Northumberland off-duty police officer praised for actions over axe incident

At about 9.45pm on Thursday June 18, a Northumbria Police constable witnessed an exchange between two men on North Ridge in Bedlington.

After noticing one of the men was armed with an axe and appeared to be threatening the other, he raised the alarm.

Officers from the Firearms Support Unit soon swooped in but those involved had already fled the scene.

After a short search of the area an axe, which had been discarded over a garden fence, was found by officers.

Following the incident, two men, aged 42 and 41, were arrested on suspicion of affray.

Inspector Phil Patterson praised the quick-thinking actions of the eagle-eyed officer and said he hoped the incident highlights the force’s commitment to keeping our communities safe.

Insp Patterson said: “This shows the mind-set of this dedicated police officer – never off duty when it comes to reporting crime and making sure our streets stay safe.

“Although no one was hurt in this incident, it is completely unacceptable to carry weapons on our street and anyone who does this should expect to be dealt with robustly through the criminal justice system.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the PC who made that emergency call and informed us of this incident – without his help this had the potential to turn very ugly very quickly and someone could have been seriously injured.

“Thanks to the swift response of our firearms officers, we were able to quickly detain two suspects and recover a dangerous weapon.

“I hope this shows our local communities that whenever they report an incident or pass information to us, we do take action and we are committed to keeping our street safe.”

The two men have since been released under investigation with enquiries ongoing.

To report an incident you can call 101 or use the Tell Us Something page on our website. If a crime is in place or in an emergency call 999.

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