A RETIRED Kidderminster police officer who was left paralysed after a horror motorcycle crash in Thailand has finally returned home.

The family of Bob Anthony initially needed to raise £50,000 for a plane ticket to bring him back, so they turned to The Shuttle for help.

After a six week appeal by his friends and family, and a lower fundraising target of £20,000, Bob has been flown to a local hospital.

Bob’s daughter Nadine Anthony, who first revealed his plight to The Shuttle on December 12, said she is grateful for the donations the appeal has received.

“If it wasn’t for the support of the community my dad would not be home right now,” she said.

“Without it, it would have taken us a lot longer to raise the money to give him the help he needs.”

The appeal was able to raise £17,000, helped by donations from Help for Heroes and hundreds of local residents, which paid for Bob’s flight home, as well as the hospital treatment he received while in Thailand.

Nadine said: “After initially being told it would cost £50,000 for his treatment and plane ticket, we were able to get the costs down thanks to a lot of help from a lot of people.

“As my dad is now home, any money we have left over, or raise from now on, will be donated to Help for Heroes.”

Much of the money raised for the appeal was donated via a Just Giving fundraising page set up by a friend of Bobs, Andy Norris.

Andy said: “It’s a massive relief that Bob is finally home and a massive thanks must go to The Shuttle, Help for Heroes and the hundreds of donators.

“I struggled to gain media attention from the start, however, The Shuttle’s efforts boosted the audience and fund respectively.”

Bob emigrated to Thailand two years ago after he retired from West Mercia Police. He also served in the Royal Signals for 14 years prior to becoming a police officer.

The effects of the motorcycle crash, which broke the 54-year-old’s neck, left him paralysed and breathing through a ventilator via a tracheotomy in a Thai hospital – fighting for his life.

After Bob returned to the UK on Monday afternoon, Nadine said she is relieved to have her Dad home and cannot wait to visit him in hospital.

She said: “We are all really relieved to have him back home now where we can all be there for him.

“I was worried the flight could have had negative effects on him as he was stable before, but luckily everything went alright, and he is now settling into hospital.

“I will be going to visit him tomorrow (Friday, Jan 22) as I wanted to give him time to settle and didn’t want to see him too soon as he still had to be assessed by doctors.

“But after not seeing him for two-and-a-half years you can tell why I am so eager to visit.”