When we visit Chris's grave we hug the stone & say 'See you at home, son'

Footie legend on coping with loss of ex-soldier hit by PTSD

- TOM BRYANT

TERRY Butcher spent his football career being held up as the ultimate hard man.

Who can forget the image of him in a bloodied England shirt, his head bandaged during a 1989 World Cup qualifier.

Or those crunching tackles as he put his body through anything for club and country.

But now, aged 67, he is showing a different kind of courage.

The former Rangers captain has opened up in heartbreaking detail about the death of his son after a battle with severe PTSD in the wake of leaving the Army.

"I've never given anybody a story like this," he says. "But if you're going to do something, do it well. Don't do half measures. This is a story much bigger than me." Football legend Terry is sitting down with our sister paper the Mirror ahead of a powerful ITV documentary which tells the story of Christopher, the eldest of Terry and wife Rita's three sons, who served in the Royal Artillery and struggled desperately after leaving the forces.

Next year marks the 10th anniversary of his death at their home in east Suffolk.

An inquest found that he died of an abnormal enlargement of the heart combined with the effect of drugs against a background of PTSD. The coroner ruled the 35-year-old "became a victim of war" after tours of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The former Motherwell and Hibernian manager says the grief has never gone away. When he heads upstairs each night, the routine never changes.