A Darlington man who left school with no qualifications has risen through the ranks of the police force.
Nine months after leaving school, Rupert Nicholson, from Staindrop, near Darlington, enrolled at Darlington College of Technology and gained GCE O-levels, A-levels and a diploma in photography.
He is now senior scenes of crime officer at Bradford and has previously worked for both Durham and Northumbria police.
Among the high profile cases he has worked on are the murder of Julie Dart in 1991 and the terrorist bombing of a railway line near Leeds in 1997.
Mr Nicholson said: "My job is very interesting and varied and in the last year alone I have been involved in 22 murders as well as other serious crime work.
"Darlington College of Technology helped me tremendously because I had no qualifications after leaving secondary school, yet within nine months at college I had gained five grade B O-levels."
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