WITH a lump in his throat, Detective Constable Alan Ferguson can only describe it as his darkest day.

Pulling up at the house he knew two young children whose mother had been missing for weeks were about to be told she was dead - at the hands of their father.

They had nobody else to turn to, only their grandparents he had just brought to Hampshire from Finland after delivering the news to them in person.

"Of all the dark days, that was the darkest.

There had always been hope until then," said DC Ferguson, from Hampshire's major crime department.

"How can words describe to two children who have lost their mum because dad had killed her? It was an emotional nightmare."

Three weeks earlier Kirsi Gifford-Hull, 38, had been reported missing by her husband Mike, 43, who told them she had consumed a lot to drink and had left their home in Winchester in the middle of the night.

Left behind were the two children, a son and daughter she adored, as well as the cheating husband who spent his time meeting women on the Internet.

At the outset, a family liaison officer - in this case DC Ferguson - was deployed because two young children were involved and distressed.

Initially working in Basingstoke, he was picked to become an FLO, a tough job that not everyone can do in Hampshire police, but in which he still relishes the challenge.

"For a few days we were not dealing with a suspicious incident, only a report that a mother had gone from the marital home of her own accord.

It's a succinct difference from the call you can get at 3am to say go and see a family who have suffered a tragedy, the circumstances however are as difficult to deal with."

Arriving at the home of the Gifford-Hull family, DC Ferguson found two young children with nobody else to turn to, wondering why their mum had left them.

"As family liaison officers we are walking into an unknown arena. It's one thing stepping into a job when you know the parameters.

We knew some of the story but didn't have all the pieces of the jigsaw.

"We are there to listen and to pass information from the investigation to the family but also to elicit what you can as a detective and help the inquiry.

"As an FLO, when you know you are dealing with a murder inquiry you have in your mind how you have to tell a family that someone is dead.

This case was so different.We didn't have a death and the children still had hope and expectation that he gave them that mum might still return - that's what they had to hold on to.

"For the first few days it was very difficult. As a dad with children you cannot but be touched by the innocence of childhood in a case like this.

But you still have to be professional and maintain a line that cannot be crossed."

A challenging role, DC Ferguson found himself having to build a relationship with Gifford-Hull yet trying to maintain a professional distance.

"It's a very fine line not to become too emotionally involved, like in this case it would be very easy to be attached to the children.

It's one of the hardest challenges I have ever had.

"Kirsi's daughter Katrina didn't have a very good relationship with her dad. She was an innocent child. She cried uncontrollably and was shaking with distress.

"With him (Gifford-Hull) I had to sit down and let him have a few crocodile tears."

"I knew that there was something just not right. Kirsi was a woman who was devoted to her children, according to him she had drunk a lot and had gone in the middle of the night. Gifford-Hull had gone to excessive measures to stand up that story he had made up in his mind.

"It takes every professional ounce of your experience to walk into that arena, to deal with the most distressed of families who are angry and shocked. You are a stranger walking into their family and not because you are invited but because circumstances mean you have to be there."

As an FLO, his role was not just in Hampshire - but saw DC Ferguson deployed to Finland as part of the search for Kirsi, where her parents and siblings lived.

It was during that trip that the phone call came to say a body, believed to be hers, had been found in woodland near Micheldever.

"I can remember it clear as day. It was about 9.30pm when I took the call and I went back to the hotel. I knew I had to get Kirsi's brothers and sisters with me so I drove up in the middle of the night and told her sister first.

"I went to her parents' house about 3am and as soon as they answered the door they knew I was there for only one reason and I stayed with them through the night."

He returned back to the UK with Kirsi's grieving parents soon after.

Most difficult day' "In my 30 years' service it was probably one of the most difficult days. I took her parents from the airport straight to where the body was found and let them lay flowers. The next morning I took them to where the children were staying."

Later that night they visited Winchester Cathedral - a place chosen by DC Ferguson to help a family try and get some peace.

"That for me was the end of a very difficult day. As they left Katrina asked if she would ever smile again and the Canon wrapped them in his gown. It was so moving.

"To do that you might say is spontaneous, above and beyond, but as an FLO you do what you can to make their plight easier."