PC David Rathband - Tango 190: The David Rathband Story

T he day my world changed forever.

I couldnt wait to get to work but I shouldnt have been there at all that late in the evening. I was meant to be on a 2 p.m. to midnight shift.

Yesterday Id spent the day at Wansbeck Hospital in Northumberland representing the Washington family as a family liaison officer (FLO) at a child death review meeting after a double fatal collision out at Chollerford.

Consequently, my shifts had changed. It had been my plan to take today off. In the end I just decided to do a late shift.

Id come home tired and emotional last night after the draining day, did nothing more than have a meal with Kath and go to bed. I hadnt seen the news at all.

Tonight was also my daughter Mias birthday party. Shed turned twelve on the 1st but this evening was the big one. Did I want to be at home with a house full of giggling girls all night? No, thank you. Give me traffic patrol any day of the week.

I was up at 7 a.m. for an early round of golf a little bit of me-time before the chaos began! My friend Peter Holleran and I were taking part in a competition day at Warkworth Golf Club and Id bagged second place with a two below par score of seventy. Not quite the Ryder Cup but a good start to the day with 28 in prize money not that I would see any of it!

Kath had ordered 100 worth of party goodies for Mia. The cash went in one pocket and out the other. By 1 p.m. she had me nailing screws into the ceiling and stuffing piatas with sweets and surprises for the girls. God only knows what state I could expect to find the house in when I clocked off in the early hours of tomorrow morning. My mind was already thinking about how quickly I could fill the holes back in. Work couldnt come quick enough.

Just after 3 p.m. I got chatting to my then-neighbour, Jim, as I was about to head out for a 4 p.m. start. I had been so wrapped up in the case yesterday and Mias party today that I didnt have a clue what had gone on.

Have you heard about the shooting? asked Jim, assuming that a copper like me would know everything about it at this point.

He wasnt really asking me if I had heard about it. Of course I had. He was really saying Tell me about the shooting.

Except, I had nothing to tell.

I hadnt heard.

Only now, thinking back, do I realise the significance of that conversation. It was just neighbourly chat. Jim would often ask me about work. We had had this type of conversation hundreds of times over the years. Little did I realise that I would never see Jim again.

At the time, it just gave me an extra impetus to get to work and to find out what was going on. Nothing in my immediate behaviour changed I kissed Kath at the door, told her I loved her and would see her later, tucked my cartoon sandwich box under my arm like a good, honest, hard-working, hen-pecked husband, and drove off to my headquarters at Etal Lane in Westerhope. It could have been any Saturday.