A police diver hid his retirement letter at the bottom of a lake for his boss to find.

Specialist search unit (SSU) member Roger Negus, nicknamed Arf, decided to give notice in the most fitting fashion by sinking it underwater.

The diver, who has been with the team since 1989, left it for his boss, Sgt Lorna Dennison-Wilkins, to find while she was diving in Hastings.

Writing on her blog, she said: “I was on an operational dive looking for a weapon and, like all our diving, I had nil visibility.

“I had been diving for around an hour and was coming to the end of the|jackstay near the bank when my hand touched something round and man-made.

“By the smoothness of the object I knew it was new and had not been in the water long and I was intrigued as I knew it wasn’t related to the weapon that we were looking for due to its age. I picked the item up and could feel that it was heavy and was probably made of tin.

Note

“On closer inspection I saw it was taped shut with a note ‘FAO Sgt Dennison-Wilkins’ on.

“Inside were some diving weights and a laminated form notifying me of Arf’s impending leaving date.

“I wouldn’t have expected Arf to have informed me via conventional means, one of the many ways in which he brought a smile to our faces.”

She paid tribute to her colleague, who was one of the most experienced diver supervisors, having seen the part-time unit turn into a full-time one in 1994 during his 23 years.

Sgt Dennison-Wilkins added: “He’s developed extra skills in almost everything we do, so we won’t just miss him as a person, we’ll miss his vast experience.

“From a personal point of view I’ll miss Arf a lot. He was one of the optimists on the unit and gave me huge amounts of support when I joined, as I knew nothing.

“He continued to support me until he left and always gave me good advice and had the best interests of the unit at |heart.

“If I was working away from the rest of the SSU or was having a challenging time, Arf always checked to see if I was alright.

“He understood the pressures that we face on a unit like ours and those that you encounter supervising it.”

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