TRIBUTES have been paid to a retired top Sussex detective who has died aged 88.

Peter Homewood helped solve the notorious murder of Clive ‘Ollie’ Olive - among several high profile cases – and retired as second-in-command of Sussex CID.

The father-of-two and great-grandfather, who lived in Peacehaven, was also a much-loved family man devoted to his wife and children, relatives said.

His son Andrew Homewood told The Argus: “As a family we are all incredibly proud of him. He was a successful police officer and he was proud of that and so were we.

“But above all of that, he was a smashing chap and we loved him because he genuinely was a very special man. A very kind man and a humorous, funny man. He made us laugh.”

Mr Homewood was born and raised in Brighton and attended Varndean Grammar before serving in the Royal Navy.

He started his police career in 1949, joining what was then Brighton Borough Police Force, and in 1977 was promoted to deputy head of Sussex Police CID.

He had been a detective chief inspector in 1973 when the body of 16-year-old Hell's Angel Clive ‘Ollie’ Olive, from Hove, was found weighted in Shoreham Harbour, sparking a huge investigation by his team that ended in two convictions following the discovery that he was killed in a biker feud.

Two weeks later he was embroiled in another headline murder case, when a Hove woman was stabbed by a man posing as a VAT official.

He retired from the police force in 1981 and went on to work for ten years as chief security officer for the Brighton Area Co-operative Society.

After his retirement from that, he enjoyed long walks and travelling with his wife since 1950, Pamela, as well as tending to his garden in Peacehaven.

Retired police officer David Rowland, who was working as a uniformed officer in Brighton while Mr Homewood was a detective, remembered him as an “excellent CID officer” and a “proper gentleman”.

He added: “He was a gentle sort of man, a lovely man. He was always extremely affable, friendly and extremely smart in his dress.”

Andrew Homewood said his father enjoyed the challenge of police work, the camaraderie with colleagues and the satisfaction of knowing he was solving crimes and helping keep people safe.

But he rarely discussed work at home, Mr Homewood noted, shielding his family from some of the horrors involved.