Popular Buxton policeman who ‘was all about helping people’ dies aged 59

Andrew Torkington, who retired as a sergeant in 2008 passed away peacefully at home with his family on Monday after being diagnosed with the illness four years ago.

Grandfather-of-seven Andrew - who was a Derbyshire firefighter before joining the police in 1985 - was known not just as a law enforcer but as someone who was ‘all about helping people’.

Andrew, who worked the first decade of his police career as a constable at Silverlands police station and in Fairfield’s Haddon Road office, set up a number of clubs - including Police Cadets and a street football club.

He spent his last decade of service as a sergeant and was part of the community safety team.

Son Joe, 40, described his dad as a ‘stand-out kind of guy’ who ‘everyone thought a lot of’.

He said: “He loved being a policeman but for him it wasn't about law enforcement - he was about prevention and tackling the causes of crime.

“He grew up in Wythenshawe (Manchester) and was very much working class - he was all about helping people.

“As a community beat officer in Fairfield he set up clubs and did all sorts of activities - back in the day everybody knew my dad.”

Father-of-four Andrew retired from the police service in 2008 but was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease the same year.

Father-of-three Joe told how Andrew - ‘a big, strong, confident guy’ - took the illness in his stride and carried on.

However after being diagnosed with dementia four years later he became a different person.

Postman Joe described seeing his father - who ‘was good at a lot of things’ and ‘full of integrity’ - decline with the condition as a confused and vulnerable person as ‘horrible’

He said: “It was just the severity of his confusion - there were times I felt so sorry for him.”

Though Andrew’s dementia was gradual 18 months ago it rapidly progressed to the point where he nearly died of pneumonia.

He remained at the town’s Portland Nursing Home from then on - where he was visited by devoted wife Jenny, 59, who had been with him from the age of 15, twice daily.

Joe said when the home was locked down due to Covid-19 mum Jenny would stand outside his father’s ground floor bedroom window each day.

However he went rapidly downhill after developing problems with swallowing which are common among dementia patients.

Andrew spent the last three days of his life surrounded by family at home.

Joe said: “Dying is not a great experience but it was peaceful - he had music and all of us around.”

As well as Joe and wife Jenny Andrew leaves behind son Thomas, 35, daughters Beth, 38, Rebecca, 37, and foster daughter Helen, 43.

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