THE professional – and I use the expression advisedly – departure of two veritable pillars of the Oxford community is imminent.

It is not so long ago (Oxford Mail, October 25, 2010) that I extolled the virtues of Pc Paul Phillips. However, I do not propose to cause him further embarrassment by reiterating or supplementing my previous observations.

It is, however, the best part of a decade since I publicly referred to coroners and specifically, our very own Nicholas Gardiner, whose services were required by at least three of my pals, namely Messrs Butler, Litherland and Symonds.

I still maintain that coroners possess excessive powers, but felt that the function was perfectly safe in the hands of Mr Gardiner.

On behalf of the deceased, I would like to express my gratitude for the thoroughly equitable manner in which I and others believed he conducted their inquests – arguably superfluous in one or two cases, but that is another issue.

Neither did his modesty, courtesy and compassion go unnoticed.

I wish both gentlemen – once again, not a term I use lightly – the retirement they would wish for themselves.

DAVID DIMENT, Riverside Court, Oxford