Cops who tried to save bus passenger to get top awards
Three policemen who fought to save the life of a Smethwick man after he was knifed on a late-night bus are to receive top national honours for their actions.
The officers were called to Rookery Road, Handsworth, last January where Leon Barrett-Hazle had been attacked with a pair of scissors by another passenger on the No 11a bus.
Kieran Gillespie, aged 26, was sentenced to life for the murder following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court in August.
The judge said Gillespie, from Wellesbourne Road, Handsworth, would have to serve a minimum of 26 years.
The officers arrived at the scene to find 36-year-old Mr Barrett-Hazle in a pool of blood on the top deck of the bus, showing no signs of life after being stabbed at least 16 times.
They battled to stem the flow of blood from his wounds and also began administering cardiac pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to the victim until medics arrived but were unable to save him. He was later pronounced dead at the scene.
Now police constables Daniel Adams, Joseph O’Regan and another officer who cannot be named, have been awarded Royal Humane Society certificates of commendation.
Praising their efforts, the Society's secretary Andrew Chapman, said: “They did all they could to revive him. Sadly though, his wounds were too severe and he was beyond help.”
Announcing the awards at the Society’s London headquarters, he said: “We often read criticism of the police but this sort of thing highlights the awful scenarios they can be faced with.
"Although their efforts to save the man were in vain they richly deserve the awards they are to receive. No-one could have done more than they did.”
The awards follow a recommendation from West Midlands Police.
The trial, which lasted a week and a half, heard how Gillespie got on the bus at Perry Barr on January 23 and went upstairs, where Mr Barrett-Hazle was already sitting.
Words were exchanged before Gillespie got out of his seat and approached 35-year-old Mr Barrett-Hazle. After a short argument, Gillespie stabbed the victim several times before unhurriedly alighting from the bus. Other passengers ran to the dying man’s aid and alerted the driver.
Gillespie even returned to the bus to retrieve his baseball bat before calmly walking away again.
Paying tribute, Mr Barrett-Hazle’s family described him as a ‘wonderful, warm, kind, generous of heart and much loved’ family man. A post mortem revealed the fatal stab wound was to his neck.
Police immediately launched a major man hunt and released CCTV images of the offender who had been caught on CCTV installed on the bus. Gillespie handed himself in to police two days later.
The Royal Humane Society, which goes back more than two centuries, honours bravery in the saving of human life. A date for the awards presentation is yet to be fixed.
