Two police officers in Leeds have been awarded top national life-saving honours after saving a baby's life.
Officers sprung into action to take on the role of midwives to bring a baby that was not breathing to life, doctors said that a minute later in their fight to bring the baby to life they would not have succeeded.
PC Timothy Morton-Wiltshire is to receive a Royal Humane Society Resuscitation Certificate and PC Kate Welton is to receive a Certificate of Commendation from the Society for saving the baby's life.
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In March earlier this year the two officers were flagged down by a man who said he was concerned about his son’s pregnant girlfriend who appeared to be locked in her house and was screaming.
PC Morton-Wiltshire could hear the screaming and forced his way into the house. When the two officers went upstairs they found the woman in a bath having just given birth. The baby was blue and not breathing.
PC Welton called the emergency services and received detailed instructions on what to do which she passed on to PC Morton-Wiltshire who carried them out and managed to get the baby breathing. But for swift action though the baby would not have survived.
The two officers have also won the personal praise of Andrew Chapman, Secretary of the Royal Humane Society.
He said: “They were the right people in the right place at just the right time. If they had not been passing by when they were this incident would have had a very different and tragic outcome.
“However, they acted immediately, took instructions on how to save the baby, carried them out and there couldn’t have been a better outcome. A life was saved. The two officers richly deserve the awards they are to receive.”
The roots of the Royal Humane Society stretch back more than two centuries. The Queen is its patron and its president is Princess Alexandra. It is the premier national body for honouring bravery in the saving of human life.
It was founded in 1774 by two of the day's eminent medical men, William Hawes and Thomas Cogan. Their primary motive was to promote techniques of resuscitation.
However, as it emerged that numerous people were prepared to put their own lives at risk to save others, the awards scheme evolved, and today a variety of awards are made depending on the bravery involved.
The Society also awards non health care professionals who perform a successful resuscitation. Since it was set up the Society has considered over 87,000 cases and made over 200,000 awards. The Society is a registered charity which receives no public funding and is dependent on voluntary donations.
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