Police save words of blind author who wrote 26 pages after pen ran out

When blind author Trish Vickers failed to notice her pen had run out of ink Dorset Police made a real impression on her. The boys in blue came to her rescue and recovered 26 pages of her book. Diabetes sufferer Ms Vickers, 59, lost her sight seven years ago and turned to the world of her imagination for solace. With a love of English poetry ditties were scribbed to entertain her mother over the years but it is only now she is embarking on her first novel.



However, she doesn’t type or use a computer but has a system of elastic bands that guide her to keep lines. Volunteer Carol Head comes in to type up her work. Her son Simon comes over once a week to her Charmouth home and reads her work to her. She was looking forward to one of his visits last year because she had been particularly inspired and had written 26 pages.

Unfortunately, When Simon looked at it he found nothing on the paper. Ms Vickers said: “We battled with various ideas until we thought of the police. We rang them and asked to speak to their fingerprint section. They said if there was anything they could do they would be happy to help. I was gobsmacked and so happy.” Her son drove her and the blank pages to Dorset Police HQ at Winfrith and waited to see what would happen.



True to their word officers in the department worked in their spare time, during breaks to try and crack the puzzle and Mrs Vickers got her manuscript back last week. She said: “I think they used a combination of various lights at different angles to see if they could get the impression made by my pen. I am so happy, pleased and grateful. It was really nice of them and I want to thank them for helping me out.” Mrs Vickers says she only writes for a hobby but being blind gives her a different world to live in.