FORMER Huddersfield police detective Lawrence Andrews has died aged 80.

Mr Andrews, of Shelley, died on November 12 after a long illness.

He was well-known as `Andy' to many people in Huddersfield.

Mr Andrews was born in South Brent in Devon in 1923.

At 15, he joined the Royal Navy as a signalman and a year later was called up to serve in the Second World War.

He was present at the 1944 D-Day landings in Normandy.

Later, while serving in Singapore, he and his comrades fled to Australia to escape the Japanese invasion.

It was Mr Andrews' signalling skills which helped save their lives during the escape.

He intercepted Japanese signals so his company could flee before being discovered.

While he was in the Navy, Mr Andrews was introduced to a colleague's sister, Betty, who lived in Huddersfield.

They were married during the war and Huddersfield became Mr Andrews' new home.

He remained in the Navy until 1953.

Aged 30, he joined Huddersfield Borough Police and served briefly in uniform before joining the CID section. By 1962, he had been promoted to detective sergeant and in 1966 became detective inspector.

In 1969, he was made detective chief inspector at Huddersfield, which by then was no longer an independent borough force but part of the new West Riding Constabulary.

In 1973, Mr Andrews was promoted to detective superintendent and was posted at Wakefield. He retired 10 years later, aged 60.

Mr Andrews was a member of the Beaumont Masonic Lodge at Kirkburton and at one time was master of the lodge.

He and Betty had three children - Anne, Barry and Alan, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Betty died aged 60 and in 1993 Mr Andrews married his second wife Celia. She died six months later.