LET'S HONOUR NATION'S INJURED 999 HEROES

Former PC shot during a robbery calls on officials to recognise wounded emergency staff

- ADAM TOMS

A FORMER PC shot in the face by a robber has backed the Express's Honour Our Injured 999 Heroes crusade.

Billy Burns, right, is frustrated at the lack of progress on creating a medal for staff forced to stop work.

He said: "It's a no-brainer. It's quite simple.

Somebody's backside needs to be kicked - and continue to be kicked.

Billy had been sent to a reported raid on a Lloyds bank in Bristol in April 1983 when a fleeing gunman's bullet tore through his mouth and lodged at the back of his throat.

He was 31 at the time, and his wife Margaret was pregnant with their third child.

Billy came within a whisker of death and had hours of surgery plus extensive dental work. Yet nearly 43 years later, there is little visible scarring to hint at his ordeal.

Now 74, he sat on a sofa in his Bristol home surrounded by press clippings about his horrific shooting and a Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct signed by then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Billy left the police in 1986, after 10 years of service, finding himself physically "shattered" and suffering with what he believed to be PTSD following the attack.

Teenage gunman Stephen Korsa-Acquah had fled, hijacking two vehicles, and was chased through three counties before being arrested on the M4. He served two decades in jail, with a lengthy stint in Broadmoor, for attempted murder and 17 armed robberies.

In accordance with his Christian faith, Billy forgave Korsa-Acquah as he did not want to hang on to "bitterness" but he never received a medal for his service.

Now he is campaigning for former officers like himself and other injured emergency responders to be formally recognised.