A senior detective who was tasked with setting up Norfolk's Major Investigation Team (MIT) is to step down later this year.

Detective Superintendent Julian Gregory, head of the Joint Norfolk and Suffolk Major Investigation Team, will be retiring in August - after more than 26 years in the police - to take up a position at the Eastern Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority.

Det Supt Gregory, who has responsibility for all major crime investigations in the two counties, has led a number of complex and high profile cases since 1997 including, the disappearance of seven-year-old Daniel Entwistle from Great Yarmouth in 2003; the Climategate inquiry at the UEA and a probe into the mistreating of patients at a the Taywood House care home in Yarmouth.

Det Supt Gregory, who has been commended by the courts and the chief constable a number of times, said one of the more challenging cases he has worked on was the Daniel Entwistle inquiry.

He said: 'The investigation of major crime and homicide is a serious business. It's a great responsibility when someone's life has been taken that way that you do your utmost to get justice for the family.

'One of my biggest regrets was our never finding out what happened to Daniel. But I have also been very pleased to have been able to solve a number of cases.'

Det Supt Gregory, originally from Derbyshire, joined Norfolk police in September 1986 - after seven years in the Royal Navy - and whilst maintaining a 'career anchor' in criminal investigation he has undertaken a variety of roles and has extensive experience in partnership working, collaboration and change management.

He worked at Thetford, Dereham and then headquarters before returning to Thetford where he became a sergeant before moving onto other roles including detective inspector and detective chief inspector before setting up the MIT in Norfolk in 2004. He then came back to the joint MIT in 2010.

Det Supt Gregory will finish this month before taking up his new role as head of marine protection at the Eastern IFCA which he says will combine a number of his interests.

He added Norfolk was a 'fantastic place to live and work' and somewhere, through his career, where 'you can make a difference.'