When the hijacked Ariana Airlines Boeing 747 arrived at Stansted Airport in the early hours of February 7, Basildon Division's crime prevention officer, Pc Colin Mead, was rudely awakened from his sleep and thrown into the media frenzy which quickly developed.

PC Mead was one of five crime prevention officers from across the county who were brought in to support Essex Police's permanent press office and found themselves fielding questions from journalists from across the world.

He got the call at around 2.45am and was suddenly working at the centre of an operation which was dealing with the longest hijack drama ever seen at a British airport.

PC Mead, who lives in Harold Wood, and was based in Billericay until two years ago, said: "It was a stimulating, invigorating and tiring experience, but rewarding at the end of it."

It was, however, a massive leap from the day to day work Pc Mead is normally involved in. He said: "We were fielding enquiries from around the world - Western Australia, the United States, Poland and Germany to name just a few."

He has nothing but praise for the police officers involved in bringing the crisis to a peaceful conclusion and feels the press office had a key part to play in the success.

He said: "This was an international incident and the press office had a vital role to play in telling people as far as possible what was happening.

"We were putting out information continuously and constantly briefing journalists about the latest situation."

As the hijack continued the police press office kept open from 6am to midnight each day. There were limits to how far officers could go at some stages in releasing information as talks between police and the hijackers became fraught with tension.

PC Mead, however, feels the press office's openness was greeted positively: "I think it was appreciated that we were as open as we were able to be. We had to be careful what we released as we did not know how much access the hijackers had to the media."

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.