Brave East Lancashire policemen up for top award

2:00pm Friday 12th October 2012 in East Lancashire Photograph of the Author By Peter Magill, Chief reporter

NOMINATED PC Ian McGinty and Marc Rigby NOMINATED PC Ian McGinty and Marc Rigby

TWO police officers from East Lancashire who tackled a violent knifeman who bit off his girlfriend’s nose have been recommended for a national police bravery award.

PC Marc Rigby and PC Ian McGinty faced down Robert Wilson, who had been on a barefooted rampage in just his underwear through Simonstone in July 2010.

Wilson ran at PC Rigby, brandishing an eight-inch knife, and forced him to the ground, repeatedly trying to stab him, but the officer managed to grab his wrists.

PC McGinty was forced to use multiple Taser shots to subdue the half-naked Wilson, just yards from the village’s primary school.

The two officers escaped from the confrontation with just cuts and bruises.

But his original victim, Jane Ireland, who he left at her home in Hapton Road, Padiham, later faced reconstructive surgery on her face.

Wilson, who had a long history of violence, was later jailed indefinitely, after admitted causing grievous bodily harm to his then-partner.

PC Rigby and PC McGinty were presented with the William Garnet Cup, the Lancashire Constabulary’s highest bravery award.

And now it has been confirmed that the pair are in the running for a national police bravery award.

Rachel Baines, Lancashire’s Police Federation Chairman, said: “The public of Lancashire should be proud of their actions that day. They represent the very best the constabulary has to offer.”

Police feared that Wilson, who had been on the run for eight hours, could have potentially harmed the public in his agitated state.

Chief Constable Steve Finnigan said: “The dedication and courage shown by the officers is a credit to them, and worthy of the highest recognition. They put their lives at risk and showed tremendous bravery in order to protect members of the public.”

Comments(11)

DirtyHarry says...
4:18pm Fri 12 Oct 12

Well done lads, this is the reason why the Police receive a good pension and a decent pay packet, these boys might not have come home that day and it could spontaneously happen to any one of the front line cops out there. My council tax money is well spent.

........the one on the right still looks like Max Headroom though!

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bigjohn998 says...
5:31pm Fri 12 Oct 12

Well done lads. It takes a lot of bottle to face an idiot with a knife. You more than deserve the award. Again, well done

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mys says...
7:44pm Fri 12 Oct 12

Well done both of you, very lucky you didn't get seriously hurt, you both deserve the top award x

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Graham Hartley says...
8:36pm Sat 13 Oct 12

Unless there were circumstances not reported here, it appears that the officer who was attacked with a knife was the braver, since to discharge a Taser weapon is not a brave act.

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ray_carlings_moustache says...
10:15am Sun 14 Oct 12

Graham Hartley wrote:
Unless there were circumstances not reported here, it appears that the officer who was attacked with a knife was the braver, since to discharge a Taser weapon is not a brave act.
So you would know about what it takes to discharge a taser at a someone armed with a knife intent on doing you harm?

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Graham Hartley says...
11:29am Sun 14 Oct 12

ray_carlings_moustac
he wrote:
Graham Hartley wrote:
Unless there were circumstances not reported here, it appears that the officer who was attacked with a knife was the braver, since to discharge a Taser weapon is not a brave act.
So you would know about what it takes to discharge a taser at a someone armed with a knife intent on doing you harm?
It takes the effort required to aim and then pull upon the trigger. According to the report, the knife-wielder and one officer were struggling on the ground; the other officer was not impeded in his effort to use the Taser. The report does not describe the officers' first interaction with the fellow beyond that they 'faced down'. Granting that confronting such a fellow requires courage, both officers could draw confidence from the fact that their weapons were effective in their trained hands. That they were facing a trained knife user was unlikely, since they had not been immediately disabled.

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Fire Fly says...
10:15pm Sun 14 Oct 12

Since I doubt that anyone commenting here has found themselves in a similar situation to these Officers, I suggest we allow them their time in the spotlight.

Its one thing sitting in the comfort of your own home 'reviewing' a situation & then calmly taking your time to think about 'how it was' but its quite another to be in the thick of it & thinking on your feet with split seconds to decide the best way forward.

Well done & thank you to PC Marc Rigby and PC Ian McGinty...we all get to sleep soundly at night because we have Officers like yourselves in our forces.

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Graham Hartley says...
12:08am Mon 15 Oct 12

Doubt and suggest whatever you fancy. It's not a free country.

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Graham Hartley says...
12:17am Mon 15 Oct 12

'Since' is an adverb with popular though inaccurate application because it depends upon causality which is so often assumed, innit.

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Toti Aiyrk says...
9:26pm Thu 18 Oct 12

A report in this newspaper describes a most unfortunate incident involving the use of a Taser by a police officer against a blind man. In the report, a former Chairman of Lancashire Police Authority advises that the current policy is “Taser guns are only deployed in a situation where officers feel they would be faced with a gun.' This advice is at odds with the action of one of these officers in deploying a Taser against a man who had no gun and furthermore had no place to conceal a gun beneath his scant clothing.

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Graham Hartley says...
1:08am Fri 19 Oct 12

Toti Aiyrk wrote:
A report in this newspaper describes a most unfortunate incident involving the use of a Taser by a police officer against a blind man. In the report, a former Chairman of Lancashire Police Authority advises that the current policy is “Taser guns are only deployed in a situation where officers feel they would be faced with a gun.' This advice is at odds with the action of one of these officers in deploying a Taser against a man who had no gun and furthermore had no place to conceal a gun beneath his scant clothing.
Go figure.

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