Devon & Cornwall Police News site

On Friday 24 March, Deputy Chief Constable Jim Colwell hosted an awards ceremony to celebrate the long service of officers and staff.

He was joined by Lieutenant General Sir Andrew Ridgeway KBE CB, Deputy Lieutenant for Devon, as well as by colleagues and representatives from across the force.

The citations were read by Chief Superintendent Jo Hall.

Some of those to be recognised are listed below.

Long Service and Good Conduct Award

Nick Bloom

Nick joined Devon and Cornwall Police in 2002 as a Patrol Constable in Plymouth, a city he would continue to serve over the next 20 years.

Nick was a really had working officer during his days on patrol, he would go off at the start of the shift, get all his jobs done and come back at the end of shift causing very few issues. This hasn’t changed throughout his career.

Nick's proudest moment was when a concerned father wanted a police officer to speak to his son who was heading down the wrong path in life. Twelve years later, he was approached by the concerned father who told him that it was the best chat anyone had ever given him, it was a life-changing conversation, and the son had been accepted into the Royal Marines.

In 2006 Nick began his detective career where he was destined to stay. In 2016, he was the OIC for an investigation into a kidnap. The result was a significant combined custodial sentence between five offenders.

In 2018, he looked at becoming a firearms officer, but when that came to nothing, he made the decision to seek promotion and in 2020 was promoted to detective sergeant where he is now leading a team, investigating serious sexual offences. Nick is an excellent supportive leader and his team love working for him.

Nick is a credit to Devon and Cornwall Police and there is no doubt he will continue to serve the city of Plymouth to a very high standard.

Chief Constable’s Commendations

David Thubron

Dave was on plain clothes duties in the Ilfracombe area following a spate of commercial burglaries. At 10.50pm, the radio operator stated ambulance had a call that a male had been stabbed at Bicclescombe Park. Further information was that the male had serious abdominal injuries.

Despite the mention of a knife/machete Dave attended the park on foot weighing up the need to preserve life as his first priority and officer safety. He located a group of three hysterical people with the victim, one of whom was holding a blood-stained jumper over a wound.

The victim was unresponsive with no signs of chest rise and fall. He checked the airway and began chest compressions telling one of the males to keep pressure on the wound. Dave continued chest compressions before the victim began vomiting whereby, he put him in the recovery position.

Medics and other officers arrived at the scene to assist. Dave gave the medic a full verbal handover, updated the control room on the casualty’s condition and assisted in getting the casualty to the air ambulance before decontaminating himself from his blood-stained clothing.

The victim recovered following hospital treatment. Two offenders were identified and they were given sentences of 15 years and 14 years.

The Crown Prosecution Service said that if it were not for Dave’s actions and others at the scene, the victim would have died.

The Judge reiterated this in his summing up, recognising those at the scene and medical staff at Derriford that saved his life.

Dave displayed exemplary behaviour in assessing the traumatic situation, dealing with hysterical people and administering lifesaving CPR. His experience and quick decision making were critical in the outcome.

Iain White

Around 9.50am, four masked men stormed into Michael Spiers jewellers in Truro on Wednesday 10 January 2018, armed with Pava spray and crow bars, as well as a pistol. During the robbery, staff and customers were threatened by the gang members and sprayed, whilst high value watches and jewellery were removed from display cabinets within the store. The value of property stolen during the raid was valued at around £1million.

Following an immediate police response from units across Cornwall, the subsequent investigation commenced. This was very complex and involved many teams and departments across the force and externally.

The Organised Crime Group were identified as originating from Lithuania. Members of the enquiry teams travelled to The Hague to brief Europol around the investigation. This proved insightful and allowed the investigation team to show that the suspects had committed similar offences in Italy and Germany.

The investigation received assistance from several other police forces across the country and utilised support from the NCA, UK Borders agency and Europol.

Iain was the CPS lawyer responsible for the case working closely with the barrister and the police investigation team. He carried out formal reviews, sanctioned the charges, prepared the indictment and served the case file on to the Crown Court which included 158 witness statements and 516 pages of exhibits.  He was also responsible for dealing with the large amount of unused material to name but a few of his tasks.  A challenging role in the ‘back office’ where his resilience and determination ensured that those responsible for this crime were brought to justice.

Royal Humane Society Awards

Fynley Caudery

On 26 April 2021 a male approached the RNLI Lifeguards on duty and told them he wanted to kill himself.

Before the police arrived, the male left the beach and walked into the town centre (some distance away) – one of the RNLI Lifeguards, Fynley Caudery, followed the now suicidal male as he walked out on to the pier. The tide was out and there was a high drop from the end of the pier on to the beach below. To prevent the male throwing himself from the pier, Fynley initially approached him and tried to talk him out of his decision. However, when realising the man was serious about killing himself, Fynley had to wrestle with him to prevent him jumping off the pier.

When the police arrived, they assisted Fynley in restraining the male and he was later detained under the Mental Health Act. The male was so volatile that the police had to use handcuffs and leg restraints to fully restrain the male and prevent him from hurting himself.

Since this event, the male has received help concerning his mental health and is recovering well.

Andrew Kaye-Lesser

On the morning of 23 April 2021, Andrew was running over Bakers Bridge, which is a pedestrian footbridge over the A397 dual carriageway in Exeter, and noticed a female stood still on the bridge, on the correct side of the railings.

After he had passed the female, he turned back to look at her and saw her climbing over the railings. By the time he reached her, she was already the wrong side of the railings. He grabbed her around the waist, she was now not holding on to railings with hands and was making a determined effort to free herself from him. 

He pleaded with her to grab hold of the railings, but he was having to hold her to stop her falling a considerable height to the dual carriageway below.

He eventually managed to persuade her to put her knee on the ledge, but she still refused to hold the railings with her hands, so she was still in an incredibly perilous position.

Another member of the public was then running over the bridge and initially just saw Andrew crouched down and thought he was unwell or resting.  Andrew asked for help and when they got close to him, it was only then they saw the female hanging beneath the bridge.  They stopped and grabbed the female's hand and between the two of them they held on to the female and prevented her falling or breaking free from their grasp, despite her efforts to.  They held her and pleaded with her until police arrived on the scene and were able to secure the female to the railings using some handcuffs.

Andrew’s brave actions no doubt saved the female’s life.