A SINGING copper is hoping a love song he penned for his wife will help him make it in the music business.

PC Brian McCarthy, 35, a Cleveland Police trainer, has been writing tunes since he was a teenager but his audience so far has been limited mainly to wife Catherine and their daughters, Rosie, seven, and Sarah, five.

Now that looks set to change after an impromptu performance for a recording studio executive on a train led to him producing an album of rock songs.

PC McCarthy, of Ingleby Barwick, was travelling to London with a guitar he hoped to sell when his lucky break happened.

"This woman sat down in front of me. In her hand was this leather-bound folder with a Bradford-based studio name on it. I was desperate to say something.

"Eventually she asked me what I did and I said: 'I'm a singer-songwriter'. I could see in her face she was thinking 'here we go'. She told me to send a demo in."

Instead, the plucky police officer grabbed his guitar and launched into a heartfelt rendition of Blue Rain - a song inspired by his wife.

"I didn't think anybody could hear me, because of the noise of the train, but the people around me started clapping. The woman asked if I had any songs for boy bands so I played another. Two young girls behind said they would buy it."

The Glasgow-born bobby was told to book some studio time and soon after he recorded an album of ten songs, entitled Elements.

He is now waiting to hear back from record label bosses and has sent two songs to rock star Joe Cocker.

Blue Rain has also become the most downloaded track on an Internet site for aspiring artists.

You can hear PC McCarthy at www.vandalise.co.uk