THE BRAVE police officers who tackled and arrested Sir David Amess’s killer have recounted the chilling moment the terrorist walked towards them with a knife.
PCs Ryan Curtis and Scott James were first on the scene of the horrifying incident at the Belfairs Methodist Church, which saw the Southend West MP stabbed to death.
The officers were both unarmed and made the brave decision to enter the church and confront Isis fanatic, Ali Harbi Ali.
The duo have both been recognised for their selfless actions by receiving Essex Police Federation Bravery awards.
PC James said the duo were conducting a “routine” arrest moments before getting the call to attend the church.
He said: “No-one knew if there were any other members of the public inside with the attacker. At this point we knew there was no option other than for Ryan and I to go inside without taser or firearms support.
“Our biggest fear that day was that there were other defenceless people inside with Sir David waiting for the police to come through the door – so any fears we had were put to one side. PC Curtis added:
“Once we got inside, we shouted at the suspect to drop the weapon and he refused and then he started walking towards us with the knife.
“We didn’t know what he was going to do, we knew he might attempt to attack us, but we had to stop him getting past us as there were other members of the public outside.
“We carried on shouting at him and trying to persuade him to stop and eventually he dropped the weapon.”
Insp Andrew Jopson, Sgt Jonathan Main, and PCs Daniel Smy, L'Wren Bremer and Lily Wellington have also been given bravery awards for their work that day.
They helped apprehend Ali and performed CPR on Sir David in a desperate attempt to save his life.
Insp Jopson added: “We had to deal with a lot of trauma.
“Two of the officers there had barely two years’ service and they were thrust right into the centre of what was one of the most high-profile incidents nationally.
“They all did an amazing job.”
Ali was found guilty of murder and preparing acts of terror and has been jailed for life.
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