A York policeman who stopped smoking after 14 years in the name of love was today named Britain's Greatest Quitter.

John Wilkinson beat off competition from 600 entries to win the title in a national competition spearheaded by tycoon Richard Branson.

Today he was presented with the Great Quitter prize by Public Health Secretary Tessa Jowell, the day before national No Smoking Day. The 29-year-old promised to kick his 25-a-day cigarette habit as a Valentine's Day present to his girlfriend, Lucy, two years ago.At the time, he had only been going out with Lucy - a cancer researcher whose husband died in 1995 following a motorbike accident - for three months.

He said: "I wanted to do something special for Lucy and knew she didn't like my smoking, although she never asked me to stop."I knew she worried about the consequences, especially working in the cancer field.

"On Valentine's Day, 1997, my present to Lucy was to stop smoking. I had my last cigarette then and I thought 'that's it, no more'."Now married to Lucy, John has never looked back and today picked up his prize, a trip to Washington courtesy of Virgin Atlantic.

But giving up wasn't easy, especially as he had been smoking from the age of 14.

"The first three to four weeks were absolute hell, what with peer pressure at work and setting myself the task of going for promotion, with a tough course in August, 1996, to obtain my firearms licence.

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