Kent's chief constable David Phillips is currently leading a national committee looking at how to improve murder investigations across the country.

And recently his force has regularly been requested to step in and help solve other constabulary's problems.

Paul Whitehouse: Suspended as Kent force investigates his own

The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) asked it to look into a shooting last year of an unarmed man by firearms officers in neighbouring Sussex.

That force's chief constable Paul Whitehouse was suspended earlier this month after a report into the incident.

But perhaps more relevant for the Nelson case is Kent's role in carrying out the second PCA investigation into the Metropolitan Police's handling of the Stephen Lawrence affair.

Mr Phillips did not head up that report, but was ultimately responsible for the work which went forward to the recent Macpherson report into the unsolved racist murder.

Stephen Lawrence: Kent called in to investigate investigation

The chief constable cannot help to have noticed the comparisons between attitudes in the Lawrence affair and that of nationalists to the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

The RUC has always been seen by nationalists as a Protestant-dominated institution, and many hold a deep mistrust of its officers.

There are also serious allegations of collusion between some RUC members and loyalist paramilitary organisations.

Mrs Nelson made such claims herself, and others have suggested that her murder may actually be connected to such alleged activity.

Sir Ronnie Flanagan wants nothing to detract from inquiry

RUC chief constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan is keen to dismiss the claims.

He says Mr Phillips is being brought in, along with a special agent from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, to help make the murder inquiry "transparent" and credible in the eyes of nationalists.

Mr Phillips, 54, started his career in 1963 with the Lancashire Constabulary before joining the Greater Manchester force in 1984.

He was then Deputy Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall from 1989 to 1993, when he took up his current job.

The experienced officer is also chairman of the Association of Chief Police Officers' crime committee.

Over the last two years he has been concerned with improving detection of murders and appointed a team of experienced officers to draw up national plans to gain better results.

'Quick route to detection'

Last year he made headlines when he said murderers were escaping justice because detectives were too slow and cautious.

"I worry that a lot of budding investigation officers are too frightened of making mistakes and too frightened of criticism," he said.

"They are in danger of playing so safe they don't take the quick route to detection."

The chief constable, awarded the Queen's Police Medal in 1994, now has a chance to test his own speed in trying circumstances.

"You can conduct an investigation which is beyond reproach but never get anywhere," he said last year.

"You have sometimes got to be able to get in very quickly while there is still recoverable evidence."

He is due to start work on the Nelson murder on Wednesday, two days after the car bomb which cost the solicitor her life.