WHEN new PC Karen Bowman joined Durham Constabulary she created force history.

She completed what is believed to be the first mother and son combination to serve simultaneously in the Durham force, when she started work at Chester-le-Street.

Karen's son, John, a beat police officer at Newton Aycliffe, joined the force three years before his mother.

She had always wanted to join the police, but family commitments had previously prevented her from pursuing her career goal.

Instead, she worked as an administrative officer for the local education department in Peterlee, before her son persuaded her to think again.

Karen, 42, said: "I thought my chance had gone, but John mentioned there had been someone of similar age to myself in the training school with him when he first joined.

"When I did apply, I struggled initially with the physical tests, but I put in a lot of work and got through."

John , 22, who has always supported his mother's efforts to join the police, said: "I've not had a bit of stick about it at all. Everybody who knows has been very supportive and thinks it is a brilliant idea."

Policing runs through the Bowman family.

John's grandfather was an officer in Durham in the 1950s, and his 13-year-old brother Luke also wants to join up.