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Downfall of a war hero: Master sniper who took out Taliban chief a mile away faces court for attack on girlfriend

By Paul Harris

Last updated at 12:43 AM on 23rd July 2011


Fall from grace: Christopher Reynolds
was ordered to pay £500 compensation
to his former girlfriend Catherine Aitken
following an attack on her

His selfless bravery and outstanding skill made him a hero of the war in Afghanistan.

Corporal Christopher Reynolds’s repeated acts of gallantry – plus an extraordinary sniper shot that took out a Taliban commander from more than a mile away – earned him the Military Cross.

But when the Queen presented him with his medal last July, his pride hid a dark depression. The 26-year-old Black Watch sniper commander was battling a breakdown.

This led to a vicious attack on his live-in girlfriend, whom he repeatedly punched in the face before throwing a glass at her.

Had it not been for a judge’s understanding of Cpl Reynolds’s plight, he would today be behind bars.

However ‘the strain of warfare’ and his deteriorating mental health were accepted as being to blame for the assault a month before the medal ceremony on 29-year-old Catherine Aitken, who was said to have been ‘put through hell’.

This week at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, he was ordered to pay her £500 compensation but avoided a prison sentence.

The harrowing tale of a hero’s descent into depression began after Reynolds, who had already served in Iraq, embarked on a six-month tour of duty with the Black Watch in April 2009.

According to his medal citation, in one incident he stood up in the face of ‘considerable’ enemy fire, emptied his sniper rifle, picked up another one and started firing it – then grabbed a machine gun to spray a Taliban strongpoint from a rooftop ‘while fully exposed to enemy fire’. The sniper’s ‘outstanding technical ability’ helped  to credit him with taking out 32 insurgents.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2017799/

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Compare that with the dark story which unfolded in Kirkcaldy this week, in which Miss Aitken, a youth worker, became the innocent victim of his mental turmoil.

The court heard she had become deeply concerned about his increasingly violent temper since coming home from the war.

He launched the brutal attack on her in an argument at the home they shared in the town.

Reynolds was accompanied in court by a captain from his regiment. His solicitor, Krista Johnston, said he had gone AWOL for more than four months and his mental health appeared to  have deteriorated.

But she added that ‘all being well he will continue in the Army’. The court heard he could be transferred to another regiment.

Outside court, Miss Aitken, who is no longer in contact with him, said she did not want to speak about the case and was ‘just looking forward to moving on’.

The Combat Stress charity, which has worked with more than 100,000 veterans since it was founded after the First World War, is helping more than 600 British ex-servicemen and women who returned from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Some are so traumatised, or unable to come down from a state of hyper-alertness, that they cannot cope with everyday situations such as shopping in crowds.

Spokesman Neil Cox said the numbers being cared for rise steadily. ‘There is often a long gap, on average just over 13 years, between people leaving the Forces and seeking help. It’s particularly difficult for strong guys or so-called macho men who are less able or willing to accept what would be perceived by them as a weakness.’


Back in the day: The Military Cross
was awarded to Corporal Christopher Sean Reynolds,
left, for his skilled work in Afghanistan


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2017799/

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Hmm, kon ang diperensya wala sa utok, basin naa sa laing parte sa lawas...

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Pwede pud naproblema kay naay di na mohubag...

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