John was involved in several high-profile cases as well as the day-to-day travails of our community.

We've asked John to contribute reminiscences about his experiences and he kindly agreed. From time to time, over the next several months these will appear on this page - some serious, some light-hearted. Here is the first.

I WAS a detective at Toronto from 1972 to 1977. One afternoon I came back from court to be told that I had a customer waiting. I'll call him Dizzy Dean* and he had been arrested by the uniform crew for shoplifting.

He had gone into the bottle shop at the Toronto Hotel, asked where the St Henri Shiraz was (a man of taste, our Dizzy), then grabbed a bottle and took off towards the main street. He made his way to TC Frith's and helped himself to a steam iron and was arrested outside the shop.

I interviewed and charged him, put him before the court the next day and he was given three months' jail. Before he went off to jail, I gave him a few dollars for boob weed (jail tobacco).

A few months later, I came back from court one afternoon to find Dizzy waiting for me - in custody. Earlier in the day, after being released from jail, he had caught the train to Toronto to pay me back the money I had given him. When he was told I would be at court until the late afternoon, he wandered off, got on the turps and was arrested again for shoplifting.

So off we go again - interview, charge, then a night in the cells. The next day I took him into Newcastle Court, before Magistrate Rex Meehan, a man of great humanity and humour.

I gave a summary of the facts and in the exasperated tone that magistrates probably still reserve for hopeless cases, Rex said to Dizzy: "What am I going to do with you? I give you credit for wanting to pay the detective back, but you have a criminal history as long as your arm."

Dizzy drew himself to his full five-foot-five and said: "Your honour, I'd like you to give me a bond. I've never had a bond."

And he was right. Dizzy had been committed to a juvenile institution as a young teenager for being neglected, and had been in and out of juvenile institutions and then jails for most of his 40-odd years, without ever having been given a bond.

Rex said to me: "What do you reckon?"

"Can't do any harm," I replied.

Dizzy was just a thief, and not a very good one. He had never done an armed hold-up, never harmed anybody. So Rex put him on a six-month bond, with the promise that if he broke the bond he would give him twelve months' jail. And that was that.

I wished Dizzy well and we went our separate ways.

A few years later, when I was now at Newcastle CIB [Criminal Investigation Branch], I was driving through the back streets of Wickham when this bloke jumped out from the footpath and waved me down. It was Dizzy. He wanted to show me his flat and tell me how he had turned his life around.

He said that after Rex gave him the bond, he knew he had to change his ways.

"You were the only two people who ever gave me a chance, and I wasn't going to let you down," Dizzy told John.

He went to the Salvos for support and they gave him a job in their warehouse and helped him get the flat (which, by the way, was spotless).

He said to me: "And the best part is that although it was rough at first, I like being sober, I like going to work, being paid for my work and making a few friends."

I congratulated Dizzy and wished him well. I was transferred to Armidale a few months later and never saw Dizzy again. I hope he has managed to stay clean and enjoy life. I like to think he has.

*Not his real name.

Surfest Surf School will donate 50 free surf lessons on Saturday for Surfebruary - a charity group that supports cancer research at the Chris O'Brien Life House.

Donations will go towards this world-renowned cancer institution to fund research that could change how cancer is treated.

Lessons begin at Nobbys Beach at 9.30am. For more information contact Dean at the Surfest School on 0410-840-155 or visit surfestsurfschool.com.au.

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