'Recognition's 30 years too late for me but our heroes would benefit'

POLICE who are injured and forced out of their jobs may finally get recognition.

- BY RICHARD ASHMORE and ADAM TOMS

An injury-in-service medal discussed in Westminster this week would honour the “forgotten” officers who have to retire after surviving horrific ordeals on the front line.

While the Elizabeth Emblem honours officers who die in service, there is currently no equivalent for those left living with their injuries. But now the honour is one step closer after pleas from MPs of all parties were aired in the Commons on Thursday.

It followed three years of tireless campaigning by ex-Sussex Police detective Tom Curry, who suffered serious neck and back injuries in an attack as he responded to an incident in a Hastings nightclub in 1989.

Speaking outside Parliament before the debate, Mr Curry said: “The recognition is more than 30 years too late for me, but there are 13,323 retired police officers who would be eligible. There will be officers in the future who will be injured and they will benefit from this. They won’t feel as I did, that I was not worth anything.

“If two coppers, God forbid, are shot, if one dies, they'll get an Elizabeth Emblem.

“If one survives, be it on a life support machine or in a wheelchair, they'll get nothing until this campaign succeeds.”

Mr Curry, now 75, was just weeks away from being awarded a long-service medal when his injuries forced him out of his job.

It meant he did not receive the medal or any other recognition for his ordeal.