A ROOKIE police officer and postmistress were called to sit in judgement on a school's royal poster competition.

PC Paul Gray helped Phyllis Corner to rule over the efforts of 145 children aged between five and eight at Tanfield Lea Infants School.

As part of the Jubilee celebrations the pupils were invited by teachers to paint a picture of the Queen - with book tokens for the winners from each year.

PC Gray, who was in his first week of independent control when he was invited to the school said: "Clearly the children had enjoyed themselves and some paintings were really good.

"The regular beat bobby for that area was on leave so I agreed to step in.

"As well as judging the paintings, I was able to take the opportunity of getting across the message about the dangers of children talking to strangers."

The winners were: Bethany Defty, Tom Johnson, Charlotte Bignell, Alex Dickson, Peter Hetherington and Laura Wigham.