The photo above shows Peter fighting the Taliban. The other is him hours before he tried to harm himself on Remembrance Sunday. But when his distraught wife sought help, she says sexist top brass refused to listen to a woman
THE wife of a heroic Royal Marine struck down by post t raumatic stress disorder triggered by his horrific experiences in Afghanistan has spoken out about her two- year battle with the military to get him the treatment for the illness she says has torn their lives apart.
Alecia Emerson-Thomas, 38, who recently appeared on hit TV show The Heist, claims that despite pleading with service chiefs that her husband desperately needed psychiatric help she was ignored – even after he threw himself in front of a car in an apparent cry for help.
Corporal Peter Emerson-Thomas, 36, had a mental breakdown after
serving in Helmand province, including more than nine months in the Taliban stronghold of Sangin where more than 100 British troops were killed in some of the bloodiest fighting of the conflict.
From the tender age of nine all Peter had wanted to do was join the Royal Marines and earn the Commandos’ coveted Green Beret.
During three gruelling tours of Afghanistan between 2006 and 2010 17 of his close comrades were killed and scores wounded, he was in the thick of the fighting and on several occasions was lucky to escape death. On his return to the UK he seemed able to cope with the emotional legacy of what he had experienced.
He met Alecia in 2010, then a single mum and a policewoman, and became a father figure to her son, Ethan.
The couple married two years later and welcomed their first child together, William, in 2013.
But over the next three years, according to Alecia his behaviour became more erratic. He suffered nightmares and flashbacks to the war zone. Every night he would wake up sweating and shouting and unaware of his whereabouts – classic signs of mental illness. She was so concerned about his deterioration that she sought help from a Royal Marines welfare officer who told her he could only y intervene if Peter asked for help.
In her desperation she decided d she would give up her career to o look after Peter.
Alecia has chosen to speak out t because she feels too many military wives, who find themselves on the front line of their husbands’ s’ battles against post traumatic c stress disorder (PTSD) and other er mental conditions, are not taken en seriously when they ask for help.
She told The Mail on Sunday that at ‘sexist’ male commanders regard rd the concerns of wives who are cararing for their battleworn husbands ds as an irritating inconvenience.
Alecia said last night: ‘I got given en the brush off when I went to see ee Peter’s welfare officer and I have ve spoken to so many wives who have ve had similar experiences when they’ve ’ve asked for help. I think sexism plays sa a part in it, they don’t like women.
‘I remember sitting in the welfare are officer’s room with tears streaming ing down my cheeks as I explained how ow I couldn’t cope any longer with ith Peter’s moods swings. I was cononvinced that Peter wanted to hurt urt himself, take his own life even, and d that he had PTSD.
‘At the time I was heavily pregnant and I genuinely feared I could lose our baby due to the stress the situation was causing me. I had also suffered several miscarriages. But the welfare officer said he could only intervene if Peter made an official request for help – and as Peter was in denial about his issues that wasn’t going to happen.’
Alecia’s worst fears about Peter’s fragile state of mind were realised only weeks after the meeting with the welfare officer when he suffered a mental breakdown on Remembrance Sunday in 2016.
Yet this most poignant and emotionally gruelling of days for combat veterans started so brightly.
The Commando Training Centre Royal Marines ( CTCRM) outside Exeter was bathed in early winter sunshine as Peter posed for photographs with Alecia’s son Ethan, seven. His campaign medals glistening and his boots perfectly polished, Peter looked every inch a courageous Commando while Ethan beamed with pride, proudly wearing the same ‘Blues’ uniform in a children’s size and a white Marines’ peaked cap to match his step-father’s.
Peter stood to attention as at 11 o’clock a bugler sounded the Last Post. Afterwards the family mingled amiably with other service personnel and their partners at a curry lunch. But then Alecia and Peter went their separate ways.
As was tradition, the Marines then went to the pub to raise a toast to fallen comrades while Alecia, just weeks from giving birth, went home.
But by early evening Peter was paralytic and Alecia received a phone call to her Devon home from another Marine to say her husband was picking fights in a bar. She recalled: ‘I was stuck at home with Ethan and William and could barely walk, otherwise I would have gone into Exmouth myself.
‘I went to bed but I couldn’t sleep. Then, around 1am, a police car arrived and the officers tenderly handed him over to me. I looked at Peter – he seemed so helpless and ashamed of himself.
‘The coppers said they’d picked him up after he had been seen deliberately jumping in front of cars.
‘ I honestly don’t think it was a suicide attempt. He wanted to feel physical pain to cancel out the emotional pain. Looking at my husband curled up on the floor and sobbing I knew I couldn’t afford to get fobbed off again by his Royal Marines bosses – Peter’s life and our marriage depended on it.’
