A SERVING police officer who lives in Redhill he’s using his experiences in the forced to write novels that have a gritty realism - and it’s had an unexpected effect in reducing his own anxiety.

John T. Leonard sees every day the impact of crime has on victims and those connected with them.

It means you can write crime thrillers that have an authenticity that can only come from seeing and experiencing the things he writes about.

But writing is not just a hobby for the 44-year-old, it’s therapy.

He explained: “Since a divorce I had, I’ve suffered greatly with anxiety. Writing is therapy for me. The characters I create can do the things I can’t. I can put how I’m feeling into a character and give them a happy ending. It shows they helped show me a way forward, out of my anxiety.”

Mr Leonard released his fourth book, A Life’s Work, on September 27 (2018) and it follows a boy, Oliver, who witnesses his mother is killing and seeks revenge, after the offender is released from jail early. His first three books were self-published but A Life’s Work was taken on by Pegasus Publishers.

One of the themes of his book is the frustration that can come out of the justice system. He said: “I see and deal with victims and witnesses all the time and I can see the disappointment when the case doesn’t go their way. It’s the same with police officers. They can regularly be disappointed when they put all the case together and spend months on it, to not get a conviction or get a suspended sentence. It’s this frustration that motivates a lot of the characters in my books. Oliver is, in a sense, an embodiment of vengeance that people want to seek.”

Mr Leonard started writing about 12 years ago but never finished his first manuscript.

Two years ago he started writing again and finished his first novel of 300 pages in 10 days whilst he was off work with carpal tunnel syndrome.

He said: “My books have gone from being online on Amazon to being in shops and in libraries. It’s really exciting for me.”