FAMILY and ex-colleagues have paid tribute to a retired Hampshire policeman who collapsed and died after a game of five-a-side football.

Former Detective Constable Steve Macey, who was 51, suffered a heart attack after leaving the pitch at Fareham Leisure Centre where he played with a side of existing and former police officers and friends.

Steve, who lived at Durley near Bishop's Waltham, is survived by his wife Maurita, children David, 27, Hannah 24, his mother, Shirley and his brother, Stuart.

After joining Hampshire Constabulary as a 16-year-old cadet, Steve joined the regular force in 1975, and served for a total of 33 years before retiring in 2005.

Paying tribute to her husband, his wife Maurita, 41, said: "Steve was always football mad. I knew never to make arrangements on a Tuesday or Friday evening - which were his five-a-side nights.

"He put 100 per cent into everything, always worked very hard on the pitch and carried that ethic into everything he did.

"We, as a family, take great comfort from the fact that his mates were with him when he died and that we know he was happy playing the game he loved. We also know how hard his friends and staff at the leisure centre worked to save him and are so thankful for that."

Det Supt Shirley Dinnell, who worked with Steve, said: "He was always a professional, dedicated and efficient officer. He always had a smile for everybody. I never saw him in a bad mood - ever.

"The sheer number of people that have come forward to express quite a depth of feeling about his passing stands as testament to what a well regarded character he was."