Affair ended marriage of PC blinded by gunman Raoul Moat, inquest hears

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/06/inquest-pc-rathband-affair-ended-marriage

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A police officer blinded by the gunman Raoul Moat repeatedly threatened to kill himself before being found hanged at his home after an affair with a survivor of the 7/7 bombings in effect ended his marriage, an inquest has heard .

In public David Rathband, 44, appeared to be coping well with his new disability, creating the Blue Lamp Foundation to help emergency workers injured at work.

But in private it was clear that he had never adjusted to losing his sight, his widow Kath told the inquest at Newcastle's Moot Hall on Monday. She said he struggled to find meaning in life after attending the trial of two of Moat's accomplices. In spring 2011 Karl Ness and Qhuram Awan were given life sentences for helping Moat while he was on the run for a week in 2010. As well as blinding Rathband, Moat shot and killed the new partner of his former girlfriend and injured her, within a week of being released from prison. He finally turned the gun on himself during a standoff with police.

In February 2012, Rathband was found hanging at a house in Blyth, Northumberland, which he had moved into following a domestic incident with his wife.

Kath Rathband said her husband had several affairs with women, but his last with Lisa French, a survivor of the 2005 London bombings, ended their marriage.

"By this point it was my opinion our marriage was over due to David's level of deceit," the widow told the inquest.

French also gave evidence at the hearing, saying Rathband had expressed suicidal thoughts to her, but that he did not want to go through with it.

"He fought bravely and courageously for the whole six months that I knew him," she said.

The inquest heard that Kath Rathband enlisted the help of the Domestic Violence Unit of the local police after she refused to take her husband back following his affair with French.

She said he once called her pretending to be a police officer announcing his death, and then said "You will see a fluorescent jacket at the door" – a reference to how the news would be broken to her by the emergency services.

Another abusive message she received when he was in Australia read: "I will swing before you receive a penny."

Mrs Rathband visited him for the last time on the evening he died.

He looked "awful", had not been eating and was still in his pyjamas, she told the coroner.

He was upset, telling her he loved her and apologised.

After she left him, he rang to tell her that "I wouldn't see him again," Mrs Rathband said.

He also told her: "Don't bother sending anyone round. If you do, they won't get in and I will say I am fine."

Speaking before the inquest yesterday, David's father, Keith Rathband, said he hoped the coroner would rule that his son's death was preventable. "The evidence that the coroner's been given identifies that David was let down by the people that could have prevented his death," he said.

The inquest continues.

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