Hell is for Heroes

Hell is for heroes sometimes - not every heroic act or person meets with a good end it seems.

In the case of PC David Rathband - the officer appears to have taken his own life - after losing his sight, his job, his wife and his family.

Which is a great shame - because he seemed like a decent ordinary guy before he was attacked and shot at point blank range - by the sadistic killler Raoul Moat. 

PC Rathband was just doing his job at the time - on traffic duty - when the career criminal Moat sneaked up and emptied a shotgun at the defenceless officer's face.

His act of heroism was quite simple - almost banal - he refused to die and for a while the officer recovered albeit without his sight - which must have taken a great personal toll and placed a great burden on those around him.

I can't imagine how I would react in such circumstances - probably not well.

I heard the Labour MP and former home secretary - David Blunkett - speak warmly and humanely about the huge struggle facing PC Rathband.

Because instead of being born blind or learning to cope from a young age - the police officer was robbed of his sight by a violent criminal.

Who knows whether the authorities did enough to prevent one of their own from sliding into the abyss?

All the evidence suggests that everything was done - that could be done.

But sometimes people lives just become intolerable which is their choice - even if the  person ultimately reponsible for this misery was the shotgun wielding coward - Raoul Moat.