THE 'painstaking' investigative work of the team who caught the 'Wind in the Willows' murderer was praised as they received official commendations.

Four detectives and a staff member who worked tirelessly to solve the murder of Adrian Greenwood were recognised at a ceremony on Wednesday, where they were presented with commendations by Thames Valley Police Chief Constable Francis Habgood.

Despite initially having 'no idea' who had killed the book-seller in his Iffley Road home, the team worked around the clock to solve the crime, which eventually led to killer Michael Danaher being jailed for 34 years.

Among the officers commended was Det Con Jim Armitage, who was pulled on to the case on his first day working in the major crime unit.

He co-ordinated efforts to trawl through 870 hours of CCTV to piece together the movements of Danaher and place him at the scene at the time of the murder in April 2016.

The split-second sightings of the killer became a critical piece of evidence in his four week trial.

DC Armitage said: "I arrived in the morning and I thought they were joking when they gave me such an important role.

"There was a lot of pressure.

"When somebody has died, you are very concious that is somebody's loved one.

"With a case like, you barely see your own family.

"I would leave before they were up and come back when they were in bed, for days on end.

"So it was great for them to be at the ceremony and see that what we've done is worthwhile."

Det Ch Insp Kevin Brown, the senior investigating officer in the case and another of the officers commended, said it was one of the most complex and challenging cases he has worked on.

He said: "With a lot of murder investigations you can generally narrow down the pool of suspects quite quickly.

"But for a number of days our inquiries were coming up with nothing.

"It took a long time to get the baseline of what had gone on and find out who we were looking for and why.

"You will never bring back any person who is murdered but we were lucky enough to catch Danaher before he did anything else.

"It was an exceptional investigation that will live in the memory for a long time."

Danaher stabbed Greenwood multiple times in the hallway of his house before he stole a £50,000 first-edition copy of Wind in the Willows.

He took a selfie moments afterwards and had created a celebrity hit list, which included Kate Moss and Jeffrey Archer.

Alongside DCI Brown and DC Armitage, the other detectives recognised were Det Sgt Richard Earl and Det Con Will Tippetts as well as Seema Punj for her work to support the officers.

Mr Habgood said the ceremony was a way of recognising the 'exceptional work' done in the force every day to counter the regular diet of bad news.

He added: "On TV it is all made to look quite easy and cases are solved over the course of one show.

"What we don't see is the hours and hours of meticulous hard work that go in to solving a crime like this.

"They have shown professionalism and dedication and it is right that we recognise that."