Officer who courageously entered a property after a man had just brutally attacked three residents has won the Bravery Award at the 2025 Devon & Cornwall Police Federation Recognition Awards.

31 October 2025

An officer who courageously entered a property after a man had just brutally attacked three residents has won the Bravery Award at the 2025 Devon & Cornwall Police Federation Recognition Awards.

PC Lydia Fallaize will now join colleagues from across the two counties to celebrate her outstanding work at the prestigious event on Thursday 6 November.

In the early hours of 16 August 2023, a man who had been drinking heavily broke into a supported living property in Westward Ho! and attacked three of its vulnerable residents in an aggressive and sustained assault.

Two of the victims were repeatedly hit over the head with a metal broom handle, before the man was disturbed by another resident, who he then set upon.

One of the victims managed to call the police, despite his severe injuries.

PC Fallaize was first on the scene, along with the student officer she was tutoring, who was only two weeks into the job. She described the scene as “chaotic”.

She recalled: “We didn’t know how many people were inside or what was going on. I scanned the first couple of rooms and couldn't see anyone, then I got to the kitchen, tried to push the door and I couldn't open it.

“Then the door opened a few inches and all I could see through that tiny gap was red. There was just blood everywhere.”

The reason PC Fallaize couldn’t open the door was because an injured man was lying up against it; not knowing if he was alive or not, she gently pushed it open, but then it slammed shut on her, trapping her in the kitchen while the student officer was still in the corridor. The kitchen was covered in blood.

She said: “I was in the kitchen alone with one victim who was lying on the floor against the door, another who was in a heap against the left-hand wall, and a man standing there…his breathing was really heavy, I remember his chest prominently rising and falling, and then it sort of clicked in my head: I think this is the person who’s done this.”

The suspect then headed for the back door, which led out into the garden.

PC Fallaize made a split-second decision to try to save the victims’ lives, even though she knew the perpetrator was just outside and could return to attack her at any time.

She said: “He could have absolutely come back in, the doors were wide open. I thought, oh my God, if I don't go after him he could come back in and attack me.”

She continued: “But our primary role as a police officer is to save life and limb, so I managed to shout over the radio, ‘The suspect’s on scene, he’s just gone out the back door’, gave a description of him, and then it was all a bit of a blur. I just remember standing in this huge pool of blood. I slipped to my knees. I've never seen that much blood in my life.”

She couldn’t move the slumped victim away from the door for fear of injuring him further, so she shouted to her student officer to call for an ambulance.

One of the victims was completely unresponsive and the other showed some signs of life, so PC Fallaize focused her attention on the victim who had the worse injuries, grabbing a tea towel and putting pressure on his head wounds, realising that they were very severe.

She said: “It was probably only minutes, but it felt like a lifetime before two of my colleagues arrived at the scene and arrested the suspect in the back garden, and then my student officer came round the back to help me with the first aid.”

The ambulance arrived and took the victims to hospital; they were in a serious condition, suffering from complex fractures and bleeding on the brain. They remained in hospital for a number of weeks, and have ongoing health complications as a result of the attack.

In May 2024, the suspect appeared at Exeter Crown Court and pleaded guilty to two counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and one count of causing actual bodily harm. He received a 15-year prison sentence.

PC Fallaize said she was “stunned” when she heard she’d won a Federation Bravery Award. She said: “I didn't know anybody had put me forward for it, so I was initially shocked and said: ‘Are you quite sure? Me?’, because it's the job, isn't it? You don't know what you're going to.

“Any one of my colleagues could have got there first, and I'm sure they would have done what they could, but it just happened to be me.

“I feel conflicted, because for me to get this award, something terrible had to happen to these poor vulnerable people in their own home.”

Devon & Cornwall Police Federation Chair Katie Clements said: “Lydia entered a very volatile situation and put her own safety at risk after a dangerous man had just bludgeoned three strangers in a senseless and brutal attack.

“She expertly managed the scene and bravely provided medical help to the victims, all while fearing for her own life. Her actions represent the best of policing and we are very proud of her.”

PC Fallaize will attend the 2025 Devon & Cornwall Police Federation Recognition Awards on Thursday 6 November. 

The Devon & Cornwall Police Federation Recognition Awards are in association with Axon.

Also sponsoring the Awards are Niche, Uniform Mortgages, Gallagher, Serve and Protect Credit Union, Warren & Co, The National Police Healthcare Scheme, THB Legal, Police Mortgages, Bluline Health, Pointers Financial and No1 CopperPot Credit Union.