FORMER star of TV series Dick Turpin, Mike Deeks, won a battle with police after officers tried to close down his pub for alleged firearm and public order offences.

Mr Deeks, who appeared as Dick Turpin's sidekick Swiftnick in the popular show which also starred Richard O'Sullivan, of Man About The House, was as swift as his TV namesake by having a quick drink after hearing that police had dropped the case against him.

Mr Deeks, landlord of the Royal Standard pub in Widmer End said he was made to feel like a highway robber by police after they tried to revoke his license for a series of offences including the handling of a shotgun on the premises and claims of under-age drinking.

The pub had also been accused of noise pollution, drug dealing from the premises and pub brawls.

Father-of-two Mr Deeks said: 'They have dropped all charges after a year of hassling me. I took over the pub two years ago and for the past year it has been nothing but trouble.'

He accused police of dragging out the case against him.

Mr Deeks was summoned to attend Wycombe Magistrates' Court on several occasions, but every time the case was due to be heard the police cancelled at the last minute because witnesses refused to come forward to complain about him.

Mr Deeks said: 'I don't know what the police expected me to do in the past year. They were probably hoping I would open a brothel so they could revoke my licence.

'They should never have brought the charges in the first place, but the law is on my side. I feel elated and I feel justice has been done even though I was made to suffer for such a long time.'

Inspector Martin Bolton, of Thames Valley Police, admitted that the case had been thrown out but said police would be keeping an eye on the pub.

He said: 'Deeks turned the pub into a youngsters' pub and we got grief from the neighbours about noise and fights outside the pub.'

He added: 'We felt it wasn't quite right for a pub to be like this so we tried to put it before the magistrates but it all went down the pan. The neighbours and witnesses wouldn't come forward to complain.'

Insp Bolton added that police would be monitoring the pub from now on to see if there were any further complaints.