Retired Keighley policeman Dave Howell arrived home on Sunday after spending a week helping rescue crews at Ground Zero.

Mr Howell, pictured left, travelled to New York with the Christian Police Association, which had organised the trip with its American counterpart, Cops for Christ.

He spent time with officers of the NYPD and the fire department, working on a feeding station which provides free meals for workers at the site of the September 11 terrorist attack.

He said: "When we got the opportunity to go we thought 'Yes'.

"It's just good to be able to help."

Mr Howell also spoke of the gigantic crater that is left where the World Trade Center once stood.

He said: "Now most of the rubble has been cleared away. Instead of ground zero they are now calling it 'the hole' because it's nine storeys deep."

He also told of how the remains of victims were still being removed, six months after two hijacked passenger jets smashed into the twin towers, causing their collapse and the deaths of thousands.

"The last bodies are being taken out," he said. "We got 15 out the other day from under the ramp. We got five firemen out who were all found in a group together. It was fairly moving because many of the guys who are working there knew them."