The late David Rathband was an ordinary traffic officer who loved his job, until one fateful night on July 4 ,2010, changed his life forever. Stuart Arnold reports

BLASTED at close range by a shotgun wielded by killer Raoul Moat, PC David Rathband – in his own words – literally felt his right eye leave his face.

He slumped into the footwell of the patrol car he had been sitting in on the outskirts of Newcastle and pressed an emergency button to call for help.

As he instinctively put his arm up in defence, another shot ripped through his shoulder. It was then that PC Rathband made a decision that would save his life – to play dead.

Moat, who had already shot his ex-lover Sam Stobbart and killed her new boyfriend Chris Brown, quickly fled the scene, believing he had achieved his aim of killing a police officer.

Meanwhile, the injured PC Rathband clung to the thought of his children Mia and Ashley as he waited for help to arrive. “There was a moment when it went pitch black. I saw my children and my son grabbed my arm and pulled me back,” he would later say.

Doctors were able to save his life, but his sight was lost . However, PC Rathband became a national hero, with people rooting for him as he battled to rebuild his life.

Wife Kath allowed photographs of his terribly scarred body and face to be released as he lay wounded in hospital while Moat – who later took his own life – remained on the run.

PC Rathband’s quiet bravery in the weeks and months that followed impressed millions as he spoke candidly about the horrors he relived every time he went to sleep.

Physically the shooting took its toll. Scores of pieces of gunshot, many of which remained in his head, left him what he called “black blind” and he underwent many more operations to remove the shrapnel.

But the 44-year-old remained determined that good should triumph over tragedy.

He set up PC David Rathband’s Blue Lamp Foundation to help emergency services personnel who are criminally injured in the course of their duty.

The foundation’s aim was to raise £1m within three years and fundraising efforts saw him run the London Marathon last year.

The cause won a number of famous backers, including Dragons’ Den businessman Duncan Bannatyne.

Mr Bannatyne, who became a patron, recalls a charity golf match he took part in with PC Rathband which aimed to raise money for the Blue Lamp Foundation.

“I drove the buggy around the golf course, but it only lasted two holes when David said he wanted to drive,” he says.

“He drove and I gave him directions. We nearly ended up in the lake, but we survived. It was such a laugh, it was just jokes all day.

“He was always cracking jokes and always laughing, and I think perhaps he hid the pain behind that, not just the pain of losing his sight, but the physical pain because of all the [gunshot] pellets in his face which caused him problems.”

PC Rathband wrote a book, Tango 190 – his police call sign – which prompted Alan Shearer to comment: “In my world, the word hero is way over-used. In the real world, it’s the absolute minimum requirement for PC David Rathband.”

Hundreds later turned up at a book signing at the MetroCentre, in Gateshead, in July last year.

DESPITE quarrels with his Northumbria Police bosses in the aftermath of the shooting about his treatment – his lawyers started a damages claim reported to be for £1m – he continued to love the job and dreamed of returning, even if it was for only one last time to finish his shift.

The former special constable also took training to become a family liaison officer, helping bereaved people deal with the loss of a loved one in road accidents.

PC Rathband, who has a twin brother, Darren, continued to be accompanied in public by his wife, a nurse, and wore his Northumbria Police uniform proudly while attending the trail of two of Moat’s accomplices.

But by last November their marriage was over, broken by the stress of the ordeal Moat put them through. In September they had announced they were to live separately. The month before, he was arrested on suspicion of assaulting Mrs Rathband, but the split was said to be not linked to that.

Despite his best efforts, PC Rathband’s life was taking another downward turn.

In the past week, a series of messages he was said to have posted on Twitter raised concern and members of the public contacted the police.

The former police officer, who recently returned from a trip to Australia where he visited his twin brother, was reported to have tweeted “RIP PC Rathband” and that he had “lost my sight, my job, my wife and my marriage” and would “say goodbye to my children”.

Subsequently, Northumbria police officers met him off the plane when he arrived back in the UK on Monday and took him home. He reassured them that he was all right and that the messages were posted by someone else.

Two days later he was dead – his body being discovered on Wednesday night at his home in Blyth, where he lived alone after the separation from his wife.

DUNCAN BANNATYNE says his memory will live on. “His death is a terrible shock as I never thought for one minute that David would not continue to be a larger than life character and have the rest of his life ahead of him,” he says.

“But he leaves a legacy behind him and we will continue with the foundation’s good work.

I am sure there will be something organised in David’s memory very soon.”