Bermuda, he brought with him a wealth of knowledge and expertise.

The former Deputy Chief Constable, who retired from England's Derbyshire Constabulary on Millennium Eve after 40 years in service, is an international advisor on homicide, the use of forensic evidence and good Police practice.

As a member of the Association of Chief Police Officers' crime committee, he was part of the driving force behind new legislation in 1994 which gave officers greater powers to obtain and use DNA.

But the greatest legacy the 60-year-old Liverpudlian left behind when he retired, was a homicide database he personally set up comprising the details of almost 6,000 British homicide victims.

In 1986, under an assignment codenamed the Catchem Project, and following the linked unsolved murders of three young schoolgirls, Mr. Dovaston was given the task of reviewing the three cases and setting up a contingency plan for every force to follow should a fourth child be abducted. That plan was later to save a girl's life.

However, he took his remit one step further and did a complete review of every homicide case involving girls under 21 and boys under 16 since 1960.

Mr. Dovaston, who had been a detective since the age of 22, visited Police stations all over the UK collecting file cases and transporting them back to a warehouse in Derbyshire, where his team of staff worked 24 hours a day to input every detail onto a new computer system and review investigations.

From that, comparisons could be made, offences linked, offender profiles created, statistics gained and information shared.

And, as a direct result of the contingency plan, whereby all white vans were stopped and checked throughout the UK when news of another abduction broke, a fourth child was rescued from the clutches of evil serial killer Robert Black.

Coincidentally, the traffic cop who stopped Black was shocked to discover that the little girl taped and gagged in the back of the van was, in fact, his very own daughter.

Now the details of every young person abducted or murdered in Britain is automatically added to the Catchem system, which is now the responsibility of the National Crime Faculty.

Mr. Dovaston said: "The system is very much used as a successful tool and is very acclaimed now across the UK forces, as well as on the Continent. It has also been of assistance in Australia and the United States.

"From it we have been able to draw very useful material, including the statistical profiling of offenders. We were able to advise and help senior investigating officers of serious crimes to identify positive lines of inquiry.

"For example, we learned that if a 12-year-old had been found stabbed or strangled behind a school, say, without any signs of sexual abuse, it was 86 percent likely to have been committed by a parent or guardian.

"If sexual abuse was found, it was only six percent likely to have been caused by a parent or guardian.

"These statistics can help detectives at the start of an inquiry determine what route they should take first and how they should play it.'' He said this was vital when considering the welfare of grieving parents, who often needed to be sedated or hospitalised.

Officers could determine how necessary it was to get into the house and carry out detailed finger-tip searches.

At a strategic level, Mr. Dovaston was also responsible for developing training modules for senior officers and detectives, lecturing at Britain's national Police college.

And he achieved a first within Europe when the European Commission accepted his Manual of Good Practice for use by all Police forces within the Union.

Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary has called upon his experience and advice over the years when addressing issues of major importance to the future planning of crime reduction and detection.

And he was recently given the task of reviewing the way the Metropolitan Police in London conducted major investigations.

Looking back on his career, he takes pride in one achievement in particular: "It was always one of my visions to create a programme that would assist the investigation of missing children, and now, of course, the benefits that are seen are spread across the UK force and elsewhere.'' Database: Don Dovastan MURDER MUR CRIMES CRM