Clive Porter murder: 'He was one of the good guys'

Former police officer Clive Porter died on a canal towpath near Aylesbury after being assaulted

A retired detective who worked with murdered former police officer Clive Porter has spoken of the shock that the "quiet" man had died in this way.

Mr Porter, from Tring, was murdered by convicted double killer Sylwester Krajewski, by the Grand Union Canal, near Aylesbury, last April.

On Thursday Krajewski, 50, was jailed for a minimum of 35 years.

Former Hertfordshire Police detective inspector Dave Fantom said Mr Porter was "one of the good guys".

"All he wanted to do was serve the public of Tring," he said.

Mr Fantom, who was an inspector in Mr Porter's Dacorum division, said: "My memories of Clive [were] really just [as] a very, very solid, dependable officer - what we call in the police - a steady hand, somebody you can always rely on.

"Thirty years within the police and then dying in that way - it's an absolute tragedy for his family, his friends and his ex colleagues. Absolutely everybody was shocked to say the least.

"I know it's a little bit of a cliché, because people always say when somebody dies that they take the best first, but in Clive's case he really was absolutely dependable, a really nice, quiet unassuming chap."

Mr Porter, who served for 30 years as an officer and retired in 2008, died after he was found seriously injured in a ditch by the Grand Union Canal in Buckinghamshire on 26 April.

Sylwester Krajewski gave police a fake name on his arrest and still denies any involvement in Mr Porter's death

He was prosecuted under a false name he gave to police at the time of his arrest - Daniel Wisniewski - but following his conviction at Reading Crown Court, it was revealed that Wisniewski was in fact Krajewski, who had spent 12 years behind bars after being convicted of torturing and murdering a couple in Poland in 1993, before absconding from prison in 2005.

Mr Fantom, said: "Presumably the Polish authorities will be looking at what they did or didn't do in terms of trying to track him down over that period."

Thames Valley Police said Mr Porter had died in an "unprovoked and violent attack" for which Krajewski had "shown no remorse".

Det Ch Insp Andy Shearwood said: "He never changed his position on his identity throughout the trial and subsequent legal proceedings."

He added that although the conviction could not bring the victim back he hoped his family could "find some justice from this".

Sylwester Krajewski, pictured in 1993, when he was convicted of a double murder in Poland

In a victim impact statement, Mr Porter's wife, Sharon, described her husband as her "rock and soul mate", whom she had met at school the age of 11 and married when they were 17.

She said she had been "living a nightmare" since his death.

"Clive's death has had an impact on every part of my life," she said.

"When I go to bed I keep thinking about the way he died, it's difficult to block it out. Clive spent the whole of his working life trying to help people but no-one could help him when he needed it."

She added that as the couple had always been "quiet people", his death "happening in such a public way has been difficult for me to cope with".

"Clive would have hated the way his body and life has been analysed by so many people," she said.

"The police gave me as much information as they could about how he died but listening to witnesses in court describing what they saw or heard has been harrowing and will probably stay in my head for the rest of my life."