Police Bravery Awards: best of luck to our Welsh nominees

10 July 2022

Six brave Welsh PCs will be recognised at the Police Bravery Awards in London later this week.

Nominated for the Welsh regional award, as well as the overall commendation, the winner will also have the honour of being presented with the award by Welsh First Minister, Mark Drakeford.

All nominees from across the four Welsh forces - Dyfed Powys, Gwent, North Wales and South Wales – are eligible to win on the night.

Nicky Ryan, Welsh lead at the Police Federation of England and Wales, says she is incredibly proud of all the nominees and is looking forward to seeing the four forces represented on the night.

“The Police Bravery Awards are always a momentous occasion in our yearly events calendar, celebrating the incredible courage of our officers in some of the most challenging circumstances imaginable.

“This year, we are proud to have six officers nominated for their bravery in a variety of intense and unimaginable situations. We couldn’t be prouder of their courage and determination and wish them all the very best of luck at the event next Thursday.”

The Welsh nominees are:

• PCs Lucy Morris, Nikita Matthews and Paige Morgan from Dyfed Powys are to be recognised for their handling of a situation last October involving a man with mental health issues drunk, issuing threats and “messing with petrol”. A call was made to the police explaining there was a man outside their property, acting erratically in possession of an air rifle. When the three officers arrived at the house in Llandrindod Wells, the man pointed the rifle at them and forced them to back off. Members of the public were in the area and the three officers were doing their best to keep them back but the man then began to walk towards the centre of the town. PC Morris, who is also a Dyfed Powys Police Federation workplace representative, PC Matthews and PC Morgan took the decision to use their police vehicle to control the man. This was done in as safe a way as possible and the suspect sustained a minor leg injury as a result.
• Gwent Police Sergeant Menna Watkins has been nominated after she subdued and arrested a knife-wielding thug. The sergeant was responding to reports of a disturbance during which the suspect had threatened a man with a knife. Menna spoke to the alleged victim at the scene and was trying to get more information about the suspect when he charged through the crowd of onlookers and lunged towards her. She deployed her Taser as he ran towards her and then handcuffed him and waited for back-up to arrive at the scene.
• An off-duty North Wales Police officer, Clare Larkey-Jones, has been put forward after risking her own safety by stepping into the middle of a street brawl, preventing serious injury to the victim and greater public disorder by diffusing the large-scale fight. She saw an individual attacking another man. The individual was violently punching the victim, pulling him to the floor and kicking him in the town centre. With no protective equipment, PC Larkey-Jones intervened in the brawl, putting herself in the middle of a group of men to diffuse the situation and protect members of the public becoming embroiled.
• PC Nathan Davies from South Wales Police will be recognised for his response to an emergency call in August 2020 when reports came in of a woman screaming for help in the River Clydach in Swansea. Two individuals were spotted 30ft below the riverbank in the middle of the river. One was unresponsive and the other was badly injured. PC Davies, who is a trained public order medic, took the decision to make his way down onto the river bed and, in doing so, he knocked himself unconscious. After regaining consciousness, on his hands and knees, he made his way to the two casualties. PC Davies started CPR on one of them and, after around 10 minutes, other officers started to reach the scene.

The Police Bravery Awards are organised by the Police Federation of England and Wales and will take place in London on Thursday (14 July). The annual awards honour some of the finest officers in England and Wales who have performed incredible acts of bravery, while on or off duty.

Winners of the eight regional awards, including the Welsh winner, will go forward for the overall national award.