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Mum’s saviour

From the archive, first published Tuesday 31st Jul 2007.

A POLICEMAN has been honoured for saving a mother and daughter from a gunman.

PC Mike Jones, 35, was named Cheshire's bravest officer at the Police Federation's national awards.

He described how the gunman had pointed the replica weapon at his head and threatened to kill him.

PC Jones, of Holmes Chapel, who spent five years in the Metropolitan Police, said he believed the weapon was real.

"It was terrifying," he said.

"It's one of those situations that every police officer dreads, but you have to deal with it and your training kicks in."

During the early hours the gunman had broken into his ex-partner's house after she changed the locks.

The mother called police before he hit her repeatedly with the weapon, causing serious injuries. PC Jones and his dog Kaiser were sent to the house, where the woman's eight-year-old daughter also lived.

When he arrived at the house in Congleton, the officer saw the mother running from her garage.

The man soon followed waving the gun, but the woman had hidden behind the police van.

Then the gunman turned the weapon on PC Jones, who was approaching him. "I was trying to communicate with him and calm him down," said PC Jones.

"But he made several threats and said he was going to shoot me." The officer got to within 6ft of the man, who was pointing the gun at his chest and face.

PC Jones then distracted the man as the woman's daughter ran from the house.

The child and her mother got into the police van and PC Jones got in and drove them away.

But the gunman broke into a car and chased them through Congleton. PC Jones eventually lost him and drove the victims to a police station. He called for back-up and officers cornered the man at a dead end.

There was then a three-hour standoff.

"He was pointing the gun at officers and it was almost like he was taunting us," said PC Jones.

Police eventually sent a dog to take down the criminal and PC Jones arrested him.

The officer, who has served for 16 years, was honoured at the recent Police Bravery Awards in London. He and his wife Sergeant Penny Jones also met Prime Minister Gordon Brown.