I first met Jon as a young man when he started at Romsley Wireless Depot in the 1980s, when we were part of the Home Office Directorate of Telecommunications. He joined the team I ran then and we worked together on many radio projects for the police, fire and prison services. In the mid-1980s the team was fully involved in the major frequency and equipment change project for the UK police and fire service’s radio systems. A lot of miles, a lot of heavy equipment to install and commission and a lot of sometimes even heavier redundant equipment to later remove. With Jon as part of that team the project was very successfully completed, well ahead of schedule.


With the reduction in staff following that project Jon left for new challenges elsewhere. I would make a point of calling into the radio workshops at the WMFS HQ at Lancaster Circus to see Jon and have a brew and a chat when he running things there.


Some years later Jon returned to Romsley and we shared an office. This was in the NTL Public Safety and then Arqiva days, when he became the Technical Manager for the Maritime Coastguard Agency contract, covering their control rooms and radio / radar systems around the country. Our desks were few feet apart but we were engaged on two very different areas of work, often out on site, and caught up with each other every so often. Andy has written about his time at Romsley in the MCA role above.

My abiding memory of Jon is a very talented engineer and a real gentleman to both work alongside and to have as a friend and mentor.  Immensely knowledgeable, always calm, always happy to go the extra mile and always a smile and a helping hand when people needed it.

My heartfelt condolences to Wendy, his younger family and his friends.  A really lovely man who left us too early. RIP Jon.