Injured police officer to retire after 23 years

Claire Bond said she retired knowing "I have given an awful lot"

A police officer who suffered life-changing injuries while protecting the public in 2018 has decided to retire after 23 years' service.

PC Claire Bond's leg and kneecap were broken when she was crushed by the car of a drug dealer in Stafford, but she was able to punch him in the face to stop him driving into runners in the town's 10k race.

She returned to Staffordshire Police 19 months later, but said: "I put so much energy into that, I'm a little worn out."

Ms Bond said after she retired on Thursday, she hoped to set up a charity to work with injured police officers and their families.

She said: "I always saw myself as doing 30 years, that I would retire just before my 60th birthday."

But she remembered the words of a former Chief Constable, Jane Sawyers, who told her: "You don't have to have been in 30 years to be a good police officer, you just try your best."

She said it made her realise she had "given a good 23 years to the police force".

Now, she said: "It's time, perhaps, to concentrate on my family, because they have been there supporting me the whole time."

PC Bond received a Pride of Britain award in 2020

Ms Bond said she had been determined her police career would not end when she was injured and she had worked as hard as she could to get back into the force as quickly as possible.

"I remember thinking if I no longer want to be a police officer for any reason, then that's to be my decision and not someone else deciding that for me," she said.

She said she had wanted people to be proud of her, but looking back now, she reflected: "I don't know who I was trying to prove this to, because those around me were saying you don't have to work this hard."

With more operations to come, including a knee replacement, she said: "I've come to the decision I'm not physically well enough to be a police officer."

As soon as she retires, she plans to go on a holiday to Gran Canaria with a group of friends.

She then wants to set up a charity called Wounded Blue Line, using her own experiences to create a liason between injured officers, their families and the police.