TWO Burnley police officers who tackled a man armed with a carving knife have won the Smith Cup bravery award for 1997.

Constables Craig Illingworth and Sean Cunningham were called to a house in Burnley last year on Friday, March 22, where a man armed with a carving knife was threatening to kill himself.

The man, who had consumed alcohol and drugs also made threats against a woman and child in the house.

When the officers arrived, he locked himself in a toilet and began banging on the door after cutting his wrists.

They tried to reason with him before forcing their way into the room and disarming him.

Sup Mike Griffin, commander of the Pennine police division and a former winner of the trophy 30 years ago when he was a sergeant, praised the pair.

He said: "They acted promptly without thought for their own safety preventing what could have been a much more serious incident.'' PC Cunningham, 31, joined the Lancashire Constabulary eight years ago after service in the Army. He is now in the support unit at Great Harwood. PC Illingworth, 35, has been in the police for 17 years after joining as a cadet.

The presentation was performed by Assistant Chief Constable John Vine and afterwards Supt Griffin said the Smith Cup was awarded in years when Burnley police officers' bravery merited it.

He added: "The incident where a police woman was killed in London recently highlights the dangers faced by police.

"Something like that could happen to any officer each time they go out. But they are professionals and put it to the back of their minds."

The Smith Cup was given to the former Burnley Borough Force by Mr W H Smith who was Chief Constable from 1905-1924.

It was presented in honour of his son, Alfred Victor Smith, a former acting inspector in Blackpool Borough Police, who was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.

While serving as a lieutenant with the East Lancashire Regiment at Gallipoli in the First World War he died saving his colleagues by throwing himself on top of a grenade dropped among a group of soldiers.

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