TRIBUTES Colleagues pay tribute to ‘The Doc’

SOUTH Wales is mourning a one its most prolific medical servants.

Dr Lawrence Addicott died at the age of 80 on April 10 after an incredibly varied career in the medical profession.

Born in Caerphilly in 1936, he was the only son of Dolly and Sinclair Addicott and was educated at Caerphilly Grammar School and the Welsh School of Medicine in Cardiff where he qualified as a doctor in the early 1960s.

As a young GP, he practised in Pencoed and Porthcawl where he joined Dr Neil Pearson’s practice before settling into the Riversdale Practice in Bridgend and becoming one of the senior partners.

At the same time he also became senior anaesthetist at Bridgend General Hospital and later he was appointed police surgeon to the old Glamorgan Constabulary.

In this capacity he attended “callouts” to police stations throughout the county on a 24/7 basis.

A consummate professional, a police colleague said of him: “He never failed to respond to a request to attend, sometimes two or three times during a night.”

He was known affectionately as The Doc among the detectives of the day, or Dracula by others, because “he only came out at night”.

Dr Addicott was a softly spoken man, a man who never raised his voice, got excited or overwrought, he always portrayed a calm manner no matter the circumstances of the case.

He was a stickler for questioning officers on the purpose of his examination and never sided with any party – treating investigating officers, victims and suspects in the same courteous and professional manner.

In the same vein he never let his personal views impinge on the medical tasks he was required to undertake.

Despite this professionalism he had a dry sense of humour and appreciated the difficulties faced by investigating officer.

When writing about Dr Addicott, friend of 40 years David Newton-Williams said: “A friend worked with The Doc when he was HM Coroner for South Glamorgan when my friend was a member of the South Wales Police major crime team.

“Of this period of Lawrence’s life he said that he always demanded the highest standards in the presentation of evidence and file submissions, that he had a meticulous approach to paperwork and that he was a sad loss to the community.”

Lawrence was not a proud person in himself, but was fiercely proud and supportive of his wife Angela and the whole of his family – Stephen, Karen, Stuart and Michelle and all of his grandchildren.

He will be sadly missed.