R.I.P – PC David Rathband
Early last evening, as we all settled down with our families for an evening of relaxation, the blighted life of PC David Rathband drew to a close. He was alone, alone with his thoughts, alone with his disabilities, alone with his last breath.
That he was alone is no surprise, nor any condemnation whatsoever of his many friends and family. It is near impossible to fathom the true thoughts of someone forced to face real disaster in their life. It is human nature to accentuate the positive, to reassure ourselves that ‘our visit’, ‘our friendship’, has been useful; to draw out the signs that they are coming to terms with a traumatic event and facing the future with equanimity; to walk away from their house satisfied that when they said they were doing ‘fine’, then ‘fine’ is what they are doing.
Despite my long experience of coming face to face with families in just such a terrifying seizure of malevolent events conspiring to ruin normal life, I was as guilty as anyone – I penned an emotive piece on David Rathband’s apparent ‘manly’ response – oiled with his public utterances of courage in the face of unwarranted disaster; then I walked away, back to the world of politics, having dropped a few quid into the collecting box set up by his brother. I had ‘heard’ what I wanted to hear – he would be ‘fine’.
That is the normal response of those who do not know someone personally.
For those who are close friends, or who become close friends subsequently, perhaps as a result of shared tribulations, the process continues – the visits, the outings, the conversations. I do not presume to know the content of those conversations with David, but I suspect that many of his friends this morning will be sadly wondering what more they could have done, could have said, could have listened to.
Sadly, it is a rare friend indeed who will listen to the inner rantings of an individual consumed by despair at their predicament. We tell ourselves that it is not ‘good for them’ to dwell on the negative; we encourage them to shut these thoughts away in a box marked ‘not to be opened in public’, where they are free to fester in 3am sessions between self and self, unhindered by the outside world.
For the family, the problem is magnified exponentially. One moment they have a husband, a lover, a father, a brother that they have known all their lives, or at least all their married lives. Someone with whom they have spent years knocking off the sharp edges that are the learning curves of disparate individuals sharing a single household. Then comes the phone call from the hospital, the bright and cheery voice of the nurse you have come to know so well – “Doctor say ‘X’ can come home tomorrow, isn’t that great?” The world, the social world around you, rejoices.
Then comes reality. Too often, the truth is that you might just as well have brought home the patient in the next bed. They may look reasonably like your partner/brother/father, as reasonably as the surgeons can construct, but physically, perhaps mentally, certainly emotionally, they are total strangers. Worse, the emotions that the world would prefer them not to dwell on in their presence, can emerge as anger towards their nearest and dearest, in the privacy of their home.
‘In sickness and in health’ is an easy phrase to parrot when you hear of a marriage which has broken up in the thrall of tragedy such as David Rathband experienced; ‘Stand by your man’ a desirable rallying call – we may like to imagine that whatever ill befell our partners, that we would never, ever, abandon them. I have witnessed too often the anguish, the fear, the responsibility for young children, the sheer impossibility of sharing a house with someone that angry, or that depressed, or even that dangerous, to ever condemn a partner who walks away from a marriage where a traumatic ‘difference’ had been wrought upon a partner.
So could any more have been done for David Rathband? Possibly not, probably not. Except that we could all examine our consciences when such situations occur in our own social world. Did we leave the door open for that person to really talk? Did we allow them to say unpalatable things? To let the savage thoughts out of their head, into the fresh air? To say whatever they wanted to say? Or did we just want to hear what we wanted to hear?
We can belatedly and collectively do one thing for PC David Rathband. That is to retweet this post, your own post, your own thoughts, anything you can lay your hands upon, to #pcdavidrathband.
If there is anything more obscene than the sad lonely death of PC Rathband, it is waking up this morning to find that the Chav icon, symbol of the underbelly of modern Britain, Raoul Moat, is trending on Twitter in response to David’s death.
That is something we can deal with. Get #pcdavidrathband trending and knock that overgrown truculent child back into obscurity where he belongs.
