Paul couldn't find his way back... I will help others to find theirs, in his name

TINA MALONE REVEALS HOW PTSD DROVE HUSBAND TO TAKE HIS LIFE

- SUE LEE and FRAN BOWDEN

DEVASTATED star Tina Malone today reveals that PTSD drove her army veteran husband to suicide - and tells of the charity she is launching in his name.

Husband Paul Chase died just two months ago, on March 13, aged 41. In the 12 months before his death, his mental health had plummeted.

Tina says: "I've not spoken about this publicly until this minute.

"It's the first time I've said it and confirmed it. Paul did commit suicide. I believe in transparency".

Tina, 61 - who found fame as Mo McGee in Channel 4's Brookside and then as Mimi Maguire in Shameless - adds: "I'll never get over it. I miss him so badly and I love him so much.

"One thing I know... he's in a better place than here."

A former member of the 22nd Regiment of the Cheshires, Paul's service included Northern Ireland, Belize, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Falklands.

Nicknamed "Chevy" by Army pals because of his surname Chase, he served his country for a decade.

But it was the enemy within that finally defeated him. And when police knocked on the door of the Liverpool home they shared, Tina "just knew".

She says: "Paul hadn't come home the previous night. I heard sirens, saw flashing blue lights, and I knew."

Despite the 21-year age gap. Tina married Paul after falling in love in the unlikely setting of a boot camp in 2009. When she was 50, they had daughter Flame, now 10.

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She admits: "If I didn't have Flame I really wouldn't want to be here."

She explains how, with spiralling anxiety and depression, Paul had turned to drink and drugs. She says: "He felt lost, he felt useless. He couldn't fight any more. Drugs weren't recreational. Drink wasn't social."