Mike Pannett

When he worked in the Met, Mike Pannett was used to dealing with riots, drug gangs and even staring at the wrong end of a sawn-off shotgun. Now, as a bobby in rural North Yorkshire he finds himself chasing bullocks and solving country crimes. Here he amusingly describes his first year on his new patch.

After ten years with the Metropolitan Police, Mike has returned to his North Yorkshire roots. Working a rural beat in God's Own Country he finds that life and crime in the countryside continue to throw up fresh challenges.

For a young Mike Pannett, growing up in North Yorkshire was a dream come true. For a young boy with an enquiring mind, the English countryside and its beautiful coastline were one big adventure playground peopled by larger-than-life characters and with endless opportunities for fun. Mike recounts that idyllic childhood, and reminds us of a time of laughs and larks growing up in the 1970s.

When Mike Pannett left The Metropolitan Police and moved back to North Yorkshire he was hoping for a quieter life, but rural Yorkshire wasn't as sleepy as he remembered. With an armed robber and the Sunset Gang operating on his patch life is anything but quiet.

Mike is called in to investigate a series of burglaries in which remote farmhouses are being targeted. Then, as winter sets in, two dogs are found running loose and Mike fears the owner has gone missing.