It was the early hours one morning when I got the call and raced to the scene – a tree overhanging one of the busiest railway lines in and out of London. Usually, there wasn’t anything remarkable or dangerous about this tree. But this morning, there was a young man sitting in it, putting his own life at risk. The man, who was in his mid- to late-20s, had been chased from a burglary and had climbed the tree. Now he was sitting precariously on a branch 30ft up – balancing right across the track.
I was there as a hostage and crisis negotiator coordinator, and it was my job to