At 9am the next morning Alecia drove her husband to the CTCRM. Peter was wearing a hooded anorak pulled up over his head so nobody would recognise him.
Emotionally, he was a broken man, mumbling to himself and crying beneath his coat like an upset toddler.
Alecia marched into the welfare officer’s office, this time determined that he receive the expert medical attention he desperately needed.
But when she demanded that Peter should be seen immediately by a doctor, she was told no appointments were available until 2pm that day.
She said: ‘They suggested I take him home again but there was no way I was leaving with Peter in that state, so I took him over to the medical centre.
‘Luckily there was a doctor there and he did see Peter. But because Peter couldn’t or wouldn’t talk, it was difficult for him to be diagnosed. The doctor signed a form to say Peter could have three days off work but it was a fortnight before he saw a mental health specialist.’
In December 2016, Peter was finally diagnosed with complex PTSD but, according to Alecia, he was then forced to wait two years before he received a trauma-focused therapist.
In that time, his wife claims, his ‘counselling’ consisted of a coffee and a chat with medical staff at the Department of Community Mental Health (DCMH) in Plymouth.
She said: ‘As the months passed I would ask the staff at the DCMH, which is part of the Ministry of Defence [MoD], why Peter wasn’t receiving the cognitive behavioural
I knew I couldn’t be fobbed off again, Peter’s life depended on it
therapy [CBT] or another treatment they had suggested called eye movement desensitisation reprocessing [EMDR]. They said he wasn’t ready for the treatment.
‘At first I took them at their word, but then I had nagging doubts. What they were telling me just didn’t seem right. Surely it was better that Peter was treated quickly?
‘Then in the late spring of 2017 I s poke on t he phone to t he DCMH’s surgeon commander who admitted Peter wasn’t receiving treatment because the unit was short- staffed – they didn’t have enough qualified personnel to practise these therapies.
‘While not being fobbed off any more was a relief, I was also shocked to learn the real reason why mental healthcare services weren’t being provided. Given the commitment to their country shown by Peter and his colleagues, it is surely scandalous that they can’t be treated promptly.’
Finally, in December 2018, Peter
He stabilised – because he’s medicated on drugs most of the time
began a course of EMDR. But while Alecia believes her husband’s moods have ‘stabilised’, that’s because she says he is ‘medicated on drugs most of the time’.
He is also facing medical discharge from the Marines this year or in 2020, and as his condition means he cannot work full-time he is worrying about paying bills, including the couple’s mortgage.
Alecia shares her husband’s concerns over family finances, which is why she agreed to take part in Sky TV’s The Heist as one of 14 current or former police officers set the task of hunting down ‘criminals’.
She is also training to become a security consultant and fundraising for the UK’s Veterans’ Foundation. The foundation has raised more than £1 million for good causes since 2017 through its Veterans’ Lottery.
She added: ‘ Peter will be brought before a board of medical experts later this year. They will decide whether he should be retained in service for another year so he can be treated inside the military as it were, or whether he is well enough to fend for himself on Civvy Street. Obviously this is a worrying time for us. While Peter will qualify for a medical pension, we’re not sure when he’ll be able to draw it.
‘Personally, I hope he is kept on by the Royal Marines for a while longer.
‘I also believe there should be much more support for military wives and military families, because we support the guys who go to war.
‘There is a strain on us too and our needs are too often overlooked. Peter’s condition almost cost him his life and our marriage. Combat veterans need the stability that a happy home life can provide. But a lot of milit ary wives, myself included, feel that senior officers give us short shrift.’
The numbers of troops diagnosed with mental disorders continues to rise, to more than 5,000 cases last year. A record 393 soldiers were medically discharged in 2016/17 due to mental health issues.
The Mail on Sunday revealed last year how veterans were taking their own lives at a rate of one every 13 days – higher than the rate at which troops in Iraq and Afghanistan were killed in action.
The Government does not keep records of how many veterans from these campaigns kill themselves.
Last year, a campaign by The Mail on Sunday led to the MoD setting up a 24-hour helpline for serving troops with mental health issues. It has received more than 1,500 calls.
An MoD spokesman said: ‘We take the mental health of personnel extremely seriously and understand the impact this can have on service families.
‘We have increased spending on mental health to £22 million a year and our 24/ 7 mental health helplines enable serving personnel and veterans – as well as their families – to access the support they need.
‘We also work across Government and with charities to support transition and improve access to key services when personnel leave.’
It almost cost him his life – and our marriage