Heroic police officer seriously injured trying to stop getaway car returns to work

Pc Pete McGinn suffered catastrophic crush injuries while tackling career criminal Carl Anderson, aged 51, on June 7 last year.

The brave bobby was pinned against a lamppost as he clung to the drivers door of blue Honda Stream as Anderson fled from the scene.

The 45-year-old was left lying in the road in Erdington, Birmingham with multiple fractures to his legs and pelvis.

Fearing the worst he even asked colleagues to tell his family he loved them as they administered first aid.

But thanks to their life saving actions and medics who rushed him into a six-hour operation to pin his shattered body together PC McGinn survived.

And this week he returned to work as part of an investigation team based at Sutton Coldfield, where he will keep tabs on crime suspects and analyse intelligence reports.

The constable, who has served with West Midlands Police since 2002, has also been given a bravery award to commend his heroic actions.

Pc Pete McGinn speaking after Carl Anderson was jailed last year.

Yesterday he said: "I was starting to go stir crazy at home, not to mention driving my wife mad.

"I'm only doing three hours a day at the moment and juggling shifts around hospital appointments and physio, but it's just great to be back.

"I've got another major operation pencilled in for later this year so I'm preparing for another extended period of rehab.

"I'd always said I wanted to return to front-line policing but in light of the injury I'm looking at moving into a detective role , and hopefully next year I can return full-time.

"It's a great honour, but every officer at that awards ceremony will tell you the same: that they were just doing their job.

"People sign-up as police officers knowing they are likely to get into potentially dangerous situations in order to protect the public, that's what I did and what I'm determined to do for the rest of my police career."

Anderson, from Aston, Birmingham, was jailed for 12 years in September last year at Birmingham Crown Court.

He pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent, burglary, dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, and driving without insurance.

The court heard how the thug used the car "as a weapon" slamming it into reverse and pinning the helpless officer between the passenger door and the metal pole.

Dramatic footage taken on a mobile phone showed Anderson desperately wrestling with Pc McGinn as another police van tries to ram the car off the road.

He went the wrong way around a roundabout at 70mph before forcing another police car to swerve to avoid a head-on collision.

He abandoned the car near the scene but was arrested at his home later the same day.

Immediately after the crash surgeons inserted pins and plates into Pc McGinn's left leg and hip and transferred an artificial ligament into his shattered knee.

A few months later he underwent another gruelling "nerve transfer" operation to try and bring back the feeling.

He still faces going under the knife again to replace the tendons in his cruciate ligament and has lost all feeling in his right foot.

Pc McGinn was handed a Chief Constable's Commendation from West Midlands Police and on October 16 he will travel to London for a Downing Street reception.

He will then attend the national Police Bravery Awards where he could be named the Britain's bravest cop.

Chief Superintendent Rachel Jones, head of the Birmingham North local policing unit, and PC McGinn 's commander, said: "It's fantastic to see Pete returning to duty.

"He's been warmly welcomed back by his colleagues and it's been a real morale booster for everyone.

"Pete's courageous actions have rightly been praised at the highest levels and I can't think of anyone more deserving of a Chief Constable's Commendation.

"But the manner in which he's conducted himself since the incident, dealing with his long rehabilitation and the court case, has been exemplary."