A POLICE officer who tried save a man who was attempting to take his own life had been recognised for his bravery.

PC Toby Wells, from Braintree, has won an Essex Police Federation Bravery Award.

He was called in to action while walking his dog around fields near his home in January 2019 after a young woman came running towards him.

He was marking his anniversary with his fiancee that evening but responded to the woman who was screaming that her boyfriend had hanged himself.

Having only been an officer for one year at the time, PC Wells said: “I hadn’t been to anything like this on duty or off duty.”

Telling her to call an ambulance, PC Wells rushed over to the nearby flats where the woman had come from, but he couldn't work out where the man was.

The woman urged him to look through a letterbox, and he could see the young man.

The officer quickly kicked the door down and began trying to help the man. PC Wells and a neighbour tried to resuscitate the man.

The officer carried on giving CPR as rapid response teams arrived, but tragically, they could not save the young man's life.

PC Wells said: "I was stood outside and gave my details to an officer I recognised, a Braintree officer, and then went home, and someone came round and knocked on the door and checked on me a while after. Everyone was really good.

"The man's girlfriend was really sweet because she must have been going through all sorts.

"She wrote something in to one of our bosses to say thank you, and I got a letter to say someone had spoken to the girlfriend and she thanked me and said I was like a knight in shining armour coming to help.”

He added: "Hundreds of coppers do things like this every day, and they just go under the radar, so it's nice when things get recognised."

Essex Police Federation Chair Laura Heggie said PC Wells had courageously run towards the unknown and done everything he could have done to try and save the man's life.

She said: "It was one of those tragic incidents which are just so heartbreaking for everyone involved.

“It shows how police officers are never off duty and how we never know what we will be confronted with when we go through that door.

"Toby did so much to try and help the man and his loved ones, and we have subsequently heard that they really appreciate his actions that day.

"His work was impeccable for such a young in service officer who was off duty. We are very proud of him.”

PC Wells will attend the Essex Police Federation Bravery Awards – which will combine celebrating the 2020 and 2021 winners – in Essex in September.