Two Spalding police officers were honoured with a bravery award nomination at last week’s Police Federation Bravery Awards.
Representing Lincolnshire at the London awards ceremony, PC William Murphy and Sgt Nicholas Waters were nominated after they risked their own lives in a fire to save a violent knife-wielding man at a Spalding apartment.
In September last year, a woman had called the police to report being assaulted by her boyfriend at their flat. She said he had self-harmed with a knife and cut his own throat, before holding a knife against her throat saying: “We are going to die together”.
The man had locked himself in the bathroom with the knife and would not communicate with his partner, so she believed he was self-harming. She was screaming and pleading with him to stop, when she noticed that he had set fire to something as smoke began creeping under the bathroom door. She managed to smash a hole in the door and could hear her boyfriend saying something, but then he was either ignoring her or had lost consciousness.
Police arrived, including PC Murphy and Sgt Waters who had to force open the front door as the woman was still inside the flat with the door locked. The caller had stated that the man had “murdered someone before” and Sgt Waters knew he was violent and had a previous conviction for manslaughter.
Despite the dangers of the fire and the violent knife-wielding man, they forced entry to the bathroom to save him, as smoke billowed out. The officers attempted to put out the fire before searching the flat and then with other officers evacuated the whole block.
In February, PC Murphy, Sgt Waters and PC Andrew Atkins received a Certificate of Constable’s Commendation at an awards ceremony at Police HQ in Lincoln.
During the ceremony, Chief Supt Paul Timmins said, “The officers all put themselves at risk.
“Their bravery, courage and teamwork were incredible and selfless acts that resulted in saving a man’s life.”
The Police Federation Bravery Awards programme said: “The fire officer’s report said that the fire could have spread and put other people in danger if it had not been tackled.
“Both officers risked their lives to rescue a ruthless offender.”
