Sussex Deputy Chief Constable Mark Jordan will have a comfortable retirement living on his £45,000 pension, about twice the county's average wage.

His retirement, on medical grounds, comes after he has spent three years suspended on full pay during the protracted investigation into the killing of James Ashley.

He was the unarmed man shot dead at his home in St Leonards by a Sussex Police marksman during a raid which went tragically wrong.

The investigation into this affair has been painstakingly slow and has been highly unsatisfactory, especially for the family of Mr Ashley.

None of the officers involved in the raid has been convicted of any offence, which seems strange after an innocent man was gunned down naked in his home.

Ex-chief constable Paul Whitehouse had to leave rather earlier than he would have wished and now Mr Jordan is leaving too.

So who was responsible for this appalling and shocking mistake? After all this time, the official answer is nobody.

The retirement of Mr Jordan more or less draws the whole affair to a end and there's no real point in holding the public inquiry being urged by Mr Ashley's relations.

Ken Jones, the next chief constable, is about to start work. Let's hope, as a new broom, he can sweep away the rotten reputation of Sussex Police on this issue and start raising morale in the force once again.