Really Saddened

[Aberdeenplotter]

I've been thinking all day about that poor ex policeman who was shot by a nutter, having taken his own life. I can't even start to imagine how he was feeling but clearly he was in a really bad place and felt he couldn't get out from there. Police personnel know they may at some point be in the front line but I don't think they sign up for what that poor chap suffered.

[cardiffsteve]

And the nutter Moat is still idolised!

What is this country coming too?

So sad for his family and the charity he set up.

[Two_Sheds]

terribly sad

[Corris]

It's strange AP how something suddenly touches us isn't it. I too have been upset by this today.

[Jeanied]

I really feel for his family too - another dreadful consequence. There isn't enough support around either.

[Newton]

dreadful tragedy.....so sad when anyone makes the ultimate sacrifice.

[julesapple]

If Raoul Moat hadn't killed himself, and had been tried and imprisoned, then they should have added another murder to his sentence. Only this murder was slow and painful. PC Rathbone lost everything.

[WendyC]

Been playing on my mind too. Just thinking about how someone just going about their everyday business lost everything in a split second, yet it all took two years to finish. So sad

[The Reverend]

Evening Aberdeenplotter, i'm glad you posted this, as it really does stop and make you think just how lucky we are.

Tragic news indeed.

[Hans Mum]

just so sad for him & his family

[Bren In Pots]

I really feel for him, his family and friends he left behind.

[Seahorse]

Poor man. He must have felt so desperate. I feel very sorry for his family too. It reminded me of the case of PC Philip Olds as well

[snohare]

When I heard him on the radio, I thought that he was going through the motions but not really believing in them. When he said, "There are people in much worse places" I thought, "It doesn't make any difference to you mate, you're still in Hell." I thought then that it was only his wife who could keep him alive long enough for him to recover.
Bobbies just do not cope well with being powerless. It strikes at the very core of what they want to do and be.
I've seen good policemen and bad, but I respect (and pity) them all for being the last line of defence against social chaos, oftentimes brewed from a recipe created by politicians and chief constables.
"Show me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy"...George Bernard Shaw got that right.

[VirginVegGrower]

Yes, I thought about his psychological trauma. Surgeons can fix the rest but how do you help someone come to terms with grieving for their sight, their job, their life, their wife...it goes on.
We have an eighteen year old gone missing in this area, last Saturday evening to head back home twenty miles away. He's still missing. Search and Rescue are combing the fields and woodlands around our home. The police copter is swooping the river, banks, weirs and parkland only a few hundred yards away. Somewhere a set of parents are fearing the worst. It felt wrong sowing in the greenhouse today whilst watching those red coats walk the fields/copse areas.
I pray they find him alive but it's five days in now.