An Oxfordshire policeman has won a top award for his initiatives in tackling youth crime.

Pc Simon Collins gained his National Justice Award — one of just 15 handed out by Attorney General Baroness Scotland — at a ceremony in London.

He was one of 45 finalists selected from more than 700 nominations spanning the entire criminal justice system.

His reward comes for his work as schools liaison officer in west Oxfordshire where he is a leading figure in tackling under-age drinking and antisocial behaviour.

He said: "It's an amazing achievement. I have been involved since November last year."

Pc Collins's key role was part of a district-wide police zero tolerance policy towards underage drinking which started in October 2007 with Operation Judicious.

Officers went to Witney's Deer Park estate and seized 163 cans and bottles of lager, bottles of whisky, wine, vodka and other spirits in a check of 40 youths on the streets.

Regular stop checks have been carried out since then, with parents of children caught required to go to alcohol awareness workshops set up by Pc Collins.

They were the first of their kind in the country to operate in a rural town area.

So far, 111 referrals have been made to the scheme and 75 parents and young people have attended the workshops.

The first three months of the initiative saw violent crime fall by 17 per cent and only one of the under 18s caught with alcohol has reoffended.

Pc Collins, 29, has also been involved in producing Waste Nights and Too Wasted DVDs for secondary schools, focusing on the consequences of underage drinking. He has been a police officer for more than seven years in west Oxfordshire.

Bill Oddy, head of community services at West Oxfordshire District Council, said: "To win this award is a great achievement for Simon, the rest of the safer communities team and all the neighbourhood policing teams in the district.

"The success of the alcohol education workshops has come from solid partnership working and forms part of our work around the night-time economy."