John Sutherland, author of The Fallen [Zac Crawley]

A FORMER senior police chief, who served in both Camden and Islington, but resigned due to depression leading to a nervous breakdown, has written a highly praised new thriller.

And in an interview with Review about his book The Fallen, former Commander of Camden police, John Sutherland, castigated the Government for cuts to the local neighbourhood policing service and the loss of many experienced officers.

His novel begins with a senior police negotiator based at Kentish Town, attempting to “talk down” a young woman Government trainee, who threatens to throw herself off Westminster Bridge. The officer also suffers from stress.

The woman, Becca Palmer, claims to have been having an affair with a Conservative minister for policing and prime minister-in-waiting, Simon Jones MP. She says the minister has broken off the relationship and now she will lose her job.

The author, also a trained police negotiator, worked in Camden for more than 10 years, where he became Borough Commander before leaving due to ill health in 2018.

He was previously Superintendent for Islington police at The Angel for three-and-a-half years, where he became concerned with youth knife crime.

This concern intensified following the murder of Ben Kinsella off Caledonian Road in 2008, when the 16-year-old was stabbed to death by three youths. The book contains a memory piece about the killing of Ben, whose sister Brooke at the time starred in TV’s EastEnders.

John, 53, said the book highlights many of the problems he faced as a serving officer, including cuts to neighbourhood policing in Camden, lack of staff and stress often leading to mental health issues.

“I gave up policing after 25 years to concentrate on writing. I’m still hugely unhappy at Government’s austerity measures that resulted in the closure of hundreds of police stations and cut so many officers jobs.”

He believes that the problems he dealt with when a serving officer contributed to his ill health.

In the book minister Jones (married with three children) denies the affair with Becca and claims he hardly knows her.

The main character is Camden Superintendent (Operations) Alex Lewis, the negotiator. His partner in love and work, Philippa, is also a Detective Inspector and in this case they will be working together.

Superintendent Lewis also suffers from a post-traumatic stress disorder. Despite the illness he has to manoeuvre himself close to the bridge’s parapet, where a shivering Becca clings. And with a combination of therapeutic silence and calm friendly words he finally manages to get her to talk.

“People ask is Alex based on me and I reply he’s much more interesting,” said John.

Becca is a former Cambridge university history student who explains that all she ever wanted was a career in politics and to help make the world a better place. Prior to joining the Home Office as a trainee she was a research assistant with an independent think tank who develop solutions to policing and the criminal justice system.

But it’s at the Home Office where she claims to have fallen for the charms of handsome, charismatic Jones. They both come from humble working-class backgrounds, which they managed to rise above.

We learn that Becca also has mental health issues and has been diagnosed with anxiety and depression since her mid teens, for which she takes medication.

Supt Lewis manages finally to persuade Becca to get down and seek medical help. But two weeks later after a period of treatment, she’s back on the bridge.

Later a freelance former Guardian journalist, Rowan Blake, reveals that she has some interesting background on Jones.

John said: “The last few years have been a bit of a horror show for policing and particularly for the Met. There’s no doubt that the job of the police service has been made more difficult thanks to austerity and by the decisions of politicians.

“Already across the country hundreds of police stations have closed. From 2010 to 2018 the Government cut 44,000 officers and staff from policing in England and Wales.

“We have seen practically an end to neighbourhood policing. This should have been all that is good about British policing.”

As Borough Commander for Camden he said he was fortunate to have a Safer Neighbourhood Team in every ward.

“So when the Government cut the service it didn’t just cut the people – it was the experience of capable officers, many with 30 years’ service, who wanted to carry on but were compelled to retire whether they wanted to or not.

“One of the reasons why we are seeing such a crisis in policing is the loss of those local relationships that have been built up over the years. They were done away with almost with the stoke of a politician’s pen. The damage done is almost beyond comprehension and policing has a huge mountain to climb in order to rebuild these relationships and trust.”

• The Fallen. By John Sutherland, Orion £18.99