Brave PC Dad without a trace of self-pity

MY DAD Tony battled health problems for decades. He had rheumatoid arthritis, three hip replacements, heart attacks, an aortic aneurysm and a smashed collarbone sustained at 15 that ended a fledgling football career, just after he’d been picked for the England youth team.

But ill-health never defined him. He was also a policeman, a stamp collector, a brilliant charity fundraiser and a fantastic husband, dad and grandad.

Growing up in Atherton, Lancashire, he was a talented goalkeeper and wanted to turn professional. But when his dream was ended by a tackle, he just moved on and, at 16, joined the police cadets.

He loved policing and took a threeyear secondment to Northern Rhodesia, where one of his jobs was helping to retrieve unfortunate people from the rapids below Victoria Falls.

He met my mum and in 1964 they moved to Exeter, where Dad worked on serious cases, including the disappearance of schoolgirl Genette Tate in 1978, and started a family.

Mum and Dad were divorced a few years later, but he then met Jill and they remained very happily married until his death last year. In his 50s, Dad took early retirement but he carried on doing DIY, which left him with injuries including a broken pelvis, until even he realised he had to slow down a bit.

So he focused on fundraising for Hospiscare, in Exeter. He was very persuasive. People trimmed stamps so he could sell them on, bikers shook charity buckets for him and celebrity auctioneers were always keen to help. Dad spent 25 years in pain and never complained. He just kept fighting. We miss him so very much.

ANTHONY COOP, born July 11, 1941, died May 28, 2017, aged 75.