Bravery award for officer who tackled samurai sword-wielding attacker

Sgt Stephen Brown Credit: PA

An officer who took on a samurai sword-wielding attacker with nothing but a CS spray and a baton has won a national award for bravery.

Sgt Stephen Brown found himself face to face with the knifeman on Christmas Eve 2012 in north London.

The attacker had already stabbed a woman and tried to slash Sgt Brown's face and neck with the samurai sword.

The quick-thinking officer managed to use CS spray on the knifeman's face before hitting him in the arm with an extendable baton, forcing the man to the ground.

Sgt Brown then jumped on top of him to restrain him and he was later arrested.

The suspect was found to have a bag full of weapons on him.

A police handout showing the bag of weapons the samurai sword attacker was carrying. Credit: PA

Sgt Brown picked up the national award for bravery at this year's Police Federation annual bravery awards in London.

Home Secretary Theresa May said:

A weapon used in the attack intercepted by Sgt Stephen Brown Credit: Met Police

Sgt Brown was not the only policeman to walk away with a bravery gong - 65 fellow award nominees from 31 forces around the UK celebrated with the Prime Minister at a Downing Street reception before the awards bash.

Other winners included Constable John Harrison and Sergeant Gareth Davies, from North Wales Police, who were called to find an armed man who had barricaded himself into a conference room at the Guildhall in Wrexham, claiming to have a bomb.

Constable Roger French, from Staffordshire Police, braved a burning building three times to save two lives; and constables Keith Lucas and Shane Robinson, from Essex Police, grappled with a man who had turned himself into a human fireball.

CCTV captured the moment Keith Lucas and Shane Robinson stopped a man who set himself on fire in an Essex petrol station. Credit: PA

The chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, Steve White, said:

A calm and collected Sgt Brown stopped by Good Morning Britain to explain what he went through on Christmas Eve 2012.