A Methodist minister who brought street pastors to Lincoln to help night-time revellers has been honoured for his work.

The Reverend Ian Brown (34) has been given the Citizen of the Year Award in a ceremony at Lincolnshire Police's headquarters.

In May last year Mr Brown announced that he wanted to train Christians as pastors to ease late-night problems in the centre night.

Cities including London, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds already had their own street pastors, but Mr Brown was directly responsible for recruiting volunteers in Lincoln.

The first team began their 'patrols' in the city centre in October last year.

Now almost 40 volunteer pastors from 18 churches across Lincoln volunteer for shifts on Friday and Saturday nights. Eleven new ones took to the streets for the first time at the weekend.

They offer assistance to drinkers who have found themselves in trouble and work alongside police and CCTV operators to identify flashpoints of violence or aggression.

Mr Brown, who is based at Bailgate Methodist Church, received his award from the High Sheriff of Lincolnshire John Lockwood.

The minister said: "It is an honour and a privilege to receive this award and I do so on behalf of the many Christians who freely give of their time and energy on Friday and Saturday to provide love, care and reassurance to the streets of Lincoln during the busy evening economy.

"We can now truly say that God's Church has left the building."

For more on the street pastors, see Monday's Echo.