Nine police officers who committed acts of heroism in running for national bravery award

The officers, from the region’s four forces, are all nominees in the Police Federation’s annual Police Bravery Awards.

Five officers from Humberside Police have been nominated for saving people from a burning building in Grimsby in September last year – a blaze which claimed the life of 59-year-old Keith Robinson.

Sergeant John Rickells and PCs Peter Bore, Neil Counter, Rhys Grover and Richard Williams were first on the scene and evacuated 12 flats, many of which were occupied by elderly people or those with learning disabilities.

Mr Robinson’s partner, Julie Addinall, is serving an indefinite order at a secure hospital for starting the fire.

The nominee from North Yorkshire Police is PC Richard Farrar, who risked his life tackling a man armed with an eight-inch kitchen knife in busy traffic in York city centre in September 2015.

A member of the public also helped to restrain the man, who was later charged with resisting arrest, possession of a bladed article and breach of court bail. West Yorkshire Police’s nominees are Sgts Tanveer Ditta and Tanveer Hussain, who stopped a knifeman in Keighley.

They had been responding to reports that a man armed with a machete had threatened people at a nearby supermarket and spotted the suspect heading towards a school nursery. He threatened to stab them and threw the blade at Sgt Ditta, narrowly missing his head, before being arrested.

The nominee from South Yorkshire Police is Sergeant Richard Pettican, who was responding to reports of a knifepoint carjacking. Two suspects were tracked down in a nearby alleyway.

Sgt Pettican was attacked by one of the men, who took his handcuffs and used them as a knuckleduster. Other officers arrived and the men were arrested, but the officer needed to have his head wounds stapled.

Federation Chairman Calum Macleod said: “We are only able to showcase the actions of a small number of officers at this event but I must stress that they represent a tiny proportion of the thousands of amazing acts of bravery police officers undertake day in day out serving their communities.“Each nominee is a credit to their force, their family, the police service, and society as a whole and I am pleased to be able to pay them the tribute they deserve.”