Bedside vigil for policewoman mown down by fleeing suspect

Detective Constable Cathy Corbett was mown down by a car on Friday morning outside the Sheraton Skyline Hotel near Heathrow airport in West London, and suffered horrendous head injuries.

Fireman Andy Corbett, 43, last night said he was stunned when he was told what had happened to his ex-wife from friends who had seen news bulletins.

Tragically, less than three hours after being told that 39-year-old DC Corbett had undergone emergency brain surgery, Mr Corbett learned that four colleagues from Warwickshire Fire Service were believed to have died in a warehouse blaze.

Yesterday at his home in Hatton Park, Warwickshire, Mr Corbett said he was in constant contact with Cathy's father John, who has been at his daughter's bedside along with her two sisters and mother, at London's Charing Cross Hospital.

Mr Corbett, who works at Leamington Spa fire station in Warwickshire, said he and Cathy, who did not have children, had a good relationship and were still close.

'I am deeply shocked,' he said. 'I just can't believe this has happened.'

Doctors, he revealed, had told them that she has a 20 per cent chance of surviving her injuries.

Mr Corbett, who has been divorced from DC Corbett for nearly two years, added: 'I know that she is in the best possible hands at present and I'm praying for a full recovery.

'My thoughts are with all of her family and friends at this moment. I feel extremely saddened to think that Catherine was just doing her job and that this kind of incident should occur.'

DC Corbett, from Solihull, was with a team of colleagues from West Midlands Police as part of a fraud investigation when she was run down by a blue Peugeot 207 shortly after 8am on Friday.

Police said DC Corbett was behind the suspect's car when it suddenly reversed and the passenger door was flung open, hitting her and carrying her along for a short distance before she fell heavily to the ground.

Armed officers arrested a 41-year-old man in Birmingham on Friday night in connection with the incident. A 32-year-old woman has also been held.