A POLICEMAN who was kept on half pay for more than two years after suffering a stroke he claims was brought on by the stress of his job has won the right to mount a High Court challenge.

David Donachie says his illness was duty related and he should have been on full pay between May 4, 1998, when he went off sick, and August 2000, when he was medically retired from the force.

But, after almost three years, his case has yet to be decided by the Director General of the National Crime Squad, prompting his lawyers to take his case to London's High Court.

His counsel, Paul Epstein, said he had been waiting for a decision since July 1998, but had been "pushed from pillar to post" with still no resolution in sight.

After a brief hearing, Mr Justice Newman ordered the Director General to decide Mr Donachie's case within 28 days or face a full judicial review challenge in court.

Mr Donachie, then a detective constable, of Tyldesley, Greater Manchester, was trained for undercover work and specialised in the use of SMART tracking surveillance devices in his job with the National Crime Squad.

In November 1997 he took part in a "highly stressful" operation in which he had to attach a tracking device to a car with the suspect standing very close by.

The device malfunctioned several times and Mr Donachie had to re-attach it a total of five times, on each occasion at grave risk to himself, the court was told.

Two days later he suffered a stroke whilst meeting an informant and an inter cerebral haemorrhage and hypertension were diagnosed. He spent three months in a rehabilitation centre.

But the court heard that Mr Donachie was told his case did not "fit the criteria" for being left on full pay whilst off sick and he was placed on half pay as from May 4, 1998.

He was compulsorily medically retired in August 2000, but the Director General has yet to reach a decision on his application for substantial back pay.

Mr Epstein described the delay in reaching a decision as "unlawful, irrational, unreasonable and procedurally improper".

He said it amounted to a breach of Article Six of European Convention on Human Rights in that Mr Donachie had been deprived of "a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time."