Battersea stood still for a brief moment today as hundreds mourned one of its most respected community police officers - and pillar of the community - John Johnson, who was laid to rest.

Fifty-two-year-old PC Johnson received a full police service funeral today at St Mary’s Church in Battersea.

On his final journey, the funeral cortege left Lavender Hill before turning onto Battersea Bridge Road where, at 10.52am, the hearse - with the funeral director on foot and a police escort - paused at Battersea Police Station, where “PC Dixon of Battersea” plied his trade for most of his 28 years service.

Amid light rainfall two lines of fully-uniformed police officers formed a guard of respect on either side of the street to pay their last tribute to one of their own – a man twice-voted Metropolitan Police Community Officer of the Year, and a man who was a member of more than 20 community organisations in Wandsworth.

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At the funeral service a marquee was put up to cater for the overflow of mourners, who filled every corner of the church and spilled out into the church grounds.

David Johnson said his brother was “dedicated in everything he did” and asked the congregation to “remember the 52 years of a life well led”.

Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Commissioner who served with PC Johnson at the time of the Brixton riots and miners strike, paid tribute to a “totally remarkable officer and man”, a man he earlier labelled “the public’s very epitome of what a police officer should be”.

Stewart Low, Wandsworth Police’s borough commander, said the officer was more “Dixon of Dock Green than Jack Regan of the Sweeney” and added: “In all my 33 years in the police service I have never come across anyone so committed and had placed himself so accountable to his community.”

Speaking on behalf of the many community groups represented, Martin Stratton CBE said the PC was an “everyday part of Battersea life” and thanked for his “friendship, laughter, love and life”.

He added because PC Johnson was educated, cultured and intelligent he could have been remote or aloof. But far from it, he said, the man had the ability to talk with people, not up or down to them.

An old friend from his Oxford University days, Jim Ring, said he was “always his own man” and in an age where students were wearing their hair long, emulating the likes of Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger, John Johnson’s “hair was short like a fighter pilot,” and that he always had a belief in the central role community had in society.

The vicar of St Mary’s, Reverend Paul Kennington, touched on his tragic death – PC Johnson is believed to have thrown himself into the Thames from Battersea Bridge on July 19 – and said while many in the community were shocked, John Johnson’s life had touched many.

As well as his police work over the course of his life PC Johnson helped raise hundreds of thousands of pounds for local charities and had been the catalyst for many programmes to help the disadvantaged, young and old alike. “All of that amounted to his life’s work,” said Mr Ring.

At the time the funeral service started so too did a summer play scheme in Battersea Park.

Launched to help children and young families in the community it will be one of PC John Johnson’s many lasting contributions.