I felt so betrayed by the force I had served

IN MORE than two decades of front-line policing, Mark routinely attended scenes of death and horror without question. He also suffered numerous physical injuries in his career with Avon and Somerset Police.

But it wasn’t until he was violently assaulted on duty one day in 2011 that it all suddenly overwhelmed him.

The mental toll of what he had seen throughout his career became too much to bear, and he suffered a severe mental breakdown. Now 58, he has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and is still plagued by nightmares and flashbacks. An expert psychiatrist deemed his mental health to be so bad that in 2012 he was retired from the force with an injury pension now worth around £1,000 a month.

Mark, who does not want his full name printed for fear of repercussions, says of being a police officer: ‘We all deal with death and gore. Some people it affects and some people it doesn’t.

‘I’d like to go to work, I’d like a normal life. But I cannot function on a daily basis.’

Mark’s injury pension was first reviewed in 2014 and he was awarded the highest rate because his condition had worsened. But a year later he was told he was due for another review under the force’s cost-cutting drive, which was later abandoned after uproar.

Mark, a father- of- five, says he feels betrayed: ‘It is really draining. I feel so let down and kicked in the teeth.’

He says he’d swap the pension for his old job back if only he could, adding: I’ve been a police officer for more than half of my life. I enjoyed it — it was great. I mourn every day for the career I left behind.’