A FORMER Teignmouth area police chief who supervised the security arrangements for a former Prime Minister’s son’s wedding has died at the age of 97.

Jim Barnes was a sergeant in Dawlish in the 1960s when Harold Wilson’s son married a local woman in the parish church, and he ensured that all went smoothly.

After serving in several Devon towns, including Moretonhampstead and Dartmouth, he arrived in Teignmouth in 1965 as an inspector and was later promoted to chief inspector.

He stayed until 1972.

He and his wife Joan, who he married in 1943, liked the resort so much, they decided to spend their retirement there.

She died in 2014, and Mr Barnes moved to Glendale Court until his death.

Born in Exeter, he joined the AA as an office boy on leaving school and later became a patrolman – on a pushbike.

Joining the Devon Constabulary in 1939, he served in Exeter and Plymouth during the wartime Blitz and then joined the Royal Artillery, seeing action in Burma. On demob, he rejoined the police as a constable.

His son Graham recalled a story he told about an incident when he was stationed in South Brent early in 1940.

‘A van driver burst into the police station saying that he had seen parachutes descending over the southern slopes of Dartmoor, near Plymouth.

‘The desk sergeant thought that this apparent threat to national security required a high-level response and asked dad, still travelling by bike, to investigate.

‘Dad was always someone who thought things through and he wasn’t convinced that one probationary constable armed with a truncheon would be able to resist a force of German paratroopers.

‘So, he borrowed a shotgun and recruited the local poacher. This small intrepid band approached Marley Head ready to repel the first invasion of World War Two – remember this was the phoney part of that conflict and rumours were rife.

‘What did they find when they reached the top and could look out over Plymouth?

‘The van driver had been partly right, but luckily for the nation, and especially for dad, what he had seen were not billowing parachutes, but early barrage balloons raised over Plymouth as protection against the air raids which were to follow.’

Mr Barnes’ funeral service was held at St Peter’s Church, Shaldon, on Wednesday.