- March 5, 2012 at 01:01
-
Heffron’s leg is yet another ID used by the mentally ill cowardly Ciaran
Rehill aka Ron Broxted and Chris Ferguson. It is a tasteless reference to a
PSNI Catholic Police Officer who lost a leg and suffered other serious
injuries two years ago when the PIRA placed a car bomb under his car. Now to
the low born mongrel and cowardly and mendacious state benefits scrounging
scumbag Rehill, he views his sick comments earlier on this blog as pay back
for the fact that he has been arrested a number of times for various offences
that would preclude him from shall we say “baby sitting” All the time his DNA
profile is held on file for the safety of the public he has vowed to harass
decent police officers.
Incidentally as many others here have pointed out
here, he is devoid of decency and any kind of courage, just like his mongrel
and cowardly forebears.
Well done Anna for banning the slag,.
- March 3, 2012 at 07:39
-
in relation to how we treat wounded police officers and armed forces
personnel. It has always surprised me that (provided they want to) they are
not kept on in a uniformed role doing work that civilian employees do.
I would have thought that for many, working in a community that understands
them, supporting their uniformed colleagues, would be a Good Thing. And
reassuring for the guys on the front line that, in the event they are injured,
they will be welcomed into their support staff ranks .
Maybe it’s too idealistic and not for everyone – but that’s what I think
anyway.
- March 2, 2012 at 14:59
-
I’ve read all the above comments and agree with most of them..Ciaran
excepted.
Sadly, I feel that David’s mindset was such that any ‘help’ would not have
helped. He may have felt let down, I don’t know but what I do know is that he
was killed by the actions of a piece of filth.
R.I.P
-
March 2, 2012 at 12:07
-
I can’t I can’t believe David is dead, it’s such a shame I would never have
liked to be in his position.
- March 1, 2012 at 22:35
-
Beautifully, just beautifully put Anna.
- March 1, 2012 at 18:58
-
We discussed this at work today.All of us thought-it could have been one of
us.No-one knows when it’s their time.
-
March 1, 2012 at 18:33
-
A clumsy analogy, given the circs, for which can only grovel in apology
- March 1, 2012 at 18:12
-
A magnificent eulogy Anna. I agree with every word.
Thank you.
- March 1, 2012 at 18:12
-
I had a look at the vermin’s blog, not very good. Condolences to PC David
Rathband’s family. Unfortunately I may have made vermin’s day as he now will
see that he has had a visitor to his blog from Ukraine where I work. Actually
I disagree with killing him, letting him continue spouting his venom and
colluding with other idiots and ‘no-marks’ is for me the best way, let his
hell continue.
- March 1, 2012 at 18:11
-
A good man is no longer with us. Rest in peace, David Rathband.
My condolences to his family and his friends – may the memories of the good
times be a comfort to you.
-
March 1, 2012 at 17:59
-
You all speak like the police are angels. I’ve met some really nice coppers
but sad to say, I’ve met even more despicable ones. None of you know what this
bloke was like. His wife did!
- March 1, 2012 at 18:15
-
Whatever his human frailties might have been (the ones we all have), he
was a far better man than the one that shot him.
-
March 1, 2012 at 18:16
-
Ciaran?
- March 1, 2012 at 18:15
-
March 1, 2012 at 14:34
-
This is very sad news, but well said and a wonderfully moving tribute. What
a sad end for a man who was just doing his duty when his life was so blighted
by that man. How tragic that our society seems to abandon such soul, and often
those who are afflicted by injury both physical and mental by the wars others
are so keen to start
-
March 1, 2012 at 14:21
-
Just passing through concerning PC David Rathband -I as an ordinary
Joe-soap feel utterly ashamed that we didn’t do enough to help David in his
time of need. How as ordinary people can we change this senerio to help other
people in this position???RIP
- March 1, 2012 at 17:27
-
You can help by donating to the Blue Lamp Foundation, a charity set up by
David Rathband to support criminally injured emergency service personnel
just like him:
http://bluelamp-foundation.org/home.html
Thank you
- March 1, 2012 at 17:35
-
The issue of looking after injured policemen should not be left to
charity. It should be part and parcel of the job contract, just like the
pension is.
(I will be donating, but I also feel that the government should be
giving rights instead of alms)
- March 1, 2012 at 17:47
-
Iagree. If our government wasn’t so fixated on throwing ‘aid’ money
at third world countries with their own space programmes, and lining the
pockets of tin-pot warlords in basket-case countries who hate us and
everything Western society stands for, perhaps it could find a few quid
to care adequately for our own injured police and service personnel.
