A former police officer turned paranormal thriller writer says being in the force put a strain on his mental health – but has been a well of creative inspiration for his burgeoning literary career.

Ian Backhouse, 55, joined the Metropolitan Police in 1995 after years of dogged applications spurred by the intrigue and do-gooder elements of the job.

The Woburn Sands native's twelve years as a serving officer were marked by high peaks and low troughs – and when he handed back his badge in 2007, normal civilian life came as a sigh of relief.

“I saw a lot of horrendous things in my time, as you would imagine. There were heart-warming things too, of course, but the worst of it was seeing people in desperate situations who had just been victims of bad decisions.

“I’d visit places full of drug addicts where you couldn’t sit down in case you sat on a needle. It’s a life that makes you think everyone’s either out of luck or a crook – and it’s especially tough if you’re thin-skinned.”

After quitting the force and finding part-time work as a drumming teacher, Ian was diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder – things he thinks lay beneath the surface of his former career but had gone unnoticed amid the unabating hustle and bustle of the job.

While the bipolar in particular takes a daily toll on communication and motivation, the 55-year-old credits the condition with boosting his creative juices and helping him tap into the emotions and knowledge of his policing years to pen his greatest accomplishment yet – a series of paranormal thriller novels that have gained him a loyal – and impatient – reader base.

Alongside teaching work – and drumming stints in local pantomimes, a refreshing change of pace from gritty crime scenes – Ian began pursuing a long-dormant love of writing soon after quitting the Met in the late 2000s.

He was perhaps overly cognisant of the “rubbish” manuscripts produced during the first few years of toiling away at his desk but enjoyed the gradual improvement of the ‘practice makes perfect’ mindset and was elated when the first finished book he sent out to publishers in 2022 was snapped up within just a few weeks.

Titled Beneath the Dark, it followed a police officer protagonist stationed on a secluded British island in the mid-1990s and has since been tailed by another audience hit, the supernatural thriller Alice Malign – with sequels to both currently in the works.

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Feedback from readers and literary heavyweights has been resoundingly positive, and while the earnings aren’t enough for Ian to give up his teaching gig quite yet, he’s more focused on using his modest platform to encourage other neurodivergent people to follow their passions and use their unique skillsets to open new doors.

“My moods can be very up and down – one minute I feel great and the next I’m chucking the book into the bin. It can be hard, but when I’m on an up-swing, my wife thinks I become even more passionate because I don’t want to let those down moments beat me.

“There was a very specific moment I always remember just before I left the Met – it was around Christmas, and I was stopped with my operator at a junction.

“We were sitting in this car in the rain, headed somewhere on a job, and I looked over and saw this pub full of people with fairy lights and a fire going through the window.

“That’s when I knew I’d had enough – it came over me in a really big wave. I think policing used to be a vocation but over the last 25 years, it’s changed so much and not for the better.

“When you're finding things difficult, there’s no room to stop and think about it. You’re at home then you’re back on shift and there’s no time to breathe.”

With his writing, Ian has found another, healthier way to indulge his love of mystery and the unknown – and his days are now spent scribbling down ideas, planning new plot lines and trying to get spaniel Ralph off his keyboard.

“This was always my passion, but I didn’t ever see anything coming of it. Now it feels like everything I’ve been through and experienced has led to this point – it’s great. I still can’t really believe it.”

Ian’s new book Whisper a Prayer, a sequel to Alice Malign, will be released in December. His first two novels are available to buy online now.