It’s been three decades since Christine Fulton lost her husband Lewis, the last police officer in Scotland killed i n the line of duty.

No others have died since ? in no small part due to her determination that every officer be issued with body armour.

But as police numbers go down and the violence they face rises, Christine, awarded an MBE for a lifetime of helping families of wounded or killed officers, has a new aim ? getting every officer trained to carry a Taser.

She believes it also would have saved her 28-year-old husband’s life in 1994 when he was stabbed by schizophrenic teenager Philip McFadden in Glasgow’s Gorbals.

Christine said: “Tasers are the way forward. I would like to see all officers Taser-trained.

“There was an incident in London recently where a police officer using a Taser took out a man carrying a samurai sword. Something like that would have worked with McFadden and saved Lewis’s life.

“I would also like to see bodycams rolled out for all officers as they are also an effective deterrent.”

About 2000 officers out of 16,300 in Scotland are trained to use Tasers. They are normally used to incapacitate threatening or violent people.

Christine’s call is echoed by Scottish Police Federation chairman David Threadgold, who wants all officers to be issued with the devices because they can de-escalate incidents.

To mark the 30th anniversary of Lewis’s death, an award has been created in his name by his family. The Lewis Fulton Memorial Trophy and medal will be presented to the best students at safety and first aid courses at the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan, Fife.

Each medal will carry the inscription: “The biggest tribute you can pay him is to do your job and do it well.”

Christine’s life, as a mother to the couple’s then year-old son Luke, was changed beyond all recognition on June 17, 2004.

Lewis had kissed them goodbye as he headed off from their home in Kilmarnock to start an early shift in Glasgow. The family were due to go on holiday the next day.

She said: “I’d spent the day packing and getting ready. I went through to speak to a neighbour and left a friend, Gaynor, to look after Luke.

“Gaynor was holding the phone and told me Lewis had been involved in an accident.

“I laughed because this type of thing always seemed to happen before we went on holiday but usually it was something like a broken finger.

“The superintendent told me Lewis had been stabbed, he was ‘serious but stable’ and there was a car on the way to take me to hospital. At that time the hospital gave me no cause for alarm.

"They told me he was conscious and responsive and they thought it was a punctured lung.”

Christine didn’t get to see Lewis before he went into the operating theatre at the old Victoria Infirmary. He would die four hours later.

She said: “When they opened Lewis up they discovered that the tip of the knife had pierced his heart.

“It wasn’t what they were expecting. The surgeon was devastated.

“Those four hours haunt me. Did he know I was there? Did he want to speak with me?”

Years later she would meet a nursing sister who had held Lewis’s hand as he went under the anaesthetic.

She told Christine they shared stories about their young children and Lewis had told her their son was teething.

Christine said: “His last words were about his son. It had never crossed my mind that he was about to die.

“My reaction was one of disbelief.” Christine said the days and weeks afterwards were a blur.

She added: “I tried to do my best for Luke. I have one of these books where you write in details of your child’s first steps and words. But I have no memory of that at all.”

On the day of the murder, McFadden, 18, had been seen brandishing a large knife and trying to kick in the shutter doors of several locked shops.

He lived nearby and the police had been alerted after he had threatened his brother.

When the officers reached the family home, McFadden threatened them as they called for back-up but he headed for the city centre and attacked Lewis, who was wearing standard uniform and had only a wooden truncheon to protect himself.

More than 500 people attended the constable’s funeral in New Cumnock in Ayrshire four days later.

McFadden was later found insane and unfit to plead and ordered to be detained at the State Hospital in Carstairs, Lanarkshire. In 2000 he recovered sufficiently to stand trial at the High Court in Glasgow but a jury found him not guilty of murder on the grounds that he was insane at the time of the killing.

He was then returned to Carstairs.

Two year later, a fatal accident inquiry ruled protective equipment might have saved Lewis’s life.

In 2006 McFadden changed his name and was being prepared for release.

Christine was told of the move and that his treatment had been successful. She said: “I had always accepted that he had been ill. I had no objections so long as he continued to take his medication.”

Lewis’s killing caused a national outcry and there were demands to give police better protection. Strathclyde Police decided to begin issuing all officers with stab-proof vests.

For the past 30 years, Christine has dedicated herself to helping families of officers across Britain.

In 2003 she co-founded the charity Care of Police Survivors (Cops) and set up the Scottish Police Memorial Trust, which remembers officers who have died on duty since 1812.

Christine, who has never remarried, remains immensely proud of her husband’s bravery and his legacy. As does his son Luke, now 30, who works in the NHS.

She said Lewis was a brave officer, adding: “Lewis took the lead and sadly paid for it. He loved his job.

“I was proud of him every time that he put on his uniform and went to work.”

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