A FORMER robbery squad detective now gives parents training on potentially life-saving first aid techniques.

Kerry Kirkby became a single mum at the same time as launching a Daisy First Aid franchise, which she has recently expanded to cover a bigger area.

“I thought I’d try to have a child and have a business, thinking one would work – and they both worked,” she said.

Kerry, 40, from Christchurch, was a former JD Wetherspoon pub manager before joining the Metropolitan Police.

Before her two-year stint in CID, she served for two years in a custody suite and three on a response team dealing with 999 calls. “In London, if they don’t have an ambulance, they send the police out,” she said.

She left the force to take a career break and became pregnant via donor insemination at 38.

She had already asked her friend Jenny Dunbar, a fellow ex-police officer, about taking on a Daisy First Aid franchise.

But the business started to take off shortly before baby Arthur was born.

“I worked up until 39 weeks and I was back at work when he was eight weeks old,” she added.

The self-professed “first aid geek” said: “When I was in the police, first aid was just second nature.” But she said most parents were not given any training in first aid techniques.

“If your baby has been unwell and in the intensive care unit, you get a first aid class but lots of those people come online afterwards because at the time, your mind’s not in the right place,” she added.

She runs two-hour classes costing £25 a time and covering such subjects as CPR, head injuries, choking, anaphylactic shock, meningitis, sepsis and febrile convulsions. She also offers some pointers on adult CPR and use of public defibrillators.

The classes take place at Lollipops Play Cafe, Westbourne, the Hall on the Hill in Christchurch and Tesco at Fleetsbridge, and she runs them alongside fellow instructor Danielle Wyman. She also runs private sessions for groups, often at parents’ homes.

“I’ve done CPR six times. Five were in the police. One was when I was doing my shopping in Lidl. I knew I’d need that skill. Everybody should have it. It’s one of those things that should be taught at school,” she said.