PCs who saved girl up for bravery awards

A police officer nominated for a bravery award said "things went from nought to a hundred almost immediately" when confronted with a man pressing a knife to a girl's throat.

PC Charlie Jones and three other Essex Police officers used Tasers to free the child on 22 November 2024.

Jones, PC Robert Bradbrook, PC Charlotte Mixer and a fourth officer have all been nominated for the Police Federation Bravery Awards taking place on Thursday.

Brian Lyttle, 56, from Stanway in Colchester, was convicted of several offences and jailed for nine years at Ipswich Crown Court on 20 May.

Jones said the award was recognition for all emergency responders.

Two officers were reporting to the welfare check that day, but Jones said that "didn't sit right with me", so he committed himself and two more officers to the address.

He said they were confronted with a person "running out of the door screaming 'he's got a knife'".

Officers found Lyttle with a blade to the girl's throat and "using her as a shield".

Jones said his training took over and described an "absence of thought" as they pulled out Tasers and batons.

The group formed a line with a riot shield at the front of the pack, prompting Lyttle to retreat and barricade himself in the utility room at the back of the house.

"The first Taser is discharged and it's ineffective and then a Taser is then discharged, I believe, a further three times, the third instant being effective."

This incapacitated Lyttle and the girl wriggled free.

Jones said it was "a miracle" that nobody was seriously injured.

Unlike the TV dramas, Jones said policing was often "fairly steady and mundane", with "sprinklings of intense, dramatic events".

A couple of decades ago, he said wellbeing was not part of police language, but he highlighted the trauma support he had received since the incident.

Jones now works as a British Transport Police officer in Colchester.

Essex Police Federation chairman Steve Martin said: "These officers represent the very best of Essex Police and their actions stand as a powerful reminder of the courage shown by frontline officers every single day."

Assistant Chief Constable Glen Pavelin added: "Their actions were not just brave, they were decisive, selfless and life-saving."

Lyttle was convicted of three counts of false imprisonment, making threats to kill, assault causing actual bodily harm and threatening a person with a bladed article.

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