A FORMER detective who helped raise more than £500,000 for charity has died at the age of 56.

Even as he lay ill in Hartlepool General Hospital, Ken Rowland managed to fund a vital piece of equipment that the hospital needed.

The retired detective constable, who saw most of his service in Peterlee, had become known worldwide for the thousands of enamelled charity pins that he designed and sold.

Born in Shildon, Mr Rowland joined Durham Constabulary from school.

After seeing service in Hartlepool and Felling, he was posted to Peterlee, where he was to remain until he took take early retirement because of osteo-arthritis.

It was during his last years as a detective that Mr Rowland came up with the idea of designing and selling a series of tie and lapel pins to raise money for police charities.

He went on to broaden his fundraising base to include hundreds of good causes, which included children's charities and cancer research.

Over the years, the pins have been sold for hundreds of thousands of pounds all over the world.

Paying tribute to Mr Rowland, Acting Detective Chief Inspector Paul Ewart, of Peterlee police, said: "Ken was very well respected by his former colleagues and more widely within the community, and will be sadly missed.

"Over the years he did a tremendous amount of fundraising for charity and it is a tribute to him that he continued to do so despite being ill himself."

It was only in the autumn of last year that Mr Rowland was diagnosed as suffering from lung cancer.

He became a patient at Hartlepool General Hospital, and it was while undergoing treatment that he learned of the need for extra blood testing equipment.

He immediately began a bedside campaign to raise the necessary cash and within a short time had the money for the machine.

Mr Rowland leaves a widow Sue, sons Paul and John, daughter Julie and two grandchildren.

The funeral service will be at St Cuthbert's Church, Peterlee at 2.40pm today.