An inquest has heard that a police dog handler who could no longer do the job he loved due to ill health following an earlier accident that he had had whilst on duty, was found hanged at his home in Leeds the day before he was due to return to work in another office-based role.
Wakefield Coroner’s Court was told that 37-year-old PC Mick Atkinson ‘dreaded’ the prospect of working in an office after spending more than 10-years as a dog handler with North Yorkshire Police.
PC Atkinson was found in the garage of his home in Oulton near Rothwell on October 7 2018.
He had been due to return to work the following day after a 17-month absence due to health problems.
Recording a verdict of suicide, assistant coroner Sarah Watson, said:
“It seems his job was his life, certainly being with the dogs and being outdoors.”
Reading a statement from PC Atkinson’s partner Kellie Taylor, Ms Watson said he joined the police aged 19 and became a dog handler around 12-years ago.
PC Atkinson suffered from arthritis in one of his knees as a result of an accident at work and his other knee also became affected.
He underwent a knee operation in April 2017, which was not successful and he did not return to work following the procedure.
The inquest heard that after the operation PC Atkinson’s police dogs were reallocated. This caused Mr Atkinson a great deal of upset.
Ms Taylor wrote in the statement:
“In the couple of weeks before he died he was not sleeping well and little things started to annoy him.
“I can’t really believe it has happened.
“We were really happy together with a new house and a young daughter.
“Obviously he could not see a way out, He had health and work issues. He was a wonderful man and will be sadly missed.”
PC Atkinson’s GP Dr R Halligan, who had seen him 3 days before he took his own life, wrote in a report read by coroner Ms Watson :
“He stated that the thought of being stuck in an office for the next 23-years filled him with dread and made him tearful.”
Dr Halligan said that in June 2017 , Mr Atkinson said he was “feeling stressed and in a low mood” after his police dogs had been taken from him.
The inquest heard police found that there were no suspicious circumstances in connection with Mr Atkinson’s tragic death.
Following the tragedy, Superintendent Mike Walker, of North Yorkshire Police, said:
“This is an utterly tragic incident. Our thoughts are with the officer’s family, friends and colleagues at this extremely difficult time.”
Chief Constable Lisa Winward added:
“Mick was a distinguished officer and had been part of the North Yorkshire Police family for 17 years.
“He started his service as PC in Scarborough and then moved into the Dog Support Unit and became a handler.
“He was a well-liked and much-respected member of the team and of our wider policing family and his loss will be felt profoundly.
“His death has come as a great shock to all of us and our thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues at this extremely difficult time.”
PC Atkinson was also a step-father to two boys
Got a story, video or one-off blog that you would like to share with us?
You can contact our team of former emergency services & armed forces personnel either through our Facebook page, via Twitter ( @ES_News_ ) or you can contact us via email: contact@emergency-services.news or call us on: 0115 888 0592
If you run or manage a ‘job’ social media account and you would like us to share one of your stories then send us a tweet or a message!
If you would like to write an article that you would like us to share (it can be about anything to do with the emergency services / NHS) whether you serve in the emergency services / NHS or whether you are a member of the public who has had a good experience with the emergency services, then feel free to contact our team; anonymously if you prefer.
We are proud to act as a voice for the emergency services, armed forces & health service, with over 500,000 people visiting our website each month.
Support our news, stories and blogs —>
Before you go...
We need your help. As former emergency services & armed forces personnel, we pride ourselves on bringing you important, fast-moving and breaking news stories which are free from the negative bias which is often directed at the emergency services by some sections of the mainstream media.
One of the reasons we started 'Emergency Services News' was because we became tired of reading badly informed stories about the emergency services which seemed only ever to highlight negative aspects of the job.
We want to be the unheard voice of the remarkable men and women who serve in the emergency services, NHS and armed forces. And with around 500k page views each month, we are getting there!
As income from ads, the mainstay source of income for most publishers, continues to decline; we need the help of our readers.
And remember, if you have a service, product or job vacancy that you would like to promote to our large readership, then you can buy advertising space in our articles.
You can support emergency services news from as little as £1. It only takes a minute. Every contribution, however big or small, is vital for our future.
Please help us to continue to highlight the life-saving work of the emergency services, NHS and armed forces by becoming a supporter.
