and said: “There used to be an awful lot more clubs.

“When I first moved here there used to be the Four Aces which attracted people from all over the Home Counties, who looked like they came from the Home Counties.

“I spent a lot of time helping teenagers – who had ‘lost’ their stuff down a dark alley to get home.”

He admitted that policing in the borough had also changed, recalling that there were 100 Pcs at Stoke Newington police station in 1995. “Now there’s a lot less and there’s more direct policing”, he said.

He describes the riots two years ago this month as a “complete criminal act”, saying: “There’s a grievance in Egypt and people are people are rioting but they are not looting. What did a 60-inch TV ever do to anyone?”

Looking back, he says that he has “really enjoyed” it, adding: “It’s about helping the community.”