SHE has wanted to be a policewoman since she was a child and had moulded her life around her dream career joining the police cadets at just 15 years old.

But Sarah Russell's dream has been left in tatters after, she says, Thames Valley Police turned her down due to a knee injury she sustained in her teens.

The 23-year-old, from High Wycombe, had felt destined for a career in the police force but feels let down that in the light of a recruitment crisis they are not willing to take her.

"I just feel so angry about the whole thing, when they are thinking about recruiting people with previous minor offences like shoplifting but they won't recruit me because of a knee injury. It's ridiculous," she said.

She added that the reply to her application was literally five lines saying "I am sorry to say that we cannot accept you due to your knee injury."

Miss Russell seemed to be the ideal candidate, starting as a cadet with Amersham Police in her early teens.

When she turned 18, she became a special constable, carrying out many of the duties of a normal paid PC.

Even when Miss Russell tore the ligament in her knee playing hockey at school aged 14, she made sure she had a private operation so it would be 100 per cent before she applied for the police.

But despite letters from her parents to senior officers and supporting evidence from her surgeon at Chiltern Hospital, Thames Valley Police have consistently turned her down.

Miss Russell is furious that they are prepared to let her carry out a role as an unpaid special constable but not to pay her to do the job properly. Other police forces have told her that the injury would not prevent her from joining, but she wants to stay in the area.

Miss Russell added: "The first shift I worked, I had to deal with a suicide and have been involved in all sorts of things like car pursuits. It's virtually exactly the same as a PC so why is it that they are happy for me to do it unpaid but not happy to give me a job because of a knee injury?"

David Lidington, in William Hague's front bench Home Office team, who yesterday was seeking re-election as MP for Aylesbury, said: "We need police officers desperately and now we have someone who has served as a special and is being turned down."

Margaret Dewar, a member of the Thames Valley Police Authority, said the decision "beggars belief".

"Thames Valley Police should be grabbing her with both hands. I can't really believe they are being so short-sighted."

But a spokesman for Thames Valley Police said: "We cannot divulge or confirm any rejection reasons to applicants."

However, he added: "To join the police there are very stringent rules and it can be a very physical profession. We have to look at any potential problems in the future."