NEWS


P


aul Williams’ stunning wildlife photos have seen him appear on BBC’s Countryfile and won a


legion of admirers, among them the TV naturalist Chris Packham. But the story of the man behind the camera is in many ways as remarkable as the breath-taking shots he captures from across Britain and beyond, including the Arctic and Alaska. Paul grew up in Cumbria amid idyllic landscapes but dreamed of a career in the military. “The minute I could get away I was gone,” he admits, recalling how he joined the Royal Signals aged 17. He became super fit and carved out a niche for himself, training soldiers in mountain and rock climbing, travelling the world in the process. After leaving the military, Paul gained a


degree in clinical mental health nursing and worked as a senior mental health specialist in assertive outreach. Then, aged 40, he joined policing. As a Dorset officer, he was part of a highly effective unit targeting drug dealers and busting county lines operations. “Some days I’d have worked for free, I loved doing the job,” he says. However, an event in 2010 turned


his world upside down. Paul was in a Bournemouth enquiries office when the door was kicked open to reveal a 6ft woman in a long leather coat, brandishing a huge samurai sword. “She was an untreated schizophrenic and looked really unwell,” said Paul. “Your instinct in that situation is to run like hell – but bobbies don’t do that, we go towards things that thousands of years of evolution tell you to run away from.” By shouting at the woman and


keeping her focus on him, Paul was able to get four people to safety. She came at him with the sword, but he counter- attacked by emptying a can of PAVA into her face. She screamed, dropping the weapon and Paul seized his opportunity to subdue her. “By this time there’s alarms going off,


people screaming, PAVA everywhere. People crying, noses running, it was like a scene from bad B-movie,” says


Paul. He received a Chief Constable’s Commendation but was content just to know that he had saved lives. After this, his life “completely and


utterly unravelled”. He started struggling to sleep and, on the eve of his 50th birthday, he ended up in A & E thinking he was having a heart attack. Paul was signed off with stress which he found difficult to deal with. “I was this alpha male and didn’t do stress,” he says. He spent hours in rehab and psychotherapy but to no avail. Despite the best efforts of the Force and support from his Fed rep, he ended up needing to be medically retired, which was a devastating blow. As Paul’s PTSD continued, he developed a short fuse and his relationship with his wife and five children deteriorated. He recalls: “My sleep had gone to rats. I was making odd decisions and my mind was full of paranoia. You’re on permanent fight or flight mode with PTSD and I was worn out physically. I got to a point where I was thinking everybody would be better off if I wasn’t around.” Paul made three very serious suicide


attempts but thankfully lived to tell the tale. Then he got a break. He was approved


for Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR) treatment which allowed him to start rationalising what was going on. Although now a recluse, one day he picked up his camera and walked around his garden taking pictures. He realised that for a couple of hours he had no symptoms or suicidal thoughts. “I thought I might be on to something


here,” said Paul. “The image that changed everything for me was the picture of the


Lorton owls which I posted on social media. The post caught the eye of Dorset Wildlife Trust and was the start of an awesome relationship that continues to this day.” Photography had become his


therapy and he soon discovered his skills as a soldier, being able to sit in “really uncomfortable places” for a long time, gave him the patience and perseverance to get the shots that others weren’t getting. Paul went from walking country


lanes to running workshops with small numbers of people around the UK. He then challenged himself to step out of his comfort zone by travelling to the Arctic. He finds airports and sitting on planes with strangers a huge challenge but has realised it’s worth it because of what he gets to see in these remote places. In 2017, Paul featured on the BBC


Countryfile programme and published a book of his photos, called Wildlife Photography: Saving My Life One Photo At A Time. Springwatch presenter Chris Packham loved it and wrote a foreword for the book. And the pair have met again, as Chris is one of the mentors on the BBC’s Great British Photography Challenge, on which Paul is a current contestant. He is now in a much better place, living in a beautiful part of Wales and close to nature, but he admits that living with PTSD is a daily fight. “It’s a constant need to manage the condition and thinking about what’s going to bring stress and what’s going to take it away – it’s a daily battle but no longer a war, now it’s minor skirmishes,” says Paul. His big regret is the missed years with his five children. “I feel robbed and cheated by that. There are lots of victims of PTSD. We’ve got a great relationship now and I need to make the most of it and be the best parent I can be,” he explains. Paul is now a mental health advocate


giving presentations about his experience to help others around the country. He’s recently become a SANE champion and he has worked with Rethink, The Samaritans and other mental health charities.


25 I POLICE I AUGUST 2021


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