David Rathband, with respects.

On Wednesday night, police officers found PC David Rathband dead at his home in Northumberland.

Rathband, aged 44, suffered the loss of his sight following an attack by Raoul Moat in July 2010.

The gunman, who was on the run for shooting his ex-girlfriend and her partner, crept up on the policeman’s parked vehicle before opening fire at close range in an unprovoked attack, whilst the PC was unarmed.

Moat became the centre of a manhunt for an entire week in the summer of 2010, with claims that he could long last the search parties that eventually caught up with him due to army training.

Rathband, who was in the right place at the right time, doing his duty, had the course of his life irrevocably altered by the attack.

Speaking on Thursday, Prime Minister David Cameron described him as an "extraordinarily brave man" who did "an enormous amount for charity", before adding that he felt “desperately sorry for his family”.

Of course, Cameron may feel sorry for Rathband’s family as the officer announced he was separating from his wife last November.

Here, it is the collective failing of support groups to recognise the problems that Rathband was suffering. Despite being fitted with prosthetic eyes and doing a great amount of charitable work in the two years since the attack, Rathband remained, understandably, an angry and upset individual.

Recent remarks on his twitter account had provoked several figures to send their own virtual concerns, advocating that someone get help for the police officer.

However, their action went little further than a few characters on a social media network. Largely isolated then, Rathband is suspected to have taken his own life, with no other people being looked for in the police investigation on Thursday.

Is this surprising if the officer had been left alone by family members and few outside people, despite his large following online earned by his bravery, acted positively toward Rathband.

Former Labour Home secretary David Blunkett, himself blind since birth, said: "I am deeply saddened and I am worried about his wife Kath and his family. There was a man who was struggling inside as well as with the practicalities of coping with blindness. He was actually coping extremely well, but he didn't believe so.”

Who should be held responsible for the fragility of this officer? Moat, long since dead himself, is obviously a key figure in the apportioning of this blame, but he must be described more as a powder-keg in Rathbone’s actions. Instead, a society that held Rathband in such esteem from afar is damnable for not understanding, but instead merely framing and faming, a man undergoing huge changes to his daily life and beliefs.

His wife, undoubtedly in a position of shock, is sure to be feeling somewhat guilty, but this is no more her fault: having to deal with the repercussions of Moat’s attack herself.

Following the sentencing of Karl Ness and Qhuram Awan for assisting Moat last year, Rathband spoke out to describe how “These two individuals, along with the other coward who wasn't man enough to stay here, have taken my job from me.” Perhaps, these three, along with the ignorance of onlookers, have now taken his life too.

Perhaps this is an all the more important time to act, considering other victims of Moat, as his ex-girlfriend admitted she has considered suicide following July 2010's rampage.