Until then, charities are left to pick up the pieces, and most of
them do a magnificent job.
- March 1, 2012 at 17:47
-
March 2, 2012 at 16:25
-
Thankyou Frank -that’s it done.
- March 1, 2012 at 17:35
- March 1, 2012 at 17:27
-
March 1, 2012 at 13:14
-
Sorry Anna, but of course much more could and should have been done for PC
Rathband — for example, paying him his old wage and compensation, giving him a
job he can do(and the support needed to do it!), instead of stiffing him on
benefit hand outs… (also see: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/raoul-moat-cop-david-rathband-247765
— one of many links like that)
Moat didn’t manage to kill the PC Rathband, but the police service
completed the job by murdering him with their ‘aftercare’.
He isn’t the first and won’t be the last
- March 1, 2012 at 13:35
- March 1,
2012 at 15:42
-
Well, whether the police could have done more is no doubt going to be
asked by those with a political axe to grind and a deep desire to see their
name in print in the media, such as this haggard old witch in the ‘Evening
Standard’:
“Jenny Jones, who is a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority,
said: “He was clearly really, really emotional and I find it difficult to
believe the police force did not know this. They have a duty of care towards
officers and former officers. It does demonstrate how you have to be more
aware for those in need of help after they have been hurt.”..”
But the truth is, we DON’T know whether they tried to help and were
rebuffed. PC Lightyear and others have said it’s not enough, but (in that
same article, Michael Winner acknowledges that you can’t force help on
someone who won’t accept it.
-
March 1, 2012 at 16:02
-
Jenny Jones, who denies that police officers need firearms as a
deterrent to the incident that disabled, then killed PC Rathband.
Hollow words from such a horrid woman
- March 1, 2012 at 16:18
-
I think ‘help’ is something other than a measly £18.95 handout per week
on top of the dole…
And arresting PC Rathband right after surgery is also something else:
http://blog.old-and-bold.info/?cat=20
And why did he have to sue to get compensation? We hand over millions
to all sorts of shysters but when our own need help, suddenly the kitty is
empty because it was all spent on the the Qatadas and equality mongering
civil servants @100k per year?
Meh.
- March
1, 2012 at 16:48
-
The assault arrest riled up quite a lot of Gadget’s readers, I
remember. I thought it a very poor show all round (and would never have
happened in less ‘enlightened’ times I’m sure), but if it made a few of
them think of their own actions in future, and less inclined to
go throught the motions, maybe it was no bad thing?
- March 1, 2012 at
17:31
-
Of all the people to make an example of, PC Rathband was the wrong
choice here.
And yes, there are rogue officers just like there are rogue people
in every walk of life. But collective guilt is not quite the winning
method to fix this issues ;(
- March 1, 2012 at
18:12
-
You know they have no choice in ‘going through the motions’ Julia,
it’s do it or lose your job.
Its a sad sign of these excessively accountable times, should they
not do it- the womens groups would claim its because police are
misogynists and are protecting wife beaters.
- March 1, 2012 at
- March
- March 1, 2012 at 20:27
-
Precisely.
-
- March 1, 2012 at 13:35
-
March 1, 2012 at 12:48
-
I think that 5,000,000, or 50,000,ooo Raoul Moats would be a little closer
to the mark…
-
March 1, 2012 at 12:38
-
What a tragedy.
What happened to ‘victim support’ for PC Rathband?
Police officers need support – never mind the grim trauma of being shot in
cold blood, being maimed, losing one’s sight, one’s job and one’s family.
Think about the ordinary daily events that a copper has to deal with…….
