'Arrestingly handsome' Chief Superintendent becomes police pin-up

A police chief has attracted a large fan club after his promotion was announced on social media.

News of Chief Superintendent Jim Colwell's promotion has caused a stir on Devon and Cornwall Police's Facebook page with several female commentators saying they would like to be "handcuffed" by him.

Colwell's picture attracted more than 1,400 likes and hundreds of comments, many of them from women who said they were rather taken with the good-looking officer.

Facebook user Lisa Wood wrote: "Appears there might be a spike in criminal women activity in the area".

Rachel Talbot wrote to her friend Louise Brockley saying: "OK here's the plan. I'm going pretend to kidnap you and drive you all the way down here and I won't stop driving until Mr Cutie comes and arrests me."

But Colwell was also praised for his professionalism. The Leicester University graduate joined Devon and Cornwall Police in 2001 before rising through the ranks to become one of its key investigating officers.

A spokesperson for Devon and Cornwall Police said: "He is known for his thorough investigative skills and for leading investigations into high profile cases such as a fatal speedboat incident in Padstow, as well as co-ordinating the initial response to numerous major incidents including homicides and kidnaps across the force."

Some Facebook users accused the women of "double standards". Matthew McLeod wrote: "If Jim was a woman and the men were making comments like this, all you salivating 'ladies' would be kicking right off at us for outrageous sexism. And I expect we'd even be having our collars felt!"

The force said it was "aware" of the Facebook comments about Mr Colwell.