A HONOURED military police detective from Hartford is using his unique skillset to help people locate long-lost friends and relatives all over the world.

Retired Royal Military Police staff sergeant and corporate investigations contractor Andrew Pope OBE, set up his new business, Peeky Finders, in March this year.

Andrew’s interest in finding family members began when he was 48, after he successfully located his own father, who he had never met.

He then went on to locate his paternal grandmother, who was believed to have died in a munitions explosion in Coventry in 1944, but was in fact alive and well, though 99 years old, living on the south coast of England.

Along with his wife Janet, who is a former military nurse, Andrew has gone on to help many families locate lost loved ones, often with almost no information to go on.

“I started off at the age of 18 joining the army, then the military police," Andrew explained.

"I ended up in the special investigation branch, which took me all around the world, dealing with various serious crime and investigations. Investigations really are my forte.

“When I left the army, I worked as head of investigations at various commercial organisations until I retired three years ago.

“That experience is critical to what I’m doing now.

"Anybody could read documents and records and draw conclusions from them, but the secret to being a good investigator is trying to look behind the documents themselves and tie them together with others.

"You’re looking for corroboration all the time.

“The other thing is your gut feeling.

"Sometimes the content of documents seem to point you one way, but your gut, as an ex-detective, says it’s not that way but the other way. And I’ve been proved right.”

The 55-year-old says that his investigative skills are very much complimented by the softer skills of his wife Janet.

He added: “We have distinct roles. I am the investigator, and my wife complements our partnership because she has the softer engagement skills.

"She’s far better at that than me.”

Janet said: “I’m a bit more of a people person. I’m an ex-nurse, and getting people to confide and speak to you has always been my role.

"You need all the information. That’s all I’ve ever known.”

If you would like to find out more about Peeky Finders, including some of their successful investigations, you can find them on Facebook.

You will also find contact details there, should you want to use Andrew’s services.