> being castigated in the left-wing press because some one in politics
or the ‘race relations industry’ wants to use you as a pawn in their game of
slef-advancement and self-enrichment
> nearly losing your life when a stolen vehicle is driven straight at
you
> getting spat at at a public order event
> being told that you’re a racist bigot for arresting anybody who is not
white
> having a fire extinguisher dropped on you from 60ft
> getting abused for breathalyzing the driver of a posh car
> getting abused for stopping the driver of a crap car
> finding a decomposing corpse in a house when someone reports that the
milk hasn’t been taken in for a week
> telling a mother that her kid has been run over
> getting crap from an ambitious superintendent 10yrs your junior
because something you’ve might make him/her look bad
> telling a law-abiding man that he will be arrested if he raises his
fist to a group of 13yr old hoodlums who have been making his life a
misery
> listen to your kids being abused by scum because of what you do for a
living
> arresting the source of 25% of all burglaries in the area and watching
some shit-head leftie magistrates release him on ‘community service’ which
he’ll never do
> listening to absolutely anything Ken Clarke and Teresa May have to say
– that goes double for Jacqui Smith
> seeing your mate having shit punched out of him by vicious drunks on a
Saturday night
> answering lots of questions when someone films with a camera-phone
telling some half naked slapper to ‘back off’ rather forcefully when she is
screeching at you when you arrest her boyfriend for assailing your
colleague
> having one of your younger colleagues report you to senior officers
for using the term ‘turd burglar’
> going home and getting grief of the wife for being late – because
after work you need a few drinks to calm down a bit.
> getting a divorce because you have a few drinks to calm down a bit far
too often
David Rathband – and 1000s like him – are worth far far more to society
than 50 Ken Clarkes, 100 Lee Jaspers, 250 Diane Abbotts and 500 Raoul
Moats.
-
March 1, 2012 at 12:10
-
I don’t know what to say about this because I have such a mess of thoughts.
So probably best to stick to his poor wife who will almost certainly never
quite forgive herself, despite it hardly being her fault.
I am all for talking about these things, or at least allowing the afflicted
to talk, But there are some people who just don’t want to, or can’t.
Not
sure about me. I never have been one for bleeding in public, but I am able to
rationalise, and I am basically not suicide material. So I suspect that this
was a foregone conclusion.
- March 1, 2012 at 12:14
-
Rubbish……….and at this point we don’t really give a toss about how you
would ‘handle things’.
- March 1, 2012 at 19:18
-
That post isn’t worth replying to. But does rather prove my point.
- March 1, 2012 at 19:18
- March 1, 2012 at 12:14
- March 1, 2012 at 12:00
-
I am not going to gloat but Raoul Moat was arrested 11 times and released
without charge. Plod reaped what they sowed. The next conflict will be far
left versus far right (including the police). Fight The Power.
- March 1,
2012 at 12:02
-
Ah. Speaking of the shits you wouldn’t miss…
- March 1, 2012 at 12:33
-
Persackerly.
Ciaran – I am merely a visitor on this site, but really…
“Fuck off; we are done here” is an expression which springs to
mind.
- March 1, 2012 at 12:33
- March 1, 2012 at 12:10
-
Moat was released 11 times due to the inadequacies of our justice system,
following its systematic hijacking by the lefty-liberal Grauniad-reading
brigade – and their inadequate camp-followers (mentioning no names, CR).
Our police, on the whole, do a magnificent job despite being vilified by
the “Trendies”, and being hamstrung by their own politically-correct
management/SMTs, placed in their position by lefties to further their
crackpot social engineering agenda…
- March 1, 2012 at 12:12
-
If true, your first statement is indeed an indictment on the British
criminal justice system………..Ken Clarke should be made to go to David
Rathband’s funeral.
As for the last sentence – WTF are you talking about?
- March 1, 2012 at 12:55
-
Desperately sad end for this man. Quite appalled that anyone would think
this was a harvest that should be reaped by anyone let alone a policeman who
was sitting in his car with no expectation or anticipation that a moron with
a gun would pick him on a whim.
And I don’t think it is acceptable to
dehumanise policeman with the name ‘Plod’ when we are talking and thinking
about the terrible price the police sometimes pay for upholding laws we all
benefit from.
Your freedom and security to comment on this story in which
ever way you choose is, in large part, thanks to your living in a stable
society governed by agreed rules. The people who police those rules –
sometimes imperfectly – are The Police and they take on risks that the rest
of us don’t want to.
Grow up.
- March 1, 2012 at 13:39
-
Plod was used as the cleanest and shortest term. Cowardly corrupt
mendacious murdering racist vermin is too long.
- March 1, 2012 at 14:04
-
Big words from a bloke with a little ego.
-
March 1, 2012 at 14:15
-
I suspect his ego writes cheques his intellect cannae meet SA. Best
to ignore the little troll.
