BURNLEY policeman Andy Ashworth is helping to restore justice to some of the toughest streets in the world.

For the PC was flying out to the Middle East this week to prepare officers for the beat in troubled Iraq.

But Iraq is now so dangerous that the training will have to take place in neighbouring Jordan before the new recruits can return to help stabilise Iraq.

Andy, 31, will spend a year at the International Police Training Centre in Amman, the capital of Jordan.

He said: "The idea is for us to go in and train the police over there so that they can stabilise the country and we can pull our boys out.

"We were originally going to go to Iraq, but that was thought too dangerous so we are training the police recruits in Jordan and they will then go back to Iraq."

Andy will be doing the work for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

He was picked for the specialist job because of his role as defensive tactics trainer for Lancashire Constabulary.

Prior to that Andy, who has been in the force for 10 years, spent five years in Nelson, two in Lancaster and was a member of Pennine division's support team for two years.

He has spent the past two months helping to tackle drug dealing and the criminal underworld as part of the police's Operation Frustrate.

His new role training the future police officers of a new-look Iraq will be very different from fighting crime in East Lancashire.

But Andy added: "My family are a bit apprehensive about me going out but it will be an exciting exhange for me. It's not often you get to go abroad in a policing role and I am looking forward to it."

Andy is being joined on the mission by nine other police officers from across the county.