The personal injury firm at the centre of a media furore over a claimant police officer has insisted its client is right to press on with the case.

National firm Pattinson & Brewer said Norfolk officer PC Kelly Jones is continuing with a claim against a garage - and its owner Steve Jones (pictured) - where she fell while investigating a possible break-in.

The firm accused the media of ‘misleading’ reporting and said it was standard practice to alert anyone against whom action is being taken.

The case prompted a wider discussion in the national press as it was revealed that 8,000 police officers have successfully claimed compensation totalling £70m in the past four years.

A spokesman for Pattinson & Brewer said: ‘It is not well understood that a police officer can lose pay, promotion and career prospects by being injured while working. That is a price that most people would not expect to pay simply by going to work.’

The Police Federation, which represents officers in England and Wales, referred PC Jones to the law firm after her accident last August.

A spokesman said: ‘Many officers find themselves unable to work through injury and will often pay for their own medical treatment so they can come back into service as quickly as possible.

‘Like any other employee, they should have the opportunity to recoup any loss of earnings, and the current system represents the only way of doing so.’

Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, has indicated the subject of claims by police officers will be raised at a future meeting. He has already written to home secretary Theresa May calling for more guidelines.