KIER Pritchard could have become a professional footballer.

As a youngster, Wiltshire’s new chief constable was a non-contract player for Swindon Town and trained at the footballing school for excellence under John Trollope.

His friends were signed up as professionals, but Mr Pritchard chose to join the police at 19-years-old.

The former Kingsdown School pupil had policing in the blood. His father, Barry “Fred” Pritchard, was a chief inspector in Swindon before rising to the rank of superintendent down in Salisbury. Fred retired from the force in 1995, two years after son Kier signed up.

“I grew up in a policing family. But at that stage, whilst I’d seen how good it had been to us as a family, it wasn’t a career I thought I’d end up in,” said Mr Pritchard.

“As I reached adulthood and started thinking about what I wanted from a career, I wanted something that was going to be different every day and was going to make a difference to the community.

“Policing, because I knew it, seemed like absolutely the right thing and would tick all the boxes.

“Whilst it’s changed beyond recognition in the 25 years I’ve been a police officer, it’s still about policing the community, with the community, with the trust of the community.”

As a keen wet-behind-the-ears constable, Mr Pritchard said he would try and go the extra mile to catch criminals: “I was always pretty proactive as a young cop and when some people were taking a long lunch I’d be out there trying to find what was going on. I remember catching burglars in the act and people trying to break into cars.”

He spent more than a decade as a detective and was a detective superintendent at the time of the Halliwell murder probe.

In November, Mr Pritchard was confirmed as Wiltshire’s permanent chief constable, having taken over the role on a temporary basis in March after the departure of Mike Veale. The past nine months have been testing, with Wiltshire receiving international attention following the poisoning of former Russian KGB agent Sergei Skirpal.

The process he went through to become chief was tough, he said. “It feels incredible now to get my feet on the ground, settle and lead the force through the next few years.”

“Hopefully I bring something that’s a bit younger and a bit fresher than some of the other chiefs across the country. I’m really proud to be in this position,” Mr Pritchard added.