WPC on force computer finds out husband has been killed
AS SHE scrolled through the messages on her force’s computer, policewoman Samantha Dixon made a horrifying discovery.
She learned that her husband, a fellow officer, had been involved in a crash while on duty and ‘was going to die or was dead’.
‘I thought, “no, it won’t be him, he’s invincible”, because you always think that they are,’ said Mrs Dixon, who was heavily pregnant at the time.
Sadly, it quickly became clear that PC James Dixon, 39, had been killed when his motorcycle collided with a car.
At the time of her husband’s death, Mrs Dixon – known professionally as PC Samantha Allen – was working as a family liaison officer, helping other families through bereavement.
‘I went into work mode, thinking, “Right I have helped lots of people through this, what would I advise them? What would I do to help them now I need to help me?”’ she said.
Mrs Dixon, 35, who was at work at the time, said it was not until a friend, a fellow fammet ily liaison officer, told her to ‘take your PC Allen head off and put your Mrs Dixon head on’ that she was able to snap out of this way of thinking.
She has since given birth to a boy, who has been named Parker Cameron James – so he has the initials PCJ Dixon after his father.
Her husband, known as Dixie, died in a crash on the A4 near Wargrave, Berkshire, on December 5. A 91-year-old woman who was a passenger in the car was also killed.
PC Dixon, who like his wife worked for Thames Valley Police, appeared regularly in the Sky police TV reality programme Road Wars. They on a first aid course about ten years ago and married in February 2016.
Mrs Dixon, who used to be involved in roads policing, told the BBC: ‘Even now, to this day, sometimes... I hope it’s not true. You do think, “Oh, I will wake up in a minute, this is a dream or he’s on holiday or he’s at work or whatever.”’
She said the support from family, friends and people she didn’t even know then ‘helped get me through’.
More than 500 police and mourners lined the streets of Pangbourne, Berkshire, ahead of PC Dixon’s funeral in January. Theresa May, who is the local MP, paid tribute during Prime Minister’s Questions to both PC Dixon and the elderly woman who died.
Mrs Dixon said: ‘There’s a lot of love out there and it sounds silly, but it carries you through it, because you think, “Right, if there’s that much love out there from people that don’t know us then I can do this. I can do this for them and I can do this for me and I can do this for Parker.”
‘Rather than focus on everything I have lost, which is my world, I focus on Parker and everything I have got now because that way the positive emotions keep me going, whereas negative emotion would just eat you up. Of course that doesn’t mean that Dixie will ever be forgotten.’
Five months on from her husband’s death, Mrs Dixon is thinking of how best to tell their son about the kind of man his father was.
‘You almost had to meet him to truly know how great he was, which makes me feel sad for Parker,’ she said.
The crash is being investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct because PC Dixon was on a training exercise at the time. He was not responding to an emergency or pursuing the car with which he collided.
‘Even now I hope it’s not true’