Tributes have poured in following the announcement that the former police chief constable Sir John Hermon has died.

Sir John was chief constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) between 1980 and 1989 after joining the force in 1951.

Sir John passed on, on Thursday the 6th November 2008. He suffered from Alzheimer's disease in the last several years of his life and died at his nursing home in Bangor, County Down. A family statement read "It is with enormous sadness that the family of Sir Jack Hermon announce his death, after a long and valiant struggle against the ravages of Alzheimer's, He passed away very peacefully at teatime yesterday in a nursing home in Bangor...Members of his immediate family, including his wife, Sylvia, had been with him throughout the day."

Sir John's period as chief constable guided us through some of our most turbulent times including the republican hunger strikes of 1981, shoot-to-kill allegations, IRA mortar attacks and the attack on Newry police station in 1985. Right up until the end he remained a target for republican terrorists and despite he illness over a number of years, had to be moved to a new nursing home last year because of these threats.

Tributes have flowed in from figures such as Former RUC assistant chief constable Alan McQuillan, Sir Hugh Orde current Chief Constable of the PSNI, Secretary of State Shaun Woodward, DUP leader Peter Robinson, Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey, Alliance party leader David Ford with even Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness extending sympathy and condolences to the Hermon family.

Sir John leaves behind his wife Lady Sylvia Hermon who is the Ulster Unionist MP for North Down.

Last Updated 8th November 2008