-
- March 1, 2012 at 14:04
- March 1, 2012 at 13:39
- March 1, 2012 at 15:08
-
Bandar-log.
- March 1, 2012 at 18:08
-
Others have said this far better than I could, but I’ll say it
anyway.
You’re attitude is puerile, ignorant and repugnant. Grow up.
-
March 1, 2012 at 19:43
-
Ciarran– the left can be every bit as bad as the right– Look at Stalinist
Russia or Cambodia. Many police are just ordinary people doing a difficult
job– they are not perfect but somebody has to uphold the law and they are
constrained by our legal system which bends over backwards to help the
defendant. Equally when things go wrong its easy to pin the blame on
ordinary officers. The IPPC is a bit of a left wing sham— I love to see some
of them have to deal with real time situations and real time people not just
sit back and be wise after the event— the expertease of the BBC
- March 1, 2012 at 23:02
-
@Cieran Rehill: What a fool… ‘Fight The Power’? I am willing to bet that
in your case it would be ‘Can’t fight way out of paper bag’
Your views are ridiculous and so are you. You may well reap what you sow
as well… hopefully.
- March 1, 2012 at 23:19
-
Sad… a proper cop took his own life today, having had a couple of years
of real hell thrust upon him from out of nowhere.
Anna is right. PC Rathband had everything he wanted and, a split second
later, he had nothing. Once that had happened, everything he valued and
cherished seemed to melt away. I do not know why his wife chose that
particular time to leave him, but I would imagine that living with a man
who had lost so much would have been very difficult.
I watched Sue Sim on TV today. I have known her for many years. A hard,
tough, ruthless and ambitious woman. Never have I seen her so shocked and
emotional as today. Perhaps the ball was dropped with regard to David,
although I do not believe that people acted negligently with regard to his
situation. His assurances about his state of mind were accepted when, in
reality, he clearly had reached his particular ‘end of the line’.
To the supporters (and there are some, amazingly)of the cretinous Raoul
Moat, I say that he was scum and taking own life did the world a favour,
whereas, and it was horrible to hear that by some coincidence, or
parallel, PC Rathband chose to take the same route to assuage the torment
that Moat inflicted upon him.
Life dealt him a very harsh hand of cards recently.
R.I.P. PC Rathband
- March 2, 2012 at 09:50
-
Well said!
The deeply unpleasant phenomenon of publicly-expressed support for
Raoul Moat is, sadly, not something that surprises me; I see it as a
clear manifestation of the unreasoning hostility with which some of the
population automatically confront those maintaining law and order.
What I do find amazing is the level of ignorance that leads such
people here in Britain to refer almost universally to the ‘Feds’ – a
clear indication of how detached from reality they are, and, more
significantly, of their willingness to collectively dehumanise the
ordinary men and women of the police force.
As Donne wrote, ‘any man’s death diminishes me, because I am
involved in mankind’; though it was finally by his own choice, the
circumstances that led to P C Rathband’s death diminish us all.
- March 2, 2012 at 09:50
- March 1, 2012 at 23:19
- March 1,
- March 1,
2012 at 10:45
-
Given the coachloads of ‘counsellors’ bussed in these days to the site of
any major incident, one assumes that there are plenty of them on the public
payroll, at least in terms of immediate, high-profile response.
Although we obviously can’t comment with certainly on this case – PC
Rathband’s solitude may have been by his own choice – I wonder how much real
long-term psychiatric support is available to wounded police officers (or
servicemen and -women, for that matter) .
Does anyone know?
-
March 1, 2012 at 10:02
-
Like you, Anna, I am lowered by this news; maimed as he was, in the line of
duty, putting himself in harm’s way, by a despicable piece of shit.
It really doesn’t bear to consider the shits you wouldn’t miss…
- March 1,
2012 at 09:25
-
“If there is anything more obscene than the sad lonely death of PC
Rathband, it is waking up this morning to find that the Chav icon, symbol of
the underbelly of modern Britain, Raoul Moat, is trending on Twitter in
response to David’s death.”
Well said.
-
March 1, 2012 at 12:58
-
agreed x 1000
-
March 1, 2012 at 19:33
-
Well said JuliaM
-
{ 87 comments }